News Of Western Pennsylvania And The World
SOMERSET COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ)– Crews responded to a house fire in Somerset County at a rental property that 17 women were able to safely escape.
The fire happened at a rental property at 145 Robert Brown Road, Confluence, Pa. in Somerset County, Sunday, July 11.
There were 17 women inside sleeping when the fire happened. One girl woke up to the smell of smoke and got all the other women out safe.
Source: 17 women escape Somerset County house fire
In an unprecedented display of anger and frustration, thousands of people took to the streets Sunday in cities and towns across Cuba, including Havana, to call for the end of the decades-old dictatorship and demand food and vaccines, as shortages of basic necessities have reached crisis proportions and COVID-19 cases have soared.
From the Malecón, Havana’s famous seawall near the old city, to small towns in Artemisa province and Palma Soriano, the second-largest city in Santiago de Cuba province, videos live-streamed on Facebook showed thousands of people walking and riding bikes and motorcycles along streets while chanting “Freedom!” “Down with Communism!” and “Patria y Vida” — Homeland and Life — which has become a battle cry among activists after a viral music video turned the revolutionary slogan “Homeland or Death” on its head.
“We are not afraid!” chanted Samantha Regalado while she recorded hundreds of people walking along a narrow street in Palma Soriano.
Source: Thousands of Cubans protest to demand end to dictatorship | Miami Herald
By WPXI.com News Staff
PITTSBURGH — Several bullets were fired and a man was hit by a vehicle after a neighbor dispute in Mt. Washington Saturday night.
Police said the incident occurred on Kohlmeyer Lane around 9:50 p.m.
Officers responded to a report of a man hit by a vehicle.
The incident was a result of a neighbor dispute, which led to the man being hit and multiple rounds being fired toward that vehicle.
There were no gunshot victims. The man who was hit by the vehicle was taken to the hospital in stable condition with head and arm injuries.
The driver of the vehicle is known and the investigation is ongoing.
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- DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts
Source: Neighbor dispute leads to shots fired, man hit by vehicle in Pittsburgh neighborhood – WPXI
PENN HILLS, Pa. — Neighbors in Penn Hills are on edge after a series of thefts from vehicles recently.
One recent incident occurred Friday morning on Cedarwood Drive, while other incidents also occurred on Pecan Drive.
Residents provided video which shows two men rummaging around inside parked vehicles.
“The one thing I would say to the two young men, and they look awfully young in the video, is that this should not be where your story begins. Please turn it around. Make last night the last night you so something like that. Because this shouldn’t be your story,” neighbor Mary Smider said.
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- DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts
Source: Penn Hills residents report several thefts from vehicles – WPXI
Search efforts have accelerated in the last week after the demolition of a remaining structure that prevented teams from accessing some of the debris.
Confirmed deaths rose to 90 in the recovery efforts in the Miami Beach-area condo building collapse as crews continue to sift through the debris more than two weeks after the Champlain Towers South fell in the middle of the night.
At least 71 of the victims have been properly identified with next-of-kin notifications provided to their families, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Sunday morning. Search efforts have accelerated in the last week after officials demolished a still-standing section of the building that prevented teams from accessing a portion of the debris pile.
An estimated 31 people remain unaccounted for.
Source: Death toll rises to 90 in Miami Beach-area condo building collapse
The sun set in late May on the long restaurant careers of Robert and Anna Jo Noviello, owners of a popular Greensburg restaurant that had been in the family for three generations. The Noviellos sold the Sunset Cafe at South Urania Avenue and Laird Street to Ronald and Angela Mellinger
The Noviellos sold the Sunset Cafe at South Urania Avenue and Laird Street to Ronald and Angela Mellinger of Greensburg for $600,000.
Robert “Bob” Noviello said they wanted to sell so they could retire, which they have since done by moving to Port St. Lucie, Fla.
“We worked it for many years. (Anna Jo) was the backbone of the business. We had a great run,” Noviello said.
Noviello said he and his wife owned the restaurant since 1986, when he purchased it from his brother, Gerry Noviello.
“We dearly miss our customers and employees,” Anna Jo Noviello said. There were cooks, bartenders and servers who had worked at the restaurant for more than 20 years, she said.
She was proud the employees remained with the restaurant, despite the pandemic-related shutdown and the restrictions that limited them to offering takeout meals.
“This past year was the most trying year in the business,” Anna Jo Noviello said.
