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US panel to focus on Native American missing, slain cases
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Nearly 40 law enforcement officials, tribal leaders, social workers and survivors of violence have been named to a federal commission tasked with helping improve how the government addresses a decades-long crisis of missing and murdered Native Americans and Alaska Natives, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced Thursday.
The committee’s creation means that for the first time, the voices guiding the Interior and Justice departments in the effort will include people most affected by the epidemic, said Haaland, the first Native American to lead a cabinet department.
She said the panel includes members with diverse experiences and backgrounds, representing communities from Alaska and Washington to Arizona, Oklahoma and Michigan. It will craft recommendations on how the government can better tackle a disproportionately high number of unsolved cases in which Native Americans and Alaska Natives have disappeared or been killed.
“It will take a focused effort — and time — to unravel the many threads that contribute to the alarming rates of these cases,” Haaland said during a virtual event.
Some members of Congress have expressed concern that work to address the crisis as required under the law isn’t on track. In the case of appointing members to the commission, federal officials are more than a year behind schedule.
The Not Invisible Act, signed into law in October 2020, required that the commission be named by February 2021 and that findings be made public last month.
Another law signed around the same time directed the U.S. Attorney General’s Office to find ways to increase cooperation among law enforcement agencies, provide tribes resources and address data collection. Savanna’s Act was named for 22-year-old Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, who went missing while pregnant in 2017 before her body was found in a North Dakota River.
U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, who faces a tough reelection campaign; Jon Tester of Montana; and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the vice-chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, outlined their concerns in a letter earlier this week.
“Both of these laws outlined specific time frames and deadlines for implementation; however, it is unclear which provisions have been undertaken, and it appears that almost every deadline has been missed,” the lawmakers wrote.
Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Thursday the naming of the commission marks a major milestone that follows ongoing work by a separate steering committee to marshal more federal resources to address the problem.
She also announced the creation of a new position within the executive office of U.S. attorneys that will be responsible for working with victims and families to ensure they have a voice while navigating the criminal justice system.
Federal officials also plugged work being done by the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which now has 17 offices across the country that have at least one agent dedicated to solving casing involving missing or slain Native Americans.
As for the 37-member commission, its mission includes tracking and reporting data on missing-person, homicide and human trafficking cases and increasing information sharing with tribal governments on violent crimes investigations and other prosecutions on Indian lands.
The commission is expected to hold hearings and gather testimony before making recommendations to the Interior and Justice departments to improve coordination among agencies and to establish best practices for state, tribal and federal law enforcement. The panel also is tasked with boosting resources for survivors and victims’ families.
Meanwhile, some communities already have created their own response plans to address the problem. In New Mexico, officials on Thursday rolled out the state’s plan, highlighting goals that include building more support services for survivors and families, doing more outreach on education and prevention and leveraging resources for tribal judicial systems.
Fawn Sharp, president of the tribal advocacy group National Congress of American Indians, said during Thursday’s virtual event that although funding for law enforcement in Indian Country has increased in recent years, it doesn’t come close to meeting the needs.
She pointed to research showing that failure to provide funding undermined the ability to provide adequate public safety in tribal communities.
“Having the authority to hold perpetrators accountable is an important first step, but tribal nations cannot follow through to hold bad actors accountable without adequate and consistent funding for tribal justice systems,” she said.
Other advocates said they were hopeful the federal commission’s recommendations will cover the need for safe housing for victims of domestic violence and other social services and health care that could help prevent violence.
___
Fonseca reported from Flagstaff, Arizona.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/05/us-panel-focus-native-american-missing-slain-cases/ | 2022-05-07T16:37:33Z |
VIDEO: Hundreds of birds take over couple’s home, cleanup continues
REDDING, Calif. (KRCR) - A couple in California said they recently came home to hundreds of swallows in their house.
Gary and Patti Reitemeyer said they returned home after making a short trip to find the birds had taken over.
“As we pulled up, we were thinking, you know, 20 birds or so. That’s no big deal. We opened the door, and it was like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. There were birds flying everywhere. I mean, it was crazy,” Gary Reitemeyer said.
The Reitemeyer’s home is in Redding, California, and they said apparently, the birds got into their home by going through the chimney.
“We were ducking and dodging. I was grabbing a handful of birds; I grabbed maybe three or so at a time,” Gary Reitemeyer said.
The couple said it hasn’t been easy getting things back to normal after the bird takeover as their cleanup continues.
“You can’t get all that bird stuff out of the furniture. So, all of the furniture is gone, and all of the carpets are gone. The blinds are gone, everything,” Gary Reitemeyer said.
Copyright 2022 KRCR via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/05/video-hundreds-birds-take-over-couples-home-cleanup-continues/ | 2022-05-07T16:37:39Z |
11-year-old sends elementary school assistant principal to hospital following argument, police say
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC/Gray News) – An elementary school assistant principal in South Carolina was sent to the hospital after she was assaulted by an 11-year-old student, police said.
According to the Charleston Police Department, officers responded to Drayton Hall Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon.
At the scene, the assistant principal told officers that she pulled the 11-year-old student out of class to have him clean up a mess he made in the boy’s bathroom. This led to an argument, and the student cursed at her, then struck her in the face, according to an incident report.
The assistant principal said the student started to kick and punch her torso while she was attempting to stop him. Eventually, the two parties were separated, and the student was brought to the principal’s office.
Investigators said they saw a red marking across the victim’s eye where she was struck. She was taken to the hospital following the incident for evaluation.
Later, police talked to the student about the incident.
The student claimed he did not make the mess in the boy’s bathroom and that he was tired of the victim telling him what to do. After striking her, the student says he attempted to leave, but the victim stopped him, and he continued to strike her in the face and curse at her.
Police asked if the student felt the assistant principal deserved it; the student reportedly said she did and that he did not feel bad about it.
Another staff member at the school told officers that she had been assaulted by the same student recently. Bruising was seen on the staff members’ arms from the alleged incident, the report stated.
No arrests have been made because of the student’s age.
Police said they are working with the assistant principal to figure out whether any charges will be filed.
Copyright 2022 WCSC via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/11-year-old-sends-elementary-school-assistant-principal-hospital-following-argument-police-say/ | 2022-05-07T16:37:49Z |
9-year-old found dead near his home’s shed
NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. (WPXI) - A community is devastated after a 9-year-old boy was found dead Wednesday.
No one has yet been charged in the death of Azuree Charles, but the county’s district attorney confirms there is a person of interest, although she won’t specify who or what their relationship is to the child.
In the meantime, on Thursday afternoon, police picked up Azuree’s father. They had a warrant out for Jean Charles for a simple assault and child endangerment case from November.
He is accused of punching his son in the eye, causing bruising. He was denied bail.
“We are unified in solving this homicide, and I really cannot stress that enough,” said Nicole Ziccarelli, the Westmoreland County district attorney.
As the investigation presses on, officers spent the day canvassing the neighborhood.
On Thursday night, hundreds in the East Ken Manor community came to remember Azuree.
“He was honestly a super nice person, and I can’t believe someone would do that to him,” said his friend, Azalynn Lookhart.
Just days prior to Azuree’s death, “we used to ride bikes together and we used to play together,” said his friend, Zariyah Carter.
The news also hit Azuree’s third-grade teacher especially hard.
“He was the most innocent, sweet, kind and caring child that I have ever met,” Brian Heidenreich said.
People said under no circumstance should they have to hold a vigil for a child in the first place.
“You never have to hurt a child, I don’t care who you are. There are safe places for these kids. Look at this, this is our future. We have to love them, no matter what!” neighbor Tasha Williams said.
Copyright 2022 WPXI via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/9-year-old-found-dead-near-his-homes-shed/ | 2022-05-07T16:37:59Z |
Autopsy: Patrick Lyoya killed by cop’s shot to the head
Published: May. 6, 2022 at 6:17 PM EDT|Updated: 18 hours ago
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — An official autopsy has concluded that Patrick Lyoya, a Black man who was killed by a Michigan police officer, died from a gunshot to the back of his head.
The finding matches the conclusion of an expert hired by Lyoya’s family.
The report from the Kent County medical examiner also says Patrick Lyoya’s blood-alcohol level was 0.29, more than three times over the legal limit for driving, when his car was stopped in Grand Rapids on April 4.
The Detroit Free Press reported the autopsy results Friday.
Lyoya was a 26-year-old refugee from Congo.
He was killed during a physical struggle with Grand Rapids Officer Christopher Schurr.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/autopsy-patrick-lyoya-killed-by-cops-shot-head/ | 2022-05-07T16:38:08Z |
Beckley, Independence & River View avoid elimination, advance to sectional title games
WVSSAC Sectional Softball
Published: May. 6, 2022 at 12:44 AM EDT
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) - It was win or go home for many local softball teams in sectional play on Thursday. Check out the final scores.
CLASS AAA: R3S2
Beckley 15 - Princeton 7
The Lady Eagles will face Greenbrier East for the sectional title.
CLASS AA: R3S2
Independence 8 - Nicholas County 0
The Lady Patriots will face Shady Spring for the sectional title.
CLASS A: R3S1
River View 11 - Montcalm 8
The Lady Raiders will face James Monroe for the sectional title.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/beckley-independence-river-view-avoid-elimination-advance-sectional-title-games/ | 2022-05-07T16:38:16Z |
Biden plugs manufacturing initiative at Ohio metal company
HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) — President Joe Biden pledged Friday that 3D printing technology would help return factory jobs to the U.S. and reduce inflationary pressures as he traveled to an industrial Midwestern state with a Senate seat in play to make his case for the future of manufacturing.
Inflation at a 40-year high and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine have caused growing uneasiness about the economy among voters. Biden is staking his presidency in part on the promise that his policies on matters ranging from infrastructure to computer chips can create a more resilient economy.
“The pandemic and the economic crisis that we inherited and Putin’s war in Ukraine have all shown the vulnerability when we become too reliant on things made overseas,” Biden said. “We learned the hard way that we can’t fight inflation if supply chains buckle and send prices through the roof every time there’s a disruption.”
Biden went to United Performance Metals in Hamilton to highlight commitments by five leading U.S. manufacturers to boost their reliance on small and medium American firms for 3D printing. GE Aviation, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Siemens Energy have agreed to take part in the program. The president toured the factory with executives.
The promise of 3D printing is that it could reverse the outsourcing of factory jobs and industrial production, allowing for more components to be manufactured in the U.S. An analysis by the consulting firm Kearney estimated that the technology could produce $600 billion to $900 billion in economic value by enabling more production domestically.
The president also pressed Congress to approve a stalled competition and innovation bill that the Democratic president says is critical to bolstering domestic manufacturing and helping solve a semiconductor shortage that has delayed production of life-saving medical devices, smartphones, video game consoles, laptops and other modern conveniences.
“Pass the damn bill and send it to me,” Biden said Friday in his remarks.
Biden was in Ohio — where an open Senate seat is up for grabs with the retirement of Republican Rob Portman — shortly after its primary elections. Rep. Tim Ryan easily won the Democratic nomination Tuesday and will face Republican JD Vance, author of the memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.” Ohio would be a difficult pickup for Democrats, as the state backed former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election by 8 points.
GE Aviation and Raytheon set a goal of looking to small and medium firms for 50% of their requests for quotes for products requiring 3D printing or related technologies.
Siemens Energy committed to targeting 20% to 40% of externally sourced 3D print parts and will work with 10 to 20 small and medium firms to help improve their capability. Lockheed Martin has agreed to work with smaller suppliers on research to improve the use of 3D printing as an alternative to castings and forgings. Honeywell is offering technical assistance including part design, data generation, machine operation and post-processing to small and medium suppliers it works with.
The semiconductor chip problem has been building since coronavirus pandemic-related lockdowns shut down major Asian chip factories more than two years ago. Now it could extend past this year, despite the semiconductor industry’s efforts to catch up with demand.
There is bipartisan support for boosting domestic chip production, but lawmakers in the Senate and the House still need to negotiate over differences.
The House in February passed a version of the legislation that could pump $52 billion in grants and subsidies to the semiconductor industry to help boost U.S. production. The bill must now be reconciled with a Senate version passed eight months ago.
House Democrats also tucked in other priorities that have raised Republican concerns about the bill’s cost and scope.
The bill includes $8 billion for a fund that helps developing countries adjust to climate change; $3 billion for facilities to make the U.S. less reliant on Chinese solar components; $4 billion to help communities with significantly higher unemployment than the national average; and $10.5 billion for states to stockpile drugs and medical equipment.
___
Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/biden-plug-manufacturing-initiative-ohio-metal-company/ | 2022-05-07T16:38:23Z |
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Birthdays: 5.5.22
Happy Birthday to all who celebrate on this day!!
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Published: May. 6, 2022 at 3:15 PM EDT
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Updated: 21 hours ago
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Birthdays: 5.6.22 -5.8.22
Happy Birthday to all who are celebrating this Friday and weekend!
