We spoke with people who said they didn’t know what was going on, until they saw the fight and blood all over the store.
Alexis Keppel and Yssence Andino were there doing their grocery shopping.“It was one person getting beat up by three or four other people. A tall guy just getting beat up by kids, adults, men, women, everyone,” explained Keppel. “
The woman that was involved the one that ganged up on the guy, she ended up getting hit and I think she broke her nose. Because when we went to the self-checkout, she was absolutely covered in blood.”
The White House announced Thursday that it would not ask the CDC to again extend the eviction protection, which expires on July 31, and called on Congress to take action. The Biden administration would have liked to extend it (it has been extended four times already) given the rise in the spread of Covid cases dueto the Delta variant, but White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki cited the Supreme Court’s ruling that, “clear and specific congressional authorization” — new legislation — would be needed for the CDC to extend the moratorium past its current deadline.
The House Rules Committee met on Friday to consider a bill to extend the federal eviction moratorium through December. But there isn’t wide bipartisan support and it faces an uncertain future in the Senate.
The Biden administration also asked government agencies to extend their respective bans on evictions, also set to expire July 31. On Friday agencies including the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Housing Finance Agency extended their more limited eviction protections, banning the eviction of those living in federally-insured, single-family foreclosed properties through September.
The CDC eviction moratorium and other protections have prevented an estimated 2.2 million eviction filings since March 2020, according to Peter Hepburn, a research fellow at the Eviction Lab and assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers University-Newark.
“These moratoria and protections, they haven’t been perfect, but they’ve undeniably had a massive effect in preventing eviction filings,” Hepburn said.
This comes as an unprecedented amount of federal rental relief — $46 billion — works its way through states, cities and local distribution points to the landlords and tenants who need it. The aid is the last lifeline that many renters can grab on to. But for many, it won’t come in time.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf was in Pittsburgh to celebrate the anniversaries of Pennie and Medicaid, and to discuss affordable health care coverage.
The Ceo of the center, Rodney B. Jones, said it means a lot the governor chose the center to spread the message of affordable health care.
Jones said it’s a place where people with or without insurance can get quality health care.
He said, “It’s important that everyone has the ability to get quality affordable healthcare regardless of his or her insurance status.”
Jones said the federal and state-funded health care center’s mission is to help under-served families in urban and rural communities in 69 zip codes in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas.
Wolf said, “Access to quality health care is really important. It’s the right thing to do and I’ve been fighting to expand access to health care since I took office. That’s why one of the first things I did was to expand Medicaid.”
Two programs were the focus of the celebration, Pennie and Medicaid. Pennie is the official health insurance marketplace for Pennsylvania where people can apply for financial help to lower the cost of monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs for health insurance. Pennie also helps people find out what savings they qualify for from the American Rescue Plan.
“Now with Pennie, we are evolving to a point where we are casting a broader net to ensure that everyone gets affordable health care,” said Jones.
Medicaid is a federal and state program to help with healthcare costs. Lauren Stuparitz, who is a recipient, said without these programs, her family couldn’t afford care and it’s very important to take care of yourself, especially during a pandemic.
She said, “Assurance of having health care helps me feel more stable, secure and confident that I can take care of my family, that I can do things that are meaningful in life.”
The governor said he wants all people to understand what their options are when it comes to health care and to make the best choice for their families.
A 55-year-old woman was beheaded in broad daylight near Minneapolis on Wednesday, and her abusive boyfriend was arrested for the killing, reports said.
The decapitated body of America Mafalda Thayer was discovered lying on the ground next to a car by cops who responded to a stabbing in Shakopee, Minnesota, according to KMSP.
Officers recovered a large knife in an alley nearby. Thayer’s boyfriend, 42-year-old Alexis Saborit, was taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder, police said.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish authorities on Thursday began investigating the cause of a string of forest fires in Turkey’s Mediterranean and southern Aegean regions, including two near the coastal resort town of Manavgat that killed three people and sent over 50 others to the hospital as homes burned down.
A wildfire that broke out Wednesday in Manavgat, in Antalya province, and was fanned by strong winds and scorching temperatures, was largely contained, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said. But another fire that started overnight and swept through the district of Akseki, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north, kept firefighters engaged.
Three people were killed in those fires, and authorities evacuated nearly 20 neighborhoods or villages.
The Antalya region is a popular vacation destination for tourists from Russia and other parts of Europe.
