October 27, 2022 8:56 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Slightly more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as the labor market remains one of the healthiest parts of an uneven U.S. economy. Jobless claims for the week ending Oct. 22 inched up by 3,000 to 217,000 from 214,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week moving average rose to 219,000 from 212,250 the previous week. Applications for jobless claims, considered a proxy for layoffs, remain historically low. The total number of Americans collecting unemployment aid rose by 55,000 to 1.44 million for the week ending Oct. 15, its highest level in seven months.
October 27, 2022 5:52 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – No one won an estimated $700 million Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, meaning the big prize will grow to an estimated $800 million for the next drawing. The numbers drawn were: á19-36-37-46-56-24. No one has matched all six numbers and won the Powerball jackpot since Aug. 3, allowing the prize to grow to the fifth-largest in U.S. history. That amounts to 36 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner. The next drawing is Saturday. The new $800 jackpot amount is for winners who take their winnings through an annuity, paid annually over 29 years. Nearly all winners actually choose the cash option, however, which would be $383.7 million after taxes.
October 27, 2022 4:19 am
(AP) – Elon Musk is telling Twitter advertisers he is buying the platform to “help humanity” and doesn’t want it to become a “free-for-all hellscape” where anything can be said with no consequences. The message to advertisers posted Thursday on Twitter came a day before Musk’s deadline for closing his $44 billion deal to buy the social-media company and take it private. He said in the post that he’s buying the company because “it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square.”
October 27, 2022 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The problems have hardly gone away. Inflation, still near a 40-year high, is punishing households. Rising interest rates have derailed the housing market and threaten to inflict broader damage. And the outlook for the world economy grows bleaker the longer that Russia’s war against Ukraine drags on. But for now anyway, the U.S. economy has likely returned to growth after having shrunk in each of the first two quarters of 2022. At least that’s what economists expect to see Thursday when the Commerce Department issues its first of three estimates of gross domestic product – the broadest measure of economic output – for the July-September period.
October 27, 2022 4:16 am
CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) – Europe’s energy crisis is forcing some people to turn to cheaper sources to stay warm as the weather gets colder. After Russia slashed natural gas flows to Europe amid its war against Ukraine, demand for wood is surging in poorer nations like Moldova and Kosovo as well as in the richer nations of Western and central Europe. It’s led to higher prices, growing concerns about theft and even scams. Some German foresters are putting GPS devices into logs to track the valuable stocks and deter theft. There are also environmental risks to burning firewood, from the particles that people breathe to increased felling of trees.
October 27, 2022 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Election Day is 12 days away. But in courtrooms across the country, efforts to sow doubt over the outcome have already begun. Since the start of this year, more than 100 lawsuits have been filed largely by Republicans around the upcoming midterm election. The call into question mail-in voting rules, voter access, voting machines, voting registration, the counting of mismarked absentee ballots and access for partisan poll watchers. It’s the most litigation ever before an election – and it’s a strategy shift born of the failures of allies of former President Donald Trump in 2020 to challenge the results of the presidential election.
October 27, 2022 4:08 am
WHITEHALL, Pa. — Police in Whitehall are warning people to be aware of a bizarre new scheme in which fraudsters send letters purporting to be from Walmart. According to a social media post from the borough’s police department, a resident recently received a package containing a check for $3,800 and a note with a Walmart letterhead. That letter reads “congratulations on your achievement” and claims that the recipient has been chosen to complete a paid customer service assignment. It states “there has been complains [sic] in our money order section which is why you are to survey any Walmart or CVS store close to you.” It instructs the recipient to purchase three $1,000 money orders from one of the stores and then call or text a number to retrieve information on where to send the payments. According to police, the letter and packaging appear to be real but “this is a scam attempting to get money from you.” The department’s police chief told Channel 11 that he did not believe the victim actually fell for the scam and suffered a loss. It’s unclear what occurs if a recipient attempts to cash the $3,800 check, which the letter claims is meant to “cover the expenses” of the assignment. A spokesman for Walmart told out news partners at WPXI, “Walmart has been very direct in dealing with fraud,” as outlined here: https://corporate.walmart.com/privacy-security/fraud-alerts/
October 27, 2022 4:04 am
WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. — A woman died in a single-vehicle crash in Westmoreland County Wednesday afternoon. According to a release from the Westmoreland County coroner’s office, the crash happened at 2:35 p.m. on Garvers Ferry Road in Allegheny Township. The coroner’s office said the driver was traveling north and the vehicle went across the road while she was trying to make a right turn. The car struck a tree, and the driver was pronounced deceased at the scene. She was not wearing a seatbelt. Officials said weather conditions and speed may have been a factor in the crash. The victim has been identified as 45-year-old Sarah Bowser of Allegheny Township.
October 27, 2022 2:12 am
A Washington man faced his preliminary hearing on an aggravated assault charge and decided to make a plea deal. West Jones, 52 will enter a fast track plea to felony aggravated assault and three other misdemeanors for his actions during an altercation on October 15. Police were called to a residence on E. Hallam Avenue where Jones allegedly threatened Avery Turner with a golf club and attempted to kick down a door. No injuries were reported. Jones’ plea court hearing is scheduled for December 20.
October 26, 2022 1:54 pm
CLEVELAND (AP) – Two men accused of stuffing five walleye with lead weights and fish fillets during a lucrative fishing tournament on Lake Erie have pleaded not guilty to cheating and other charges. Forty-two-year-old Jacob Runyan, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and 35-year-old Chase Cominsky, of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, were arraigned Wednesday in common pleas court in Cleveland. Their attorneys declined to comment after the hearing. The cheating allegations surfaced Sept. 30 when Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament director Jason Fischer became suspicious because Runyan and Cominsky’s fish were significantly heavier than walleye of that length normally are. A crowd watched Fischer cut open the walleye and announce there were weights and walleye fillets stuffed inside them.
