News Of Western Pennsylvania And The World
The state’s 20 electoral votes vaulted Joe Biden past the 270-vote threshold needed to take the White House. Kamala Harris is the first woman elected vice president. Mr. Biden leads in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. President Trump has vowed to file legal challenges.
Source: Election Results: Live Tracker – The New York Times
(CNN)Two armed Virginia men who were arrested Thursday outside the Philadelphia Convention Center were “coming to deliver a truck full of fake ballots” to the city, CNN affiliate KYW reported, citing prosecutors.
The center is one of the places where election workers have been counting votes from the 2020 general election, which includes the race for president.Text messages reveal that the men were concerned about the tallying of votes at the convention center, prosecutors said, according to KYW.Antonio LaMotta, 61, and Joshua Macias, 42, both of Chesapeake, Virginia, were arrested Thursday night outside the center on suspicion of carrying handguns in Pennsylvania without permits, authorities said.Philadelphia police said they found the men Thursday night after receiving a tip that people with firearms were heading to the Pennsylvania Convention Center in a silver Hummer truck.Officers found a silver Hummer a block from the center — parked and unoccupied — around 10:20 p.m. Thursday, about seven minutes before finding the men, who acknowledged the Hummer was theirs, police said.Both men were carrying loaded handguns, and police found an AR-type rifle in the Hummer, authorities said at a news conference Friday. About 160 rounds of ammunition were found in the weapons and the vehicle, authorities said.Stickers and a hat with logos of the QAnon conspiracy movement were found in the vehicle, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said.LaMotta and Macias were charged with having a concealed firearm without a license and carrying a firearm on a public street or public property, Krasner said.“This alarming incident is still very much under investigation regarding additional charges,” Krasner said.According to warrant look up in CT, LaMotta and Macias were arraigned Friday night, and a judge set bail at $750,000 each, Krasner’s spokeswoman Jane Roh said.Details about the alleged fake ballots — including where they came from, whether they were found in the Hummer, or what was marked on them — weren’t immediately available.
Source: Report: Armed men arrested in Philadelphia were trying to deliver fake ballots – CNN
To apply for a new license to carry a firearm, or a renewal or replacement, applicants need to print out and complete an application from its website. You’ll also need your Pennsylvania identification and $20.
firearms division of the Allegheny County Sheriff’s office is also responsible for issuing licenses to sell firearms.You can find more information on the Allegheny County Sheriff’s website.
Source: Line to get a license to carry a firearm wrapped around Allegheny County Courthouse
NEW, RENEWAL, & REPLACEMENT APPLICANTS MUST COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING STEPS
STEP 1: Download, complete and print an application ready to be submitted upon arrival at Firearms.
STEP 2: Arrive with a completed application, valid PA ID or Driver’s License and $20.00 cash.
PITTSBURGH — A man was shot while driving in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood on Thursday.
It happened in the 6900 block of Penn Avenue just before 5:45 p.m.
When officers got there, they said they found a man who said he was shot while driving his car. He was hit in his upper body and hand.
He was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Source: Man shot while driving on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh, police say
The Cordish Companies, owners of Live! Casino Pittsburgh, announced a new tenant to occupy its latest dining and entertainment experience on the second floor of its 100,000-square-foot facility in Westmoreland County.
PBR Country Bar – PBR Pittsburgh, a venue from the Professional Bull Riders, will officially open at the casino next year and will feature a mechanical riding bull, private VIP booths and “the best in country music.” According to the Cordish Companies, PBR Country Bar will offer an authentic country experience to visitors while combining what it calls “cowboy cool” and “big-time entertainment.”
“Branded sports bars are a very difficult concept to sustain, yet 12 years after opening the first PBR Country Bar, our concept is still expanding thanks to an extraordinary partnership with The Cordish Companies,” PBR Commissioner Sean Gleason said in a statement. “We are thrilled to open PBR Pittsburgh at Live! Casino to entertain guests safely and introduce them to the fun-loving PBR brand.”
Hundreds of ballots found at Pittsburgh post office
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, said he wants to find out how this happened.
“It’s of great concern to me and I think it’s further evidence that the Postal Service is being led by someone who is not only in over his head, but has taken steps that undermined peoples’ right to vote,” Casey said.
The state Supreme Court has ruled that mail-in ballots arriving up to three days after the election should be counted. But the Trump campaign and the Pennsylvania GOP have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, urging that the late ballots be tossed.
The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet decided if it will hear the appeal.“Every voter had the same opportunity to get their ballot here by 8 p.m. on Election Day so that’s the law. Whether we should change that law going forward, that’s a discussion we can all have but you don’t get to change in the middle of the game. If it’s not here by 8 p.m. Election Day it will not count,” said state Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre County.
Source: Hundreds of ballots found during sweep of Pittsburgh post office
Former Finance Minister Naci Agbal was brought in to replace Murat Uysal, according to a presidential decree announced in the Official Gazette.
- Former Finance Minister Naci Agbal was brought in to replace Murat Uysal, according to a presidential decree announced in the Official Gazette.
