Western PA News

A federal judge has dismissed the National Rifle Association’s bankruptcy case, leaving the powerful gun-rights group to face a lawsuit from New York state that accuses it of financial abuses.

The judge sitting in Dallas was tasked with deciding whether the NRA should be allowed to incorporate in Texas instead of New York, where the state is suing in an effort to disband the group. Though headquartered in Virginia, the NRA was chartered as a nonprofit in New York in 1871 and is incorporated in the state.

Judge Harlin Hale said in a written order on Tuesday that he was dismissing the case because he found the NRA’s attempt to claim bankruptcy in New York was not filed in good faith.

Source: Judge dismisses NRA bankruptcy case in blow for US gun lobby | NRA | The Guardian

Behind his image as a straight-laced tech mogul, Bill Gates was notorious for throwing naked pool parties with strippers and being a “womanizer” — even after meeting future wife Melinda, according to a biography.

The Microsoft co-founder’s wild lifestyle was well known among his inner circle — but newspapers like the New York Times hid the unflattering reports to continue getting “spoon-fed stories,” James Wallace wrote in the 1997 biography, “Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace.”

They “didn’t report on the wild bachelor parties that Microsoft’s boyish chairman would throw in his Seattle home, for which Gates would visit one of Seattle’s all-nude nightclubs and hire dancers to come to his home and swim naked with his friends in his indoor pool,” Wallace wrote.

It was a continuation from his time at Harvard, where he “did like to frequent Boston’s notorious Combat Zone, with its porn shows, strip joints, and prostitutes,” Wallace wrote.

Source: Bill Gates ‘womanizer,’ held nude pool parties: biographer

Voters on the state’s Permanent Early Voting List — or PEVL — are automatically sent a ballot for every election in which they’re eligible to vote. The new law takes the “permanent” out of the PEVL.

Source: Arizona Republicans Change State’s Permanent Early Voting List : NPR

President Biden announced Monday that his administration would affirm that workers cannot turn down a “suitable” job they are offered and continue to take federal unemployment benefits.

Source: Biden: Workers can’t turn down job and get benefits | TheHill

Following years of debate, the green rush is fully under way in America. More than two-thirds of all states have given the green light to medical marijuana, with 18 of these states having existing or pending legislation in place that allows for recreational cannabis to be consumed and/or sold.

Support for nationwide legalization has also never been higher. Gallup’s national poll on marijuana sentiment, which dates back 50 years, showed that a record-high 68% of respondents want pot legal, as of 2020.

Connecticut

The only state left with a really good shot at legalizing adult-use cannabis in 2021 is Connecticut. The Constitution State is in close proximity to a bunch of states that have already chosen to legalize recreational pot. In order to avoid losing tax revenue to these surrounding states, it only makes sense to advance a legalization bill.

Minnesota

Next on the list is the Gopher State, Minnesota.

Unlike Connecticut, which has one party controlling its state’s legislature, friction between Democrats and Republicans in Minnesota’s legislature likely means a 2022 ballot initiative is what’ll lead to legalization.

The core bill being considered in the state is officially known as HF600. It was introduced at the beginning of February and aims to legalize recreational marijuana.

Hawaii

Lastly, the Aloha State looks to have a real shot at legalizing recreational marijuana — but there is a catch.

Hawaii’s legislature has been predominantly packed with Democrats for years. Since Democrats have a very favorable view of weed, they’ve, on multiple occasions, passed legislation designed to legalize adult-use marijuana and expunge low-level convictions.

So, why isn’t it legal? Democrat Gov. David Ige is the answer.

In 2019, Ige vetoed two of three cannabis reform bills from his state’s legislature — he OK’d decriminalization for persons possessing up to three grams of flower — and he’s expressed serious concern about a pair of bills the state’s legislature has been working on in 2021 concerning adult-use legalization and low-level expungement. Though Ige hasn’t specifically said he’d veto cannabis legislation, the thinking is he will, especially given his previous vetoes and his views of cannabis as a Schedule I (i.e., illicit) substance at the federal level.

