News Of Western Pennsylvania And The World
Nicolas Cage, 56, has tied the knot for the fifth time to 26-year-old girlfriend Riko Shibata in a small Las Vegas ceremony where his ex-wife and son joined in the celebrations, DailyMail.com can reveal. The Oscar-winning actor married Riko in an ‘intimate’ wedding at the Wynn Casino and Hotel in Sin City back on February 16, with the date chosen to honor the birthday of the groom’s late father.
Source: Nicolas Cage, 56, ties the knot for the 5TH TIME in Las Vegas
David Morris said he was “stunned” to see a giant vessel seemingly suspended over the surface of the sea. It’s a truly “superior mirage.”
“Superior mirages occur because of the weather condition known as a temperature inversion, where cold air lies close to the sea with warmer air above it,” Braine said. “Since cold air is denser than warm air, it bends light towards the eyes of someone standing on the ground or on the coast, changing how a distant object appears.”
Source: Photos appear to show a giant ship hovering over the water off the English coast – CBS News
For more A.F. Branco cartoons, go to WesternJournal.com/cartoons. We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism.
Source: Red-Handed
The Biden administration has endorsed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a sweeping police “reform” bill intended to fight “systemic racism” in police departments.
The House approved HR 1280, introduced by California Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, on Wednesday. A similar bill was passed by the House last year, but it stalled in the Senate. The new bill could face the same fate.
Source: Biden Admin Pushes Bill That Would Force Cops to Pull Over Women for No Reason
There are few foods that evoke as much passion as pizza: Ask a dozen people their favorite and you might get a dozen answers, and everyone has a fierce loyalty for their neighborhood pizza shop.
Matt Porco, Donnie Amman and Chris Clark can rattle off theirs without batting an eye — Casa Del Sole in Aspinwall, Don Campiti’s in Dormont and Napoli in Bridgeville, respectively. It’s a combination of that neighborhood nostalgia along with a career’s worth of experience at top restaurants in Pittsburgh and New York that they’ll bring to Doughbar Pizzeria & Rotisserie, slated to open March 17 at 1831 E. Carson St. on the South Side.
Though whole- or half-bird rotisserie chicken and wings will be on the menu, pizza is the star.
“When you look at Pittsburgh’s pizza historically, we have a neighborhood pizza culture. We are bridging the gap between that and a full-service restaurant with the experience we have, the ideas that we can present, and creating an environment that is a destination,” said Porco, executive chef and co-owner.
“We’re hoping that you can get a little bit of nostalgia,” Clark said. “We’re incorporating ideas from the pizzas we liked when we were young.”
“Our menu is going to be a riff on a neighborhood pizzeria,” Mr. Porco said.
The new pizza restaurant from Matt Porco, Donnie Amman and Chris Clark will open on March 17.
Source: Doughbar, a new pizza destination, to open on South Side | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
(CNN)Jobless Americans would get a smaller weekly boost to unemployment benefits but receive those payments for an additional month under a last-minute revision of the Senate’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on Friday.
This is a significant change from the House bill, which would provide an extra $400 a week through August 29 and continue the two pandemic programs for the same period. The House bill does not contain the tax provision.
But West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — the Democrats’ crucial 50th vote — does not yet support the plan, but has been supportive of a Republican proposal to extend $300-a-week federal benefits through July.
Progress on the overall bill paused Friday afternoon as senators negotiated the issue.
The Senate was voting Friday on a series of amendments in a process known as a “vote-a-rama” before moving to a final vote on the entire relief package.
A Fair Health Study shows that lockdowns due to COVID-19 greatly affect the mental health of kids and often leads to suicide, a cause of death for kids that is more rampant than the infection of the virus itself.
In Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight broadcast on March 2, Carlson explained in depth how kids are 10 times more likely to die from suicide due to mental health issues brought about by the lockdown than “from the coronavirus they’re meant to be protected from.”
