Western PA News

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Saturday he would not congratulate a winner of the U.S. presidential election until all legal challenges have been concluded.

Source: Mexican president withholding congratulations until US election challenges are settled | TheHill

WESTMORELAND COUNTY (KDKA) — Firefighters are battling a large brush fire in Westmoreland County, according to Westmoreland County dispatchers.

The fire is ongoing in the woods near Conemaugh Dam in Saltsburg.

Dispatch received notice of the fire around 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Stay up to date with the KDKA app, which you can download here.

Source: Firefighters Battling Large Brush Fire In Westmoreland County – CBS Pittsburgh

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has criticised the Democratic party for incompetence in a no-holds-barred, post-election interview with the New York Times, warning that if the Biden administration does not put progressives in top positions, the party would lose big in the 2022 midterm elections.

Signaling that the internal moratorium in place while the Democrats worked to defeat Donald Trump was over, the leftwing New York representative sharply rejected the notion advanced by some Democrats that progressive messaging around the Movement for Black Lives and the Green New Deal led to the party’s loss of congressional seats in last week’s election.

The real problem, said Ocasio-Cortez, was that the party lacked “core competencies” to run campaigns.

“There’s a reason Barack Obama built an entire national campaign apparatus outside of the Democratic National Committee,” she told the Times’ Astead Herndon. “And there’s a reason that when he didn’t activate or continue that, we lost House majorities. Because the party – in and of itself – does not have the core competencies, and no amount of money is going to fix that.”

Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated a longtime Democratic politician in 2018 and who won re-election in her Bronx district by more than 50 points, endorsed the Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders, over Joe Biden in the Democratic presidential primary.

Source: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ends truce by warning ‘incompetent’ Democratic party | US news | The Guardian

The earthquake was centered in Buzzards Bay, according to the USGS.

The United States Geological Survey reports the 3.6-magnitude earthquake struck at 9:10 a.m. in an area of Buzzards Bay that is about 6.8 miles south of Dartmouth’s Bliss Corner neighborhood.

According to the USGS, the quake struck at a depth of approximately 6.2 miles.

Initially, the USGS report indicated the magnitude of the earthquake may have been as high as 4.2. That was later revised downward to 4.0, and then again to 3.6.

NewsCenter 5 received reports of people feeling it from New Bedford to East Bridgewater, up to Natick and as far as Granby and Gloucester. Residents of Rhode Island, Connecticut and even New Hampshire have also reported feeling the earthquake.

USGS geophysicist Paul Caruso told The Associated Press that about 14,000 people went to the agency’s website to report the earthquake, including people from Easthampton, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connecticut, which are about 100 miles away from the epicenter. Caruso also said the USGS received several reports of the earthquake from Boston residents, who were more than 50 miles away from the quake.

The Red Cross of Massachusetts told NewsCenter 5 that three New Bedford homes in the area of Crapo and Nelson streets had to be evacuated due to structural damage caused by the earthquake. As a result, 10 families totaling 22 people have been displaced.

According to the Red Cross, the property manager for the homes is working with the agency to help provide lodging support for the affected residents.

Source: More than 20 displaced by earthquake off Mass. coast, Red Cross says

(CNN)President Donald Trump’s inner circle is beginning to split over his ongoing refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election, as Jared Kushner and first lady Melania Trump advised him to come to terms with President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and his adult sons pressed him and allies to keep fighting.

Kushner, the President’s son-in-law and senior adviser, has approached him to concede, two sources told CNN. The first lady, according to a separate source familiar with the conversations, has privately said the time has come for him to accept the election loss.

Meanwhile, Trump’s two adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, have urged allies to continue pressing on and they have pushed Republicans and supporters to publicly reject the results even as CNN and other news organizations projected the race for Biden on Saturday.

The President, who was at his golf course in Sterling, Virginia, on Saturday when the race was called, has not denied the outcome of the election privately even as he does so publicly, sources told CNN. But he’s continuing to push his attorneys to pursue legal challenges that would delay formal certification of the results, and he has made no public indication that he is ready to accept the results of the election.

Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller in a tweet Sunday morning denied that Kushner has approached Trump, although CNN stands by its reporting. “This story is not true,” said Miller. “Jared has advised @realDonaldTrump to pursue all available legal remedies to ensure accuracy.”

Source: Jared Kushner, Melania Trump advise Trump to accept election loss – CNNPolitics

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A rally filled with Trump supporters quickly turned heated outside the City-County Building Friday afternoon when another group showed up in opposition.

The group called “Stop the Steal” started rallying on the steps of the City-County Building in downtown Pittsburgh. The main message the Trump supporters wanted to get across: that every legal vote should count.

 

A short time later, another group confronted them and the arguments started to fly. Then the Pittsburgh Police Special Response Team showed up. They stood between both groups in case things turned violent.

Part of an intersection was blocked off to traffic. Both sides eventually headed down the street to talk things out.

 

“We want every single legal ballot counted. What we don’t want are fraud ballots, we don’t want late mail-ins counted, we don’t want mail-ins without a postmark and we don’t want mail-ins without a matching signature to be counted. There’s too much room for fraud,” said Danny DeVito, who is currently running for state representative, with “Stop The Steal.”

Attorney General Josh Shapiro says he’s not seen any evidence of voter fraud in Pennsylvania.

Source: Police In Riot Gear Arrive At ‘Stop The Steal’ Rally Downtown Where Tensions Rise Between Opposing Groups – CBS Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (AP/KDKA) — Incumbent Congressman Conor Lamb (D-17) has won reelection, according to the Associated Press.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb has won a second full term in Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District in the Pittsburgh area.

Lamb beat Republican Sean Parnell after The Associated Press called the race Saturday. Lamb declared victory late Wednesday, but the AP had yet to call the race at the time.

Lamb became a Democratic star in 2018 when he won two races in two districts that had been hostile to Democrats. One was a special election in a district President Donald Trump won by 20 percentage points and a general election in a redrawn district against a three-term incumbent.

RELATED STORIES
Rep. Conor Lamb Declares Victory Over Sean Parnell, Race Still Not Called
Incumbent Conor Lamb Declares Victory Over Challenger Sean Parnell, Even Though Ballots Still Being Counted

For live results of all election races in Pennsylvania, visit KDKA’s 2020 General Election results page.

Source: Democratic Congressman Conor Lamb Wins Reelection – CBS Pittsburgh

Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich pushed a conspiracy theory on Fox News on Sunday morning that Jewish billionaire George Soros helped to finance and steal the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden.

On “Fox & Friends,” Gingrich said, “I think he [Biden] would have to do a lot to convince Republicans that this is anything except a left-wing power grab financed by people like George Soros, deeply laid in at the local level. And, frankly, I think that it is a corrupt, stolen election.”

Political commentator Jedediah Bila quickly hit back, saying: “The accusation of incidents of voter fraud, which do happen in every election, unfortunately, is very different from the accusation of a stolen election. That’s very serious.”

Bila continued, pushing Gingrich for evidence, “The implication that there’s enough widespread voter fraud going on that would have changed the outcome of the election. I haven’t seen evidence of that to this moment. Is that what you’re suggesting has happened here?”

Gingrich, who has pushed Soros conspiracy theories on Fox News before, responded saying that poll workers are Democrats that hid the evidence and claimed that the “deep state” was at work here. Trump quickly echoed Gingrich’s claims the election was stolen on Twitter, citing Gingrich on the social media platform.

Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist who has long been a target of conspiracy theories, has recently been falsely accused of orchestrating and funding the protests over police killings of Black people that have roiled the United States. Amplified by a growing number of people on the far right, including some Republican leaders, online posts about Soros have skyrocketed since June.

Source: Gingrich pushes ‘Soros stole the election’ conspiracy theory on Fox News – U.S. News – Haaretz.com

Rapper King Von was shot and killed in Atlanta during a deadly altercation outside a night club.

4:36 PM PT — We’ve confirmed a video that’s surfaced online is in fact from the shooting. You see a scuffle before shots ring out and several people go down. Von is helped into a vehicle that speeds off to the hospital.11:12 AM PT — Authorities say King Von was NOT shot by Atlanta Police Department officers, contrary to rumors, and cops say investigators believe the rapper was shot during the initial shoot-out between the 2 groups, which happened before police responded and attempted to stop the shooting.

