News Of Western Pennsylvania And The World
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — As soon as today, Mayor Bill Peduto’s administration could introduce a bill aimed at helping renters who are facing eviction.
The City of Pittsburgh is looking to create their own way of handling these issues and Mayor Peduto is working with council on addressing the matter.
Source: Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto’s Administration To Introduce Plan To Ban Evictions – CBS Pittsburgh
The announcement Monday night from the Pittsburgh Public Schools about its phased plans for reopening in April came as a surprise to the teachers union.
Nina Esposito-Visgitis, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, said the union knew nothing about the district’s plan and first learned about it through the media Tuesday morning.
Source: Teachers union surprised by Pittsburgh schools reopening plans | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit Monday against the founder and CEO of Minnesota-based MyPillow, saying that Mike Lindell falsely accused the company of rigging the 2020 presidential election.
Source: Dominion Voting Systems sues MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell for $1.3 billion
Fauci predicted the country would be “approaching a degree of normality” by the end of the year, but says face coverings may still be necessary.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki dodged a question on Sunday regarding whether President Biden still considers New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo “the gold standard” for leadership during the coronavirus pandemic.
During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” Psaki did not directly answer a question from Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl who pointed to Biden’s comments from April 2020.CUOMO AIDE TELLS NY DEMOCRATS ADMINISTRATION HID NURSING HOME DATA TO KEEP IT FROM TRUMP DOJ: REPORT
At the time, Biden said the “governor of New York has done one hell of a job” and that he thinks Cuomo is “sort of the gold standard.”
Karl pointed to the New York governor’s alleged undercounting of nursing home deaths and the fact that he reportedly misled legislatures in the state.
“So does President Biden still consider Andrew Cuomo ‘the gold standard’ when it comes to leadership on the pandemic?” Karl asked.“We work with Gov. Cuomo just like we work with governors across the country,” Psaki responded. “He’s also the chair of the NGA [National Governors Association] so he plays an important role in ensuring that we’re coordinating closely and getting assistance out to people of his state and to states across the country and we’ll continue to do that.”
Days of snow and ice brought down power lines and damaged utility equipment across northwest Oregon, causing extensive power outages that have lasted for over a week in some areas.
Portland General Electric, the state’s largest provider of electricity, said the number of outages reflects ongoing challenges including the “discovery of both more extensive damage to our equipment than expected as well as previously assessed damage.”
Source: National Guard deploys as 40,000 still without power in northwest Oregon – oregonlive.com
PITTSBURGH — Two water main breaks in Pittsburgh impacted residents in those areas throughout the weekend.The first one happened Friday on Parkfield Street in Carrick.
Neighbors told Channel 11 because of the cold temperatures this weekend, water continued to flow down the road and then freeze overnight into several inches of ice.
Pennsylvania American Water said crews are salting the area, and the break is scheduled for repair on Monday. It’s unclear if any residents lost water because of the break.
Source: Water main breaks impact multiple Pittsburgh neighborhoods
Texas power providers Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and Entergy Corporation have been hit with a $100 million lawsuit accusing them of gross negligence in the death of a child whose family suspects he suffered hypothermia when they lost electricity and heat in their mobile home during a historic cold snap.
The mother of 11-year-old Cristian Pineda filed the wrongful death lawsuit in Jefferson County District Court, alleging the utility giants “put profits over the welfare of people” by ignoring previous recommendations to winterize its power grid, which sustained an epic failure last week and left more than 4 million customers without heat and electricity as temperatures in some parts of the state plunged to single digits.
Republicans by double-digit margins said they are willing to ditch their party to follow former President Donald Trump if he breaks out on his own, according to a new poll released Sunday.
Members of the GOP by 46 percent to 27 percent said they would put the Republican Party in the rear-view mirror if Trump creates his own, a USA Today/Suffolk University poll found.
“We feel like Republicans don’t fight enough for us, and we all see Donald Trump fighting for us as hard as he can, every single day,” Brandon Keidl, 27, a Republican and small-business owner from Milwaukee, told the pollsters.
“But then you have establishment Republicans who just agree with establishment Democrats and everything, and they don’t ever push back,” he said.
Half of those surveyed said they think the Republican Party should be “more loyal to Trump” — even if that means losing the support of those in the GOP establishment.
Nineteen percent said the party should pull away from Trump.
The survey showed that Trump’s support remains strong since he was acquitted in a Senate impeachment trial for stirring up his supporters to march on the Capitol Jan. 6.
Trump will deliver the keynote address at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando on Feb. 28.
He will speak on the “the future of the Republican Party and the conservative movement.”
Source: Republicans willing to break from party to follow Trump: poll
In televised remarks, the head of Russia’s health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said scientists at the Vektor laboratory had isolated the strain’s genetic material from seven workers at a poultry farm in southern Russia, where an outbreak was recorded among the birds in December.
The workers did not suffer any serious health consequences, she added. They are believed to have caught the virus from poultry on the farm.
Source: Russia Detects First Case of H5N8 Avian Flu in Humans | Newsmax.com
The city state has a dizzying array of vending machines, dispensing everything from cacti to pizza.
