Ted Kaczynski, who became known as the “Unabomber,” died at the age of 81. Kaczynski was convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for a series of nationwide bombings that killed three people and was the center of one of the FBI’s longest and most expensive investigations ever.
President Biden joked when he was asked to respond to comments from Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., that the bribery allegations against him were “worse than has been reported so far.”
President Biden responded to questions Thursday about his alleged involvement in an international bribery scandal with a simple joke.
“Where’s the money?” he quipped when asked by a reporter for his response to Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., a member of the House Oversight Committee investigating the president, who said earlier in the day the allegations are “worse than has been reported so far.”
“I’m joking. It’s a bunch of malarkey,” Biden added.
Trump told Fox News Digital that he’s “totally innocent” and that the indictment is “election interference at the highest level.”
The former president, who is seeking reelection to the White House in next year’s election, announced Thursday that he had been indicted on charges connected to his handling of classified national security records. He wrote on social media that he had been summoned to federal court on Tuesday in Miami, where prosecutors are expected to charge Trump with seven criminal counts.
Allegheny County police are investigating after a shooting in McKees Rocks Thursday afternoon left one person injured.
The shooting happened around 1:45 p.m. in the 100 block of Bell Avenue. Police said first responders found a woman with shrapnel wounds to her left shin, left hand and left cheek. The victim, who was not identified, was taken to the hospital in stable condition
“Two males were apprehended in the woods a short time later,” county police said in the statement. “The driver was identified as Steven Bryant Jr., 28, of Pasadena, Maryland, and the passenger was identified as Gaj Walker, 32, of Pittsburgh. Bryant had a gunshot wound to his arm and was transported to a local hospital by ambulance. Walker was placed under arrest.”
Another craft brewer has opened a tap room in Greensburg, the fifth to be selling its own beer within a mile of the Westmoreland County Courthouse. Jeremy and Jennifer Shearer opened their Stone Bridge Brewing Co. tap room at 239 E. Pittsburgh St. this week.
Four people died when a small private jet crashed in Virginia after failing to respond to air traffic controllers and flying over Washington, D.C. The military scrambled F-16s to intercept it.
More than 100 people gathered Friday in Pittsburgh to kick off Wear Orange Weekend, a national gun violence awareness effort. The gathering began in Allegheny Commons Park on Pittsburgh’s North Side and concluded with a peace march. Rabbi Jonathan Perlman of New Light Congregation was among the featured speakers.
The RNC officially set the debate rules. Let the games begin.
The RNC unveiled its qualifying criteria for the Aug. 23 debate on Friday. While it’s too early to know exactly which candidates may or may not make the stage, the various party-loyalty requirements and polling and fundraising thresholds raise plenty of questions about a number of prominent candidates.
The field is already large and poised to grow next week, if, as expected, Christie, Mike Pence and Doug Burgum each jump in. Those potential entries would bring the number of major candidates who have held federal or statewide office to eight.
And with a handful of other Republicans who’ve never been elected spending seven figures on self-funded TV ads, the number of credible candidates is quickly approaching double digits.
The bigger the field, the greater the chance the party has a number of candidates too large to fit on one stage together. The RNC said in its announcement that it could add a second debate the night after, if needed, to accommodate more candidates, though it didn’t specify what kinds of numbers would require splitting the field.
A Greensburg man was jailed Friday after state police said he sold heroin/fentanyl to an undercover trooper three times in eight days. Tywan David, 25, who also has an address in East Pittsburgh, was charged with drug offenses in three cases. His cumulative bail was set at $225,000. According to court papers.
A new study says Earth has pushed past seven out of eight scientifically established safety limits and into “the danger zone,” not just for an overheating planet that’s losing its natural areas, but for well-being of people living on it. The study, published Wednesday, looks not just at guardrails for the planetary ecosystem but for the first time it includes measures of “justice,” which is mostly about preventing harm for groups of people. The study looks at climate, air pollution, phosphorus contamination, nitrogen pollution, groundwater supplies, fresh surface water, the unbuilt natural environment and the overall natural and human-built environment.
The right-wing outcry over the fast food chain, briefly explained.
Conservatives went after Chick-fil-A, a fast food restaurant they’ve often supported in the past given its Christian roots and its prior donations to anti-LGBTQ groups. Despite Republicans’ longtime backing, the chain’s decision to employ a vice president of DEI has prompted backlash from some who now slam the company for being too “woke” for considering policies that help support people of color and other underrepresented groups in the workplace.