Fires also broke out Thursday in 16 other locations, including in the Icmeler region, close to the resort of Marmaris, 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Antalya, that briefly threatened holiday homes and hotels. A hotel in the Aegean beach resort of Guvercinlik, near the town of Bodrum, was also evacuated, Pakdemirli said.
ORLANDO, Fla. – Several brands of dog food sold nationwide are being recalled over fears they could contain high levels of mold.
Pet food maker Sunshine Mills issued the recall voluntarily. The products in question were sold nationwide under a variety of names, including Evolve, Nuture Farms, Wild Harvest and Triumph.
Company officials say all of the recalled dog food contains de-boned chicken and rice with a best-by date of Feb. 11, 2022.
Sunshine Mills says no illnesses have been linked to the recalled food.
Customers who have any of the recalled items can return the food for a full refund.
First lady Jill Biden will undergo a procedure Thursday to remove an object from her left foot, her office announced.
She stepped on the object, which her office did not identify, on the beach in Hawaii last week and it apparently became lodged. The incident occurred prior to Biden’s two official events in Hawaii, her spokesman Michael LaRosa said.
President Biden will join the first lady for the procedure, which will take place at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
PITTSBURGH — One man was shot and two others were pistol-whipped late Wednesday night in Pittsburgh’s Carrick neighborhood, police said.
Officers and paramedics were called about 11 p.m. to Brownsville road, where they found a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, police said. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition.
Around the same time, officers were called to Concordia Street for two men with head injuries. Those men told police they were pistol-whipped in the same area of Brownsville Road where the other man was found shot. They were taken to a hospital for treatment.
Tsunami warnings were lifted for Alaska and the rest of the Pacific after a huge earthquake of 8.2 magnitude struck the seismically active U.S. state Wednesday.
Tsunami warnings were lifted for Alaska and the rest of the Pacific after a huge earthquake of 8.2 magnitude struck the seismically active U.S. state in the late hours on Wednesday.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage to property.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) canceled warnings issued for Hawaii and the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, while the public broadcaster NHK said there was no risk to Japan. Authorities in New Zealand also said they did not expect any flooding in coastal areas.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The FBI in Pittsburgh helped in taking down a massive drug trafficking operation that spanned Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, and the Dominican Republic.
In that bust, 34 people were indicted, including a suspect from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
According to investigators, they seized more than eight kilos of cocaine, a kilo of heroin, and 12 ounces of crack.
MOUNT LEBANON, Pa. — A man killed his parents before getting into a shootout with police in Mount Lebanon, then leading officers on a chase and being found dead after a crash, authorities said.
The 25-year-old man, who has not been identified, called police shortly after 12 a.m. Thursday to a home on Gilkeson Road. It was discovered that he had shot and killed both of his parents and was ready to surrender.
Police said he was calm at first, but he then began shooting at officers.
Authorities seized nine guns and more than $40,000 worth of meth from a McKeesport man’s home, according to Attorney General Josh Shapiro, all of which he says stems from a new partnership between state and local authorities in the Mon Valley.
Franklin Gribschaw, 42, faces multiple charges of drug possession and drug delivery.
A New Jersey man is behind bars after Greensburg police said he fled a traffic stop at 90 mph before crashing and being apprehended, according to court papers.
Nicholas Michael Tedesco, 27, of Newton, N.J., is charged with flight to avoid apprehension, resisting arrest, escape and related offenses.
City police said they were on patrol at 3:30 a.m. Friday when they pulled over a Chevrolet Malibu that had an inoperable tail light and revoked registration. The car fled the stop on South Main Street as an officer approached the car, according to court papers.
Police said Tedesco traveled 90 mph south on South Main Street and through two red lights before crashing into traffic islands and an embankment at the on-ramp for Route 30 east. He ran from the scene and officers apprehended him behind a nearby business, according to court papers.
There were warrants for his arrest in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and police said he had a suspended New Jersey driver’s license.
Tedesco was taken to the Westmoreland County Prison Friday on a bench warrant in a June 2020 case for receiving stolen property, filed by Jeannette police, according to online court records. His parole in that case was revoked in May and he was ordered to remain detained.
He was arraigned on charges in the new case Tuesday. He was denied bail because District Judge Chris Flanigan deemed him a flight risk, according to online court records. Tedesco did not have an attorney listed in online court records. A preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 5.