Source: Sun sets on long career at family-owned Greensburg restaurant | TribLIVE.com
Former Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann told “Watters’ World” Saturday that the federal government wants Americans to “check our Bill of Rights” at the door when it comes to COVID vaccines.
All of America is based upon the fact that we have rights against the government. And they want us, just as a matter of idea, [to] give up all of our first 10 Bill of Rights, our civil liberties, and say, “We’ll take it from here, we’re the federal government.” Because don’t let anybody suffer any delusions about this. There is a database. There will be a database, and everybody will be in that database. And it’s not just vaccine status, it will be your entire medical history. It will be connected to your finances. This is going to get bigger, bigger, bigger, so you stop it now, and you don’t give any information to any government questioner at your door.
Source: Michele Bachmann warns of the dangers of Biden’s door-to-door vaccination push
A Johnstown man was sentenced Thursday in Cambria County court for running a check-cashing scheme from a Richland Township hotel room in June 2020.
Raheem Akeem Brantley, 35, of the 600 block of Iolite Avenue, was sentenced to 14 to 48 months in prison by Judge Tamara R. Bernstein on forgery charges.
He had pleaded guilty in May.
Bernstein ordered a drug and alcohol assessment on Brantley and noted that, after looking at his past, she would like to help address his drug issues to see if that would help keep him out of the correctional system.
When police arrested Brantley in 2020 on a warrant from Allegheny County while he was staying at Holiday Inn Express on Scalp Avenue, they discovered an open shoe box containing numerous printed checks in various names, fictitious driver’s licenses, a computer and a printer, along with seven grams of heroin.
The name Active Movement LLC was stamped on two checks used at Walmart in Town Centre Drive. The first check was declined. The second check was approved for $717.27 and was later determined to be a forgery, police said at the time.
Brantley was also ordered to pay $3,464.52 in restitution and court costs.
Source: Johnstown man sentenced in check-cashing scheme | Local News | tribdem.com
An Ohio police officer was seen saving a choking man who ingested a bag of illegal marijuana during a traffic stop.
“Don’t try to swallow a bag of drugs prior to getting pulled over in an attempt to keep a trooper from finding them. Luckily, Tpr. Hoskin from our Ravenna Post was alert and able to assist the man who was choking on a bag of illegal marijuana,” the Ohio State Patrol’s official Twitter account wrote on Thursday, accompanied by footage of the scene.
The video shows Trooper Charles Hoskin approaching 24-year-old Stephan R. Elash during a traffic stop. Hoskin is seen asking Elash if he is okay as the 24-year-old gets out of the vehicle and is choking.
Source: Police officer saves man choking on bag of marijuana during routine traffic stop | Fox News
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick decried the Biden administration for failing to protect the Texas-Mexico border as he stressed support for former President Donald Trump during a speech at CPAC in Dallas on Friday.
During the speech, Patrick accused Biden of wanting to destroy the country’s borders and celebrating “violence in our streets.” He said Biden and Democrats don’t respect the Constitution.
“What’s happening on the border today is not an accident,” Patrick said to a crowd gathered in a Hilton ballroom. “It’s purposeful. It’s a designed plan. Why are they letting millions of people pour across this border? Because they want to turn them into citizens. Turn them into voters, and take over this country.”
Source: Patrick praises Trump, rails against Biden and Dems at CPAC | Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The Department of Education canceled an additional $55.6 million in student loan debt for 1,800 student who were victims of a for-profit college fraud, bringing the total amount of canceled student loan debt by the Biden administration to $1.5 billion.
“Today’s announcement continues the U.S. Department of Education’s commitment to standing up for students whose colleges took advantage of them,” Miguel Cardona, the secretary of education, said in the department’s statement released Friday.
The latest loan cancellation is for students who attended Westwood College, Marinello Schools of Beauty and the Court Reporting Institute. This is the first time the department approved loan forgiveness to students who attended schools other than Corinthian Colleges, ITT Technical Institute and American Career Institute since 2017.
More:64 Democrats call on Biden to extend student loan payment pause
Source: Biden administration cancels $1.5 billion of student loan debt
(CNN)On Thursday President Joe Biden spoke in defense of his ill-considered, hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan, in remarks peopled with straw men and littered with false assertions.