Source: Kids More Likely To Die From Suicides Due To COVID-19 Lockdowns: Study Shows
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – An investigation is underway after a woman was found dead inside her bathroom.
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Just before 11:00 a.m. on Thursday morning, police, fire, and EMS were called to a home in 5800 block of Black Street for a report of an unconscious woman at the home.
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When they arrived, a family member showed them to the bathroom where she was unconscious.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Pittsburgh Police are investigating the incident.
Source: Pittsburgh Police Investigating Woman Found Dead Inside Her Home – CBS Pittsburgh
A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill on Wednesday to repeal two military authorizations, effectively curbing President Biden’s war powers.
The bill, spearheaded by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), would repeal the 1991 and 2002 authorizations for the use of military force (AUMF), which both deal with Iraq.
The bill comes as lawmakers have voiced frustration about a lack of consultation with Congress over the United States’ strikes last week in Syria, marking the first known military action ordered by Biden. The administration didn’t cite either authorization for those actions.
Source: Bipartisan group of senators introduces bill to rein in Biden’s war powers | TheHill
“Ivermectin is currently being used widely,” said Dr. Eduardo López-Medina, a doctor and researcher at the Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases in Cali, Colombia, who led the new trial. “In many countries in the Americas and other parts of the world, it’s part of the national guidelines of treating Covid.”
But the drug has also proved divisive. While some scientists see potential, others suspect that effectively inhibiting the coronavirus may require extremely high, potentially unsafe doses. Health officials have also worried that people desperate for coronavirus treatments might take versions of the drug that have been formulated for pets. (It is commonly used to prevent heartworm in dogs.)
Source: Ivermectin Does Not Alleviate Mild Covid-19 Symptoms, Study Finds – The New York Times
Obama held a Q&A with reporters on Day 20, Trump on Day 27. The Biden White House has found other ways for the president to get its message out.
Nearly halfway into his first 100 days, President Joe Biden has yet to personally hold a press briefing, the longest any president has waited to make himself broadly accessible to the media in decades.
Presidential press briefings have historically been one of the few forums where the commander-in-chief is open to direct questioning and scrutiny, shedding light on an administration’s thoughts outside official public statements.
Source: President Joe Biden hasn’t had a press conference. Does it matter?
Twenty Republican state attorneys general signed a letter denouncing the House Democrats’ controversial election reform bill as unconstitutional for a slew of reasons just hours before the measure was expected to be voted on.
“This monstrosity of a bill betrays the Constitution, dangerously federalizes state elections, and undermines the integrity of the ballot box,” Rokita said in a statement to Fox News. “As a former chief election officer, and now an Attorney General, I know this would be a disaster for election integrity and confidence in the processes that have been developed over time to instill confidence in the idea of ‘one person, one vote.’”
The attorneys general said the bill “betrays several Constitutional deficiencies and alarming mandates” that would “federalize” statewide elections across America and that “states have principal —and with presidential elections, exclusive — responsibility to safeguard” how they hold elections under the Constitution.
“The Act would invert that constitutional structure, commandeer state resources, confuse and muddle elections procedures, and erode faith in our elections and systems of governance,” they wrote.
They then warned lawmakers that they “may wish to consider the Act’s constitutional vulnerabilities as well as the policy critiques of state officials.”
Source: 20 state AGs denounce Democrats’ HR 1 as unconstitutional
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A home was destroyed by fire in Westmoreland County Thursday morning.
The flames started around 10:30 a.m. at a home on Georges Street in Washington Township.
A man in his 80s lived at the home and told Channel 11 that a wood burner had malfunctioned.
Source: Home destroyed by fire in Westmoreland County
The 7-to-2 ruling rejected an environmental group’s Freedom of Information Act request.
Source: Justice Amy Coney Barrett Issues Her First Majority Opinion – The New York Times
UPDATE: 10:30 a.m.
A preliminary magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck off the Kermadec Islands in New Zealand but does not pose a tsunami threat to Hawaii.
