Our dreary weather pattern continues today with mostly cloudy skies once again expected across Western Pa. and a low snow chance this morning.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Good morning, our dreary weather pattern continues today with mostly cloudy skies once again expected across Western Pa. and a low snow chance this morning.
Snow should have little to no impact on your morning commute.
Our setup today finds us on the backside of a trough pumping arctic air to the New England states.
(Photo Credit: KDKA Weather Center)
It’s anchored by a fairly powerful upper low sitting well off into the Atlantic Ocean.
Rough seas for any ships heading to Europe from the US right now.
This flow will continue through at least Wednesday with us seeing a deep flow of winds coming in from the north.
This flow of colder air should keep us inverted with warmer air trapped at the surface by the cooler mid level temperatures.
This is why we are expecting overcast skies both today and tomorrow.
The military raid on Monday on the MT Hankuk Chemi was at odds with Iranian explanations.
SEOUL — Armed Iranian Revolutionary Guard troops stormed a South Korean tanker and forced the ship to change course and travel to Iran, the vessel’s owner said Tuesday, the latest maritime seizure by Tehran amid heightened tensions with the West over its nuclear program.
The military raid on Monday on the MT Hankuk Chemi was at odds with Iranian explanations that they stopped the vessel for polluting the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, it appeared the Islamic Republic sought to increase its leverage over Seoul ahead of negotiations over billions of dollars in Iranian assets frozen in South Korean banks amid a U.S. pressure campaign targeting Iran.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday ordered a new lockdown across Britain in an effort to contain a new variant of the coronavirus. In a televised address, Johnson called the next few weeks a “critical moment” in the country’s fight against COVID-19.
The new measure forces the closure of all schools, shutters personal care services such as barbers and hairdressers, and bans in-person dining at restaurants. While fines do apply for those who leave their homes without valid excuses, there are exemptions in place for those gathering food, going to and from childcare, getting medical supplies, or true emergencies.
Residents are asked to limit exercise outdoors to once a day. Meeting more than one person outside your house for picnics or drinks is not allowed.
A day before Pennsylvania state lawmakers will be sworn in for a new two-year session, state Senate Democrats said Monday that the Republican majority is trying to “steal an election” by objecting to letting a Democratic member take his seat for a fourth term.
The dispute revolves around the election of Democratic Sen. Jim Brewster of Allegheny County and could leave the decision on who to install in the Senate district to a majority of senators.
The contest between Brewster and Republican challenger Nicole Ziccarelli hinged on court decisions that said mail-in ballots that lack a handwritten date on the ballot envelope is not a reason to disqualify someone’s vote.
Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Allegheny, called the Republicans’ refusal to swear in Brewster during Tuesday’s ceremony “unlawful” and suggested that his caucus will go to court.
Republicans were trying to “steal an election” in what Costa framed as a continuation of “the Trump playbook. It’s about abusing the process that’s in place.”
Costa also pointed out that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi swore in Rep.-elect Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, even as her Democratic opponent’s challenge to the election results remains under review by the House.
The Senate’s top Republican, President Pro Tempore-elect Jake Corman, R-Centre, called it a “fairly unique, if not unprecedented situation.”
Ziccarelli has filed a complaint with the Senate and a lawsuit in federal court in an “extremely close” election affected by court rulings, Corman said.
“I think this unique set of circumstances dictates that the Senate review it and take very seriously the contest,” Corman said.
He did not say how long the Senate will need to review Ziccarelli’s filing before voting, or how long the Senate is willing to leave the seat vacant.
Brewster beat Ziccarelli by 69 votes in the Nov. 3 election, according to state-certified returns last month.
On Jan. 4, 1988, Sophie Masloff became the first woman to serve as president of Pittsburgh’s city council. Masloff would go on to become one of the most well-liked mayors in the city’s history.
A California man is being held in the Westmoreland County Prison without bail after state police accused him of taking a vehicle from a relative in North Carolina and was found in Hempfield Thursday.
Lorenzo Watson, 39, of Oakland, Calif., is charged with receiving stolen property and drug possession.
In the wake of Sunday’s performance against the Cleveland Browns, Mark Madden seems to think so.
Madden isn’t saying that’s what he’d do. But he’s getting the sense that’s what the Steelers will do.
“I thought he did OK,” Madden said of Rudolph’s 315-yard performance Sunday. “I won’t go any better than OK. But when I consider the way the Steelers do things, I bet he starts at quarterback for a year or two.”
Madden is making that prediction based on tendencies of what he seems to think will be typical Steelers behavior.
