News Of Western Pennsylvania And The World
An earthquake of magnitude 6 struck India’s rugged northeastern state of Assam on Wednesday, causing cracks in the walls and floors of some structures, but no immediate casualties were reported.
Source: Quake of magnitude 6 strikes India’s Assam, damages some buildings | Reuters
(CNN)President Joe Biden made a sweeping case Wednesday for massive new programs that would transform the government’s role in Americans’ lives, claiming nothing less than the future of the country is at stake as he delivered his first address to Congress.
Coming later than usual, on the eve of his 100th day in office, Biden delivered his speech amid swirling health and economic crises he has spent his term combating.But his message went beyond simply ridding the country of coronavirus or getting Americans back to work. In Biden’s telling, the results of those efforts could determine whether American Democracy survives at all: a live-or-die proposition that escalated his calls for trillions of dollars in new spending into an existential question for his audience of lawmakers.His speech was laden with symbolism, from its scaled-down audience to the historic pair of women sitting behind him. It was a speech decades in the making for a president who has waited longer than most to be introduced with the familiar call: “Madam Speaker, the President of the United States.”
Source: 5 takeaways from Joe Biden’s address to Congress – CNNPolitics
When U.S. Catholic bishops hold their next national meeting in June, they’ll be deciding whether to send a tougher-than-ever message to President Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians: Don’t receive Communion if you persist in public advocacy of abortion rights.
At issue is a document that will be prepared for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops by its Committee on Doctrine, with the aim of clarifying the church’s stance on an issue that has repeatedly vexed the bishops in recent decades. It’s taken on new urgency now, in the eyes of many bishops, because Biden — only the second Catholic president — is the first to hold that office while espousing clear-cut support for abortion rights.
Such a stance, by a public figure, is “a grave moral evil,” according to Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, who chairs the USCCB’s Committee on Pro-Life Activities and believes it’s necessary to publicly rebuke Biden on the issue.
Source: US Catholic bishops may press Biden to stop taking Communion
The Department of Justice released on Wednesday a group of videos depicting the alleged assault on Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and other members of law enforcement during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The videos have been cited as evidence in the assault and conspiracy cases against two men – Julian Khater, 32, of State College, Penn., and George Tanios, 39, of Morgantown, W. Va.
The videos have been described by prosecutors and played in court, but have not previously been made widely available. The government made the footage available after a coalition of 14 media organizations, including NPR, filed a legal motion in federal court, arguing that the public had a “powerful interest” in seeing the evidence cited in the government’s prosecution of violent crimes committed on Jan. 6. After initially rejecting the media coalition’s requests, citing potential security concerns regarding surveillance footage from the U.S. Capitol, the Department of Justice decided to release the videos.
Source: Jan. 6 Capitol Riot Videos Show Alleged Assault On Police Officer Brian Sicknick : NPR
Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police Department has said its computer network has been breached in a targeted cyber-attack, US media report.
A ransomware group called Babuk is reportedly threatening to release sensitive data on police informants if it is not contacted within three days.
The FBI is investigating the extent of the breach, US media reported, citing the Washington DC police department.
Ransomware is used to scramble computer networks and steal information.
Source: Cyber-attack hackers threaten to share US police informant data – BBC News
(CNN)Federal agents executed search warrants Wednesday at the Manhattan apartment and office of Rudy Giuliani, his attorney said, advancing a criminal investigation by federal prosecutors that has been underway for more than two years.
Giuliani, who served as former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, has been the focus of an investigation concerning his activities in Ukraine, including whether he conducted illegal lobbying for Ukrainian officials while he pursued an investigation linked to Trump’s primary political rival, President Joe Biden, CNN has reported. Giuliani hasn’t been charged and has denied wrongdoing.It is unusual for prosecutors to execute a search warrant on a lawyer, although Manhattan federal prosecutors have done so before, most notably in recent years against another former lawyer for Trump, Michael Cohen.On Wednesday afternoon, an attorney for Giuliani, Robert Costello, said the warrant described an investigation into possible violation of foreign lobbying laws and that it sought communications between Giuliani and people including a former columnist for The Hill, John Solomon.