The reasons vending entrepreneurs are trying out new products are as varied as the businesses themselves.
Manish Kumar, the managing director of Norwegian Salmon, says machines offer him his own retail space. That means his frozen products aren’t placed next to fresh salmon, which is more popular here.
Mervin Tham, one of the three founders of EasyMeat, whose machines sell the Wagyu beef, thinks the variety is expanding because the barriers to entry are fairly low.
“It’s a low effort way of testing a product, especially if you’re starting a business of your own. And generally there’s some interest towards the automated retail culture that you see overseas, like in Japan,” he says.
Source: Singapore vending machines now dispense salmon, crab and even cacti – BBC News
MSNBC host Joe Scarborough went on a strange rant Tuesday, accusing his critics of equating rioting in cities across America last year with the deadly Capitol riot on Jan. 6, even saying he wouldn’t confuse a “taco stand with the United States Capitol.”
“I know there are idiots on other cable news channels that will say, ‘Well, this mom-and-pop store was vandalized during the summer riots, and that’s just as bad as the United States Capitol being vandalized.’ No jackass, it’s not,” Scarborough said on “Morning Joe” as co-host Mika Brzezinski laughed uncomfortably.”
The Capitol of the United States of America is the center of American democracy. And while I am a fierce believer in people’s right to defend their private property, I’m not going to confuse a taco stand with the United States Capitol. I’m not going to confuse the selling of tacos with actually moving through a constitutional process that is laid out in the United States Constitution for members of the House and the Senate to actually perform their constitutional duties. No. No. No. Property damage does not equal insurrection.”
After The Daily Caller posted the clip later Tuesday, Scarborough rounded on the publication, tweeting: “Are you too stupid to understand the destruction of personal property is abhorrent, and at the same time realize that a terrorist attack against the US Capitol is a greater threat to America?”
Doctors say a woman in Michigan contracted Covid-19 and died last fall two months after receiving a tainted double-lung transplant from a donor who turned out to harbor the virus that causes the disease — despite showing no signs of illness and initially testing negative.
Officials at the University of Michigan Medical School suggested it may be the first proven case of Covid-19 in the U.S. in which the virus was transmitted via an organ transplant. A surgeon who handled the donor lungs was also infected with the virus and fell ill but later recovered.
The incident appears to be isolated — the only confirmed case among nearly 40,000 transplants in 2020. But it has led to calls for more thorough testing of lung transplant donors, with samples taken from deep within the donor lungs as well as the nose and throat, said Dr. Daniel Kaul, director of Michigan Medicine’s transplant infectious disease service.
Source: Organ transplant patient dies after receiving Covid-infected lungs
- Democrats want a $15 minimum wage policy to be included in President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan.
- A $15 hourly pay scale would more than double the current $7.25 federal minimum wage.
- It still wouldn’t offer a living wage to low-paid single adults and families in many areas, according to a CNBC analysis of state cost-of-living data.
Democrats are pushing to get a $15 federal minimum wage into President Joe Biden’s Covid relief package. For many, that pay still wouldn’t be enough.
Source: $15 minimum wage won’t cover living costs for many Americans
At his Senate hearing on Monday, attorney general nominee Merrick Garland will pledge to prosecute “white supremacists and others” who attacked the US Capitol on 6 January, in support of Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his election defeat.
An investigation is underway to determine what caused a small Nigerian air force passenger jet to crash near the nation’s capital on Sunday, killing all seven people on board.
Source: 7 Dead In Nigerian Air Force Crash : NPR
By: KDKA-TV News Staff
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – All lanes of the Parkway East have reopened after a multi-vehicle accident shut a portion down earlier on Saturday evening.
The crash had shut down the lanes between the Wilkinsburg on-ramp and the Edgewood/Swissvale exit.
It is unknown at this time if there are any injuries.
Source: Parkway East Reopens Following Multi-Vehicle Crash – CBS Pittsburgh
SAN ANTONIO – A suspected shoplifter was shot multiple times inside a West Side Walmart Saturday afternoon after police say he pointed a gun at an officer when confronted for not paying.
It happened at the Walmart off W. Military Dr. and Loop 410 a little after 1:45 p.m.
According to San Antonio police, Manuel Espinoza, an off-duty San Antonio ISD officer working security at the Walmart spotted a man allegedly shoplifting from the store. Officer Espinoza then approached the unidentified suspect, 44, while he was about to leave the store. That’s when investigators say a brief struggle ensued with the suspect reportedly pulling out a gun, pointing it at the officer.
Authorities say Officer Espinoza then pushed the suspect before taking his own service gun and shot the suspect several times.
The suspect was rushed to University Hospital but his current status is unknown. An investigation is underway and the suspect is expected to face charges once he’s released from the hospital, but it’s unclear what they are as of this writing.
We caught up with Mariah Quinones, who was inside the Walmart with her 4-year-old son and father when the shooting happened.
Source: Suspected shoplifter shot several times by security officer amid confrontation at Walmart | WOAI
“Saturday Night Live” called out New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a Republican, in the show’s cold open this weekend in a segment where the politicians were supposed to apologize for their separate scandals.