The solution? Wait out Ige. Governors in Hawaii are limited to two terms, and Ige’s is up on Dec. 5, 2022. The election of a new governor in November 2022 that would support adult-use cannabis could clear a quick path to legalization shortly after the midterm elections.

Source: 3 States Likely to Legalize Marijuana Next | The Motley Fool

The NYPD are investigating a shooting that injured three people, including a four-year-old girl, after capturing what they believe to be a suspect on surveillance.» Subscribe to NBC News: http://nbcnews.to/SubscribeToNBC​ » Watch more NBC video: http://bit.ly/MoreNBCNews

Westmoreland County officials acknowledged that more than 190 incorrect mail-in ballots were issued to voters in Mt. Pleasant Township.

Ballots issued to voters in four precincts — Ridgeview, Mammoth, United and Westmoreland Homestead — erroneously omitted the race for district judge to replace Michael Mahady, who will retire at the end of his current six-year term, according to a news release issued Friday evening.

Source: Incorrect ballots mailed to some Mt. Pleasant voters, Westmoreland County says | TribLIVE.com

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Police tell Channel 11, an 11-year-old boy was shot in the abdomen after a stray bullet hit him.

The shooting happened just before 6 p.m. on Anaheim Street.

According to officers, the child was injured after getting caught in the crossfire and rushed to an area hospital by a family member.

The child is in stable condition.

The investigation is ongoing, no arrests have been made.

Source: 11-year-old shot in Pittsburgh’s Upper Hill District, caught between gunfire – WPXI

The family of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot while participating in the Jan. 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol, plans to sue the police department and the officer who fired the gun for at least $10 million.

News of the forthcoming lawsuit, first reported by Newsweek, came more than two weeks after the Justice Department said it would not file criminal charges against the officer who killed Babbitt.

Terrell Roberts, an attorney for the Babbitt family, told CNBC on Thursday that it had not been determined when, or in which court, the civil lawsuit against the U.S. Capitol Police would be filed.

Source: Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt’s family to seek $10 million from USCP in lawsuit

Debris from a Chinese rocket is expected to fall back to Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry this weekend.

It is not clear where and when exactly the rocket parts will crash on the surface.

The Long March 5B rocket was launched in late April to carry the first module of China’s future space station into orbit.

The body of the rocket is currently circling Earth, about to enter the lower atmosphere.

The US on Thursday said it was watching the path of the object but currently had no plans to shoot it down.

“We’re hopeful that it will land in a place where it won’t harm anyone,” US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said. “Hopefully in the ocean, or someplace like that.”

He also indirectly criticised China, saying there was a need to “make sure that we take those kinds of things into consideration as we plan and conduct operations”.

Chinese state media has over the past days played down fears the rocket might crash on inhabited land, suggesting it will fall somewhere in international waters.

The Global Times quoted aerospace expert Song Zhongping who added that China’s space monitoring network would keep a close watch and take necessary measures should damage occur.

What will happen to the rocket?

The rocket is currently in a low orbit, which means it circles around the Earth but is still gradually pulled down.

“Drag will slow the object causing loss of altitude, bringing it down into denser atmosphere, which in turn causes more drag and further loss of velocity and altitude,” Jason Herrin of the Earth Observatory Singapore, told the BBC.

“Once this process starts, the object will be locked into an irreversible downward journey,” he explains.

The rocket is expected to largely burn up as the atmosphere gets more and more dense at about 60km altitude from the surface. The parts that don’t burn up completely will remain and fall to Earth.

If all this happens uncontrolled, the place where the rocket burns up and where the debris will fall can be neither controlled nor accurately predicted.

A previous launch of another Long March 5B in 2020 also saw the body re-enter in an uncontrolled way, with some debris crashing in a rural part of Ivory Coast

Source: Chinese rocket debris expected to crash on to Earth this weekend – BBC News

MURRYSVILLE, Pa. —

One person was taken to the hospital after fire was reported inside of a home in Murrysville, Westmoreland County.