Published: May. 6, 2022 at 3:15 PM EDT|Updated: 21 hours ago
Birthdays: 5.6.22 -5.8.22
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved.
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Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/birthdays-5622-5822/ | 2022-05-07T16:38:36Z |
Brother of Clemson coach accused of distributing child porn
CLEMSON, S.C. (FOX Carolina/Gray News) – The brother of the Clemson Tigers head football coach was one of three men arrested in connection to child sexual exploitation investigations, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office announced Thursday.
WHNS reports Henry Ervil Swinney III of Clemson, who is the brother of coach Dabo Swinney, was arrested on April 23 after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children prompted an investigation.
The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office said Henry Swinney distributed child sexual abuse material through a “Mega” file sharing link.
He is charged with sexual exploitation of a minor.
Investigators also arrested 22-year-old Carson Alexander Radlein, who they said was in possession of multiple files of child sex abuse material after a separate investigation.
He is facing 11 charges connected to the sexual exploitation of minors.
Additionally, 55-year-old Gordon Helton Jr. was arrested for distribution and possession of child sex abuse material.
Helton is facing 10 charges connected to the sexual exploitation of a minor.
Copyright 2022 FOX Carolina via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/brother-clemson-coach-accused-distributing-child-porn/ | 2022-05-07T16:38:43Z |
Bus video gives more info about Pittsburgh bridge collapse
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Video footage from a bus of the bridge collapse in Pittsburgh this year shows one end of the structure had already fallen when an expansion joint at the other end was pulling apart, federal investigators said Thursday.
The National Transportation Safety Board issued an update on the Fern Hollow bridge collapse, saying the video is giving them more information about the sequence of events.
So far there’s no evidence of “widespread deficiencies” in the “rigid K-frame superstructure types” that form the bridge’s basic structure, the report said.
The investigative update said that all aspects of the disaster are still being looked at and that the cause has yet to be determined. Investigators plan mechanical and chemical testing on material samples and will examine plate dimensions and weld quality.
A preliminary report issued less than two weeks after the Jan. 28 collapse had found the collapse began at the structure’s west end and noted there had been no primary fractures in sections of welded steel girders considered “fracture critical.” A fracture critical area in a beam is the part most likely to show damage if the bridge has suddenly given way.
When the Forbes Avenue bridge gave way, it sent a city bus and four-passenger cars down some 100 feet (30 meters) to a ravine carved by Fern Hollow Creek. Another vehicle drove off the east bridge abutment and landed on its roof.
Although the preliminary report had said a total of 10 vehicle occupants had been injured, the agency has now concluded that there were nine people in six vehicles. Two were injured seriously, two had minor injuries, four were not hurt, and the injury status of one person is uncertain, the agency said Thursday. No one was killed.
Natural gas lines ruptured and required the evacuation of nearby homes.
The 447-foot-long (136-meter) bridge, about 50 years old, showed some deterioration during an inspection in September, but not enough to require its closure. The bridge has had a 26-ton (24,000 kilogram) weight limit since 2014.
The future of the bridge is the topic of a virtual meeting Thursday night in which city officials and neighbors are expected to participate.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has said up to $25.3 million in National Highway Performance Program funds is being used to rebuild the structure. The contractor began gearing up for construction last month, and early foundation work is about to begin, PennDOT spokesperson Alexis Campbell said Thursday.
The state agency has posted images of the replacement bridge’s “overall design concept.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/bus-video-gives-more-info-about-pittsburgh-bridge-collapse/ | 2022-05-07T16:38:49Z |
CDC probing 109 liver illnesses in kids, including 5 deaths
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials are looking into more than 100 possible cases of a mysterious and severe liver disease in children, including five deaths.
About two dozen states reported suspected cases after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a call for doctors to be on the lookout for surprising cases of hepatitis. The cases date back to late October in children under 10. So far, only nine cases in Alabama have been confirmed.
“We are casting a wide net to broaden our understanding,” the CDC’s Dr. Jay Butler said Friday.
What’s causing the illnesses isn’t clear. Adenovirus was detected in half the children, “but we do not know if it is the cause,” he said.
There are dozens of adenoviruses, many of them associated with coldlike symptoms, fever, sore throat and pink eye. But some versions can trigger other problems, including inflammation in the stomach and intestines. Officials are exploring a link to one particular version that’s normally associated with gut inflammation.
U.S. health officials haven’t seen evidence of an unusually large wave of adenovirus infections, although many doctors don’t usually test for it.
This week, the World Health Organization officials said they had reports of almost 300 probable cases in 20 countries.
In the U.S., most of the children were toddlers, nearly all were hospitalized and eight received liver transplants
“It’s still a very rare occurrence,” Butler said. “A majority of these cases have recovered and recovered fully.”
The mystery goes back to November, when Alabama health officials began looking into the first of nine cases of severe hepatitis in children in that state. None tested positive for the viruses that commonly cause hepatitis. However, testing was positive for adenovirus.
Butler said none of the Alabama children were vaccinated against COVID-19. That has been ruled out as a possible cause, “and we hope this information helps clarify some of the speculation circulating online.”
Symptoms of hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver, include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, light-colored stools, joint pain and jaundice.
In addition to Alabama, the states reporting suspected cases: California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin. Puerto Rico also reported at least one case.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/cdc-probing-109-liver-illnesses-kids-including-5-deaths/ | 2022-05-07T16:38:57Z |
College grads expect to make $50,000 more at their first job than they actually will, survey finds
(CNN) - A new survey shows the next crop of college graduates have unrealistic expectations about their first job.
The survey by Real Estate Witch shows students expect to make a six-figure salary at their first job, when the reality is less than half of that.
In fact, the survey shows the undergraduate class of 2022, across all majors, overestimate their starting salaries by 88%, expecting to make at least $50,000 more than they actually will.
The average starting salary for college graduates is $55,260, but current college students expect to make nearly $104,000 in their first job, Real Estate Witch found.
Journalism grads had the most unrealistic expectations, overestimating their starting salaries by 139% – they expected to make $107,000 their first year, when the actual average is below $45,000.
Only 15% of 2022 graduates have accepted a job offer.
The survey also found that 52% of students do not believe college is worth the debt, and 40% regret attending.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/college-grads-expect-make-50000-more-their-first-job-than-they-actually-will-survey-finds/ | 2022-05-07T16:39:04Z |
COVID coverage for all dries up even as hospital costs rise
WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time, the U.S. came close to providing health care for all during the coronavirus pandemic — but for just one condition, COVID-19.
Now, things are reverting to the way they were as federal money for COVID care of the uninsured dries up, creating a potential barrier to timely access.
But the virus is not contained, even if it’s better controlled. And safety-net hospitals and clinics are seeing sharply higher costs for salaries and other basic operating expenses. They fear they won’t be prepared if there’s another surge and no backstop.
“We haven’t turned anybody away yet,” said Dr. Mark Loafman, chair of family and community medicine at Cook County Health in Chicago. “But I think it’s just a matter of time ... People don’t get cancer treatment or blood pressure treatment every day in America because they can’t afford it.”
A $20 billion government COVID program covered testing, treatment and vaccine costs for uninsured people. But that’s been shut down. Special Medicaid COVID coverage for the uninsured in more than a dozen states also likely faces its last months.
At Parkland Health, the frontline hospital system for Dallas, Dr. Fred Cerise questions the logic of dialing back federal dollars at a time when health officials have rolled out a new “test-to-treat” strategy. People with COVID-19 can now get antiviral pills to take at home, hopefully avoiding hospitalization. Vice President Kamala Harris, who recently tested positive but is back working at the White House, is an example.
“Test-to-treat will be very difficult for uninsured individuals,” predicted Cerise, president and CEO of the system. “If it’s a change in strategy on the large scale, and it’s coming without funding, people are going to be reluctant to adopt that.”
Officials at the federal Department of Health and Human Services say the new antiviral drugs like Paxlovid have been paid for by taxpayers, and are supposed to be free of charge to patients, even uninsured ones.
But they acknowledge that some uninsured people can’t afford the medical consultation needed to get a prescription. “We hear from state and local partners that the lack of funding for the Uninsured Program is creating challenges for individuals to access medications,” said Dr. Meg Sullivan, chief medical officer for the HHS preparedness and response division.
The nation has not pinched pennies on the pandemic before.
“We’re well short of universal health coverage in the U.S., but for a time, we had universal coverage for COVID,” said Larry Levitt, a health policy expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “It was extraordinary.”
Recently an urgent White House request for $22.5 billion for COVID priorities failed to advance in Congress. Even a pared-back version is stuck. Part of the Biden administration’s request involves $1.5 billion to replenish the Uninsured Program, which paid for testing, treatment and vaccine-related bills for uninsured patients. The program has now stopped accepting claims due to lack of money.
That program, along with a less known Medicaid option for states, allowed thousands of uninsured people to get care without worrying about costs. Bipartisan support has given way as congressional Republicans raise questions about pandemic spending.
The Uninsured Program was run by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an HHS agency. Medical providers seeing uninsured people could submit their bills for reimbursement. Over the last two years, more than 50,000 hospitals, clinics, and medical practices received payments. Officials say they can turn the program back on if Congress releases more money.
The Medicaid coverage option began under the Trump administration as a way to help states pay for testing uninsured people. President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief bill expanded it to treatment and vaccine costs as well. It’s like a limited insurance policy for COVID. The coverage can’t be used for other services, like a knee replacement. The federal government pays 100% of the cost.
Fifteen states, from deep blue California to bright red South Carolina, have taken advantage of the option, along with three U.S. territories. It will end once the federal coronavirus public health emergency is over, currently forecast for later this year.
New Hampshire Medicaid Director Henry Lipman said the coverage option allowed his state to sign up about 9,500 people for COVID care that includes the new antiviral drugs that can be taken at home.
“It’s really the safety net for people who don’t have any access to insurance,” said Lipman. “It’s a limited situation, but in the pandemic it’s a good back-up to have. It makes a lot of sense with such a communicable disease.”
With COVID cases now at relatively low levels, demand for testing, treatment and vaccination is down. But the urgency felt by hospitals and other medical service providers is driven by their own bottom lines.
In Missouri, Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare CEO Craig Thompson is worried to see federal funding evaporate just as operating costs are soaring. Staff have gotten raises, drug costs have risen by 20% and supply costs by 12%.
“We’ve now exited this pandemic ... into probably the highest inflationary environment that I’ve seen in my career,” Thompson said. The health system serves a largely rural area between Kansas City and Springfield.
In Kentucky, Family Health Centers of Louisville closed a testing service for uninsured people once federal funds dried up. The private company they were working with planned to charge $65 a test.
Things are manageable now because there’s little demand, said spokeswoman Melissa Mather, “but if we get hit with another omicron, it’s going to be very difficult.”
Floridian Debra McCoskey-Reisert is uninsured and lost her older brother to COVID-19 in the first wave two years ago. In one of their last conversations, he made her promise she wouldn’t catch the virus.
McCoskey-Reisert, who lives north of Tampa, has managed to avoid getting sick so far. But she’s overshadowed by fear of what could happen if she or her husband get infected.
“If either one of us get sick with COVID, we don’t have a way to pay for it,” she said. “It would likely bankrupt us if we can’t find some other help.”
Retrenchment on the uninsured mirrors some of the bigger problems of the U.S. health care system, said Chicago hospital physician Loafman.
“Quite frankly, we as a society take care of the uninsured for COVID because it’s affecting us,” he said. “You know, a gated community doesn’t keep a virus out ... that’s sort of the ugly truth of this, is that our altruism around this was really self-motivated.”
___
Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/covid-coverage-all-dries-up-even-hospital-costs-rise/ | 2022-05-07T16:39:11Z |
Daunte Wright’s mother briefly detained after recording traffic stop
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (AP) — The mother of Daunte Wright, who was fatally shot by a suburban Minneapolis police officer, said she was injured while she was briefly detained by one of the same department’s officers after she stopped to record an arrest of a person during a traffic stop.
Katie Wright said Thursday she was worried about what the Brooklyn Center officers might do to the person being handcuffed when she pulled over on Wednesday night. In April 2021, her 20-year-old son, who was Black, was killed during a traffic stop by Kim Potter, a white officer who said she confused her handgun for her Taser.
“All I was doing was my civic duty to pull over and make sure that those babies got home safe to their families because I don’t want what happened to me to happen to any other families,” Wright said.
It’s legal for citizens to film police in Minnesota as long as they don’t interfere with officers, according to the state’s ACLU chapter. The Associated Press left a message Friday asking whether the officer involved would face discipline.
Brooklyn Center police released body camera video that shows an officer crossing several lanes of traffic on Highway 252 and asking Wright for her driver’s license. Wright refused, telling the officer she didn’t need to show him her license because she hadn’t been pulled over.