First, Biden contended that he was bound by a 2020 Trump administration agreement with the Taliban to withdraw all US troops by May 2021. But that was an agreement conducted by a previous administration — so it’s not binding — and it was predicated on the Taliban breaking with al-Qaeda.They didn’t, according to the UN in a report released just last month.It was also predicated on the Taliban engaging with the Afghan government in real peace negations.They haven’t, according to Abdullah Abdullah, an Afghan official who leads the High Council for National Reconciliation. He told CNN a week ago that there has been “very little progress” in those negotiations.A comparison with the Iranian nuclear agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is instructive. It was negotiated by the Obama administration with a sovereign government and was a deal that, after it was consummated in 2015, was being observed by the Iranians: they were not enriching nuclear fuel, according to both international inspectors and the US intelligence community.Second, Biden claimed in his speech that the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, would “work vigorously” for a negotiated solution between the Taliban and the Afghan government.This is a fanciful notion, as this is the same Zalmay Khalilzad who, while working under the Trump administration, ceded much of Afghanistan to the Taliban with the “peace” negotiations he spearheaded — based on the farcical premise the Taliban would renounce al Qaeda and also engage with real peace talks with the Afghan government. In any event, Afghanistan leaders accused Khalilzad of cutting them out of his negotiations with the Taliban. Trump administration officials denied the allegations.The Khalilzad-led peace process hasn’t worked for the past three years. Why would it suddenly work now?Third, Biden said that the US can’t be in Afghanistan “indefinitely,” yet there are some 28,000 US troops in South Korea three quarters of a century after the end of the Korean War, because the US has a strategic interest in defending the country against the nuclear armed North Korean despot, Kim Jong Un.So too, the US could have left its 2,500 troops in place in Afghanistan, a force that is less than 10% of the American service personnel in South Korea, to enable the Afghan government to fight the Taliban and its jihadist allies, such as al Qaeda.Fourth, Biden speciously implied that if the US has troops in Afghanistan then somehow it won’t be strong enough to “meet the strategic competition with China and other nations.”The US military consists of 1.3 million active-duty personnel and yet it can’t leave 2,500 troops in Afghanistan? To use a trademark Biden expression: C’mon man!After his speech, Biden told reporters that it’s “highly unlikely” that the Taliban will take over Afghanistan, which is not what his own intelligence community is warning.
Source: Opinion:The worst speech of Biden’s presidency – CNN
President Joe Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a Trump administration appointee, after he refused to resign from the post.
The move follows a tension-filled two-year tenure as congressional Democrats and elderly and disability advocates pushed for the president to oust Saul, who was known for his staunch anti-union stance that became increasingly controversial as the executive agency dealt with federal employee unions amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Democrats also blamed Saul for delaying stimulus checks sent out earlier this year.
Source: Biden fires Social Security commissioner, a Trump holdover – POLITICO
A fire engulfed a food and beverage factory outside Bangladesh’s capital, killing at least 52 people, many of whom were trapped inside by an illegally locked door, fire officials said Friday.
The blaze began Thursday night at the five-story Hashem Foods Ltd. factory, in Rupganj, just outside Dhaka, sending huge clouds of black smoke billowing into the sky. Police initially gave a toll of three dead, but then discovered piles of bodies on Friday afternoon after the fire was extinguished.
With the Pacific region hitting record-setting temperatures in the last few weeks, a new study from Canada shows the heat waves’ enormous impact on marine life: an estimated 1 billion sea creatures on the coast of Vancouver have died as a result of the heat, a researcher says.
But that number is likely to be much higher, professor Christopher Harley from the University of British Columbia says.
“I’ve been working in the Pacific Northwest for most of the past 25 years and I have not seen anything like this here,” he said. “This is far more extensive than anything I’ve ever seen.”
Harley reaches his estimates by counting the number of sea creatures, mostly mussels, in a section that he says is representative of an entire beach. He varies measuring some beaches that are rocky and some that are not to get a full estimate for the entire ecosystem.”
This is a preliminary estimate based on good data, but I’m honestly worried that it’s a substantial underestimate,” Harley told NPR from a beach in British Columbia, where he continues to survey the casualties from the most recent heat wave.
Source: Heat Wave Kills 1 Billion Sea Creatures Off Canada’s West Coast : NPR
A Tennessee man is facing charges after he allegedly fired an AK-47 near where officers were conducting a traffic stop.
“Was that gunshots,” one police officer is heard saying in a video of the incident on July 3 at around 9:30 p.m.
The Dyersburg Police Department stated that three officers were conducting a traffic stop when they heard gunshots coming from a nearby area, prompting them to investigate immediately.
“The gunfire was close with officers hearing tree limbs breaking from the rounds being fired in the wooded lot between the officers and Ewell Street,” the department said in a statement.