WASHINGTON — Two more whistleblowers have come forward to allege that children were mistreated by contractors and senior federal employee managers at a Department Health and Human Services migrant shelter in Fort Bliss, Texas, earlier this year, and also say HHS told them to downplay hundreds of Covid infections among children held at the facility.
“Covid was widespread among children and eventually spread to many employees. Hundreds of children contracted Covid in the overcrowded conditions. Adequate masks were not consistently provided to children, nor was their use consistently enforced,” the whistleblowers, Arthur Pearlstein and Lauren Reinhold, said in a federal whistleblower complaint filed Wednesday
But at the end of their service, they said, federal detailees were regularly given written instructions from HHS public affairs that told them, “when asked, to make everything sound positive about the Fort Bliss experience and to play down anything negative.”
At a town hall with employees, a senior manager from the U.S. Public Health Service refused to share the rate of infections, explaining that he did not want the number to end up reported by the media, they said.
Pearlstein and Reinhold are federal employees who volunteered to be detailed to the shelter when the Biden administration ramped up staffing to accommodate the influx of unaccompanied children crossing the border by building emergency intake shelters like Fort Bliss and others.
NBC News previously reported that Servpro, a company that specializes in disaster cleanup and has no child welfare experience, oversaw the care of nearly 5,000 children in Ft. Bliss in early May and June.
A Florida Republican congressman is set to introduce a bill requiring presidents and vice presidents provide financial disclosures for their non-dependent children ahead of Hunter Biden’s much-criticized art exhibition.
Rep. Michael Waltz told Fox News Tuesday his legislation, the Preventing Anonymous Income by Necessitating Transparency of Executive Relatives (PAINTER) Act, is a bid to stop “the obvious and shameless grift that’s going on with Hunter Biden’s art sales, for which he is obviously not qualified to do and is only doing to continue to profit off of his family name.”
The first son will present a solo exhibition of 15 paintings at galleries in New York and Los Angeles this fall. Prices for the art will range from $75,000 for works on paper to $500,000 for the larger canvases.
Critics have warned that would-be purchasers of Hunter’s art could spend big money not to purchase a masterpiece, but to curry favor with the West Wing.
“The whole thing is a really bad idea,” former George W. Bush chief ethics lawyer Richard Painter told The Washington Post earlier this month. “The initial reaction a lot of people are going to have is that he’s capitalizing on being the son of a president and wants people to give him a lot of money. I mean, those are awfully high prices.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey was representing the homeowner, Patricia Dilascio, and her daughter, Andrea Dick, in their appeal to Superior Court in Union County. A municipal court judge earlier this month ruled the homeowner had violated a local obscenity ordinance and ordered them to remove the signs with the f-word — or else pay a $250-a-day fine.
ACLU of NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha said in a statement shortly after the ruling that the dismissal was a First Amendment win for the Roselle Park family and all New Jerseyans.“
The First Amendment exists specifically to make sure people can express strong opinions on political issues – or any other matter – without fear of punishment by the government,” said Sinha. “Today’s decision confirms that our position was correct: Roselle Park had no grounds to issue fines for a political sign and the town’s use of its obscenity ordinance infringed upon fundamental rights protected by the First Amendment.
Pittsburgh has a strong connection to horror films. From being featured in George A. Romero’s Living Dead movies to Silence of the Lambs, we love a good scare. It makes sense that many indie filmmakers in the city have gravitated toward the horror genre, and Massacre Academy makes one more to add to the list.
Massacre Academy will have its red carpet premiere on Sat., July 31 at the Lamp Theatre in Irwin, Pa. In an email, the film’s writer/director Mark Cantu describes it as an ’80s slasher comedy. Cantu, who produces films under his Pittsburgh-based independent film production Cineworx, says the film was shot locally during the pandemic. Besides using a local cast and crew, Massacre Academy also features horror heavyweights like Felissa Rose, noted for playing the lead character in the 1983 cult horror film Sleepaway Camp.
Massacre Academy follows Kris McNeil (played by Jess Uhler), one of few survivors of a brutal series of murders by a slasher known as Carnie (Dave Sheridan). The film is set in 1987, two years after the massacre when Carnie is presumed dead. The trailer features a soundbite that says Carnie “sank to the bottom of a lake and drowned” but, as happens in horror films, a new series of killings begins and all signs point to him.