“They aren’t going to go after a quarterback which is what I would do. Like a Sam Darnold (New York Jets) or somebody (else) that didn’t cut it after being a high draft pick. So since they won’t do that, they are going to draft a guy. They haven’t drafted him yet. So whoever they do draft, whether it’s next year or the year after — whenever Ben Roethlisberger retires — I bet Rudolph has to start for a year or two.”
Not that Madden is optimistic about that scenario.
“I don’t think (Rudolph) will do very well when he does start. But I think that is how it will work out.”
Westmoreland County elections officials disclosed Monday that 21 uncounted provisional ballots submitted at a North Huntingdon voting precinct on Election Day were discovered last week among computer equipment used at the polls in November.
Elections bureau staffers found the unopened ballots during a routine inspection of voting machines stored at the department’s Greensburg warehouse on Dec. 28.
JoAnn Sebastiani, the county’s elections director, said additional precautions had been enacted ahead of the Nov. 3 election that were designed to prevent the misfiling of ballots returned to the courthouse from the precincts, but those measures were unsuccessful.
“Unfortunately, the judge of elections did not follow instructions,” Sebastiani said.
PENN HILLS, Pa. (KDKA) — Police say a man is in critical condition after a shooting in Penn Hills.
On Monday, the Allegheny County Police Department said it was notified of a shooting in the 8800 block of Marion Way. Law enforcement says first responders found a 47-year-old man who was shot multiple times.
He was taken to a local hospital, and police are investigating
Online publication NEXTpittsburgh has been sold to a local investor who said he plans to maintain its focus on news about the region’s arts, culture, technology, and business sectors and possibly expand coverage of public policy issues.
The site’s new owner, John Rhoades, said he was seeking a new venture after selling some of his stake in Beauty Shoppe, a Pittsburgh company that operates co-working and event spaces.
Mr. Rhoades, 37, acquired NEXTpittsburgh from its founder, Tracy Certo.
Financial terms of the deal, which was effective Jan. 1, were not disclosed.Ms. Certo said Mr. Rhoades approached her through a business broker about four months ago.“I thought, ‘Who in Pittsburgh wants to buy media in the midst of a pandemic?’” Ms. Certo said Monday after the sale was announced on NEXTpittsburgh’s website.Though she didn’t have a formal exit strategy in place for the business, the idea of selling had been in the back of her mind, said Ms. Certo, who launched the publication in March 2014.
President-elect Joe Biden made his final pitch Monday to Georgia voters to give him a Democratic Senate to work with in Washington, asking them to elect Democrats Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock in Tuesday’s runoff elections.
“Folks, this is it, it’s a year new, and tomorrow can be a new day for Atlanta, for Georgia and for America,” Biden said a drive-in rally in Atlanta.”
Referring to the fact that his own victory in Georgia was the first time a Democrat carried the state in a presidential race since 1992, Biden told voters that “we need you to vote again in record numbers.
“Georgia, the whole nation is looking to you,” he said. “One state can chart the course not just for the next four years, but for the next generation.President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Dalton on Monday night to boost support for incumbent Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.The dueling speeches come a day after audio of an hour-long phone call between Trump and Georgia’s secretary of state surfaced in which the president unsuccessfully pressured the official to overturn his state’s election results, which Biden won by just under 12,000 votes.
A year ago at this time, the biggest story in the world was getting almost no attention in our country.
A terrifying new form of the coronavirus was spreading through central China. From the very first moments of the outbreak, it was clear to many scientists it may have been engineered by the Chinese government and escaped from a lab in Wuhan.
For a variety of reasons, the people in charge of this country didn’t want to talk about it. So instead, they told us that the biggest thing happening on Jan. 4, 2020, was the impeachment of Donald Trump, and nothing was more important than removing him from office. Trump’s crime, you may remember, was a 30-minute phone call with the president of Ukraine. In that call, Trump suggested there might be something corrupt about Joe Biden’s son making $40,000 a month from Ukrainian energy company, despite having no relevant work history in either Ukraine or the energy business.
Fast-forward a year later and the people in charge are saying pretty much the same thing: Donald Trump must be impeached over a phone call, this time one one that took place over the weekend.
On Saturday, the president spoke by telephone to the secretary of state of Georgia for about an hour. They talked about vote counting in Georgia. The president, as you may have heard, believes the election was stolen from him. Georgia’s secretary of state, whose job it is to oversee elections, disagrees. You ought to listen to the call yourself, and you can make up your own mind about who’s right on that question.
No matter what you conclude about vote counting in Georgia, we’re willing to bet that you won’t decide Donald Trump’s latest phone call is the single most important thing happening in the world right now, probably not even close. And yet CNN is claiming that it is. Why are they doing that? Here’s one guess.