The quake struck at 7:41 a.m. Hawaii time and was centered 601 miles south-southwest of Ohonua, Eua, Tonga, at a depth of 6.2 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
“Based on all available data a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected and there is no tsunami threat to Hawaii,” The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a bulletin.
An asteroid similar in size to the Golden Gate Bridge will whip past Earth later this month — the largest and fastest asteroid to pass close to our planet this year.
But don’t worry, it won’t get too close.
The asteroid, officially known by NASA as 231937 (2001 FO32), is about 0.5 to 1 mile in diameter, making it larger than about 97% of asteroids but small compared to large asteroids, according to Space Reference. It has an orbit period of 810 days.
Washington — President Biden and moderate Senate Democrats have struck a deal to limit eligibility for direct stimulus checks to Americans, lowering the income level for those who would qualify for payments, according to a Democratic source. The Senate is set to take up Mr. Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill as early as Wednesday. Since the bill is not expected to attract any Republican votes, all Democrats will need to support the bill in order for it to pass, giving moderate Democrats leverage to make demands of the president and Senate leadership.
Under the agreement, the $1,400 direct payments to taxpayers will begin to phase out at $75,000 for individuals, with no one making more than $80,000 eligible for payments. For couples who file jointly, the phase-out will begin for those making $150,000 and end at $160,000.
Source: Senate Democrats limit eligibility for stimulus checks in $1.9 trillion COVID bill – CBS News
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that he won’t resign from office amid growing calls for him to step down over sexual harassment allegations. After a third woman came forward to allege inappropriate conduct, the governor said during a press conference he felt “embarrassed” for the “pain I’ve caused” and pledged to cooperate with an investigation led by the state attorney general.
County emergency dispatchers said the crash occurred shortly before 2 p.m. at Racetrack and Wilson Fox roads in Youngwood.
Youngwood Fire Chief Lloyd Crago said an SUV was driving north on Racetrack Road when it left the roadway and struck a tree. The vehicle rolled over, came back onto the roadway and collided with a van that was going southbound.
The coroner’s office pronounced the driver of the SUV, 88-year-old Elizabeth Anderson, of Hempfield Township, dead at the scene.
State police in Greensburg and the coroner are investigating.
Source: Coroner called to two-vehicle crash in Youngwood, Westmoreland County
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Footage of a brutal crackdown on protests against a coup in Myanmar unleashed outrage and calls for a stronger international response Thursday, a day after 38 people were killed. Videos showed security forces shooting a person at point-blank range and chasing down and savagely beating demonstrators.
Despite the shocking violence the day before, protesters returned to the streets Thursday to denounce the military’s Feb. 1 takeover — and were met again with tear gas.
The international response to the coup has so far been fitful, but a flood of videos shared online showing security forces brutally targeting protesters and other civilians led to calls for more action. The United States called the images appalling, the U.N. human rights chief said it was time to “end the military’s stranglehold over democracy in Myanmar,” and the world body’s independent expert on human rights in the country urged the Security Council to watch the videos before meeting Friday to discuss the crisis.
Source: Myanmar crackdown on protests, widely filmed, sparks outrage
Ryan Deto, Pittsburgh City Paper News Editor, is joining Lynn today to discuss important local stories. The May primary election is a big deal for the Pittsburgh area due to the Mayoral race. There are quite a few running against Bill Peduto, and Ryan is talking about the candidates, as well as the Pittsburgh Democratic Committee.
Stream or download the last 5 shows on the MP3 downloads page.
PITTSBURGH —
A Pittsburgh police officer suffered a minor injury when a suspect trying to take off struck the officer’s vehicle.
The incident happened around 3:30 a.m. Thursday on the 6900 block of Churchland Street in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar neighborhood.
Police were responding to a report of suspicious people looking inside vehicles.When police arrived, one suspect tried to take off in a vehicle and ended up hitting the officer’s vehicle in the process.