The officer then pulled her out of her vehicle, took her phone and placed it on the roof of her car before leading her toward a grassy median while holding her arm behind her back. Wright said the officer grabbed her so forcefully that he injured her wrist.
Wright told him her name and said “you guys killed my son. I’m going to videotape them,’’ gesturing to the other officers. The officer told Wright he would send her a ticket in the mail and both returned to their vehicles.
Brooklyn Center police union President Chuck Valleau praised the officer for what he called a “professional response and restraint during the incident.”
Along with the video, the Brooklyn Center police department released a statement that said the footage was released “in an effort to promote public safety and dispel widespread rumor or unrest.”
Potter shot Daunte Wright as former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin ‘s trial was getting underway last year in the killing of George Floyd and tensions were high in the area. Wright’s death sparked several nights of protests in Brooklyn Center and revived painful memories of the sometimes violent unrest that erupted after Floyd’s death in May 2020.
Potter, who resigned following the shooting, was convicted in December of manslaughter and sentenced this year to two years in prison.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/daunte-wrights-mother-briefly-detained-after-recording-traffic-stop/ | 2022-05-07T16:39:18Z |
Dead shark hung from ceiling at Florida high school is senior prank gone too far, police say
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (WJXT) – Senior pranks are common in high schools this time of year, but police say what may have been a senior prank in Florida went too far.
A dead shark was found hanging over a stairwell at Ponte Vedra High School, where the mascot is a shark.
Sophomore Cooper Gottfried said he saw the shark Thursday morning and couldn’t believe it.
“I was going to first period and there was this massive shark hanging from the ceiling and it smelled really bad,” Gottfried said.
Students started sharing pictures of the shark on social media, saying it was a senior prank. But there could be some major consequences.
Both the St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife are investigating.
The school gave surveillance video to the sheriff’s office but won’t release the video publicly because it could impede the investigation. Any students found to be involved in the incident could face suspension or even expulsion. Criminal charges are also possible.
Custodians at the school took the shark down.
Copyright 2022 WJXT via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/dead-shark-hung-ceiling-florida-high-school-is-senior-prank-gone-too-far-police-say/ | 2022-05-07T16:39:25Z |
Dozens more civilians rescued from Ukrainian steel plant
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Dozens more civilians were rescued Friday from the tunnels under the besieged steel mill where Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol have been making their last stand to prevent Moscow’s complete takeover of the strategically important port city.
Russian and Ukrainian officials said 50 people were evacuated from the Azovstal plant and handed over to representatives of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Russian military said the group included 11 children.
Russian officials and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said evacuation efforts would continue Saturday. The latest evacuees were in addition to roughly 500 other civilians who got out of the plant and city in recent days.
The fight for the last Ukrainian stronghold in a city reduced to ruins by the Russian onslaught appeared increasingly desperate amid growing speculation that President Vladimir Putin wants to finish the battle for Mariupol so he can present a triumph to the Russian people in time for Monday’s Victory Day, the biggest patriotic holiday on the Russian calendar.
As the holiday commemorating the Soviet Union’s World War II victory over Nazi Germany approached, cities across Ukraine prepared for an expected increase in Russian attacks, and officials urged residents to heed air raid warnings.
“These symbolic dates are to the Russian aggressor like red to a bull,” said Ukraine’s first deputy interior minister, Yevhen Yenin. “While the entire civilized world remembers the victims of terrible wars on these days, the Russian Federation wants parades and is preparing to dance over bones in Mariupol.”
By Russia’s most recent estimate, roughly 2,000 Ukrainian fighters are holed up in the vast maze of tunnels and bunkers beneath the Azovstal steelworks, and they have repeatedly refused to surrender. Ukrainian officials said before Friday’s evacuations that a few hundred civilians were also trapped there, and fears for their safety have increased as the battle has grown fiercer in recent days.
Kateryna Prokopenko, whose husband, Denys Prokopenko, commands the Azov Regiment troops inside the plant, issued a desperate plea to also spare the fighters. She said they would be willing to go to a third country to wait out the war but would never surrender to Russia because that would mean “filtration camps, prison, torture and death.”
If nothing is done to save her husband and his men, they will “stand to the end without surrender,” she told The Associated Press on Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “influential states” are involved in efforts to rescue the soldiers, although he did not mention any by name.
“We are also working on diplomatic options to save our troops who are still at Azovstal,” he said in his nightly video address.
U.N. officials have been tight-lipped about the civilian evacuation efforts, but it seemed likely that the latest evacuees would be taken to Zaporizhzhia, a Ukrainian-controlled city about 140 miles (230 kilometers) northwest of Mariupol where others who escaped the port city were brought.
Some of the plant’s previous evacuees spoke to the AP about the horrors of being surrounded by death in the moldy, underground bunker with little food and water, poor medical care and diminishing hope. Some said they felt guilty for leaving others behind.
“People literally rot like our jackets did,” said 31-year-old Serhii Kuzmenko, who fled with his wife, 8-year-old daughter and four others from their bunker, where 30 others were left behind. “They need our help badly. We need to get them out.”
Fighters defending the plant said Friday on the Telegram messaging app that Russian troops had fired on an evacuation vehicle on the plant’s grounds. They said the car was moving toward civilians when it was hit by shelling, and that one soldier was killed and six were wounded.
Moscow did not immediately acknowledge renewed fighting there Friday.
Russia took control of the rest of Mariupol after bombarding it for two months. Ahead of Victory Day, municipal workers and volunteers cleaned up what remains of the city, which had a prewar population of more than 400,000. Perhaps 100,000 civilians remain there with scarce supplies of food, water electricity and heat. Bulldozers scooped up debris, and people swept streets against a backdrop of hollowed-out buildings. Russian flags were hoisted.
The fall of Mariupol would deprive Ukraine of a vital port. It would also allow Russia to establish a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014, and free some Russian troops to fight elsewhere in the Donbas, the eastern industrial region that the Kremlin says is now its chief objective. Its capture also holds symbolic value since the city has been the scene of some of the worst suffering of the war and a surprisingly fierce resistance.
While they pounded away at the plant, Russian forces struggled to make significant gains elsewhere, 10 weeks into a devastating war that has killed thousands of people, forced millions to flee the country and flattened large swaths of cities.
Ukrainian officials said the risk of massive shelling increased ahead of Victory Day. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said authorities would reinforce street patrols in the capital. A curfew was going into effect in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, which was the target of two missile attacks Friday.
The Ukrainian military’s general staff said Friday that its forces repelled 11 attacks in the Donbas region and destroyed tanks and armored vehicles, further frustrating Putin’s ambitions after his abortive attempt to seize Kyiv. Russia made no acknowledgement of the losses.
The Ukrainian army also said it made progress in the northeastern Kharkiv region, recapturing five villages and part of a sixth. Meanwhile, one person was reported dead and three more were wounded Friday as a result of Russian shelling in Lyman, a city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
In other developments Friday:
— A Ukrainian army brigade said it used an American Switchblade “suicide” drone against Russian forces in what was likely Ukraine’s first recorded use of such weapon in combat.
— U.S. President Joe Biden authorized the shipment of another $150 million in military assistance for Ukraine for artillery rounds and radar systems. Biden said the latest spending means his administration has “nearly exhausted” what Congress authorized for Ukraine in March. He called on lawmakers to swiftly approve a more than $33 billion spending package that will last through September.
— The Ukrainian governor of the eastern Luhansk region said residents of the city of Kreminna were being terrorized by Russian troops trying to cross the Seversky Donets River. Serhiy Haidai accused Russian troops of checking phones and “forcibly disappearing Ukrainian patriots.” His statements could not be immediately verified.
— Haidia also said more than 15,000 people remain in Severodonetsk, a city in the Luhansk region that’s seen as a key Russian target. He said he believes most residents wish to remain even though “entire blocks of houses are on fire.”
— The small village of Nekhoteevk, in Russia’s southern Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, was being evacuated due to shelling from Ukrainian territory, according to the regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov. His claims could not be immediately verified.
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Gambrell reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists Trisha Thomas in Rome, Yesica Fisch in Zaporizhzhia, Inna Varenytsia and David Keyton in Kyiv, Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/defenders-inside-ukrainian-steel-mill-refuse-surrender/ | 2022-05-07T16:39:32Z |
Dog found tied to fire hydrant with backpack full of toys, heartbreaking note from owner
GREEN BAY, Wis. (Gray News) - A dog was found tied to a fire hydrant in a neighborhood in Green Bay earlier this week, and the situation has since gone viral.
But the Wisconsin Humane Society showed compassion to the dog’s owner, who they say very clearly loved the dog.
The 6-year-old mixed breed named Baby Girl was left tied to a fire hydrant with a backpack full of her favorite toys and a heartbreaking note from her owner, citing struggles with medical complications and being unable to care for the dog.
The humane society said the way the leash was secured was so the dog wouldn’t be hit by a car, and the owner leaving her in a populated neighborhood ensured that she would be found quickly.
A post from the shelter reads, “We are so sorry you had to part with your best friend. It’s evident just how much you loved her and we can see you did your best while struggling with your own medical complications and challenges of life. We see your love in the bag you carefully packed with all of her favorite things ... We see your love in how happy and healthy Baby Girl looks. And we see your love in the note you left, pleading for someone to help her when you no longer could.”
Baby Girl will be up for adoption soon, but for now, she’s getting lots of attention and love from the people at the humane society.
While giving up a pet can be traumatic, the humane society wants people to know they can bring an animal to the shelter directly if they need to say goodbye and find them a new forever home.
Copyright 2022 Gray News, Inc. All rights reserved. CNN Newsource contributed to this report. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/dog-found-tied-fire-hydrant-with-backpack-full-toys-heartbreaking-note-owner/ | 2022-05-07T16:39:38Z |
Dog gets 2nd chance at adoption after family saves him from meat market
ST. LOUIS (Gray News) - An animal shelter in Missouri shared a special story this week during an annual fundraising day in the St. Louis area.
The Five Acres Animal Shelter introduced its audience to Tayo, one of their latest dogs brought to their no-kill animal shelter.
Representatives with the shelter said Tayo was found by a military family stationed in South Korea. The family told them they first spotted him at a pet store and asked what happened to him after noticing he was not in the window anymore.
The pet store reportedly told the family that the dog was no longer available for adoption because he was sold to a meat market. So, the family took matters into their own hands and rescued the animal.
Tayo got his vaccines, other medical attention needed, and the family brought the little guy to the states.
The animal shelter named him Tayo after a Korean cartoon that means “little bus” as he might be little but he is not lacking energy.
During the Give STL Day fundraising event, Five Acres said the money raised would go to helping more animals like Tayo.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/dog-gets-2nd-chance-adoption-after-family-saves-him-meat-market/ | 2022-05-07T16:39:45Z |
Driver pleads guilty in crash that killed Nicki Minaj’s father
NEW YORK (AP) — A hit-and-run driver pleaded guilty Friday in a suburban New York crash that killed the father of Nicki Minaj and was promised a year or less in jail, disappointing prosecutors and the hip hop star’s mother.
In state court in Long Island’s Nassau County, businessman Charles Polevich admitted leaving the scene of the February 2021 accident that fatally injured Robert Maraj as he walked along a road in Mineola.
Polevich initially got out of his car and looked at the injured man on the ground, but then drove off, didn’t call 911, garaged his car and covered it with a tarp, authorities said. Polevich pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence by concealing the car.
Maraj, 64, died at a hospital the next day.
Judge Howard Sturim said Polevich would get “no more than one year in jail,” along with community service and a suspended license. The 71-year-old is due to be sentenced Aug. 3.
The victim’s widow, Carol Maraj, told reporters she was “not happy” with the planned sentence. The widow, who is suing Polevich, said seeing him in court left her shaking at the memory of her husband fighting for his life in the hospital.
Prosecutors, who sought a one-to-three-year prison sentence, also took issue with the planned penalty.
“Given the severity of the defendant’s conduct, we disagree with the sentencing commitment from the court,” Nassau County District Attorney’s office spokesperson Brendan Brosh said in a statement.
Polevich’s lawyer, Marc Gann, called the hit-and-run “completely out of character” for his client, who hails from Long Island but has a drilling and water purification business in Guam.
“He does feel tremendous empathy for Mr. Maraj’s family and tremendous remorse for any role he played in his death,” Gann said by phone after court. He suggested that Polevich might have had a medical problem that made him not “fully aware of what he was doing,” while noting that it wasn’t a legal justification.
Messages were sent to representatives for Nicki Minaj, who called her father’s death “the most devastating loss of my life” in a post on her website last year.
The platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated rapper — known for tracks including “Anaconda,” “Starships” and “Super Bass” — was born Onika Tanya Maraj.
In interviews years ago, she described a troubled relationship with her father. But she later said he had changed.
After his death, she wrote about wishing she could pick up the phone and talk to him.