The officers spoke with witnesses who also heard the shots, with the investigation leading them to the home of 25-year-old Jeffrey Atwell.
Atwell told police the gunshots were actually fireworks. But during the questioning, the officers were able to identify 24-year-old convicted felon Marcus Akins in the home, who is wanted by police for failing to appear in court. They then located an AK-47.
Source: Man charged after allegedly firing AK-47 near police officers during traffic stop | Fox News
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is recalling more than 400,000 pickup trucks in the U.S. because the side air bags can explode without warning and spew parts into the cabin.
The recall covers certain 2015 and 2016 Chevrolet and GMC Sierra 1500, 2500, and 3500 trucks.
Documents posted Friday by U.S. safety regulators say the air bag inflator can rupture or the end cap can fly off on both sides of the trucks. Documents say three inflators ruptured in 2015 Silverados last month, one in Florida and two in Texas. All three trucks were unoccupied at the time, and GM says it has no reports of injuries..
The company says a manufacturing defect allowed moisture into the inflator while it was being manufactured, causing corrosion. The inflators were made in Mexico by Joyson Safety Systems.
Dealers will replace both side air bag modules. The company says it has a limited number of replacement parts available. Owners will be notified starting Aug. 16 and they’ll get a second letter when parts are widely available.
About 9,000 of the trucks were recalled last year for the same problem.
Source: GM recall: Side air bags can explode in Chevy, GMC pickups
Manifest is still flying around Netflix even after the cancellation.
Manifest entered its 23rd straight day as the #1 show on Netflix on July 5, according to Forbes, and it’s still holding that spot on July 8 and could become the most popular show on the streamer. The series is officially tied with Tiger King, which was also #1 for 27 days, meaning it just needs to beat out Ginny & Georgia, which Forbes reports was #1 for 29 days. Out of the five most-watched adult-targeted programs on Netflix, Manifest is the only non-Netflix show, which really says a lot. And makes many wonder why Netflix chose to pass on the series.
Shortly after NBC cancelled Manifest, many fans were hopeful that the show would find new life on Netflix, considering how well it was doing. There’s also the fact that Netflix promoted the first two seasons multiple times on their social media pages. However, just a week after NBC cancelled Manifest, news broke that Netflix passed on the series as well, which came to a surprise to many fans since it was, and still is, the #1 show on the platform.
Source: Weeks After Manifest’s NBC Cancellation, It’s Still Hitting A Major Netflix Milestone – CINEMABLEND
The White House is scheduled to issue an executive order Friday to promote competition throughout the U.S. economy in the most ambitious effort in generations to reduce the stranglehold of monopolies and concentrated markets in major industries.
The order — whose details POLITICO first reported last week — marks a major push by President Joe Biden’s administration to focus on competition as part of the economic recovery from the pandemic. It also offers a response to progressives’ criticisms that the federal government has focused too much on supporting banks and other corporations without concern about the effect on consumers, who have watched their choices dwindle over the years.
Source: Biden’s assault on monopolies launches Friday – POLITICO
A magnitude 6.0 earthquake along the California–Nevada border south of Lake Tahoe sent boulders cascading onto a freeway and was followed by dozens of aftershocks Thursday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Shaking was felt as far away as San Francisco and Las Vegas.
The temblor, which hit just before 4 p.m. PT was centered near the sparsely-populated town of Walker, California. No major damage has been reported.
“The ground was shaking pretty bad, and then everything started falling,” Carolina Estrada, manager at the Walker Coffee Company, said. Estrada said syrup bottles broke, dishes fell to the ground and the roof of the shop caved in a bit.
“We ran out of the building,” she said, adding that “boulders the size of cars” fell onto U.S. 395 as the shaking continued.
A section of 395 was temporarily closed because of rock slides, according to The Los Angeles Times. More aftershocks are expected for days. Driver Brett Durrant shared several videos on Twitter of the rock slides and its aftermath on the highway. Lorri Martin, who works at the Walker Country Store, said she was labeling items when the quake hit so she stood in the bathroom doorway. “This thing shook like it was moving onto the highway,” she said, according to The Times. “It rocked and rolled. Everything broke.”
California state Sen. Mike McGuire tweeted, “That was a heckuva earthquake to hit the Capitol.” He was inside the Sacramento capital when the quake hit. “People in the area should expect aftershocks for days following an earthquake of this size,” said Jason Ballman with the Southern California Earthquake Center at the University of Southern California.