For now, the outrage appears to be confined mostly to social media, where prominent conservative commentators including Turning Point’s Charlie Kirk and Wade Miller, the head of the Citizens for Renewing America, which seeks to combat “woke” proposals, have weighed in. Given how recent the backlash has been, it’s not yet evident whether it has had any impact on the restaurant’s sales.
Chloe Stein, 23, waived a preliminary hearing at the district court in Jeannette, Westmoreland County.
State police say the hoax kidnapping happened just days before Stein was supposed to graduate from Penn State University, but they later learned she hadn’t been enrolled in school for over a year and a half.
The House voted on Wednesday night to pass the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the bill codifying the deal between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to raise the debt ceiling. The final vote — 314 — 117, with Democrats providing the majority of the votes in favor — highlighted just how much the final agreement changed versus when the GOP passed its “Limit, Save, Grow Act” in April.
With just days before a June 5 deadline that would have left the U.S. unable to pay its bills, there’s been no time to spare in actually getting the deal through Congress. Tellingly, the vote reflects the fact that the deal is bipartisan in the sense that it’s gotten votes from both parties, not that it is a win for both parties equally. Likewise, it is a compromise in that only some Americans will have their lives impacted for the worse. The alternative was either a massive hole Republicans tried to cut into the social safety net with their original bill, or widespread economic chaos a default would have caused.
In all, though, it is clear that the bill could have been much worse. The Republican priorities it contains have been significantly pared back and there are a few Democratic priorities that were unexpectedly worked into the deal.
First, the deal raises the debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025.
The bill includes federal spending caps for the next two fiscal years.
The bill further rescinds about $28 billion in unspent Covid relief funds.
Politics aside, the bill as passed is one based on a principle that government should do the least harm possible while benefitting the most. In this case, a decision was made to only hurt some people rather than allow a debt default that would have hurt everybody. Of course, the “some” isn’t ever the wealthy, whose tax rates were never at risk of rising thanks to Republicans shielding them. Predictably, the burden falls on the poor and needy, who are expected to be grateful they get any help at all.
George Maharis, known best for portraying Buz Murdock in the first three seasons of “Route 66” before quitting the 1960s drama after contracting hepatitis, has died.
PITTSBURGH — A violent holiday weekend across the city left four people hurt in three separate shootings, including three children under the age of 18.
In a span of 24 hours over the Memorial Day weekend, Pittsburgh Police responded to a double shooting and two other shootings that sent all the victims to the hospital.
A gunfight in the city’s Hill District early Monday morning left a woman caught in the crossfire. Gunfire erupted around 2 a.m. on Bedford Avenue.
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy reached an “agreement in principle” late Saturday as they raced to strike a deal to limit federal spending and resolve the looming debt crisis ahead of a June 5 deadline, the House speaker said. A deal would avert a catastrophic U.S. default, but risks angering both Democratic and Republican sides with the concessions made to reach it. The Democratic president and Republican speaker reached the agreement after the two spoke earlier Saturday evening by phone, said McCarthy, speaking Saturday night. The country and the world have been watching and waiting for a resolution to political standoff that threatened the U.S. and global economy.
Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to have the Rialto in downtown Greensburg declared a nuisance bar.
If approved by a county judge, the move would shutter the restaurant and bar — which has been closed since the end of last year — for 12 months.
“That the Rialto Inc. has been operated in a manner that constitutes a public nuisance under the Liquor Code for reasons outlined … the continued operation of Rialto Inc. bar-club will result in irreparable injury to the commonwealth because of the strong likelihood of continuance of … conduct,” the lawsuit states.
Meanwhile, a proposed consent decree between the district attorney’s office and the Rialto’s owner about the bar’s future is under review by a county judge, according to a statement released Friday by the prosecutor’s office.
A Pittsburgh woman was arrested on multiple charges after allegedly using pepper spray on court employees in Munhall, Allegheny County Sheriff Kevin M. Kraus announced. Santhiya Mahilkanthan, 32, went into the courthouse of District Judge Patrick Campbell around 3 p.m. Thursday and began arguing with court staff members
She left the office but returned a short time later and continued to yell at the staff members. Mahilkanthan also reached through a glass partition and began discharging pepper spray.