- The decision came after the lira lost nearly a third of its value since the start of the year — hitting a record low of 8.58 against the U.S. dollar on Friday — and annual inflation stood at 11.89%.
Source: Turkey replaces central bank head as lira sees record lows
It was an intense scene Friday afternoon outside the City-County Building in downtown Pittsburgh.Dozens of police and sheriff’s deputies shut down Grant Street, acting as a barrier between President Donald Trump supporters and anti-Trump activists.
It started out with about a half dozen Trump supporters holding a prayer protest to stop stealing the vote. They were then confronted by Anti-Trump activists.
Things then took an unexpected turn. The two groups engaged in a spirited debate, then took it across the street to have coffee.
“I wish to God I could have talked to you two weeks ago. Because you and I would have been kicking back this weekend drinking and laughing at all of these people showing up at the polls. You’re a good dude. Continue to be a good dude,” one activist said.
“You’re good too. What if your voice was so powerful, that you and I, like we’re doing right now. What if that was in every city around the country? You have two people. What kind of country do you think we would have?” Chris Eryz, a Trump supporter, replied to the activist.
Beyond the debate, there were no incidents along Grant Street. No one was injured, and no one was arrested.
Source: Tense moments between Trump supporters, activists turn into spirited debate in downtown Pittsburgh
At Kroger, customers can buy a maximum of two such items, according to a spokesperson who told the network that the limits, which began this week, apply in stores and online.
It’s like springtime all over again amid the spiking coronavirus pandemic as shoppers try to flush out large supplies of toilet paper, paper towels and disinfecting wipes, according to a report.
Several leading grocery chains are reimposing purchasing limits to prevent would-be hoarders from wiping them clean of the essentials, CNN reported.
At Kroger, customers can buy a maximum of two such items, according to a spokesperson who told the network that the limits, which began this week, apply in stores and online.
Meanwhile, Christopher Brand, a rep for the Northeast chain Giant, said the company was “seeing little evidence of stockpiling, and there is no need to create panic.”
Source: Grocery chains again limiting toilet paper, sanitizing wipes
The men were arrested outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where vote counting is taking place.
Source: Police arrest two in alleged plot to attack Philadelphia voting center – Vox
An upstate USPS employee was arrested Tuesday while crossing the US-Canada border with hundreds of envelopes and other undelivered mail — including several absentee ballots.
The Buffalo mailman, who was caught with over 800 pieces of mail inside his trunk that he had failed to deliver, said he had ended up on a bridge between the US and its neighbor to the north by accident, the Buffalo News reported.
Customs and Border Protection found a huge bin of mail spanning several zip codes in the vehicle. Among them were three absentee ballots from the Erie County Board of Elections, authorities told the newspaper.
Source: USPS worker arrested at Canadian border with undelivered ballots
Top Republicans are defending President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud and a rigged election even as some rank-and-file congressional Republicans have spoken out against the President’s latest remarks.
As both presidential campaigns scraped local data to find exactly how many votes remained to be counted in Pennsylvania on Thursday, Allegheny County officials said they still have to review about 35,000 mail-in and absentee ballots — but are mandated, by law and by court order, to wait until Friday to work through them.
Former officials expressed fears that the department’s legal interpretation would allow federal investigators to intimidate vote counters or interfere with their work.
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department told federal prosecutors in an email early on Wednesday that the law allowed them to send armed federal officers to ballot-counting locations around the country to investigate potential voter fraud, according to three people who described the message.
The email created the specter of the federal government intimidating local election officials or otherwise intervening in vote tallying amid calls by President Trump to end the tabulating in states where he was trailing in the presidential race, former officials said.
A law prohibits the stationing of armed federal officers at polls on Election Day. But a top official told prosecutors that the department interpreted the statute to mean that they could send armed federal officers to polling stations and locations where ballots were being counted anytime after that.
The statute “does not prevent armed federal law enforcement persons from responding to, investigate, or prevent federal crimes at closed polling places or at other locations where votes are being counted,” the official, Richard P. Donoghue, told prosecutors in an email that he sent around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
Source: Justice Dept.: Armed Agents Are Allowed to Oversee Ballot-Counting Venues – The New York Times
All eyes are on the battleground state of Pennsylvania as more ballots are being counted.
The judge in the case also ruled that the trial would remain in the Minneapolis area after the defendants sought a change of venue.
In an important win for the prosecution, a judge in Minneapolis on Thursday ruled that the four officers charged in the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who took some of his last breaths under the knee of a white officer on a Minneapolis street corner in May, will stand trial together.
The judge also ruled that the news media can broadcast the trial, scheduled for next spring, an unusual move in Minneapolis, where courts are generally closed to cameras. The judge cited the coronavirus pandemic, which limits the number of people who can be in the courtroom at any time, and the immense national and international interest in the case.
“Protests demanding justice for George Floyd continue,” the judge, Peter A. Cahill of Hennepin County, wrote in his ruling. “It is expected that, even with some overflow courtrooms, the demand by family members, the public, and the press to attend the joint trial will outstrip the court’s ability to provide meaningful access.”