“He was very loved & will be very missed,” she wrote.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/driver-pleads-guilty-crash-that-killed-nicki-minajs-father/ | 2022-05-07T16:39:54Z |
Election signs vandalized in Summers County
SUMMERS COUNTY, W.Va. (WVVA) - Campaign signs for a local school board candidate have been vandalized. Stan Duncan says numerous signs of his have been cut up and spray painted. Summers County Sheriff Justin Faris says anyone caught vandalizing signs could face a misdemeanor charge.
“It bothers me that the democratic process is being interrupted and that a candidate should be able to put out their positive message and should get it out to the voters and let them make their decisions,” said Duncan.
“They better hope we don’t catch them is all I’ll say. We will prosecute them fully, the prosecutor is on board. It’s just gotten out of hand,” said Sheriff Faris.
Sheriff Faris says they are working to put up stealth cameras to hopefully stop election sign vandalism.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/elections-signs-vandalized-summers-county/ | 2022-05-07T16:40:01Z |
Experts says baby formula shortage is far from over
BECKLEY, W.Va. (WVVA) - Formula shelves are running low, and experts say there is still no end in sight.
Retailers have been struggling to stock formula since Abbott Nutrition’s formula was recalled in February. This, backpacked with the product strain from the pandemic, resulted in a national formula shortage.
Meanwhile, companies like Gerber and Perrigo have had to ramp up production to try and meet supply needs.
Heidi Staats, Director of the Office of Nutritional Services for the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR), says there are working diligently to get mothers and children what they need; however, she says she doesn’t see the issue getting resolved anytime soon.
“As production and supply and demand are all, you know, tied together, what happens or what we see are certain products will make rebounds, and there are still some that are lagging,” she explained. “It’ll probably be an ongoing issue that those of us servicing this population are going to experience for quite some time.”
Staats works with Women, Infants and Children (WIC) participants and says no child enrolled in the program has gone without formula in the seven months they have been dealing with the shortage. She says there are coordinating with retailers and out-of-state formula warehouses to find alternative products.
WVDHHR is now having to warn people against panic buying. Additionally, WIC participants are not allowed to purchase their full formula benefit of nine cans. They are asked to only purchase two to three at a time.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/experts-says-baby-formula-shortage-is-far-over/ | 2022-05-07T16:40:09Z |
Explosion at luxury Havana hotel kills 22, injures dozens
HAVANA (AP) — A powerful explosion apparently caused by a natural gas leak killed at least 22 people, including a child, and injured dozens Friday when it blew away outer walls from a luxury hotel in the heart of Cuba’s capital.
No tourists were staying at Havana’s 96-room Hotel Saratoga because it was undergoing renovations, Havana Gov. Reinaldo García Zapata told the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
“It’s not a bomb or an attack. It is a tragic accident,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who visited the site, said in a tweet.
Dr. Julio Guerra Izquierdo, chief of hospital services at the Ministry of Health, told reporters that at least 74 people had been injured. Among them were 14 children, according to a tweet from Díaz-Canel’s office.
Díaz-Canel said families in buildings near the hotel affected by the explosion had been transferred to safer locations.
Cuban state TV reported the explosion was caused by a truck that had been supplying natural gas to the hotel, but did not provide details on how the gas ignited. A white tanker truck was seen being removed from the site as rescue workers hosed it down with water.
Tourism Minister Juan Carlos García said the hotel was scheduled to reopen Tuesday.
The blast sent smoke billowing into the air around the hotel with people on the street staring in awe, one saying “Oh my God,” and cars honking their horns as they sped away from the scene, video showed. It happened as Cuba is struggling to revive its key tourism sector that was devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Cuba’s national health minister, José Ángel Portal, told The Associated Press the number of injured could rise as the search continues for people who may be trapped in the rubble of the 19th century structure in the Old Havana neighborhood of the city.
“We are still looking for a large group of people who may be under the rubble,” Lt. Col. Noel Silva of the Fire Department said.
A 300-student school next to the hotel was evacuated. García Zapata said five of the students suffered minor injuries.
Police cordoned off the area as firefighters and rescue workers toiled inside the wreckage of the emblematic hotel about 110 yards (100 meters) from Cuba’s Capitol building.
The hotel was first renovated in 2005 as part of the Cuban government’s revival of Old Havana and is owned by the Cuban military’s tourism business arm, Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA. The company said it was investigating the cause of the blast and did not immediately respond to an email seeking more details about the hotel and the renovation it was undergoing.
The Hotel Saratoga has been used frequently by visiting VIPs and political figures, including high-ranking U.S. government delegations. Beyoncé and Jay-Z stayed there during a 2013 visit to Cuba.
Photographer Michel Figueroa said he was walking past the hotel when “the explosion threw me to the ground, and my head still hurts.... Everything was very fast.”
Worried relatives of people who had been working at the hotel showed up at a hospital in the afternoon to look for them. Among them was Beatriz Céspedes Cobas, who was tearfully searching for her sister.
“She had to work today. She is a housekeeper,” she said. “I work two blocks away. I felt the noise, and at first, I didn’t even associate” the explosion with the hotel.
Yazira de la Caridad said the explosion shook her home a block from the hotel: “The whole building moved. I thought it was an earthquake.”
Besides the pandemic’s impact on Cuba’s tourism sector, the country was already struggling with the sanctions imposed by the former U.S. President Donald Trump that have been kept in place the Biden administration. The sanctions limited visits by U.S. tourists to the islands and restricted remittances from Cubans in the U.S. to their families in Cuba.
Tourism had started to revive somewhat early this year, but the war in Ukraine crimped a boom of Russian visitors, who accounted for almost a third of the tourists arriving in Cuba last year.
The explosion happened as Cuba’s government hosted the final day of a tourism convention in the iconic beach town of Varadero aimed at drawing investors.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is scheduled to arrive in Havana for a visit late Saturday and Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the visit would still take place.
García Zapata said structures adjacent to the hotel were being evaluated, including two badly damaged apartment buildings. The neighboring Martí Theater, the Yoruba Association and the Capitol had broken glass and damaged masonry.
Mayiee Pérez said she rushed to the hotel after receiving a call from her husband, Daniel Serra, who works at a foreign exchange shop inside the hotel.
She said he told her: “I am fine, I am fine. They got us out.” But she was unable to reach him after that.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/explosion-damages-hotel-cuban-capital-4-deaths-reported/ | 2022-05-07T16:40:16Z |
Family mistakes coyote pup for dog, takes it home
(CNN) - A Massachusetts family took home what they thought was a lost dog, only to later realize it was actually a coyote pup.
They called a wildlife center for help.
The pup is a young male who was separated from his family, the center said.
Health officials helped determine the coyote, fortunately, did not pose a risk of rabies exposure.
Coyotes are a rabies vector species and if any of the family members had been bitten, scratched, or had extended contact with the pup, it would have been euthanized and tested.
It is recovering in isolation but will soon be joined by a foster sibling.
The pups will be raised together and given a chance to grow and learn natural behaviors in large, outdoor caging.
Copyright 2020 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/family-mistakes-coyote-pup-dog-takes-it-home/ | 2022-05-07T16:40:24Z |
FDA restricts J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine due to blood clot risk
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators on Thursday strictly limited who can receive Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine due to the ongoing risk of rare but serious blood clots.
The Food and Drug Administration said the shot should only be given to adults who cannot receive a different vaccine or specifically request J&J’s vaccine. U.S. authorities for months have recommended that Americans get Pfizer or Moderna shots instead of J&J’s vaccine.
FDA’s vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks said the agency decided to restrict the vaccine after taking another look at the data on the risks of life-threatening blood clots and concluding that they are limited to J&J’s vaccine.
“If there’s an alternative that appears to be equally effective in preventing severe outcomes from COVID-19, we’d rather see people opting for that,” Marks said. “But we’ve been careful to say that-- compared to no vaccine-- this is still a better option.”
The problem occurs in the first two weeks after vaccination, he added: “So if you had the vaccine six months ago you can sleep soundly tonight knowing this isn’t an issue.”
The FDA authorized J&J’s shot in February last year for adults 18 and up.
The vaccine was initially considered an important tool in fighting the pandemic because it required only one shot. But the single-dose option proved less effective than two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Moderna and Pfizer shots over J&J’s because of its safety issues.
As of mid-March, federal scientists had identified 60 cases of the side effect, including nine that were fatal. That amounts to 3.23 blood clot cases per 1 million J&J shots. The problem is more common in women under 50, where the death rate was roughly 1 per million shots, according to Marks.
Marks said the FDA spent extra time analyzing the problem to be sure it wasn’t connected to a separate issue, such as women taking birth control medications that raise their risk of clotting.
The J&J vaccine will carry a starker warning about potential “long-term and debilitating health consequences” of the side effect.
Under the new FDA instructions, J&J’s vaccine could still be given to people who had a severe allergic reaction to one of the other vaccines and can’t receive an additional dose. J&J’s shot could also be an option for people who refuse to receive the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, and therefore would otherwise remain unvaccinated, the agency said.
A J&J spokesman said in an emailed statement: “Data continue to support a favorable benefit-risk profile for the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in adults, when compared with no vaccine.”
The clotting problems first came up last spring, with the J&J shot in the U.S. and with a similar vaccine made by AstraZeneca that is used in other countries. At that time, U.S. regulators decided the benefits of J&J’s one-and-done vaccine outweighed what was considered a very rare ri sk — as long as recipients were warned.
COVID-19 causes deadly blood clots, too. But the vaccine-linked kind is different, believed to form because of a rogue immune reaction to the J&J and AstraZeneca vaccines because of how they’re made. Clots form in unusual places, such as veins that drain blood from the brain, and in patients who also develop abnormally low levels of the platelets that form clots. Symptoms of the unusual clots include severe headaches a week or two after the J&J vaccination — not right away — as well as abdominal pain and nausea.
The New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company announced last month that it didn’t expect a profit from the vaccine this year and was suspending sales projections.
The rollout of the company’s vaccine was hurt by a series of troubles, including manufacturing problems at a Baltimore factory that forced J&J to import millions of doses from overseas.
Additionally, regulators added warnings about the blood clots and a rare neurological reaction called Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Pfizer and Moderna have provided the vast majority of COVID-19 vaccines in the U.S. More than 200 million Americans have been fully vaccinated with the companies’ two-dose shots while less than 17 million Americans got the J&J shot.
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This version corrects the rate of blood clots reported with J&J’s vaccine. It is 3.23 cases per 1 million vaccinations.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/fda-restricts-jjs-covid-19-vaccine-due-blood-clot-risk/ | 2022-05-07T16:40:32Z |
Former police officer gets 5 years for rough arrest of woman with dementia
DENVER (AP) — A former Colorado police officer shown on body camera video roughly arresting a 73-year-old woman with dementia and later seen joking about it with colleagues was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison.
Austin Hopp arrested Karen Garner in 2020 after she left a store without paying for about $14 worth of items in Loveland, about 50 miles north of Denver. Police body camera video shows that after she turned away from him, he grabbed her arm and pushed her to the ground, still holding the wildflowers she had been picking as she walked through a field.
Hopp had faced anywhere from probation up to eight years behind bars after pleading guilty to second-degree assault in March under a deal with prosecutors that was opposed by Garner’s family. He had faced a mandatory prison sentence of between 10 and 32 years under an original, more serious assault charge.
The footage shows that when Hopp had Garner pushed against the hood of his car, she tried to turn around and repeated that she was trying to go home. He then pushed her back against the car and moved her bent left arm up near her head, holding it, saying, “Are you finished? Are you finished? We don’t play this game.”
A federal lawsuit that Garner filed claimed he dislocated her shoulder. The city settled the lawsuit for $3 million, money which her family has said will pay for the around-the-clock care she has required after her condition deteriorated following her arrest.
Police station surveillance video released by Garner’s lawyer showed Hopp and others talking and at times laughing or joking about the arrest as they watch the body camera footage with Garner in a holding cell nearby. At one point, Hopp told the others to listen for the “pop” during the part of footage when Garner’s shoulder was allegedly dislocated.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/former-police-officer-gets-5-years-rough-arrest-woman-with-dementia/ | 2022-05-07T16:40:40Z |
Giuliani withdraws from interview with Jan. 6 committee
WASHINGTON (AP) — A spokesman for the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol says Rudy Giuliani, who led Donald Trump’s court efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, has withdrawn from an interview that was scheduled to take place Friday.
Committee spokesman Tim Mulvey released a statement to multiple media outlets Thursday night saying: “Mr. Giuliani had agreed to participate in a transcribed interview with the Select Committee. Today, he informed committee investigators that he wouldn’t show up unless he was permitted to record the interview, which was never an agreed-upon condition.”
Mulvey continued: “Mr. Giuliani is an important witness to the conspiracy to overthrow the government and he remains under subpoena. If he refuses to comply the committee will consider all enforcement options.”
Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, told CNN that even though Friday’s meeting is off, talks between the two sides continue.
In January the committee issued subpoenas to Giuliani and other members of Trump’s legal team who filed bogus legal challenges to the 2020 election that fueled the lie that race had been stolen from the former president.
Giuliani also spoke at the rally in front of the White House that preceded the Jan. 6 insurrection. Like Trump, he suggested the certification of Biden’s victory was an existential crisis for the country and used rhetoric that alluded to violence.
“Let’s have trial by combat,” Giuliani said. “I’m willing to stake my reputation, the President is willing to stake his reputation, on the fact that we’re going to find criminality there.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/giuliani-withdraws-interview-with-jan-6-committee/ | 2022-05-07T16:40:48Z |
Goodwill find in Texas turns out to be ancient Roman bust
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A marble bust that a Texas woman bought for about $35 from a Goodwill store is temporarily on display at a San Antonio museum after experts determined it was a centuries-old sculpture missing from Germany since World War II.
The bust, which art collector Laura Young found at Goodwill in 2018, once belonged in the collection of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, according to the San Antonio Museum of Art, which is temporarily displaying the piece until it is returned to Germany next year.
The ancient Roman bust dates to the first century B.C. or first century A.D. and historians believe it may depict a son of Pompey the Great, who was defeated in civil war by Julius Caesar, the museum said. The sculpture was last seen in Aschaffenburg, Germany, and experts believe a soldier took the sculpture and brought it to the United States, the museum said.
A Sotheby’s consultant identified the work and it was further authenticated, the museum said.
“We are very pleased that a piece of Bavarian history that we thought was lost has reappeared and will soon be able to return to its rightful location,” said Bernd Schreiber, president of the Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens, and Lakes.
Young said there were a few months of “intense excitement” after learning the history behind the piece, which she found on the floor beneath a table at a Goodwill in Austin, Texas.
Young reached a deal to return the bust to Germany with the help of an attorney who specializes in international art law, Austin radio station KUT reported. Terms of that deal were confidential.
“But it was bittersweet since I knew I couldn’t keep or sell the (bust),” she said. “Either way, I’m glad I got to be a small part of (its) long and complicated history, and he looked great in the house while I had him.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/goodwill-find-texas-turns-out-be-ancient-roman-bust/ | 2022-05-07T16:41:00Z |
GOP works to get out the vote after calling elections rigged
ATLANTA (AP) — Republican David Perdue has made election fraud the centerpiece of his run for Georgia governor. But if he hopes to win in this year’s midterm elections, his supporters will have to use the same democratic system he says they shouldn’t trust.
The only way to win a rigged election, he says, is to turn out in such high numbers that the Democrats can’t get away with cheating.
“If we get out the vote, if everybody votes, we will win,” Perdue told his audience at a campaign speech last month.
Across the nation, Republicans who have embraced discredited conspiracy theories about the 2020 election are attempting a similar high-wire act: campaigning for votes by preaching skepticism about elections.
For GOP contenders, it’s a tricky calculus. If they continue spreading former President Donald Trump’s lies that the election was stolen, they risk undermining faith in democracy and having their supporters stay at home. But those who reject Trump’s false claims face the wrath of the former president and his supporters, who wield sizable influence in many GOP primaries.
The tactic of campaigning on a distrust of democracy can confuse voters on whether their vote matters or not. Joe Kent, a Republican running for Congress in Washington, said voters sometimes ask him why they should bother voting at all, if elections are rigged. Kent said he believes Trump won and has said he would work to overturn President Joe Biden’s win if elected, even though there is no legal mechanism for doing so.
“I don’t have a perfect answer for you,” is what Kent said he tells voters who say they no longer trust voting. “I wish there was a remedy. If you buy into ‘It’s all rigged’ and ‘I’m not going to vote,’ we are 100% going to lose.”
In the 18 months since Biden defeated Trump, other issues have bubbled up to compete for the attention of candidates and voters: inflation, the bloody exit from Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and debates over vaccines and masks in schools.
Trump’s false statements about the election, meanwhile, have been roundly disproved — by courts, law enforcement, elected election officials from both parties, and independent investigations.
“We need to move on to solving problems for citizens,” said Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, the Republican from southwest Washington state facing a primary challenge this year from Kent. Beutler has said she supported Trump’s right to bring legal challenges, but there’s no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
Beutler is one of 10 House Republicans who supported Trump’s second impeachment. She also voted to certify Biden’s election victory, making her a major target for Trump and his supporters.
The former president began spreading doubts about the 2020 election years before the first votes were even cast, saying he would only accept the results if he was the victor. He’s spent the last year and a half repeating those same claims, despite an absence of evidence. Now, he’s using his power within the GOP to punish candidates for being insufficiently loyal.
When Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, a stalwart Trump backer, told a crowd of Trump supporters that it was time to move on from 2020, he was jeered. Trump ended up pulling his endorsement of Brooks in Alabama’s Senate race.
“He wanted the election rescinded and a do-over,” Brooks later said. “But there’s no legal way to do it.”
Many Republicans have leaned into Trump’s conspiracy theories. In Missouri, Rep. Billy Long, who is running for the U.S. Senate, released a 30-second ad claiming the “Democrats rigged the election.” YouTube later removed the ad from its platform for violating its rules on misinformation.
In Texas, one survey of 143 Republican candidates for Congress this year found that only 13 stated that Biden was the election’s rightful winner.
Georgia is perhaps the best example of how Trump’s self-serving conspiracy theories continue to resonate with Republican voters, and the candidates hoping for their support.
Republican turnout in Georgia dropped in the January 2021 runoffs amid Trump’s barrage of voter fraud claims in his own election defeat, leading many Republicans to conclude that Trump’s messaging cost their party control of the Senate when Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock beat Perdue and fellow Republican Kelly Loeffler.
Perdue, now running for governor at Trump’s behest, has made election fraud the centerpiece of his challenge to incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp. Perdue and Trump blame Kemp’s refusal to attempt to overturn Trump’s defeat in Georgia during the 2020 campaign for their losses.
In his campaign speech, Perdue pledged to eliminate Georgia’s Dominion voting machines, which Trump has falsely accused of flipping votes against him. But Perdue also said concerns about the machines shouldn’t discourage Republicans from voting, noting that Democratic-leaning Virginia elected Republican Glenn Youngkin with votes recorded on Dominion machines.
“Let’s give you some hope. In Virginia, we just elected a Republican governor using these same machines,” Perdue said. “How did we do it? Well, Trump told people, he said: ‘Look, they fixed some rules. We still use the machines. It’s not perfect yet, but we can overwhelm it if we all get out and vote.’”
Perdue has also touted Republican efforts to recruit more poll watchers, saying they will help prevent fraud, although Perdue’s accusations have focused on the disproven claim that fraud in Georgia centered on absentee ballots that were returned in drop boxes.
Running for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, Herschel Walker has taken a different tack, saying he doesn’t want to look backward at the 2020 election. During an April 20 interview with radio station WDUN-AM in Gainesville, Georgia, Walker acknowledged concerns about election fraud among Republican voters. He sought to reassure voters that Georgia’s restrictive 2021 election law will put to rest worries about absentee ballots by requiring driver license numbers on ballot applications and by limiting ballot drop boxes.
“I don’t know if there are problems with the 2020 elections,” Walker said. “One thing I have to worry about right now is that I’m going to have a fair election, and that people can believe in our election when I run.”
Surveys indicate that many Republicans have harbored doubts about Biden’s win, skepticism that has been encouraged by Trump and his allies on cable TV and talk radio, along with conspiracy theories and misinformation spreading online.
Distrust of American institutions was already increasing when Trump began telling his supporters that the election was rigged if he lost. The COVID-19 pandemic then prompted many states to rush out new vote-by-mail rules that alarmed some conservatives and prompted even more falsehoods from Trump.
When the votes were counted, large numbers of those mail-in ballots helped tilt the outcome in states like Pennsylvania and Georgia toward Biden.
“They view what happened in Pennsylvania and Georgia with suspicion,” said Daron Shaw, a former campaign strategist and polling expert who now teaches at the University of Texas. “But it was their guy who said don’t vote by mail. Voters take their cues from partisan elites, but instead of pushing back on this (voter fraud claim), the party elites have acted as an accelerant.”
___
Klepper reported from Providence, R.I.
___
Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ap_politics.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/gop-works-get-out-vote-after-calling-elections-rigged/ | 2022-05-07T16:41:07Z |
Greenbrier Co. resident reports damage from afternoon storm
LESLIE, W.Va. (WVVA) - There are reports that serious weather is being reported in the two Virginias. One viewer reported damage to their home in Western Greenbrier County. The viewer’s home is in the Leslie community and he says fallen trees caused damage to a home there.
He says it happened after 1PM on Friday, May 6. He says his neighbors saw a tornado but the National Weather Service has not confirmed that.
“My neighbor said that he opened up the door and looked and he said it was a tornado. It came from the back side of our property and they were trying to get the door shut and they couldn’t shut the door. There’s a path of destruction above our house through the woods where trees are just laid over,” said Leslie resident, Jeremy Quillen.
The National Weather Service is investigating whether the damage is the result of a tornado.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/greenbrier-co-resident-reports-storm-damage-afternoon-storm/ | 2022-05-07T16:41:13Z |
Hawaiian couple allegedly chained child to porch, beat him with 2-by-4
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow/Gray News) - Prosecutors have revealed more specific allegations against a Hawaiian couple accused of beating a restrained child.
Hawaii County prosecutors said Alexander Aquino allegedly struck his 14-year-old stepson with a two-by-four while the boy was chained by his neck to their porch.
Aquino and his wife, Amy, also allegedly failed to render necessary medical aid when the boy broke his back while trying to escape in 2020.
Officials said the child was locked outside of the couple’s home on multiple occasions.
The teen is now in state custody.
Alexander Aquino’s bench trial just finished, and the judge’s verdict is scheduled for May 18.
Meanwhile, Aquino’s wife ― who faces the same charges of unlawful imprisonment of a minor ― pleaded “no contest” in April. She is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
Officials said Aquino and his wife were granted supervised release, despite prosecutors’ objections, pending their upcoming court dates.
Both face up to five years in prison if convicted.
Copyright 2022 Hawaii News Now via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/hawaiian-couple-allegedly-chained-child-porch-beat-him-with-2-by-4/ | 2022-05-07T16:41:20Z |
Hill bargainers seek Ukraine aid deal, COVID aid in question
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are working toward compromise on President Joe Biden’s $33 billion Ukraine aid request, even as signs emerge that Democrats may need to swallow another COVID-19 setback and drop their goal of wrapping pandemic spending into the package.
Bipartisan talks among House and Senate Appropriations committee leaders are underway in hopes of producing legislation Congress could vote on as soon as next week, members of both parties say. Changes in Biden’s proposal are likely — the price tag, particularly for military spending, could rise — but there’s wide agreement on the urgency of helping Kyiv and regional allies resist Russia’s 10-week-old onslaught.
Republican budget-writers “are probably knocking some things out and adding some things. But I think by and large, everybody agrees we’ve got to do all we can to help,” said No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Thune of South Dakota. He said some Republicans believe “this package may not be robust enough, but I think it probably strikes close to the right balance.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., cited broad backing for the measure Thursday but warned, “This isn’t about battling climate change.” McConnell aides said he was objecting to some proposed funding to international organizations that Republicans have criticized for spending money on alternative energy initiatives.
“If the Senate is serious about helping Ukraine win, we need to show it by passing supplemental assistance. Clean, no strings attached, and soon,” McConnell said.
One participant said bargainers must resolve details of Biden proposals to provide health care, food and other benefits to Ukrainian refugees in the U.S. and to strengthen government powers to use assets seized from billionaire friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin to help Ukraine. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe the talks publicly.
When Biden sent his $33 billion proposal to Congress last week, he wrote that “to avoid needless deaths in the United States and around the world,” Congress should include additional billions for COVID-19 tests, treatments and vaccines. Democrats have hoped doing so would pressure the GOP to accept the pandemic spending, which Democrats say is needed to prepare for the virus’ all but inevitable next curveball.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has resorted to more lawyerly language, not specifying that the two issues should be combined. “We need to figure out the best way to get both done, and that’s what we’re going to try to do in the next few weeks,” he told reporters Tuesday.
Minutes earlier, McConnell spelled out his view of the best way forward.
“There is overwhelming bipartisan support for getting the Ukrainians as much help as they need as quickly as possible,” McConnell said. “For that to happen here in Congress, that package needs to be moved without the other extraneous issues.”
While combining Ukraine and pandemic money into one package has broad Democratic support, bargainers say party leaders haven’t made a final decision on that yet. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in an interview that he wants funding for Ukraine and COVID-19 tied together because both are crucial.
