October 4, 2022 4:47 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step into the legal fight over the classified documents seized during an FBI search of his Florida estate. The Trump team asked the court Tuesday to overturn a lower court ruling and permit an independent arbiter, or special master, to review the roughly 100 documents with classified markings that were taken in the Aug. 8 search. A three-judge panel last month limited the review to the much larger tranche of non-classified documents. A veteran Brooklyn judge, Raymond Dearie, is serving as special master.
October 4, 2022 4:36 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of available jobs in the U.S. plummeted in August compared with July, a sign that businesses may pull back further on hiring and potentially cool chronically high inflation. There were 10.1 million advertised jobs on the last day of August, down a huge 10% from 11.2 million openings in July. In March, job openings had hit a record of nearly 11.9 million. The sharp drop in job openings will be welcomed by the Federal Reserve. Fed officials have cited the high level of openings as a sign of strong labor demand that has compelled employers to steadily raise pay to attract and keep workers.
October 4, 2022 1:53 pm
(WPXI) – Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Max Baer was honored during a public memorial service at Duquesne University Tuesday morning. Baer, who was seventy-four-years-old, died unexpectedly over the weekend at his home near Pittsburgh. Family, friends, elected officials and community members attended his memorial service inside the Power Center along Forbes Avenue. Gov. Tom Wolf was in attendance and said in a statement: “I’m extremely saddened to learn that Chief Justice Baer passed away. He was a respected and esteemed jurist with decades of service to our courts and our commonwealth. I am grateful for his contributions and leadership in the Supreme Court.” Baer was first elected to the Supreme Court in 2003 and was sworn in as its chief justice in 2021. He was set to retire at the end of this year, after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75. A Pittsburgh native, the chief justice graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1971 and from the Duquesne University School of Law in 1975.
October 4, 2022 4:29 am
DUNWOODY, Ga. (AP) – A new report says Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker paid for an abortion for his girlfriend in 2009. Walker has vehemently opposed abortion rights and calls the accusation in The Daily Beast a “flat-out lie.” The Daily Beast spoke to a woman who said Walker paid for her abortion when they were dating. The news outlet also reviewed a receipt showing her $575 payment for the procedure, along with a get-well card from Walker and her bank deposit records showing the image of a $700 personal check from Walker. Asked Monday night by Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity whether he remembered sending a $700 check, Walker says he sent people money all the time.
October 4, 2022 4:27 am
(AP) – The tumultuous saga of Elon Musk’s on-again off-again purchase of Twitter has taken a turn toward a conclusion. The mercurial Tesla CEO proposed to buy the company at the originally agreed-on price of $44 billion. Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter that the company disclosed in a filing Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It comes less than two weeks before a trial between the two parties is scheduled to start in Delaware. In a statement, Twitter said it intends to close the deal at $54.20 per share. Trading in Twitter’s stock had been halted for much of the day pending release of the news. It resumed trading late Tuesday and soared 22% to close at $52.
October 4, 2022 4:25 am
BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) – Nearly a week after Hurricane Ian smashed into Florida and left carved a path of destruction that reached into the Carolinas, more than half a million statewide residents are facing another day without electricity. More than 500,000 homes and businesses remained without power Tuesday in Florida and it will be the weekend before most power is restored. And Ian still is not done. Officials warned there still was the potential of coastal flooding from Long Island south to North Carolina’s Outer Banks where the only highway to the barrier islands was closed by sand and seawater. Seventy-eight deaths have been blamed on Ian, with 71 of them reported in Florida.
October 4, 2022 4:23 am
(AP) – Russia’s retreat from a key Ukrainian city over the weekend elicited outcry from an unlikely crowd – state-run media outlets that typically speak glowingly about Moscow’s war. A series of embarrassing military losses for Moscow has presented a growing challenge for prominent hosts of Russian news and political talk shows scrambling to find ways to paint Kyiv’s gains in a way that is still favorable to the Kremlin. The less conciliatory tone from state-run media comes as President Vladimir Putin faces more than just battlefield losses; there is widespread Russian discontent about his partial mobilization of reservists and officials are struggling to explain plans to annex Ukrainian regions while they are being retaken by Kyiv’s forces.
October 4, 2022 4:21 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea has fired a ballistic missile over Japan for the first time in five years, forcing Japan to issue evacuation notices and suspend trains during the flight of the nuclear-capable weapon that could reach the U.S. territory of Guam and beyond. The launch early Tuesday was the most provocative weapons demonstration by North Korea this year as it ramps up missile tests in its push to build a full-fledged nuclear arsenal that viably threatens U.S. allies and the American homeland and earns the country recognition as a nuclear state. The United States said it strongly condemns North Korea’s “dangerous and reckless decision” to launch what it described as a “long-range ballistic missile” over Japan.
October 4, 2022 4:17 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A judge’s ruling has cleared the way for the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue from Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park. Common Pleas Judge John T. McVay Jr. issued an opinion finding that the plaintiff in the case, the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, could not point to any case law supporting its position that it can limit the mayor on what to do with city-owned monuments on city-owned land. The group sued two years ago to try to keep the 13-foot-tall statue after the Pittsburgh Art Commission decided to remove it. A spokeswoman for the mayor’s office said they are considering next steps. The judge found that the plaintiff’s position was not supported by law, and said the lawsuit “is an improper interference with the (City of Pittsburgh’s) right to speech.” In summer 2020, as government entities across the country reconsidered the display of statues they felt connoted systemic racism, the Columbus statue in Pittsburgh was targeted. A petition filed with the city asked that it be removed. Within weeks, former Mayor Bill Peduto recommended the removal of the statue. It was wrapped to protect it from further damage after it was vandalized several times.
October 4, 2022 4:13 am
Washington City Council met Monday night for their agenda meeting and received the results from the 2021 financial audit of the city’s finance. The auditors complimented the city for their efforts to keep finances in line telling them that their opinion is that there are no significant deficiencies or weaknesses. The city grew their assets by $1.6 million, much of that from grants from The American Rescue Plan and the state. The city did pay down $1.6 million in long term debt as well. About $8.1 million of long term debt remains and is due to be paid off in 2026. Mayor Scott Putnam also answered a question about concrete boxes appearing on city street corners. According to Putnam, they are concrete inlet boxes turned upside down to protect electrical connections for light poles that have been knocked down by drivers. Several of them are around the city replacing fiberglass boxes that the electric company used and have been found to be too flimsy. The poles are on back order for more than a year. Putnam asks motorists to put down their phones and pay attention so that the new poles will not suffer the same fate.