Judge Cahill also said the trial will remain — for now — in the Twin Cities, although he left open the possibility of moving it later if the court is unable to seat a jury untainted by the vast publicity the case has already generated.
Source: Ex-Officers in George Floyd Case to Be Tried Together, With Cameras Rolling – The New York Times
The Oregon National Guard was activated in Portland, Ore., on Wednesday night in response to widespread violence in the city, authorities said.
Portland Police declared a riot amid a wave of destruction in the city that saw people smash storefront windows of local businesses in the downtown area. At least 11 rioters were arrested.Videos shared to social media of demonstrations in New York City showed police and activists in heated confrontations. The NYPD announced about 50 arrests related to the protests. Police confiscated several weapons, including knives, a stun gun, and explosives.
Meanwhile, supporters of President Trump gathered at the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, located outside of Phoenix, where some of the demonstrators were heard shouting: “Count those votes!”
Sheriff’s deputies were guarding both the outside of the building and the counting inside, reports said. A few of the protesters carried assault-style rifles.
In Minneapolis, police closed traffic on Interstate 94 after protesters marched onto the highway.
Follow below for more updates on the election-related protests throughout the U.S. Mobile users click here.
Wisconsin does not have automatic recounts, but a losing candidate can file a sworn petition requesting one if the margin of victory is less than 1%. Democrat Joe Biden leads by roughly 21,000 votes.
Not long after The Associated Press and other news outlets declared Wednesday that Democrat Joe Biden had won Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes, the Trump campaign announced it would ask for a recount in the state.
The margin separating Biden and Trump in what is one of the nation’s most contested swing states is roughly 20,000 votes, or less than 1%. It was absentee ballots in the cities of Milwaukee, Green Bay and Kenosha, added to county totals Wednesday morning, that appear to have put Biden on top.
Wisconsin was part of the so-called “blue wall” that Trump shattered last election cycle, when he narrowly won the state by less than 23,000 votes in 2016.
If there’s a recount, the Trump campaign will pay
The state does not have automatic recounts, however under Wisconsin law, a losing candidate can file a sworn petition, along with a filing fee.
Should the Trump campaign follow through on its promise to call for a recount, it will be on the hook to pay for it. Under rules enacted by a Republican legislature and governor a few years ago, the state will only pay for a recount if the margin of victory is .25% or less.
The Trump campaign said Wednesday there had been “reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties,” which it said cast doubt about the validity of the ballots cast.
Source: Trump Wants A Recount In Wisconsin. How Would It Work? : NPR
SWISSVALE, Pa. — More than a dozen police cars and the medical examiner were called to a park in Swissvale for a report of a body.
Several detectives were behind the home plate area of a baseball field in Les Gets Memorial Park off Church Street, according to Channel 11′s crew at the scene.
You can now customize your WPXI News App to receive Allegheny County news alerts. CLICK HERE to find out how.
Source: Medical examiner, homicide unit called to park after reports of teen boy’s body found
A man was fatally shot inside a vehicle in Pittsburgh’s Highland Park area Wednesday night.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner identified the victim as Lavonte Martel Howard, 28, of Pittsburgh.
City Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said officers responded to a Shotspotter alert for multiple shots fired shortly before 8:10 p.m. along the 5700 block of Jackson Street.
Police found Howard dead in the driver’s seat of a vehicle.
Cruz said an unoccupied vehicle nearby also sustained damage from the gunfire. No other injuries were reported.
Anyone with information about the incident can contact Pittsburgh police at 412-323-7800.
Source: Medical examiner IDs man shot, killed in car in Pittsburgh’s Highland Park area | TribLIVE.com
The Republican Attorney General’s Office in Arizona is investigating complaints from some Maricopa County voters that their ballots may have been discarded because they were filled out with Sharpie permanent markers.
Source: Arizona AG investigates whether Sharpie users’ ballots were rejected in battleground state
A crowd has gathered outside the TCF Center in Detroit as election officials informed dozens of Republican vote challengers that they could not reenter the room due to it being over-capacity.
Source: Locked-out Detroit Republican vote challengers furious over lack of access
An international team of planetary scientists led by astronomers at AOP have found an asteroid trailing behind Mars with a composition very similar to the Moon’s. The asteroid could be an ancient piece of debris, dating back to the gigantic impacts that formed the Moon and the other rocky planets
Source: Asteroid Trailing Mars May Be Our Moon’s Long-Lost Twin
The lawsuit in Michigan comes as President Trump faces an ultra-tight race against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Source: 2020 election: Trump sues over Michigan, Pennsylvania ballots
Pennsylvania expects it to take several days to finish counting votes in Tuesday’s election because of more than 2.4 million mail ballots.
Source: Pennsylvania’s results coming in slow due to heavy voter turnout, mail-in ballots
With no early, blowout victory, the presidential election is likely to hinge on votes that might take a while to be counted.
Source: What We Know As Of Midnight ET: Election Hinges On Key States : NPR
Democrat to make statement while president picks up key state – follow all the latest news….Joe Biden gave a pep talk at about 12:40 AM
