March 8, 2023 2:24 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania state lawmaker is quitting the Legislature, a week after a union lobbyist accused him by name of having sexually harassed her four years ago. Democratic Rep. Mike Zabel of Delaware County said in the letter sent Wednesday to Democratic Speaker Joanna McClinton that his resignation will take effect March 16. That leaves enough time for her to order that the vacancy be filled during the May primary. Zabel says the toll from the scandal has been too great for his family and has been detrimental to his well-being. He said he’s seeking treatment of an undisclosed nature. (Photo: AP)
March 7, 2023 4:53 pm
(WPXI) – The National Transportation Safety Board announced Tuesday that they’re launching a special investigation into Norfolk Southern’s organization and safety culture. “Given the number and significance of recent Norfolk Southern accidents, the NTSB also urges the company to take immediate action today to review and assess its safety practices, with the input of employees and others, and implement necessary changes to improve safety,” the NTSB said in a media release. Since Dec. 2021, the NTSB has launched five investigations involving Norfolk Southern incidents, with one of those being in Pennsylvania and three being in Ohio. On Feb. 3, 50 cars of a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, just under an hour drive from Pittsburgh. The train was carrying vinyl chloride in some of the cars and burned for days before a controlled release was executed.
March 7, 2023 10:25 am
CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (AP) — Two Americans are back on U.S. soil after surviving a deadly kidnapping in Mexico. They were brought to a Texas hospital for treatment on Tuesday. Two other Americans were killed. Irving Barrios, Tamaulipas state’s top prosecutor, confirmed the two surviving Americans were turned over to U.S. authorities at the international bridge to Brownsville, Texas. The Brownsville Herald reported the two were then taken to Valley Regional Medical Center with an FBI escort. A relative of one of the victims said Monday that the four had traveled together from the Carolinas so one of them could get a tummy tuck surgery.
March 7, 2023 10:22 am
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are getting the vegan treatment. Hershey says its Reese’s Plant Based Peanut Butter Cups, which go on sale this month, will be its first vegan chocolates sold nationally. A second plant-based offering, Hershey’s Plant Based Extra Creamy with Almonds and Sea Salt, will follow in April. The chocolates are made with oats instead of milk. Hershey says consumers want choice and are looking for products they consider healthier or with fewer ingredients, including reduced sugar and plant-based options.
March 7, 2023 9:28 am
Pa. U.S. Senator, Democrat John Fetterman is “well on his way to recovery” according to his chief of staff. Adam Jentleson shared photos of Fetterman Monday, saying he and the Senator were discussing legislation at Walter Reed. “He’s laser focused on PA & will be back soon,” Jentleson tweeted. Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in February for treatment of clinical depression. In a statement, his camp said Fetterman has experienced depression throughout his life, and that it had only recently become severe. Fetterman had a stroke days before last May’s primary election and spent the last five months on the campaign trail recovering. He continued to experience the after-effects, in particular auditory processing disorder, which can render someone unable to speak fluidly and quickly process spoken conversation into meaning. The week before entering the hospital for treatment of depression, Fetterman stayed two days in George Washington University after becoming lightheaded. Fetterman’s office said there was no evidence of a new stroke or a seizure. He could be in the hospital “for weeks” or until doctors are satisfied with his progress, one of Fetterman’s aides said. He is not expected to resign from the Senate.
March 7, 2023 9:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has started to unveil parts of his budget proposal being released later this week. The Democratic president is beginning with his plan for Medicare, including higher taxes on wealthy people to increase funding for the program’s trust fund. Biden also wants to expand Medicare’s ability to negotiate prescription drug prices. Biden writes Tuesday in The New York Times that Medicare is “more than a government program.” Biden calls Medicare “the rock-solid guarantee that Americans have counted on to be there for them when they retire.” The president is scheduled to release his budget proposal Thursday in Philadelphia. The budget proposal’s future is uncertain, with Republicans in control of the House.
March 7, 2023 4:21 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to unleash a trove of Jan. 6 Capitol attack footage to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson has launched a wholesale Republican effort to rewrite the history of the deadly siege. Carlson aired the first installment of some 41,000 hours of security footage on his prime-time show and promised more Tuesday. The conservative commentator is working to reverse the narrative of the attack that had played out for the world to see into one more favorable to Donald Trump. It comes as Trump is again running for president and executives at the cable news giant have admitted the network spread the former president’s false claims about the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.
March 7, 2023 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — If measures of the U.S. economy keep coming in hot, as they did in January, the Federal Reserve will likely have to raise interest rates even higher than it has already signaled — and keep them there longer — Chair Jerome Powell will likely warn in testimony to Congress on Tuesday. Powell’s first appearance before Congress in nine months coincides with growing signs that the economy remains resilient and inflation still stubbornly high. In the past year, the Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate at the fastest pace in four decades to fight high inflation, to about 4.6%, its highest level in 15 years. But consumer spending, hiring and growth have yet to cool.
March 7, 2023 4:14 am
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A sharp drop in illegal border crossings since December may be blunting a Republican point of attack against President Joe Biden as the Democratic leader moves to reshape a broken asylum system that has dogged him and his predecessors. A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that voters support adjusting the number of immigrants and asylum-seekers allowed into the country. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults say the level of immigration and asylum-seekers should be lowered, while about 2 in 10 say they should be higher. About a third want the numbers to remain the same.
March 7, 2023 4:13 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The sister of North Korea’s leader is warning that her country is ready to take “quick, overwhelming action” against the United States and South Korea. Kim Yo Jong made the warning Tuesday after the U.S. flew a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber to the Korean Peninsula for a drill with South Korean warplanes. The allies’ militaries are also preparing to revive their largest field exercises soon. Kim Yo Jong didn’t elaborate on any planned response, but North Korea has often test-launched missiles when the allies hold military drills because it views them as an invasion rehearsal. She said: “We keep our eye on the restless military moves” by the U.S. and South Korea and are “on standby” to act.