Source: Rudy Giuliani: Federal agents execute search warrants on Manhattan home and office – CNNPolitics
The Food and Drug Administration appears likely to move to ban menthol in cigarettes this week — a step, experts say, that has been years in the making and that could have a significant positive impact on the health of Black Americans.
The FDA’s decision would not ban menthol immediately, but rather kick off the rule-making process to do so, which could take years.
“The winds are definitely in our favor,” said Delmonte Jefferson, executive director of the Center for Black Health & Equity, citing both the decades of data that show that the cooling flavor in cigarettes makes it easier to start smoking combined with the current cultural momentum toward improving the lives of Black Americans.
Source: FDA poised to ban menthol cigarettes this week, experts predict
The first-ever U.S. release of genetically engineered Aedes aegypti mosquitoes this week in the Florida Keys and residents are furious over the ‘live experiment’ saying it is terrorism.
The president’s “American Families Plan,” which he will detail this week, will be offset in part by a tax enforcement effort that administration officials believe will raise 700 billion dollars over a decade.
Source: Biden Seeks $80 Billion to Beef Up I.R.S. Audits of High-Earners – The New York Times
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fully vaccinated people can exercise outdoors or with members of their household without a mask.
- The CDC added that fully vaccinated people can hold small gatherings outdoors with others who are inoculated, or with a mix of unvaccinated people, without face coverings.
- The agency did not define how big those gatherings can be, and said Americans should still wear masks in crowded outdoor spaces.
Source: CDC: Fully vaccinated people can exercise, hold small gatherings outdoors without masks
BRADDOCK, Pa. — A Powerball ticket worth $150,000 was sold in Allegheny County.
The ticket matched four of the five white numbers drawn on Saturday, Apr. 24. The numbers were 22, 36, 48, 59, 61, and the red Powerball 22.
Without the $1 Power Play option the ticket would have been worth $50,000. The Power play multiplier was three.
Source: $150K winning Powerball ticket sold in Allegheny County – WPXI
NEW STANTON, Pa. —
A fire that started in the tires of a tractor-trailer created a big mess at the Pennsylvania Turnpike service plaza in New Stanton, Westmoreland County.
The fire was reported around 3 a.m.
The tractor-trailer appeared to be hauling several packages on pallets.No injuries were reported.
Source: Tractor-trailer fire creates big mess at turnpike service plaza in Westmoreland County
More than 20 House Republicans are calling on President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to investigate the Hunter Biden for allegedly falsifying information in order to obtain a firearm.
“I write to ask that you publicly commit to investigate allegations that Hunter Biden falsified information during a background check in order to illegally obtain a firearm should you be confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF),” Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) wrote in a letter to Biden’s nominee for ATF Director.The letter, which was obtained by the Daily Caller, was signed by 23 other House Republicans.
Police said no further details would be released until identification and notifications were made.
Agencies on the scene include Conewango Township Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Warren County DA’s office, Warren County coroner’s office, Starbrick Volunteer Fire Department, and Glade Fire Department.
Search and rescue crews are on the north side of the river from the Irvine Distribution Center.
Police and firefighters responded to reports of a body found in the Allegheny River Sunday afternoon.
“We were notified by a fisherman of a possible body in the water,” Conewango Twp. police officer Charlie Andersen said.
Source: Body found in Allegheny River | News, Sports, Jobs – Times Observer
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh police are searching for a gunman wearing all black and a red ski mask who shot another man at a Carrick gas station.
The victim was shot beside Pump #1 at the BP gas station in the 1900 block of Brownsville Road around 2:45 p.m.
A private vehicle took the victim to the emergency room at UPMC Mercy and dropped him off. The victim is reported to be in stable condition.
Source: Pittsburgh police searching for gunman after man shot at gas station – WPXI
Proponents of the effort to remove Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California from office have collected enough valid signatures for a recall election, the California secretary of state’s office announced Monday.
