January 31, 2023 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has informed Congress that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared. The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations will formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through agencies’ normal authorities. It comes as lawmakers have already ended elements of the emergencies that kept millions of Americans insured during the pandemic.
January 31, 2023 4:12 am
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) – Pakistani officials say the death toll from a suicide bombing at a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar has risen to 88. Mohammad Asim, a government hospital spokesman, says more bodies were retrieved from the rubble of the mosque overnight and early on Tuesday, and several of those critically injured died in hospital. He says most of the victims were policemen who were praying when the bomber struck on Monday morning. The bombing also wounded more than 150 people. It was not clear how the bomber was able to slip into the walled compound in a high-security zone with other government buildings and reach the mosque. Also on Tuesday, mourners were burying some of the bombing victims.
January 31, 2023 4:07 am
Ira “Bob” Born, a candy company executive known as the “Father of Peeps” for mechanizing the process to make the marshmallow chicks, has died. He was 98. Born’s father, Sam Born, was a Russian immigrant who founded Just Born Quality Confections, a small candy company, in 1923. The family later moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Bob Born served in the U.S. Navy during World War II before joining the family business. In the early 1950s, he came up with a machine that mechanized the process for making marshmallow chicks, reducing the time to make them from 27 hours to six minutes.
January 31, 2023 4:03 am
ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – A driver is facing charges after police said she hit and killed a woman on Babcock Boulevard before speeding off on Jan. 13. Erin Petroski, 39, is charged with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, accidents involving death/personal injury, involuntary manslaughter, two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol or controlled substance, careless driving and driving vehicle at safe speed. Officials said Petroski turned herself in to police. 31-year-old Elizabeth Griser was pronounced dead at a hospital. According to the criminal complaint, traffic cameras showed a car with front passenger side damage and a passenger side headlight missing an estimated .19 miles south from where Griser was found. The car was tracked to a house on Thompson Run Road. When detectives arrived at the home, they found the car in the driveway. Police spoke with Petroski on the front porch of the house. When detectives asked Petroski what happened, she said “I don’t know.” The officers then asked if Petroski knew she was in an accident, she said yes. They asked if she thought to stop to which Petroski said “I did stop. I’m not going to say much more. I understand why you’re here.”
January 31, 2023 3:59 am
Washington City Council held their agenda meeting on Monday and the action items list was rather light. Department reports added information to council on recent developments in the city. Fire Chief Chris Richer made it clear that his department was very appreciative of the radio upgrades approved and implemented last summer. Richer described how a recent structure fire was very complicated and the new radios were a significant tool in making sure that all occupants of the multi-unit commercial/residential structure got out safely and aiding in putting out the fire quickly. Mayor Scott Putnam pointed out the recent recommendations of the county LSA board for nearly $900,000 in grants that will benefit the city. The Downtown Rising Revitalization Project will receive $700,000, the Facade Grant for the Washington Business District will receive $125,000 and the 7Th ward park will get $50,000. Putnam also nominated the Dreamers Corporation to be the first recipient of the renewed Pride of Washington Award. Council will hold its voting meeting on Thursday February 2.
January 30, 2023 3:55 pm
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Public schools in West Virginia may soon be required to display the phrase “In God We Trust” in every building if a bill passed by the state Senate on Monday becomes law. Bill sponsor Republican Sen. Mike Azinger says he wants to give kids in schools something to look up to. The bill requires that the motto be placed in a “conspicuous place” in each school building. It can be displayed on a poster or in a frame, which must be purchased by donation and contain images of the national and state flags. The display can’t depict any other words, images or information. The bill now heads to the House.
January 30, 2023 8:59 am
A fire broke out at a UMPC hospital room late Sunday night after a patient may have attempted to light a cigarette while on oxygen, a hospital representative told our news partners at Channel 11. Crews responded to UPMC East at 2775 Mosside Blvd. in Monroeville around 11 p.m. for reports of a fire. Nearby patients were immediately relocated to other units, according to the UPMC representative, and four employees were evaluated and treated. The event remains under investigation. An official said the fire was minor. It was extinguished by midnight.
January 30, 2023 6:43 am
Actor Annie Wersching, best known for playing FBI agent Renee Walker in the series “24” and providing the voice for Tess in the video game “The Last of Us,” has died. She was 45. She passed away Sunday morning in Los Angeles following a battle with cancer, her publicist told The Associated Press. The type of cancer was not specified. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Wersching appeared on dozens of television shows over the course of her two-decade career. She had recurring roles on “Bosch,” “The Vampire Diaries,” Marvel’s “Runaways,” “The Rookie” and, most recently, the second season of “Star Trek: Picard.”
January 30, 2023 6:41 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Barrett Strong, one of Motown’s founding artists and most gifted songwriters who sang lead on the company’s breakthrough single “Money (That’s What I Want)” and later collaborated on such classics as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “War,” has died. He was 81. Strong’s death was announced Sunday on social media by the Motown Museum, which did not immediately provide further details. “Money,” a million-seller released in 1960, was Motown’s first major hit. Strong and Norman Whitfield became one of Motown’s most productive and eclectic songwriting combinations, writing several hits for the Temptations.
January 30, 2023 4:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is heading to Baltimore to visit an aging rail tunnel that’s slated to be replaced with help from bipartisan infrastructure legislation that he signed in 2021. The Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel project is estimated to cost $4 billion and take a decade to finish. It would eliminate a troublesome bottleneck that delays commuters and travelers up and down the East Coast. It’s the first of two rail-related stops this week for Biden, who was a regular Amtrak commuter during his years in the Senate. He’s visiting New York on Tuesday as another new tunnel is planned, this one under the Hudson River.