Tickets for the premiere are still available but limited, so get them while they last.
Massacre Academy premiere. 7 p.m. Lamp Theatre.222 Main St., Irwin. $30. lamptheatre.org
GOP Representative Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma has revealed how he comforted the unnamed distraught officer who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, one of the Trump supporters who entered the Capitol on 6 January.
Mr Mullin said he encountered and hugged the officer who shot Ms Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran, as she tried to climb through a broken window next to a door close to the speaker’s lobby.
Mr Mullin told C-SPAN last week that the officer was “later in his career” and the GOP Rep added that he was sure the officer “did not want to use lethal force” but that he was left with no other option.
“He was the last person in the world who ever wanted to use force like that,” Mr Mullin said. “I don’t know for a fact, but I can guarantee you he’s never had to pull his weapon in a manner like that before. I know for a fact because after it happened, he came over. He was physically and emotionally distraught. I actually gave him a hug and I said, ‘Sir, you did what you had to do.’
“Unfortunately, the young lady, her family’s life has changed and it’s unfortunate that she lost her life, but the lieutenant’s life has changed too,” he added. “It wasn’t his choice. He did not show up that day to have to do that, he got put in a situation where he had to do his job because there were members [of the House] still in the balcony.”
PITTSBURGH — An employee at a U-Haul facility in Pittsburgh’s Larimer neighborhood was shot in the neck and the suspect took off in a U-Haul truck before being arrested along Route. 28, according to police.
Investigators said the shooting happened at the U-Haul rental store on Washington Boulevard around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The employee was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Police said they were able to find the suspect fleeing in a U-Haul truck on Route 28. During a brief pursuit, the suspect fired a weapon at another vehicle. A police vehicle was hit during the chase and an officer suffered a minor leg injury as a result.
The chase ended near the 31st Street Bridge when the U-Haul truck was damaged. The suspect was then taken into custody.
A carjacking and shooting near a U-Haul facility in Pittsburgh spurred a police chase that culminated in an arrest made on Route 28 during rush-hour traffic Tuesday evening, initial reports indicate.
A Pittsburgh officer was injured when the suspect’s stolen rental truck struck him in the leg during the pursuit, police said. The officer’s injury was described as minor, and city public safety officials said he transported to a local hospital in stable condition.
Pittsburgh Public Safety officials told Trib news partner WPXI-TV that during the carjacking, an employee at the U-Haul dealer on Washington Boulevard in the city’s Larimer neighborhood was shot in the neck.
The wounded employee was rushed by medics to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
Shortly after 4:30 p.m., emergency dispatchers received a request for police, fire and ambulance support along Route 28 near the 31st Street Bridge, an Allegheny County 911 shift commander told the Tribune-Review. The dispatcher confirmed that the dozens of police cars swarming the highway and re-routing passing drivers were there in connection to an incident involving police in Larimer.
During the pursuit, the suspect shot at a civilian vehicle, according to city public safety officials. The vehicle was hit but the driver was not injured.
A Pittsburgh police SUV with a badly damaged rear-end was parked along the highway. A bit farther south, a smashed-up U-Haul pickup truck was wedged against the highway’s barrier.
The suspect who was arrested and taken into custody was not immediately identified. All lanes of Route 28 were reopened before 6 p.m.
Jake Ellzey, the Texas Republican, won a special congressional election against Susan Wright, the widow of late Rep. Ron Wright, who had the support of former President Trump.
Gov. Greg Abbott, a fellow Republican, said in a statement that Ellzey will be “a strong and effective leader for the people of North Texas.”
Ellzey was carrying more than 53% of the vote in Texas’ 6th Congressional District with results from almost all precincts reported.
In May, Susan Wright and Ellzey advanced to the runoff for Texas’ Sixth Congressional District, which many viewed as a bellwether for future contests. The runoff was also seen as a disappointment for Democrats who did not advance.
That is how much money an anonymous donor gifted the Diocese of Greensburg’s Catholic schools.
“I can’t express how happy we are here in the Greensburg Diocese and I’m so happy for the opportunity for the children and youth of our diocese to have an opportunity to experience Catholic education,” Bishop Larry Kulick said.
The money will go to the St. Pope John Paul II Tuition Opportunity Partnership. Last year, the same individual donated more than $2.5 million to help pay the tuition for prospective students.
The donor hopes the influx of money will keep the enrollment up.