The announcement kicks off a 30-business-day period in which those who signed the recall petition may withdraw their names. County election officials will then have 10 business days to report how many signatures have been withdrawn. If the threshold is still met, a recall election would take place after a budgetary review and scheduling process expected to last several months.
The recall drive began in June 2020, and a court extended the deadline for collecting signatures because of the coronavirus pandemic. The group running the signature drive — Recall Gavin 2020 — posted a lengthy list of grievances against the governor on its website: “Unaffordable housing. Record homelessness. Rising crime. Failing schools. Independent contractors thrown out of work. Exploding pension debt. And now, a locked down population while the prisons are emptied. Hold Gavin Newsom accountable.”
Newsom and other Democrats have said the effort is led by extremists and pro-Trump Republicans. An Emerson College poll in mid-March showed that a narrow plurality of California voters would keep Newsom in office: 42%, versus 38% who said they would vote to remove him, with 14% undecided. Six percent answered they would not vote in a recall election.
Source: Effort To Remove Calif. Gov. Newsom Collects Enough Signatures To Force Recall Vote : NPR
HBO’s Bill Maher on Friday mocked Caitlyn Jenner’s bid for California governor after the former Olympian and transgender activist announced her GOP campaign.
“I know that you think of her as a reality show star, but come on. People change,” Maher said on his show. “She is trans, rested and ready. She’s got a great slogan: ‘Take the sack out of Sacramento.'”
Source: Maher mocks Caitlyn Jenner over California governor bid | TheHill
Employees at Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen + Bar at Live! Casino in Westmoreland County are planning to hold a rally outside the casino Monday afternoon to protest “pay discrimination, harassment and retaliation complaints.”
In a statement from organizers, they said that this protest comes “after a number of workers … complained about labor violations that management has failed to address.”
On March 4, employees sent a petition to management that had over 3,000 signatures on it, asking for the company to raise the wages of Black workers, implement mandatory racial sensitivity and equity training and issue a public acknowledgement and review of the working conditions at the restaurant, which is just east of Greensburg in Hempfield.
In the statement, organizers said that a disparity between white and Black workers’ wages was found after an employee had filed a grievance over a manager using the N-word while telling an employee to turn music off.
That manager no longer works for the restaurant or the casino, the casino’s public relations manager Doug Haniford said.
“That particular incident was addressed,” he said.
The petition is asking that management raise the wages of Black workers at the restaurant, including five months of back pay.
“Although Black workers at Guy Fieri’s Kitchen + Bar Westmoreland have more professional experience, they are being paid lower wages than their white counterparts,” it read.
An arrest warrant has been issued for a Pittsburgh woman suspected in last week’s fatal hit-and-run crash that left a pedestrian dead in Homewood.
Pittsburgh police said they are looking for Ausha Brown, 25, of Pittsburgh. No other details about Ms. Brown were provided.
Ms. Brown is wanted in connection with the death of of Von Washington, 31, of Pittsburgh, who was hit by a car in the 7600 block of Kelly Street on April 20. Mr. Washington died after being taken to the hospital.
Two women told police they witnessed the incident and provided a description of the vehicle.
Source: Arrest warrant issued for woman wanted in fatal Homewood hit-and-run | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The United States will make more medical aid available to India in an effort to fight an alarming spike in COVID-19 cases. The pledge came during a phone call between White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval on Sunday, as India has become the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic and the country’s health system is collapsing.
“Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need,” National Security Council Spokesperson Emily Horne said in a statement, which went on to say that the U.S. will allow for the export of certain raw material urgently needed for vaccine production, as well as sending test kits, ventilators and personal protective equipment, among other aid.