The quake occurred along the Antelope Valley fault, which extends across the state line near Topaz Lake. Quakes aren’t uncommon there, seismologists said. Last month, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake rattled the eastern Sierra town of Lone Pine and sent boulders crashing down Mt. Whitney.
Authorities in Southern California have seized more than 16 tons of marijuana worth an estimated $1.19 billion, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said Wednesday. The 10-day sting is the largest eradication of illegal marijuana cultivations in the history of the department.
The operation, which began on June 8, resulted in 22 felony arrests, 109 misdemeanor arrests, and 19 arrests from water theft enforcement teams, officials said. More than 200 locations were served with search warrants. Nearly 375,000 marijuana plants and 33,480 pounds of harvested marijuana were seized, along with 65 vehicles, 180 animals and $28,000.
Source: $1.19 billion worth of marijuana seized in massive drug bust in California – CBS News
The credit lines usually allowed customers to borrow anywhere from $3,000 to $100,000, according to CNBC. In a FAQ portion of the letter, the bank explained that the account closures “may have an impact on your credit score,” adding that they could not be reviewed or reversed. “We apologize for the inconvenience this Line of Credit closure will cause,” the bank said, according to CNBC. “The account closure is final.”
In a statement sent to CNBC after its initial report was published, a Wells Fargo spokesman said, “We realize change can be inconvenient, especially when customer credit may be impacted,” adding that the bank was “committed to helping each customer find a credit solution that fits their needs.”
According to the news outlet, Wells Fargo said customers will be given a notice 60 days before their account is shut down, with remaining balances requiring minimum payments at a fixed rate. The Hill has reached out to Wells Fargo for additional information.
Source: Wells Fargo closing all personal lines of credit | TheHill
Authorities arrested a suspect Thursday evening in the July 3 triple homicide at the Pinetree Country Club in Georgia, in which golf pro Gene Siller was killed.
Source: Suspect arrested and charged in killing of golf pro Gene Siller and two others
UPDATED: USGS officials are updating information quickly.
An earthquake jolted Central California on Thursday afternoon, shaking up residents of the Sierra Nevada foothills and the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys.
The shaking struck at 3:49 p.m., registering magnitude 5.9, and was centered in the Little Antelope Valley about four miles south of Coleville in Mono County, about 150 miles east of Sacramento.
Source: Live Updates: Earthquakes hit Central California, Sierra Nevada | The Sacramento Bee
Rescue efforts at the site of the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, Florida, officially ended late on Wednesday night as officials have said there is no chance of life in the rubble.
More victims were recovered on Thursday, bringing the death toll by the early evening to 64 and the number of those still unaccounted for down to 76. Of those who were recovered, 35 have been identified.
Some families of those who have lost loved ones were taken to the site of the wreckage in the afternoon while recovery crews paused their work in order to pay their respects.
Thursday marked two weeks since the building collapsed in the early morning of 24 June. “Over the last 14 days, you all know our search and rescue teams … have been digging through this collapse. They’ve used every possible strategy and every piece of technology available to them to find people in the rubble,” the Miami-Dade mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, said on Wednesday, adding that rescuers have removed more than 7m pounds of concrete and debris from the mound.
Source: Miami condo collapse death toll hits 64 as rescue efforts end | Miami condo collapse | The Guardian
A woman was arrested for multiple burglaries in Bethel Park, and police are crediting a neighbor’s security camera.
When the decision was made to transition to recovery mode, “It took a little piece of the hearts of this community,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said Thursday.
Source: Death toll rises to 60 as recovery effort continues at condo collapse site
US retailers apologize for shirt reading ‘Ashli Babbitt American Patriot’ for the Capitol rioter shot dead by law enforcement.
The US retailers Sears and Kmart have apologized and pulled from sale a T-shirt featuring the words “Ashli Babbitt American Patriot” after an outcry on social media.
Babbitt was shot dead by law enforcement while taking part in the attack on the US Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on 6 January. She had been inside the building and was attempting to climb through a broken window when she was shot.
Source: https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/07/sears-kmart-pull-ashli-babbitt-shirt
Whether you pay with E-ZPass or Toll By Plate, it will cost you more to drive on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Source: Pennsylvania Turnpike is raising tolls again, for the 14th year in a row
The woman who died was found in a second-floor bedroom.
Her identity has not been released.
Her adult-aged son made it out of the home and was then taken to the hospital with smoke inhalation.
A person in a neighboring duplex that the fire extended to was able to make it out safely.
The fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire.
Source: Woman killed in Etna fire