“To have somebody come out of nowhere and offer millions of dollars in scholarships to people, it’s been transformative,” said Kevin Frye, the principal of Christ the Divine Teacher School in Latrobe.
“That is a lot of love. It’s going to go far. It’s going to bring more people into our community,” said parent Meghan Scalise.
There are requirements for those applying for the funds. The biggest being:
“The requirements are that they become part of a faith community. It doesn’t have to be a Catholic faith community. It can be a denominational church, a Christian faith community, and we want them to become an active member of that community,” said Marsteller.
WASHINGTON (AP) — “This is how I’m going to die, defending this entrance,” Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell recalled thinking, testifying Tuesday at the emotional opening hearing of the congressional panel investigating the violent Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
Gonell told House investigators he could feel himself losing oxygen as he was crushed by rioters – supporters of then-President Donald Trump – as he tried to hold them back and protect the Capitol and lawmakers.
He and three other officers gave their accounts of the attack, sometimes wiping away tears, sometimes angrily rebuking Republicans who have resisted the probe and embraced Trump’s downplaying of the day’s violence.
Six months after the insurrection, with no action yet taken to bolster Capitol security or provide a full accounting of what went wrong, the new panel launched its investigation by starting with the law enforcement officers who protected them. Along with graphic video of the hand-to-hand fighting, the officers described being beaten as they held off the mob that broke through windows and doors and interrupted the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential win.
Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who rushed to the scene, told the committee — and millions watching news coverage — that he was “grabbed, beaten, tased, all while being called a traitor to my country.” That assault on him, which stopped only when he said he had children, caused him to have a heart attack.
Daniel Hodges, also a D.C. police officer, said he remembered foaming at the mouth and screaming for help as rioters crushed him between two doors and bashed him in the head with his own weapon. He said there was “no doubt in my mind” that the rioters were there to kill members of Congress.
Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn said one group of rioters, perhaps 20 people, screamed the n-word at him as he was trying to keep them from breaching the House chamber — racial insults he said he had never experienced while in uniform. At the end of that day, he sat down in the Capitol Rotunda and sobbed.
“I became very emotional and began yelling, ’How the (expletive) can something like this happen?” Dunn testified. “Is this America?”
The House select committee investigating the deadly Capitol riot is holding its first high-profile hearing today. Follow here for the latest news.
Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger called out other members of his party, saying “we need to reject those that promote” conspiracies about the insurrection on the US Capitol on Jan. 6.
He said he agreed to serve on this select committee because he wants to know what happened that day and present the facts to the public “free of conspiracy,” adding he wants Americans to be able to trust the committee.
“This cannot continue to be a partisan fight. I’m a Republican. I’m a conservative. But in order to heal from the damage caused that day, we need to call out the facts. It is time to stop the outrage and the conspiracies that fuel the violence and division in this country and most importantly, we need to reject those that promote it,” he said.
Kinzinger got emotional during his comments to the four officers who were testifying.
WASHINGTON — Republican Liz Cheney made clear Tuesday she wants the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection to have teeth, moving quickly to use subpoenas to force testimony from key witnesses. Cheney said Americans should know what happened “every minute of that day” inside the Trump White House.
“The task of this committee will require persistence,” the Wyoming congresswoman said in opening remarks at the committee’s first hearing on Capitol Hill. She is one of two Republicans on the bipartisan panel.
Cheney said the committee should move to “issue and enforce subpoenas.”
“We must overcome the many efforts we are already seeing to cover up the facts,” she said.
Cheney specifically noted that “we must know what happened here at the Capitol” but also that the committee should find out what happened “every minute of that day in the White House: every phone call, every conversation, every meeting leading up to, during and after the attack.”
That comment shows that Cheney and others on the committee plan to use subpoena power to compel testimony from top officials in the Trump White House, such as former chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Vice President Mike Pence and former President Donald Trump himself.
A 47-year-old Westmoreland County man is accused of a variety of serious crimes following a bizarre incident in a McDonald’s parking lot early Sunday morning.
According to court documents, Gardner was combative with police on the scene after the incident. He’s accused of kicking officers and damaging a police cruiser. Police said he also spit in the face of an officer during the arrest.
Officers reported the smell of alcohol on Gardner’s breath and also said they discovered an empty bottle of vodka and a small amount of marijuana in Gardner’s truck. Gardner was arraigned and is being held in the Westmoreland County prison on bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 4.