Source: U.S. Pledges Medical Aid To India, Where COVID-19 Is Overwhelming Hospitals : NPR
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A white state trooper who was seen on video telling a Black driver “you are going to get your a—whipped” and yanking him out of the car by his neck is no longer with tha State Police, a spokeswoman said.The Washington Post reports that spokeswoman Corinne Geller said state police were prohibited from releasing additional detail about Charles Hewitt, the trooper seen in a viral video of a 2019 traffic stop. Joshua Erlich, an attorney for driver Derrick Thompson, said he was told during the settlement of a federal lawsuit over the incident that Hewitt was fired for cause in February, months after the video became public.
Source: Virginia trooper off force after traffic stop viral video
BRUSSELS — American tourists who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to visit the European Union over the summer, the head of the bloc’s executive body said in an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, more than a year after shutting down nonessential travel from most countries to limit the spread of the coronavirus.The fast pace of vaccination in the United States, and advanced talks between authorities there and the European Union over how to make vaccine certificates acceptable as proof of immunity for visitors, will enable the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, to recommend a switch in policy that could see trans-Atlantic leisure travel restored.
Source: Vaccinated American Tourists May Soon Travel to Europe – The New York Times
Engineering
Zoom has an opening for a Database Engineer/Admin to manage its core databases, optimize SQLs, assist service engineers with solving customer issues and more.
PNC is hiring a Senior Software Services Manager (Capital Markets) to manage development projects and application support functions for a major business segment.
Legal
The Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh seeks a Paralegal to provide assistance to attorneys in the Civil Law Project as they represent clients in cases involving intimate partner violence.
Human Services
Acculturation for Justice, Access and Peace Outreach is hiring an Employment/Vocational Case Manager to oversee the cases of refugee clients.
The Allegheny Children’s Initiative, a subsidiary of Partners For Quality Inc., seeks an Intake Services Coordinator to manage intake functions for the organization’s programs.
Nonprofit
Bike Pittsburgh has an opening for a Volunteer & Events Coordinator to coordinate volunteers and event logistics.
Pittsburgh Festival Opera is hiring a Warehouse Inventory Coordinator to create an inventory and conduct an evaluation of its assets, including sets, props and costumes.
Human Resources
The Pittsburgh Foundation is looking for a Human Resources Generalist to manage the day-to-day human resource functions for 65 employees of the foundation and its supporting organizations.
Higher Education
The University of Pittsburgh seeks a Portfolio Director for Innovative Health Systems Initiatives for the School of Pharmacy’s Program Evaluation and Research Unit to oversee a $10 million portfolio of projects.
Source: Who’s hiring in Pittsburgh? Zoom, Bike Pittsburgh, PNC and more — 4/26/21
A Ring doorbell captured footage of a police officer in Vacaville, California, throwing a 17-year-old to the ground and punching him in the face on Wednesday, according to the teen’s father. The teen’s father posted the now viral video of the incident on Facebook, saying that his son, Preston, has autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and that “he looks and acts younger than he is.”
The incident occurred Wednesday afternoon, Adam Wolf wrote on Facebook, when Preston was “aggressively approached” by a Vacaville police officer. The video shows Preston standing with his scooter on a sidewalk in a suburban neighborhood when a police officer exits his vehicle and approaches him while aggressively yelling at him to sit down. Preston complies and sits down with his legs crossed. The officer then appears to yell at the teenager to put his legs out, and when he does not immediately do so, the officer picks up his scooter and throws several feet away. It appears as though the officer attempts to grab the boy, at which point Preston flinches and leans back, seemingly scared. A few moments later, Preston attempts to run away, and the officer grabs him by the arm and slams him onto the street.
(CNN)An unarmed man was shot by a Virginia sheriff’s deputy about an hour after the same deputy gave the man a ride home, Virginia State Police confirmed to CNN.
An attorney for Isaiah Brown, 32, said his client was shot while on the phone with 911 after the deputy — who had returned to respond to a “domestic incident,” per state police — mistook a phone for a gun.Brown was taken to a local hospital after the shooting early Wednesday with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to statements from the Virginia State Police, which said its Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Culpeper Field Office Police Shooting Investigation Team was investigating at the request of the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office.The shooting took place after a Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s deputy responded to a call about a “disabled motorist” and gave Brown a ride home from a gas station, state police said.Asked if the deputy who shot Brown was the same who had given him a ride home earlier, VSP spokesperson Corinne Geller confirmed to CNN it was the same deputy.The body camera video and 911 audio were released late Friday, after the sheriff’s office said Brown’s family had reviewed both at the invitation of the sheriff’s office and a special prosecutor in the case, the Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney.