“It may” fall out of the bill, Leahy said of the pandemic money, “and I think that would be a mistake.”
Biden’s overall proposal is anchored by $20 billion to help Ukraine and nearby countries defend themselves and replenish U.S. arms shipped to the area. There’s $8.5 billion to bolster Ukraine’s economy and government and $3 billion for refugees and to supplement food supplies around the world disrupted by the war.
The proposal’s fine print, contained in White House documents sent to Congress, adds texture to Biden’s plans.
It would make it easier for Russians with advanced degrees in more than two dozen sciences — including missile propulsion, artificial intelligence, semiconductors and cybersecurity — to get job-based visas and come to the U.S. Besides strengthening the U.S. in those fields, the move would “undercut Russia’s innovative potential, benefitting U.S. national security,” according to the materials accompanying Biden’s proposal.
The documents, which break down Biden’s defense request by each branch of the military, include $800,000 for the new U.S. Space Force. The expenditures are described as covering intelligence analysis, flying hours, weapon system sustainment and other costs, but no other details are provided. The overall U.S. defense budget is around $800 billion.
There’s nearly $600 million for Patriot anti-missile systems in Europe, money to care for wounded Ukrainian troops at an American military medical center in Germany and a proposal to let Afghan refugees who’ve fled to this country since the U.S. withdrawal become lawful permanent residents if they qualify.
Rapid approval of Ukraine aid would let both parties avoid an election-year display of dysfunction by spiraling into a spat over the widely popular cause of helping Ukraine avoid being overpowered by Russia.
Passage of Ukraine aid separately would also preserve GOP hopes of boxing Democrats into a corner on border security, an issue Republicans are banking on in November’s elections for congressional control.
Should Senate Democrats press ahead with a separate pandemic bill, Republicans plan to force a vote on retaining a Trump-era order citing the pandemic as justification for quickly removing asylum-seekers crossing the Mexican border into the U.S. The Biden administration has planned to let that rule expire May 23, and Democrats are divided over whether to extend it.
Already this year, a White House request for $30 billion for the pandemic was cut in half and ultimately dropped by the House. A bipartisan Senate compromise then trimmed it to $10 billion, but stalled over GOP demands for a vote on immigration.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/hill-bargainers-seek-ukraine-aid-deal-covid-aid-question/ | 2022-05-07T16:41:28Z |
Fred Savage dropped from ‘The Wonder Years’ amid allegations
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fred Savage has been dropped as an executive producer and director of the rebooted “The Wonder Years” amid allegations of inappropriate conduct, the television show’s production company has confirmed.
“Recently, we were made aware of allegations of inappropriate conduct by Fred Savage, and as is policy, an investigation was launched. Upon its completion, the decision was made to terminate his employment as an executive producer and director of ‘The Wonder Years,’” a statement Saturday from 20th Television said.
20th Television did not immediately provide any additional details. A spokesperson for Savage did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Savage, 45, was a child star when he appeared in the original series, which ran on ABC from 1988-93 and followed a suburban white family in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A new version of the show, which features Don Cheadle as the narrator, premiered last fall. The new series revolves around a Black family living in Montgomery, Alabama, in the late 1960s.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/05/07/fred-savage-dropped-wonder-years-amid-allegations/ | 2022-05-07T16:41:32Z |
Home’s hidden room has big reveal on video
RENO, Nev. (KOLO/Gray News) - Justine Sidie went to visit her parents in Reno. They had just bought a new house, and her dad noticed what he thought was a fake wall in the garage.
“If you look at the window, there’s only a two-inch gap between the window and the wall and then on the outside there was like a 5-foot gap,” said Sidie.
So her dad grabbed a saw, creating a small hole in the wall. Sidie filmed the whole thing, posting what they found on TikTok.
“We cut a little hole in the wall, and I stuck my phone through the hole and we saw all these shelves,” she said.
Sidie’s TikTok went viral, and millions of people wanted to know what they found in the hidden room.
“Thousands of likes and comments and questions, and everybody was demanding for a part two,” Sidie said.
When Sidie and her dad crawled through the hole, they saw what they thought was a door.
“When we were inside, we found where there would have been a door,” she said. “You can’t see it from the garage because there’s a shelf built into the wall to block it, so it just looks like a shelf.”
Once you get inside, the space is about 5-feet wide, and six shelving units run the length of the garage. Most of the shelves were stacked high with boxes, full of food, medical supplies and survival kits.
After reaching out to a former owner of the house, Sidie’s parents guess that the room was created and stocked in the early 2000′s.
While they didn’t find anything of significant value, Sidie is ready to go back and keep searching.
“A lot of the comments were, you know, check for a shelter underground or buried stuff throughout the property,” Sidie said.
Copyright 2022 KOLO via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/homes-hidden-room-has-big-reveal-video/ | 2022-05-07T16:41:34Z |
Governor signs ‘sales tax holiday’ package; gas, diapers, essential items becoming tax-free
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WWSB/Gray News) - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a package on Friday that will give residents a series of sales tax “holidays.”
WWSB reports the tax breaks will be on items like school clothes, hurricane supplies, tools and a suspension of the state gas tax in October.
Tax package HB 7071 was passed by the Legislature in March and is said to reduce state and local revenues by $804.3 million during the upcoming fiscal year.
Officials said the package will eliminate taxes during the 2022-2023 fiscal year on baby clothes, diapers, children’s books, Energy Star appliances, impact-resistant doors and windows, new mobile homes and admissions to Formula One Grand Prix races and the Daytona 500.
“This bill comes at an opportune time, as families grapple with the rising costs of everyday expenses like gas, food and clothing,” said Department of Children and Families Secretary Shevaun Harris. “I know that every penny saved counts.”
State leaders touted that the election-year package would help consumers.
“The tax relief you’re going to see are going to be breaks for really critical needs, like gas, diapers, disaster supplies, tools for skilled trades, recreational activities, you name it,” DeSantis said. “And, so, families are going to be able to save for things that really matter to them.”
DeSantis, whose youngest child is 2-years-old, highlighted the tax breaks for diapers and baby clothes during a bill-signing ceremony at Sam’s Club in Ocala, Florida. The ceremony included a stack of Huggies diapers and several families.
While most of the tax breaks will not take effect until July 1 or later, two parts will start this month.
A sales-tax exemption on children’s books will run from May 14 to Aug. 14. Also, a tax holiday will start on May 28 on hurricane supplies.
Officials said shoppers would be able to avoid paying sales taxes on an array of items, from packages of batteries and radios under $50 to generators up to $1,000. The hurricane-season holiday for the first time, will include pet supplies.
The second tax holiday will be for what lawmakers have dubbed “Freedom Week,” which will run from July 1 through July 7. Shoppers will be able to avoid paying sales taxes on such things as tickets for concerts, movies, ballgames, museum visits and select outdoor gear.
A back-to-school tax holiday will start July 25 and last through Aug. 7. Shoppers will be able to avoid paying sales taxes on clothes and shoes that cost $100 or less, school supplies that cost $50 or less and personal computers with price tags of $1,500 or less.
Economists estimate the holiday’s impact to total $100.1 million.
In the month before voters go to the polls for the November elections, they also will get a break at the gas pump. The package includes suspending a .25-cent gas tax per gallon in October.
“There are certain things when you have inflation that you can maybe dial back, certain entertainment, whatever, people can make decisions with their family budget,” DeSantis said. “You can’t just not get to your job. So, you’ve got to fill up your gas tank.”
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democratic candidate for governor, issued a statement Friday that said many of the tax breaks were aided by federal stimulus money.
“This tax relief package was made possible by the American Rescue Plan, which provided Florida with more than $10 billion in federal funds,” Fried said.
Officials said parents are projected to see savings of $74.7 million by not having to pay sales taxes on clothes and shoes for toddlers and another $35.7 million on the costs of diapers.
Copyright 2022 WWSB via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/05/07/governor-signs-sales-tax-holiday-package-gas-diapers-essential-items-becoming-tax-free/ | 2022-05-07T16:41:39Z |
‘I read banned books’ library cards offered at Nashville library
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV/Gray News) - The Nashville Public Library launched a unique campaign last week to promote reading banned books.
Library officials said they promote everyone’s freedom to read by offering a free, limited edition “I read banned books” library card. The goal is to get 5,000 cards into the hands of readers across Davidson County, WSMV reported.
The promotion is in response to McMinn County Schools in January removing Art Spiegelman’s acclaimed graphic novel “Maus” from the school district’s curriculum and Williamson County Schools’ removal of Sharon Creech’s “Walk Two Moons” in February.
“I want Nashvillians to know: Nashville Public Library will always respect your Freedom to Read – to determine what you read and don’t read independently and exercise your role in determining what your children read,” said Kent Oliver, director of Nashville Public Library. “This campaign is our way of bringing our community together in our shared Freedom to Read, which is essential to sustaining our democracy.”
The library said the American Library Association has been tracking challenges against books since the 1980s and have recorded thousands of challenges made in cities across the United States.
The Freedom to Read campaign works by having all Davidson County residents and existing library card holders obtain a new or upgraded card at no additional charge.
Customers can sign up for their card on the library’s website or in-person at the library’s 21 locations. The campaign ends May 26.
Copyright 2022 WSMV via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/i-read-banned-books-library-cards-offered-nashville-library/ | 2022-05-07T16:41:41Z |
Scattered showers continuing Saturday
FIRST ALERT WEATHER DAY Saturday
Overall rainfall through Saturday is expected to be about 1-2″ however, there will be higher amounts in storms. That can add an additional 1-2″ with a total of 3-4″ for some areas. If for some reason an area picked up multiple rounds of storms, we could be looking at higher amounts. Overall, the rain is needed but some areas had a lot of rain with storms earlier in the week, especially Hardy and Shenandoah counties. Flooding is a concern with storms, in prone areas and around creeks.
SATURDAY: Cloudy for the rest of the day and pleasantly cool with temperatures hovering in the upper 40s to low 50s. On and off scattered showers throughout the day, but rain will stay light. Windy throughout the day with winds out of the north-northeast at 10-25 mph, gusting to 30-35 mph at times. Be careful driving. Some rivers, creeks, and streams are still having flooding issues.
Showers start to taper off into the evening with drizzle, temperatures into the 40s. Plenty of clouds will still be around during the overnight, still breezy at times. Chilly overnight with lows in the low to mid 40s.
SUNDAY (Mother’s Day): A pleasantly cool start with temperatures rising into the 50s and more clouds than sun. Plenty of clouds for the day with peeks of sunshine, especially in the afternoon. Feeling cool but pleasant with highs in the low to mid 50s. A chilly evening with temperatures in the 40s and chilly overnight with lows in the low to mid 40s.
MONDAY: A chilly start with temperatures in the 40s but some sunshine. Mix of sun and clouds for the day and mild with highs in the mid 60s. A comfortable evening in the 60s and chilly overnight with lows in the low to mid to upper 40s.
TUESDAY: Another chilly start with temperatures rising into the 50s and sunshine. Warm for the day and mainly sunny with highs in the upper 60s to low 70s. A comfortable evening with temperatures in the 60s and pleasant overnight with lows in the low to mid 50s.
WEDNESDAY: A mix of sun and clouds to start the day and pleasant with temperatures quickly warming into the 60s. A beautiful day with high temperatures in the low 70s with a few passing clouds. A mild evening with temperatures in the 60s and pleasant overnight with lows in the low to mid 50s.
THURSDAY: A pleasant start with temperatures rising into the 60s with plenty of sunshine. Staying mainly sunny for the day and warm with highs in the low to mid 70s. A mild evening with temperatures in the 60s and pleasant overnight with lows in the low to mid 50s.
As always, you can get the latest updates by downloading and checking the WHSV Weather App.
**A reminder that spring wildfire season is still going on in West Virginia. No outdoor burning in West Virginia before 5pm through May 31.**
Copyright 2021 WHSV. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/05/07/scattered-showers-continuing-saturday/ | 2022-05-07T16:41:45Z |
Indiana man charged with murder advances in township race
LEBANON, Ind. (AP) — A central Indiana man charged with murder in connection with the March death of his wife is one of three candidates who advanced in a primary election this week for a township board.
Andrew Wilhoite, 40, of Lebanon received 60 of the 276 total votes Tuesday for Republicans for three positions on the Clinton Township Board, Boone County election results show.
Indiana township boards consist of three members, state officials said. The local Republican primary race drew only three candidates and no candidates filed for the Democratic primary ticket, The Indianapolis Star reported.
Wilhoite was arrested in late March in the death of 41-year-old Elizabeth “Nikki” Wilhoite. He’s been held since then in the Boone County Jail without bond.
Indiana State Police have said Andrew Wilhoite struck Nikki Wilhoite in the head with a blunt object, knocking her out. He then put her in a vehicle and drove to a creek a few miles from their home and dumped her body there, police said.