One person was detained by police.
The investigation is ongoing.
Source: Pittsburgh police officer injured when fleeing suspect strikes police vehicle
A Hempfield man was charged with the theft of a wallet from an X-ray scanner at the front entrance of the Westmoreland County Courthouse.
Park Police said Verne Klingerman II, 54, used money from the stolen wallet to pay a $30 fine one floor above in the county’s Clerk of Courts Office.
According to the criminal complaint filed with Greensburg District Judge Chris Flanigan, Klingerman placed a blue jacket on the conveyor belt of the X-ray machine as he entered the courthouse at 12:30 p.m. Monday, went through the metal detector, then grabbed the coat and a wallet before heading into the building.
Park Police Officer Jenna Derco said that, 10 minutes later, another man notified officers he had left his wallet at the security area, but the item was not found.
When Klingerman returned to the courthouse entrance a short time later, he was questioned and denied knowledge about the missing wallet. A search discovered the item in his back pocket, and it contained the identification of the man who reported it missing, Derco wrote in the complaint.
The wallet’s owner said one $20 bill and one $10 bill had been removed and, according to the criminal complaint, Derco said Klingerman produced a receipt that showed he had just paid a $30 fine. Klingerman told police he “may have used the wrong wallet,” according to the complaint.
Source: Police say cash from wallet stolen at Westmoreland courthouse used to pay court fine | TribLIVE.com
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has put out a list of things the federal government can do to get schools to reopen. It’s not clear how many districts are currently closed for in-person learning.
Source: Biden Administration Makes Vaccines A Priority For Teachers : NPR
MERIDEN, Conn. — Having told educators that they would soon be vaccinated, the Biden administration began an aggressive push on Wednesday to drum up support for reopening schools, putting on a show of unity with the leaders of teachers unions and highlighting measures to keep students and staff safe from the coronavirus.
A day after President Biden announced a new federal program to give teachers nationwide access to at least a first dose of the vaccine by the end of March, the administration sought to position itself as intent on opening schools as soon as possible while also addressing the concerns of teachers that their fears were being ignored.
To carry the message, the White House dispatched the first lady, Jill Biden, and the newly confirmed education secretary, Miguel Cardona, on a trip to Connecticut and Pennsylvania to emphasize that teachers should no longer fear returning unprotected to the classroom. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that teachers do not have to be vaccinated for schools to reopen safely.
Getting shots into the arms of educators and school staff would be his “top priority” as education secretary, Dr. Cardona said in Connecticut, where he and the first lady were joined by Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers.
Source: Biden Administration Steps Up Push for School Reopenings – The New York Times
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress are jamming their agenda forward with a sense of urgency, an unapologetically partisan approach based on the calculation that it’s better to advance the giant COVID-19 rescue package and other priorities than waste time courting Republicans who may never compromise.
The coronavirus pandemic is driving the crush of legislative action, but so are the still-raw emotions from the U.S. Capitol siege and the hard lessons of the last time Democrats had the sweep of party control of Washington. Republicans are mounting blockades of Biden’s agenda just as they did during the devastating 2009 financial crisis with Barack Obama.
Democrats, in turn, are showing little patience for the GOP objections and entertaining few overtures toward compromise, claiming the majority of the country supports their agenda. With fragile majorities in the House and the Senate, and a liberal base of voters demanding action, Democrats are operating as if they are on borrowed time.For many lawmakers, it’s personal.Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., led the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to House passage Wednesday on the 30th anniversary of the Rodney King beating by police in Los Angeles that she thought at the time would spur policing reforms. Instead, more Black Americans and others have died in police violence, even after Floyd’s death at the hands of law enforcement last summer.“It’s examples like that that lead to the urgency,”
Bass said Wednesday.The start of the first congressional session of the Biden administration was supposed to be a new era of bipartisan deal-making. The Senate evenly split, 50-50, and the House resting on a slim majority for Democrats set prime conditions for Biden to swoop in and forge across-the-aisle compromises.