Source: An unarmed man was shot by a Virginia deputy who gave him a ride home an hour earlier – CNN
The explosion of an oxygen cylinder soon engulfed the whole hospital, including a ward of helpless covid patients.
President Barham Salih described the tragedy as a “wound for the whole nation,” while Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi announced an investigation into the blaze, declared three days of national mourning and suspended top health officials.
Iraq is in the worst phase of its coronavirus pandemic, averaging around 8,000 new cases daily as the health system struggles to cope. The country’s human rights commission said that 28 of the patients killed in Saturday’s fire had been on life support when the smoke and flames reached their ward.
Source: Toll climbs to 82 in Baghdad hospital fire, says Iraq government – The Washington Post
Winfrey said she couldn’t believe Markle went ‘all the way there’ with her claims against the royal family.
Oprah Winfrey is sharing more insight into her explosive interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. The media mogul expressed that she was “surprised” that the Duchess of Sussex went “all the way there” with her claims against the tabloids and royal family during Oprah With Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special.
“I was surprised,” Oprah said during the first episode of The Nancy O’Dell Channel on talkshoplive, “What? You’re going there? You’re going all the way there?”
During the broadcast, Meghan and Harry made some shocking claims. Meghan revealed that she suffered from suicidal thoughts while pregnant with son Archie. She said she was told senior members of “the Institution” told her she could not get help. Harry also revealed that his father, Prince Charles, stopped speaking to him for a time. However, one topic that was particularly controversial was Meghan and Harry’s claims that a member of the royal family expressed concerns about how “dark” their future son Archie’s skin tone would be.
A vehicle crash knocked out power for a neighborhood in Crescent Township on Saturday.
There is currently no estimate on when power will be restored.
According to Duquesne Light, more than 200 customers are without power in Crescent Township.
Source: Crash knocks out power for Allegheny County neighborhood – WPXI
WASHINGTON — To Larry Swanson, the small apartment buildings scattered across the Pittsburgh region stand as a testament to federal support for affordable housing — support that has waned over the years.
The buildings provide independent living low-income people with a range of disabilities who otherwise would face living in nursing homes or other institutions, said Mr. Swanson, the executive director of Action Housing Inc., a 64-year-old nonprofit that builds, improves and preserves affordable housing throughout the region.
Those projects, most of which have 10 to 15 units each, would not be economically feasible to build, he said, if it weren’t for a specific financing program, called Section 811, offered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
“Those are the kind of things that private developers don’t do,” Mr. Swanson said. With other federal incentives to build housing, like the Low Income Housing Tax Credit run through the U.S. Treasury Department, “you can’t do the same types of projects; you can’t serve the same kinds of people.”
But a lack of HUD funding has deterred Mr. Swanson’s agency from pursuing such a project for more than a decade, he said. “HUD has underfunded for a very long time,” he said.
It’s a familiar lament issued over the years by some advocates of affordable housing and congressional Democrats. Now, with Democrats in control of Congress and the White House, a push for federal housing dollars is front and center as the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Housing proposals aim to boost HUD budget for building affordable units | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
President Biden on Saturday became the first U.S. president to formally recognize the systematic deportation and massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as a genocide — something the successive White Houses have avoided out of concern for damaging relations with Turkey.
“Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,” Biden said in a statement marking Armenian Remembrance Day.
BIDEN CALLS TURKEY’S ERDOGAN AHEAD OF POSSIBLE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RECOGNITION
An estimated 2 million Armenians were deported and 1.5 million killed between 1915 and 1925 in what has become known as Meds Yeghern.
Source: Biden formally recognizes atrocities against Armenians as a genocide | Fox News