Police found Nikki Wilhoite’s body on March 26 partially submerged in about 3 feet (1 meter) of water.
Court records indicate Nikki Wilhoite filed for divorce on March 17. The couple had been married for 12 years.
Andrew Wilhoite’s jury trial is scheduled for Aug. 29, online court records show.
If he is convicted of a felony before the Nov. 8 general election, he would automatically be removed from the ballot. No Democrats have filed for the Clinton Township Board.
“Under our legal system, every person is innocent until proven guilty,” said Brad King, co-director of the Indiana Election Division.
A message seeking comment on the charges Wilhoite faces was left Friday by The Associated Press for Wilhoite’s attorney.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/indiana-man-charged-with-murder-wins-township-primary-race/ | 2022-05-07T16:41:48Z |
‘It is heartbreaking’: Tony Dow, ‘Leave It to Beaver’ actor, announces cancer diagnosis
(Gray News) - Actor Tony Dow shared this week on his social media page that he has once again been diagnosed with cancer.
Dow, known for his role as Wally Cleaver on “Leave It To Beaver,” shared the cancer diagnosis on Thursday.
The 77-year-old actor and his wife, Lauren Shulkind, shared a joint statement on the actor’s Facebook page:
“Dear Friends & Fans of Tony Dow, I have some very sad news to share with you. Unfortunately, Tony has once again been diagnosed with cancer. He is approaching this reality so bravely, but it is truly heartbreaking.”
The couple didn’t share any further immediate details, but they thanked everyone already for their caring thoughts.
As of Friday afternoon, Dow’s social media post had over 14,000 comments from fans sending him well wishes and more than 2,000 shares.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/it-is-heartbreaking-tony-dow-leave-it-beaver-actor-announces-cancer-diagnosis/ | 2022-05-07T16:41:54Z |
Jill Biden thanks US troops in Romania amid Ukraine war
MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU AIR BASE, Romania (AP) — Delivering good cheer — and gallons of ketchup — Jill Biden on Friday thanked U.S. troops deployed to Romania for serving as a check against Russian aggression as she opened a two-country European trip to learn about the refugee crisis caused by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. first lady flew overnight from Washington and landed just in time to help serve dinner at Romania’s Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base near the Black Sea and about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the border with Ukraine. The base is temporarily home to about 1,600 of the several thousand troops President Joe Biden deployed to Eastern Europe in the leadup to the Russia-Ukraine war.
In the food line, Jill Biden dished up macaroni and cheese and baked potatoes — and encouraged fatigue-clad troops to have some greens, too — before she greeted groups of them as they ate at round tables in the dining hall. They cheered when she revealed she came bearing ketchup, which was in short supply on the base.
“I know it’s hard on your families,” she told one servicemember, referencing her own experience when her son Beau Biden deployed to Iraq.
At another location on the base, the first lady joined Staff Sgt. Sharon Rogers to read the children’s book “Night Catch” on videotape for Rogers’ son, Nathan, who lives in Texas. Biden thanked the boy for serving his country, too.
“When your mom serves, the family serves, too, so thank you for your service,” she told Nathan. She and Rogers embraced and Biden wished her a happy Mother’s Day.
Before leaving the base and flying to Bucharest, Romania’s capital, the first lady posed with troops who represent her home state through their service in the Delaware Army National Guard. She handed them a souvenir coin she designed, the first time she’d given away copies of the coin.
For weeks, the first lady has been transfixed by the news coming out of Ukraine, by the bombings and scenes of “parents weeping over their children’s broken bodies in the streets,” as she said in a recent speech. She’s now using her second solo overseas trip to experience the crisis for herself by visiting Romania and Slovakia.
“It’s so important to the president and to me that the Ukrainian people know that we stand with them,” Biden told reporters Thursday night before she departed Washington.
NATO allies Romania and Slovakia border Ukraine and have taken in some of the millions of mostly women and children who fled after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, triggering Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II.
Biden is also using the trip to highlight issues she promotes at home, including support for U.S. service members, education and the welfare of children.
The centerpiece of the trip comes Sunday — Mother’s Day — when the mother of three meets with displaced Ukrainians who sought refuge across the border in Slovakia.
Her daughter, Ashley Biden, had planned to accompany her, but backed out Thursday after learning that she was a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19, said Michael LaRosa, the first lady’s spokesperson. Ashley Biden tested negative, he said.
The first lady also will meet during the trip with humanitarian aid workers, educators, government officials and U.S. embassy personnel, the White House said.
Nearly 6 million Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have fled their country since Russia’s invasion, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Hundreds of thousands have resettled in next-door countries, like Romania and Slovakia, or have gone elsewhere in Europe to rebuild their lives.
Biden has long shown an interest in the plight of refugees around the world.
In 2011, when her husband was vice president, she traveled to drought-stricken east Africa to visit with Somali famine refugees at the Dadaab camp in Kenya. In 2017, she visited refugees in Chios, Greece, as part of work by the aid organization Save The Children, on whose board she served.
Some refugee advocates said Biden’s trip will send the message that the United States takes seriously its humanitarian commitment to the Ukrainian people.
“Every first lady has a far-reaching platform to raise awareness and this trip will be an important tool for mobilizing additional support for those forced to flee their homeland,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and formerly a policy director to first lady Michelle Obama.
Biden’s trip follows other U.S. government representatives visiting Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
President Biden visited Ukrainian refugees in March during a stop in Poland, the closest he’s been to Ukraine during the war. The White House says there are no plans for him to visit Kyiv.
Jill Biden continues her trip Saturday in Bucharest with briefings on the humanitarian efforts, meeting with Romanian first lady Carmen Iohannis and touring a school where Ukrainian refugee students are enrolled. The first lady is a community college English professor.
On Sunday in Slovakia, Biden will visit a city-operated refugee center and a public school in Kosice that also hosts Ukrainian refugee students to participate in Mother’s Day events with Ukrainian and Slovakian mothers and children. She’ll also visit the Slovakia-Ukraine border crossing in Vysne Nemecke, Slovakia.
The White House declined to comment on whether she will cross the border and enter Ukraine.
Monday brings a meeting with Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova, the country’s first female president, before Biden heads back to Washington.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/jill-biden-meet-ukrainian-refugees-during-border-visit/ | 2022-05-07T16:42:01Z |
Challenge over Marjorie Taylor Greene’s eligibility fails
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger accepted a judge’s findings Friday and said U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is qualified to run for reelection despite claims by a group of voters that she had engaged in insurrection.
Georgia Administrative Law Judge Charles Beaudrot issued a decision hours earlier that Green was eligible to run, finding the voters hadn’t produced sufficient evidence to back their claims. After Raffensperger adopted the judge’s decision, the group that filed the complaint on behalf of the voters vowed to appeal.
Before reaching his decision, Beaudrot had held a daylong hearing in April that included arguments from lawyers for the voters and for Greene, as well as extensive questioning of Greene herself. He also received additional filings from both sides.
Raffensperger is being challenged by a candidate backed by former President Donald Trump in the state’s May 24 GOP primary after he refused to bend to pressure from Trump to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia. Raffensperger could have faced huge blowback from right-wing voters if he had disagreed with Beaudrot’s findings.
Raffensperger wrote in his “final decision” that typical challenges to a candidate’s eligibility have to do with questions about residency or whether they have paid their taxes. Such challenges are allowed under a procedure outlined in Georgia law.
“In this case, Challengers assert that Representative Greene’s political statements and actions disqualify her from office,” Raffensperger’s decision said. “That is rightfully a question for the voters of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.”
The challenge was filed for five voters in her district by Free Speech for People, a national election and campaign finance reform group. They allege the GOP congresswoman played a significant role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot that disrupted Congress’ certification of Biden’s presidential victory. They had argued that put her in violation of a seldom-invoked part of the 14th Amendment having to do with insurrection and makes her ineligible to run for reelection.
Greene applauded Beaudrot’s decision and called the challenge to her eligibility an “unprecedented attack on free speech, on our elections, and on you, the voter.”
“But the battle is only beginning,” she said in a statement. “The left will never stop their war to take away our freedoms.” She added, “This ruling gives me hope that we can win and save our country.”
Free Speech for People had sent a letter to Raffensperger on Friday urging him to reject the judge’s recommendation. They have 10 days to make their planned appeal of his decision in Fulton County Superior Court.
The group said in a statement that Beaudrot’s decision “betrays the fundamental purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Insurrectionist Disqualification Clause and gives a pass to political violence as a tool for disrupting and overturning free and fair elections.”
During the April 22 hearing, Ron Fein, a lawyer for the voters, noted that in a TV interview the day before the attack at the U.S. Capitol, Greene said the next day would be “our 1776 moment.” Lawyers for the voters said some supporters of then-President Trump used that reference to the American Revolution as a call to violence.
“In fact, it turned out to be an 1861 moment,” Fein said, alluding to the start of the Civil War.
Greene is a conservative firebrand and Trump ally who has become one of the GOP’s biggest fundraisers in Congress by stirring controversy and pushing baseless conspiracy theories. During the recent hearing, she repeated the unfounded claim that widespread fraud led to Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, said she didn’t recall various incendiary statements and social media posts attributed to her. She denied ever supporting violence.
Greene acknowledged encouraging a rally to support Trump, but she said she wasn’t aware of plans to storm the Capitol or disrupt the electoral count using violence. Greene said she feared for her safety during the riot and used social media posts to encourage people to be safe and stay calm.
The challenge to her eligibility was based on a section of the 14th Amendment that says no one can serve in Congress “who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress ... to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.” Ratified shortly after the Civil War, it was meant in part to keep representatives who had fought for the Confederacy from returning to Congress.
Greene “urged, encouraged and helped facilitate violent resistance to our own government, our democracy and our Constitution,” Fein said, concluding: “She engaged in insurrection.”
James Bopp, a lawyer for Greene, argued his client engaged in protected political speech and was, herself, a victim of the attack on the Capitol, not a participant.
Beaudrot wrote that there’s no evidence that Greene participated in the attack on the Capitol or that she communicated with or gave directives to people who were involved.
“Whatever the exact parameters of the meaning of ‘engage’ as used in the 14th Amendment, and assuming for these purposes that the Invasion was an insurrection, Challengers have produced insufficient evidence to show that Rep. Greene ‘engaged’ in that insurrection after she took the oath of office on January 3, 2021,” he wrote.
Greene’s “public statements and heated rhetoric” may have contributed to the environment that led to the attack, but they are protected by the First Amendment, Beaudrot wrote.
“Expressing constitutionally-protected political views, no matter how aberrant they may be, prior to being sworn in as a Representative is not engaging in insurrection under the 14th Amendment,” he said.
Free Speech for People has filed similar challenges in Arizona and North Carolina.
Greene has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of the law that the voters are using to try to keep her off the ballot. That suit is pending.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/judge-marjorie-taylor-greene-is-qualified-reelection/ | 2022-05-07T16:42:09Z |
Kick off your Sunday shoes as BHS’ theatre department performs ‘Footloose’
Emily Ward and Andrew Spencer take on the roles made famous by Lori Singer & Kevin Bacon.
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) - The iconic 1984 musical drama Footloose is making a leap from the big screen to the Bluefield High School stage.
The story centers on Ren McCormack a teenager from Chicago who moves to a small town, where he attempts to overturn a ban on dancing.
Andrew Spencer is taking on the role made famous by Kevin Bacon and taking on the female lead in this production is Emily Ward.
The duo stopped by WVVA Today to tell our Joshua Bolden all about the upcoming weekend performances; which you can watch in the videos above.
The shows are taking place on the campus of Bluefield High inside the Performing Arts Center--Saturday at 7 PM and Sunday at 3 PM.
It is located at 535 W. Cumberland Rd, Bluefield, WV 24701. Tickets are $7 for students and $12 for adults.
You can purchase tickets here.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/kick-off-your-sunday-shoes-bhs-theatre-department-performs-footloose/ | 2022-05-07T16:42:16Z |
Man charged in Dave Chappelle attack pleads not guilty
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man charged in an attack on comedian Dave Chappelle during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl pleaded not guilty Friday to four misdemeanors.
Isaiah Lee, 23, entered the not guilty pleas in a Los Angeles courtroom to charges of battery, possessing a deadly weapon with intent to assault unlawfully crossing from a spectator area onto a stage at a theatrical event and interfering with or delaying such an event with unlawful conduct.
Lee, who remains jailed, was ordered to stay at least 100 yards (91 meters) from Chappelle, whose lawyer called in to the hearing to request the protective order.
Authorities say Lee was arrested Tuesday night after rushing the stage during Chappelle’s set in the last of a four-night stint at the Hollywood Bowl that was part of the “Netflix Is a Joke” comedy festival.