On Tuesday there are two U.S. Senate elections in Georgia, and the outcome of those races will determine who controls the entire U.S. government. If the Democrats win both races — and at this point, that is entirely possible, even likely — the Democratic Party will run everything in Washington and they will be able to do whatever they want.
It’s hard to remember the last time that more power was at stake in a single day, and if you thought about that long enough, you might decide to get involved. The Democratic Party and its marionettes in the news media would rather you didn’t get involved, and so they’re encouraging you to think about Trump’s phone call instead. If they didn’t at some point, you might start asking bigger, more disruptive questions.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran said Saturday it plans to enrich uranium up to 20% at its underground Fordo nuclear facility “as soon as possible,” pushing its program a technical step away from weapons-grade levels as it increases pressure on the West over the tattered atomic deal.
Los Angeles County has become the latest county in California to impose a mandatory quarantine on long-distance travelers.
At least two other counties — Santa Clara and San Francisco — have similar mandatory orders. The California Department of Public Health on Nov. 13 issued an advisory urging Californians to stay home or in their region and avoid nonessential travel, including for tourism or recreation.
The regional stay-at-home order prohibits hotels and other lodging companies from offering rooms to people visiting for tourism and leisure.
The moves are part of a desperate effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, which is pushing hospitals to the breaking point. L.A. County has seen an unprecedented surge in both cases and deaths since November and has emerged as one of the nation’s leading hot spots.
A Wilkinsburg man is charged with attempted homicide and other crimes after police said he tried to shoot another man and narrowly avoided shooting a 3-year-old girl at Harrison’s Sheldon Park public housing complex last week.
Harrison police said after the shooting, Antonio Williams, 20, buckled the girl into a car seat and hid the gun underneath her before driving away.
Williams remained in the Allegheny County Jail Sunday after failing to post $100,000 bond.
Earlier, 427 members announced themselves as present — 220 Democrats and 207 Republicans. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., needed a majority, or 214 votes, to return as speaker, meaning that she could only afford to lose just six Democratic votes. The vote was 216 for Pelosi and 209 for McCarthy (R).
Follow for the latest updates on the House speaker election. Mobile users click here.
An aerial view shows the P4 laboratory (C) at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province on April 17, 2020. ( Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)
A whistleblower from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China has given the United States the “most credible” intelligence yet the global coronavirus pandemic was a “leak or an accident” in the lab.
“There is a growing body of evidence that the lab is likely the most credible source of the virus,” Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger told British parliamentarians in a Zoom call, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported.
With the increased availability of 24-hour news from a variety of outlets, and the rise of social media and “fake news,” there is no shortage of ways to consume news. We work hand-in-hand with the media in the field of public relations, so it’s paramount that we stay on top of current trends through reliable news sources.
Like many, I grew up watching the local news with my parents every night, scanning the newspaper (oftentimes the comics) with my dad on Saturday mornings and discussing recent headlines at the family dinner table. Growing a passion for keeping up with current events, I naturally gravitated towards an industry driven by the news.
As PR practitioners, it’s our responsibility to stay informed on global, national and local happenings and identify how these trends impact our clients or their industries. Since we are constantly identifying opportunities to build trust and client rapport through the media, we must create a natural pulse on digesting and analyzing credible news.
But where do public relations practitioners get their news? The short answer is everywhere.
We are constantly on the go, but that can’t be an excuse for not keeping up with industry and market news. Thankfully, we have more ways than ever to access it. From social media, local community newspapers and iPhone apps, to witty e-newsletters, online outlets and video – we have a variety of trusted, go-to news outlets that provide a well-rounded perspective, even when we are running 90-nothing.
The tax agency said it began distributing direct deposits Tuesday night, and will start mailing paper checks December 30.Millions of Americans are eagerly awaiting their second stimulus checks of $600 for each eligible adult and child. The IRS on Tuesday said it had started to distribute the checks via direct deposit that evening, a process that will extend into next week.
Sen. Josh Hawley’s move means Republicans will have to go on record about whether they support voter fraud claims.
While numerous Republican House members are expected to object to the Electoral College results from several swing states during Congress’ certification of the votes next week, Hawley is the first senator to commit to doing so. The announcement is significant because under congressional rules, a written objection that is endorsed by both a House member and a senator is needed to force Congress to consider an objection.
The 2020s will be the time when China truly emerges as a great power directly competing with America for global supremacy. Because of this, alliances will start to take shape such that some countries, especially in Africa and maybe Latin America, decide their futures are with China.