But the rush through Biden’s first 100 days is shaping up as an urgent era of hardball politics, with Democrats prepared to go it alone, even if that means that changes to the Senate filibuster rules are needed to work around Republican roadblocks to legislation that many Americans support.
Source: Eager to act, Biden and Democrats leave Republicans behind
House Democrats have passed HR 1, their signature anti-corruption and voting rights reform bill, for the second time in two years. But even though their party now holds the majority in the Senate, the bill has a tough road ahead of it.
As the numeral suggests, HR 1 and its Senate component S 1 — also known as the For the People Act — are Democrats’ first legislative priority. The sweeping democracy reform bill has been top of the list since House Democrats first took back the majority in the 2018 midterms and immediately set about expanding voting rights and getting money out of politics.
There’s a lot of ground covered in its nearly 800 pages, but some of its key points are creating a national system for automatic voter registration, putting in transparency requirements for political advertising, and instituting nonpartisan redistricting commissions to end partisan gerrymandering.
Source: House Democrats pass HR 1, their massive voting rights bill – Vox
Police say several people have been taken into custody at a hotel on Banksville Road after a report of an abduction.
Officials are on the scene of the Days Inn hotel on Wednesday. At one point, there were multiple police units, including SWAT in the parking lot.
Law enforcement says a call came in around 2:55 p.m. about a kidnapping in progress on Bausman Street, about 10 minutes away from the hotel. Not too long after, police said they located a vehicle that fit the description at the Days Inn.
“The call was for an adult female who had been kidnapped by two adult actors,” Pittsburgh police spokesperson Chris Togneri said.
Police say multiple suspects had rented out several rooms in the Days Inn and Comfort Inn and Suites hotels on Banksville Road.
Source: Police: People Taken Into Custody At Allegheny Co. Hotel After Report Of Abduction – CBS Pittsburgh
By Charlie Deitch
Pittsburgh Current Editor
Charlie@pittburghcurrent.comThe Abolitionist Law Center filed a federal lawsuit this morning against Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Mariani for his refusal to allow virtual access to proceedings in his courtroom.
The ALC is represented by the ACLU of Pennsylvania and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center.
In December, the Fifth Judicial District in Allegheny County avoided a lawsuit from advocacy and media groups, including the Pittsburgh Current, by agreeing to put a mechanism in place to allow for the streaming of proceedings.
According to a press release announcing the lawsuit, Mariani is the only judge who has denied virtual access to volunteers from the ALC’s Court watch program. While some judge’s have denied access in certain circumstances, Mariani has offered consistent denials.
HOMESTEAD, Pa. —Some Pittsburgh area residents are getting debit cards they didn’t ask for from banks they don’t belong to.Customers of Chase Bank are being told it could be an identity theft issue.
“The consumer should also fill out the bank’s ID theft form so that the bank removes the account from its records and shares the information with reporting agencies,” Chase Bank told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 in a statement.
Here’s a link to Chase’s online security center.
Pittsburgh, West Mifflin and Upper St. Clair police have put out notices that they’ve gotten reports of unsolicited debit cards being opened in residents’ names.
Cindy McGovern lives in Clairton. Multiple people in her office also got cards.
“There have been at least 30 people in that bank today, OK? There are people from all, many of the municipalities, many of the Mon Valley people, many of them South Hills people,” McGovern said.
Upper St. Clair Police says, aside from Chase, they’ve gotten reports that people have received cards from MetaBank and Go2Bank.
Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 heard back from Go2Bank Wednesday evening. They said they send mailers with cards that are clearly labeled as advertisements and have not received direct reports of any issues. The company is investigating if they’ve been impacted.
MetaBank has not yet responded to a request for a statement.
Pittsburgh police says people are encouraged to contact the bank, the three main credit reporting agencies and your local police department.
Source: Pittsburgh area residents getting unsolicited debit cards, concerned about identity fraud