The fire was reported a little after 8 p.m. Thursday at a house on Foxwood Court.

The condition of the person taken to the hospital has not been released.

As of early Friday morning, there was no word on the cause of the fire.

Source: 1 person taken to the hospital after fire breaks out in Westmoreland County home

LONDON—The U.K. sent two Royal Navy vessels to patrol water around the island of Jersey after French trawlers gathered there to protest restrictions on their fishing rights, a new sign of the tensions created by Britain’s split with the European Union.

A flotilla of around 60 French fishing boats waited outside the entrance to the port of St. Helier, 14 miles off the coast of France, on Thursday morning. They fired flares and unfurled banners before later sailing off. The Royal Navy ships also subsequently departed, the British government said.

The spat centers on French fishermen’s rights to access waters around the island.

After Brexit, new terms were imposed by the government of Jersey—a self-governing British crown territory that relies on the U.K. for defense and international affairs—requiring fishermen to prove they had previously fished in island waters to get a permit to continue doing so.

Source: U.K. Navy Ships Sent to Island of Jersey in Standoff With French Fishermen – WSJ

An Allegheny County couple faces a slew of assault charges for forcing their children to sleep in locked basement rooms, physically abusing them and handcuffing them, according to police.

Richard Hayes, 37, of Mt. Oliver Borough, and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Natosha Bell, of Rankin, both face more than a dozen charges related to accusations of child abuse made by the three children they have between them.

Hayes and Bell both face 14 charges, including aggravated assault, unlawful restraint of a minor, false imprisonment of a minor, child endangerment and simple assault. Hayes is also charged with possessing a weapon on school property.

A judge on Thursday denied bail for Hayes, calling him a danger to the three children. Court dockets did not immediately indicate the status of Bell’s bail.

Source: Couple charged with handcuffing children, locking them in basement of Mt. Oliver home | TribLIVE.com

The U.S. Department of Justice says it is concerned about ballot security and potential voter intimidation arising from the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate’s unprecedented private recount of the 2020 presidential election results in Maricopa County.

PHOENIX — The U.S. Department of Justice says it is concerned about ballot security and potential voter intimidation arising from the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate’s unprecedented private recount of the 2020 presidential election results in Maricopa County.

The DOJ Civil Rights Division has sent a letter to Senator Karen Fann raising its concerns about the audit.

The letter points to “procedures used for this audit.” It specifically mentions two items that raise “potential noncompliance with federal laws enforced by the Department.”

Source: DOJ expresses concerns over audit of Maricopa County election through letter

According to attorney Sidney Powell, the Democrat Party and its corporate allies are turning America into a centralized country.

“We are living under a Communist totalitarian regime…propaganda, not free press for the most part,” she stated. “And the globalists and the Uni-Party and the cabal…definitely this country.”

Powell asserted that Democrats stole last year’s elections with the help of establishment Republicans, the media as well as China and Iran. She said they were determined to get President Trump out of office no matter what it took, even if it meant perpetuating so-called “Russian collusion” allegations for four years.

However, the radical left is now changing their tune and doing whatever it takes to shut down controversy over the 2020 election results. Powell stressed that despite Democrat attempts to derail the American audit, she expects hundreds-of-thousands of fake Biden ballots to be exposed in Arizona and 400,000 in Georgia.

Powell added, if the electronic voting machine companies are truly honest, she would expect them to be more transparent. She suggested they could have been more open to inspections the day after the election to make sure their data was correct. Under federal law, all voting data must be protected for 22 months after the election. Powell noted, the U.S. is supposed to have the most transparent voting systems in the world.

The attorney warned if Americans do not trust that their votes are properly counted, we no longer have a republic or a rule of law. She added, the fight for election integrity is the most important challenge facing America today.

Source: ‘Democrats turning America into totalitarian communist state,” says attorney Sidney Powell | One America News Network