Police also say King Von fled the scene of the shooting and arrived at the hospital shortly afterward, getting dropped off in someone’s car.

Source: Rapper King Von Shot and Killed in Atlanta, Video Shows Chaos

The state’s 20 electoral votes vaulted Joe Biden past the 270-vote threshold needed to take the White House. Kamala Harris is the first woman elected vice president. Mr. Biden leads in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. President Trump has vowed to file legal challenges.

Source: Election Results: Live Tracker – The New York Times

(CNN)Two armed Virginia men who were arrested Thursday outside the Philadelphia Convention Center were “coming to deliver a truck full of fake ballots” to the city, CNN affiliate KYW reported, citing prosecutors.

The center is one of the places where election workers have been counting votes from the 2020 general election, which includes the race for president.

Text messages reveal that the men were concerned about the tallying of votes at the convention center, prosecutors said, according to KYW.

Antonio LaMotta, 61, and Joshua Macias, 42, both of Chesapeake, Virginia, were arrested Thursday night outside the center on suspicion of carrying handguns in Pennsylvania without permits, authorities said.

Philadelphia police said they found the men Thursday night after receiving a tip that people with firearms were heading to the Pennsylvania Convention Center in a silver Hummer truck.

Officers found a silver Hummer a block from the center — parked and unoccupied — around 10:20 p.m. Thursday, about seven minutes before finding the men, who acknowledged the Hummer was theirs, police said.

Both men were carrying loaded handguns, and police found an AR-type rifle in the Hummer, authorities said at a news conference Friday. About 160 rounds of ammunition were found in the weapons and the vehicle, authorities said.

Stickers and a hat with logos of the QAnon conspiracy movement were found in the vehicle, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said.

LaMotta and Macias were charged with having a concealed firearm without a license and carrying a firearm on a public street or public property, Krasner said.

“This alarming incident is still very much under investigation regarding additional charges,” Krasner said.

According to warrant look up in CT, LaMotta and Macias were arraigned Friday night, and a judge set bail at $750,000 each, Krasner’s spokeswoman Jane Roh said.

Details about the alleged fake ballots — including where they came from, whether they were found in the Hummer, or what was marked on them — weren’t immediately available.

Source: Report: Armed men arrested in Philadelphia were trying to deliver fake ballots – CNN

It was an intense scene Friday afternoon outside the City-County Building in downtown Pittsburgh.Dozens of police and sheriff’s deputies shut down Grant Street, acting as a barrier between President Donald Trump supporters and anti-Trump activists.

It started out with about a half dozen Trump supporters holding a prayer protest to stop stealing the vote. They were then confronted by Anti-Trump activists.

Things then took an unexpected turn. The two groups engaged in a spirited debate, then took it across the street to have coffee.

“I wish to God I could have talked to you two weeks ago. Because you and I would have been kicking back this weekend drinking and laughing at all of these people showing up at the polls. You’re a good dude. Continue to be a good dude,” one activist said.

“You’re good too. What if your voice was so powerful, that you and I, like we’re doing right now. What if that was in every city around the country? You have two people. What kind of country do you think we would have?” Chris Eryz, a Trump supporter, replied to the activist.

Beyond the debate, there were no incidents along Grant Street. No one was injured, and no one was arrested.

Source: Tense moments between Trump supporters, activists turn into spirited debate in downtown Pittsburgh

The men were arrested outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where vote counting is taking place.

Source: Police arrest two in alleged plot to attack Philadelphia voting center – Vox

An upstate USPS employee was arrested Tuesday while crossing the US-Canada border with hundreds of envelopes and other undelivered mail — including several absentee ballots.

The Buffalo mailman, who was caught with over 800 pieces of mail inside his trunk that he had failed to deliver, said he had ended up on a bridge between the US and its neighbor to the north by accident, the Buffalo News reported.

Customs and Border Protection found a huge bin of mail spanning several zip codes in the vehicle. Among them were three absentee ballots from the Erie County Board of Elections, authorities told the newspaper.

Source: USPS worker arrested at Canadian border with undelivered ballots