Both were welcomed on a show called “Oops, You Did It Again,” hosted by Britney Spears, played by “SNL” cast member Chloe Fineman. The premise of the show: Allow guests to give “lame” apologies — such as the decades’-late mea culpas the real-life Spears has received from celebrities like ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake after the recent documentary “Framing Britney Spears.”
Cuomo, played in New York tough-guy style by Staten Island-born cast member Pete Davidson, seemed a bit reluctant to take responsibility over allegations his administration withheld data about nursing home coronavirus deaths and that he threatened people who spoke out about it.
Source: ‘SNL’ cold open shows ‘angry’ Cuomo offering ‘lame’ apology for nursing home scandal | Fox News
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — It’s the coldest morning low of the season of 3º in Pittsburgh and some areas at zero for the actual temperature.
Winds are calm, so many are feeling temperatures as is, but there are some areas with a light breeze feeling below 0 degrees!
READ MORE:Man Shot, Killed By Police In Lawrence County Reportedly Pleaded Guilty For Prior Murder In 2011
(Photo Credit: KDKA Weather Center)
It’ll feel like a “heat wave” later with temperatures in the mid-30s and sunshine as high pressure keeps us dry before our next round of wintry weather arrives.
Source: Pittsburgh Weather: Brutally Cold Sunday Morning Temperatures – CBS Pittsburgh
GREENSBURG, Pa. — A 20-year-old Turtle Creek man was arrested and faces multiple drug and escape charges after police said he left a trail of cocaine, heroin and drug paraphernalia while running from officers in Greensburg,
According to our partners at TribLive.com, John Stenhouse was arrested in an alley behind a home in the 600 block of South Main Street. Police from Greensburg, South Greensburg and Southwest Greensburg boroughs chased him on foot, and during the pursuit, officers saw Stenhouse drop 13 plastic baggies of cocaine, crack, marijuana and about a “brick” of heroin, 50 stamp bags.
Officers had to shock Stenhouse with a Taser to get him under control.
Source: Man leaves trail of drugs after trying to run away from Greensburg police
A Boeing 777 with 241 people on board dropped debris over northern Colorado after experiencing engine failure but landed safely at Denver International Airport Saturday, officials said.
Source: Plane experiences engine failure and drops debris over Colorado, lands safely | Fox News
METAIRIE, La. —
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting in Metairie at the Jefferson Gun Outlet.
According to Sheriff Joseph Lopinto, three people are dead and two people were taken to area hospitals and are considered to be stable.
AdvertisementAt around 2:50 pm, Lopinto said deputies responded to the shooting at the Jefferson Gun Outlet in the 6700 block of Airline Drive.
Deputies found several victims suffering from gunshot wounds, according to Lopinto.
JPSO sources say that a man entered the gun outlet with a loaded gun unholstered.
Sources say that the man got into an argument with a clerk who told him he should not have a loaded gun until he got inside the range.
According to JPSO sources, shots were fired during the argument when at least two customers on the range engaged the man.
The man was shot, but also fired back at the two customers who were also injured, according to JPSO sources.
At this time, Lopinto said it appears a suspect shot two victims inside the location, then was engaged by the two customers and shot outside the location by multiple other individuals.
The suspect is one of the deceased on scene, according to Lopinto.
There is no additional information available at this time.
Source: 3 killed, 2 hospitalized after argument at Jefferson Gun Outlet leads to shots fired
PITTSBURGH —
Pittsburgh Bureau of Police detectives are seeking the public’s help locating a missing woman.
32-year-old Arielle Eyers of East Liberty was last seen Jan. 31 at her home. She was last seen wearing a black and white coat, grey hoodie and black sweatpants.
Eyers is 5’5” 95 pounds with brown hair partly shaved and green eyes.
Source: Pittsburgh police seek public’s help in finding a missing and endangered woman
Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, says the U.S. can’t solely rely on renewable energy and that the U.S. has to have a baseload of predictable and sustainable sources of power to deal with disasters such as the ice storm in his state.
”We have now half a million people without power, but we had 4 million at one point,” Arrington said Thursday during an appearance on Newsmax TV’s ”Spicer & Co.”
”Yesterday there were children’s hospitals having to consolidate with others for loss of power. There are homes flooding. This is an epic disaster — 234 counties in Texas all locked up and frozen, literally.”
Hundreds of thousands of Texans have struggled for heat and water because of utility outages due to the ice storm. About 390,000 Texas homes were still without power Thursday, down from around 4.5 million earlier in the week.
”We have ERCOT, which is the independent operator of our power grid and there was some irresponsible failure on their part to not winterize hard assets, not have the rolling outages early enough, not having enough reserve power, maybe depending too much on renewable,” said Arrington.
Westmoreland Mall officials confirmed that Littman Jewelers shuttered this month, and a women’s clothing store is set to close.
Littman, a national jewelry chain, was located on the first floor across from the former Sears wing and the wing that now houses Live! Casino Pittsburgh. Christopher & Banks, on the first floor near JCPenney, also is set to close, according to signage posted at the store.
Source: 2 stores close at Westmoreland Mall; prom and formal wear store opens | TribLIVE.com