Indeed, the single biggest story of the 2020s will be the rise of China and the countervailing responses of other countries.
The other big question aboard is the potential of a black swan event, such as the coronavirus pandemic was this year. And speaking of the virus, people who think life will get back to normal by the summer are sorely mistaken.
I fear the economic repercussions of a government strategy of closing down and destroying businesses will be felt at least for the first half of the decade. People underestimate how easily governments can destroy economies and how hard it is to restart those economies.
Technological changes over the next decade will be monumental and transformative. From developments in oil and gas to getting potentially safer nuclear reactor systems, we could see a revolution in energy that would have massive economic implications.
We will see unprecedented advances in computers and artificial intelligence that will play a growing role in our health care system. Robotics and the right artificial intelligence can already learn more about a patient and perform surgery better than human doctors.
We should also expect to see a revolution in military technology, such as drones, which will dramatically affect how we plan for military contingencies.
Some of these developments, bolstered by a surge in computational power, are going to enable relatively small countries like Iran and Venezuela to pose more of a threat than most people would have thought possible 20 or 30 years ago.
The gray world will also expand, and by gray world I mean all of the illegal criminal actions and behaviors that are the underside of the global economy — human trafficking, drugs, weapons and illegal finance.
In America, our educational system is in crisis and will reach a boiling point. Our system of enormously expensive colleges and universities is fundamentally flawed. The student loan program essentially indebts the future to the present.
CLINTON, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — A Clinton woman was arrested for heroin possession after being with a man who died after taking it, Vermillion County Sheriff Mike Phelps reported Saturday.
On Friday at approximately 3:15 a.m. a 911 call brought law enforcement and emergency medical professionals to a residence on N. 9th Street in Clinton for a 30-year-old male who was unresponsive. Samual Greene was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 3:30 a.m.
During the investigation, officers discovered that Sabrina Dailey, 26, of rural Clinton had been with Greene at the time of his death and neglected to call 911, contacting instead a friend of Greene’s who arrived on scene, called 911 and initiated CPR.
Officers later located Dailey at her residence on State Rd. 163. Dailey admitted she had bought heroin and that she and Greene used it. A search turned up a small amount of heroin and several items of paraphernalia consistent with drug use and distribution.
Dailey was taken into custody for possession of heroin and is currently being held at the Vermillion County Jail on a $10,000 bond with 10% allowed. Greene’s autopsy is scheduled for Saturday.
Marijuana is now legal in more states than ever before, with medical marijuana proving an essential tool to relieve symptoms caused by chemotherapy and AIDS, or for those in chronic pain. Others just use it to relax, especially during stressful times (like the ones we’re going through now). But it’s important to note that smoking marijuana doesn’t come without risks, particularly if you do it every day. Here is what could possibly happen, so you can be aware of the risks as well as the rewards. Read on—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don’t miss these Sure Signs You’ve Already Had Coronavirus. 1 You Might Impair Your Senses&Have Mood and Behavior Changes Daily marijuana use can lead to “feelings of fatigue or apathy; feelings of anxiety, paranoia, or panic; temporary hallucinations,” says Dr. Jenna Liphart Rhoads. As well as, “trouble taking care of oneself and lack of hygiene practices; disconnecting from activities or people they once enjoyed; impaired memory and confusion.” 2 You Put Yourself at Risk for Respiratory Diseases “Chronically inflamed airways that result in a chronic cough, sore throat, or runny nose, and put the user at a higher risk for respiratory diseases or illnesses,” says Dr. Rhoads. 3 You Might Develop Marijuana Use Disorder “Make no mistake about it, smoking marijuana daily carries with it very real potential for addiction. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that between 9% and 30% of those who use regularly will develop marijuana use disorder,” says Dr. Mary Gay. “I have observed significant negative effects on clients who habitually use marijuana including reduced academic performance, job loss, legal consequences, depression, anxiety, and in several cases, psychotic symptoms requiring hospitalization.” 4 You May Have an Increased Risk of Heart Issues “Compared with placebo, marijuana cigarettes cause increases in heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and forearm blood flow via increased sympathetic nervous system activity,” says Dr. Kim Langdon. “In addition, marijuana has been associated with triggering heart attacks in young male patients. Smoking marijuana has been shown to increase the risk of MI onset by a factor of 4.8 for the 60 minutes after marijuana consumption, and to increase the annual risk of MI in the daily cannabis user from 1.5% to 3% per year.” 5 You Might Cause Functional and Structural Changes in Your Brain “Functional MRI studies have also revealed functional and structural changes in brain areas involved in reward processing after chronic cannabis use and in the processing of emotion,” says Dr. Langdon. “Some studies show a higher incidence of schizophrenia in chronic adolescent and teenage use of marijuana.” 6 You Might Have Changes in the Homeostasis in Your Body “Daily use of cannabis can desensitize the endocannabinoid system and override its natural capacity to maintain homeostasis. In layman’s terms, using medical marijuana too frequently can knock your endocannabinoid system out of whack a bit, which can have an effect (though not always a negative one) on some of your body’s natural processes, like your sleeping habits, mood, appetite, memory, and fertility,” says Dr. Daniel Whitelocke, M.D., Founder of AR MMJ Cards. “Because the endocannabinoid system was only identified as recently as the 1990s, experts are still working toward fully understanding it.” 7 You Might Have Pregnancy Issues “Marijuana use during pregnancy can be harmful to your baby’s health. The chemicals in marijuana (in particular, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC) pass through your system to your baby and can harm your baby’s development,” says the CDC. “Some research shows that using marijuana while you are pregnant can cause health problems in newborns— including low birth weight.” 8 You May Have Fertility Issues Smoking daily increases the chances of having “problems with decreased fertility in both males and females,” says Dr. Rhoads. It can also be a factor in erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation. RELATED: What Taking Ibuprofen Every Day Does to Your Body 9 What About Withdrawal? “Withdrawal from cannabis seems to induce a lack of motivation. Cognitive dysfunction and memory problems are other potential problems such as abnormal response to stress,” says Dr. Langdon. “A clinical diagnosis of cannabis withdrawal includes irritability, anger or aggression, nervousness or anxiety, sleep difficulty, decreased appetite or weight loss, restlessness, depressed mood, and physical symptoms causing significant discomfort such as shakiness or tremors, sweating, fever, chills, and headaches.” 10 On the Other Hand… “Marijuana is said to be a fantastic muscle relaxant, and people swear by its ability to lessen tremors in Parkinson’s disease.
Several witnesses from different locations across Oahu, Hawaii reported seeing a large glowing, blue mass flying over the night sky around 8.30pm on Tuesday.
A large blue glowing object was spotted in the night sky in Oahu on Tuesday
Witness Moriah and her husband followed the object for three miles in their car
Footage shows the ‘UFO’ moving across the sky before falling into the ocean
The sighting was reported to the FAA which confirmed it had not received reports of overdue or missing aircraft’
Comes as Harvard professor Avi Loeb reignited conspiracy theories about extraterrestrial life
Loeb maintains the 2017 discovery of the Oumuamua rock is actually a piece of discarded technology from an alien civilization
A Harvard professor says we were visited by an alien life form in 2017 — and we should be ready for more.
When the first sign of intelligent life first visits us from space, it won’t be a giant saucer hovering over New York. More likely, it will be an alien civilization’s trash.
Avi Loeb, the chair of Harvard’s Department of Astronomy, believes he’s already found some of that garbage.
In his upcoming book, “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), out Jan. 26, the professor lays out a compelling case for why an object that recently wandered into our solar system was not just another rock but actually a piece of alien technology.
The object in question traveled toward our solar system from the direction of Vega, a nearby star 25 light-years away, and intercepted our solar system’s orbital plane on Sept. 6, 2017.
On Sept. 9, its trajectory brought it closest to the sun. At the end of September, it blasted at about 58,900 miles per hour past Venus’ orbital distance, and then, on Oct. 7, it shot past Earth’s before “moving swiftly toward the constellation Pegasus and the blackness beyond,” Loeb writes in the book.
The object was first spotted by an observatory in Hawaii containing the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) — the highest definition telescope on earth.
The space object was dubbed ‘Oumuamua (pronounced “oh moo ah moo ah”), which is Hawaiian for — roughly — “scout.”
As space travelers go, it was relatively small at just about 100 yards long, but it was a big deal in the scientific community.
For starters, it was the first interstellar object ever detected inside our solar system. Judging from the object’s trajectory, astronomers concluded it was not bound by the sun’s gravity — which suggested it was just traveling through.
Legendary talk show host and former CNN interviewer Larry King has Covid-19, according to a source close to the family.
King, 87, has been hospitalized at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for more than a week, the source said. Due to protocols at the hospital, King’s three sons have been unable to visit him, according to the source.
King, who has Type 2 diabetes, has confronted a series of medical issues over the years, including several heart attacks and quintuple bypass surgery in 1987. In 2017, King revealed he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and successfully underwent surgery to treat it. He also underwent a procedure in 2019 to address angina.
His own medical issues inspired him to start the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, a non-profit aimed at helping those without health insurance afford medical care.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) —