He was carrying a replica handgun with a large blade that folded out of it similar to a pocket knife, according to police, who released a photo of the weapon.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office determined that he had not committed any felonies and referred the case to the LA city attorney’s office, which charged him with the four misdemeanors.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/man-charged-dave-chappelle-attack-pleads-not-guilty/ | 2022-05-07T16:42:22Z |
Man who stormed Capitol in caveman costume gets prison
(AP) – A New York City judge’s son who stormed the U.S. Capitol wearing a furry “caveman” costume was sentenced on Friday to eight months in prison.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the front lines” of the mob’s attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
“What you and others did on that day imposed an indelible stain on how our nation is perceived, both at home and abroad, and that can’t be undone,” the judge told Mostofsky, 35.
Boasberg also sentenced Mostofsky to one year of supervised release and ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service and pay $2,000 in restitution.
Mostofsky had asked the judge for mercy, saying he was ashamed of his “contribution to the chaos of that day.”
“I feel sorry for the officers that had to deal with that chaos,” said Mostofsky, who must report to prison in approximately one month.
Mostofsky was carrying a walking stick and dressed in a furry costume when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He told a friend that the costume expressed his belief that “even a caveman” would know that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.
Also on Friday, a federal judge agreed to postpone a trial in July for members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group charged with conspiring to forcefully halt the peaceful transfer of power after President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
A first jury trial for five of nine Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy, including group founder Stewart Rhodes, is now scheduled to start on Sept. 26 and is expected to last about a month. A second trial for the other four defendants is scheduled to start on Nov. 29.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed to give defense lawyers more time to prepare for trial but indicated that he isn’t inclined to grant another delay. A few defense attorneys expressed concern about the possible impact if a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 riot releases its report around the same time as the first trial. Mehta said that wouldn’t be a reason for another delay, “even if 435 members of Congress start reading from the report on the courthouse steps.”
More than 780 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors.
A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded guilty on Friday to assaulting Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone. Head pulled Fanone into a crowd of rioters who beat him, shocked him with a stun gun and stole his badge and police radio. An Iowa man, Kyle Young, pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was seriously injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress about the attack.
More than 160 defendants have been sentenced, including over 60 who have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 14 days to five years and three months.
In Mostofsky’s case, federal sentencing guidelines recommended a prison sentence ranging from 10 months to 16 months. Prosecutors recommended a sentence of 15 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Mostofsky was one of the first rioters to enter the restricted area around the Capitol and among the first to breach the building itself, through the Senate Wing doors, according to prosecutors. He pushed against a police barrier that officers were trying to move and stole a Capitol Police bulletproof vest and riot shield, prosecutors said.
“Mostofsky cheered on other rioters as they clashed with police outside the Capitol building, even celebrating with a fist-bump to one of his fellow rioters,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
Inside the building, Mostofsky followed rioters who chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a staircase toward the Senate chambers. He took the police vest and shield with him when he left the Capitol, about 20 minutes after entering.
Mostofsky frequently wears costumes at events, according to his lawyers.
“To put the matter with understatement, the New Yorker is quirky even by the standards of his home city,” they wrote.
A New York Post reporter interviewed him inside the Capitol during the riot. He told the reporter that he stormed the Capitol because “the election was stolen.”
Mostofsky has worked as an assistant architect in New York. His father, Steven Mostofsky, is a state court judge in Brooklyn.
“The fact that his father is a judge means that he should have been better able than other defendants to understand why the claims of election fraud were false,” said Justice Department prosecutor Michael Romano.
Boasberg said none of the supportive letters submitted by Mostofsky’s family and friends explain how he “went down this rabbit hole of election fantasy.”
“I hope at this point you understand that your indulgence in that fantasy has led to this tragic situation,” the judge added.
Aaron Mostofsky pleaded guilty in February to a felony charge of civil disorder and misdemeanor charges of theft of government property and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. Mostofsky was the first Capitol rioter to be sentenced for a civil disorder conviction.
Mostofsky’s lawyers asked for a sentence of home confinement, probation and community service. Defense attorney Nicholas Smith described Mostofsky as a “spectator” who “drifted with the crowd” and didn’t go to the Capitol to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power.
“He did things he should not have done,” Smith said. “But there’s a big difference between an ideologue who is motivated to commit violence and someone who ends up doing bad things when they find” themselves in a crowd.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/man-who-stormed-capitol-caveman-costume-gets-prison/ | 2022-05-07T16:42:29Z |
Meet the candidates for the 9th W.Va. Senate District
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) - Roberts versus Bates is a race getting a lot of attention. We asked both candidates the same three questions and gave them the same amount of time to answer. The two candidates recently clashed at an election event at the Tamarack in Beckley. Our first question: Tell us about that incident.
“I said he’s part of the Raleigh progressives, has been since 2016 at least. Where he’s been hosting meetings and was involved in posting and sharing their posts and being on their posts of Raleigh progressives. So what I said was he is definitely not a conservative Republican,” said Incumbent Sen. Rollan Roberts.
“I think we’re at a point now in the campaign where unfortunately things get pretty chippy. So it’s kinda of amusing to me that I get called a socialist at a Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce event where I’m the former chair of the chamber. I haven’t been involved in that organization for twenty years,” said Del. Mick Bates
Question two: Talk about your biggest mistake or failure in your career and what did you learn from it?
“I have learned that the world in Charleston with legislature is it’s own world and many ways it’s shielded from the outside world and I think I was probably not prepared to realize how many lobbyists there are and special interests in Charleston. There are hundreds of registered lobbyists and I think maybe I was naive when I first when in four years ago thinking I could trust people in certain ways and rely upon their word,” said Sen. Roberts.
“Professionally I’ve had quite a good deal of success. I’ve surrounded myself with very capable people. So I’ve been able to create jobs and build a business that’s been successful, grow that business into two counties. I’m growing in a third county. So we all learn from our mistakes, experience is the best teacher. So I’m much more effective in what I do now than I was before,” said Del. Bates.
Question three: What’s your plan to improve tourism in the 9th state senate district?
“We’ve got to move forward with the preparations of what’s going to happen with the development between Beckley and Summersville with the New River Gorge National Park designation. That’s what I’m trying to work with. Obviously in the midst of that bring in some good paying jobs and lift up the opportunities that we have here in Southern West Virginia. Not just my district but the whole southern part of the state,” said Sen. Roberts.
“We’ve got great momentum here. This district is all of Raleigh County, all of Wyoming County and the portion of Fayette County that extends up to Oak Hill. So the world’s spotlight has been on this part of the world. Southern West Virginia with the new river preserve in a way or time. Certainly the time that I’ve been here for 30 years. Our energy sector is burning. We’ve got to bring people into West Virginia,” said Del. Bates.
West Virginia’s primary election is Tuesday, May 10.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/meet-candidates-9th-wva-senate-district/ | 2022-05-07T16:42:36Z |
Meet Zeus, the world’s tallest living dog
(CNN) - This Great Dane may only be two years old, but he’s already breaking world records.
Zeus from Bedford, Texas is now the world’s tallest living dog, according to Guinness World Records. He stands at more than 3 feet and 5 inches tall.
Zeus’ owner got him when he was an 8-week-old puppy, and she said he was even big as a puppy.
He eats 12 cups of dog food daily and an occasional fried egg.
The tallest dog ever recorded was also a Great Dane named Zeus, who died in 2014. He measured at a whopping 3 feet and 10 inches tall.
According to the American Kennel Club, due to their large size, Great Danes are prone to a series of health conditions and typically have a shorter life span than other dogs.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/meet-zeus-worlds-tallest-living-dog/ | 2022-05-07T16:42:43Z |
Mother turns to social media as baby formula shortage grows
PHOENIX (Arizona’s Family/Gray News) - One mother has discovered that finding the specific type of formula she needs for her infant son is becoming increasingly more difficult amid supply chain issues.
Arizona’s Family reports Jessica Contreras’ son Hartford, who is 6 months old, is dealing with medical issues that limit the type of formula he can use. Hartford has severe allergies and battles moderate eczema.
“Our routine consists of steroids twice a day, pretty much throughout his body,” Contreras said. “Two different types of steroids, moisturizing ointment a few times a day, daily allergy medicine, probiotics and bleach baths three to four times a week.”
The skin conditions have left Hartford with scabs, cuts and bruises all over his skin.
“We found out he was allergic to eggs and casein, which is a protein found in most mammals’ milk, cow’s milk and goat’s milk, so that was helpful because we found out the formula he was using had casein, which most formulas do,” Contreras said.
Contreras can’t breastfeed Hartford, so she turned to social media for help finding the right formula for her child.
“It was beyond what I ever imagined when I posted on Facebook. I really thought I was just asking my friends and family to keep an eye out when they went to the store,” Contreras said. “Within days, I had moms not only in Arizona but throughout the country offering to help me.”
Hartford now has enough formula for a few months, and Contreras acknowledges she is lucky.
“I purchased some formula on OfferUp, and I sent money to women throughout the country, and thankfully they returned formula, but that’s not always the case,” she said.
Contreras now hopes to pay it forward, already sending formula she will not be using to other moms in need.
Copyright 2022 Arizona’s Family via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/mother-turns-social-media-baby-formula-shortage-grows/ | 2022-05-07T16:42:49Z |
Nearly 1 million COVID-19 deaths: A look at the US numbers
(AP) - Doug Lambrecht was among the first of the nearly 1 million Americans to die from COVID-19. His demographic profile — an older white male with chronic health problems — mirrors the faces of many who would be lost over the next two years.
The 71-year-old retired physician was recovering from a fall at a nursing home near Seattle when the new coronavirus swept through in early 2020. He died March 1, an early victim in a devastating outbreak that gave a first glimpse of the price older Americans would pay.
The pandemic has generated gigabytes of data that make clear which U.S. groups have been hit the hardest. More than 700,000 people 65 and older died. Men died at higher rates than women.
White people made up most of the deaths overall, yet an unequal burden fell on Black, Hispanic and Native American people considering the younger average age of minority communities. Racial gaps narrowed between surges then widened again with each new wave.
With 1 million deaths in sight, Doug’s son Nathan Lambrecht reflected on the toll.
“I’m afraid that as the numbers get bigger, people are going to care less and less,” he said. “I just hope people who didn’t know them and didn’t have the same sort of loss in their lives due to COVID, I just hope that they don’t forget and they remember to care.”
ELDERS HIT HARD
Three out of every four deaths were people 65 and older, according to U.S. data analyzed by The Associated Press.
About 255,000 people 85 and older died; 257,000 were 75 to 84 years old; and about 229,000 were 65 to 74.
“A million things went wrong and most of them were preventable,” said elder care expert Charlene Harrington of the University of California, San Francisco. Harrington, 80, hopes the lessons of the pandemic lead U.S. health officials to adopt minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes, “then maybe I can retire.”
SPOUSES LEFT BEHIND
In nearly every 10-year age group, more men have died from COVID-19 than women.
Men have shorter life expectancies than women, so it’s not surprising that the only age group where deaths in women outpaced those in men is the oldest: 85 and older.
For some families who lost breadwinners, economic hardships have added to their grief, said Rima Samman, who coordinates a COVID-19 memorial project that began as a tribute to her brother, Rami, who died in May 2020 at age 40.
“A widow is losing her home, or she’s losing the car she drove the kids to school with, because her husband died,” Samman said. “Little by little, you’re getting pulled down from middle class to lower class.”
RACE, ETHNICITY AND AGE
White people made up 65% of the total deaths, the largest proportion of any race by far.
This isn’t that surprising because there are more white people in the U.S. than any other race. American Indians, Pacific Islanders and Black people had higher death rates when looking at COVID-19 deaths per capita.
Death rates per capita still leave out a characteristic that is crucial to understanding which groups were disproportionately affected — COVID-19 is more deadly for the elderly.
In the U.S. there are many more elderly white people than elderly people of other races. To evaluate which race has been disproportionately affected, it’s necessary to adjust the per-capita death rate, calculating the rates as if each race had the same age breakdown.
After the share of COVID-19 deaths are age-adjusted in this way, we can compare that with the race’s share of the total population. If the age-adjusted share of COVID-19 deaths is higher than the share of the U.S. population, that race has been disproportionately affected.
When considering age, it’s apparent that Black, Hispanic, Pacific Islander and Native American people suffered disproportionately more from COVID-19 deaths than other groups in the U.S.
Looking at deaths per capita, Mississippi had the highest rate of any state.
“We’ve lost so many people to COVID,” said Joyee Washington, a community health educator in Hattiesburg. “The hard thing in Mississippi was having to grieve with no time to heal. You’re facing trauma after trauma after trauma. ... Normal is gone as far as I’m concerned.”
Communities pulled together. Churches set up testing sites, school buses took meals to students when classrooms were closed, her city’s mayor used social media to provide reliable information. “Even in the midst of turmoil you can still find joy, you can still find light,” she said. “The possibilities are there if you look for them.”
Native Americans experienced higher death rates than all other groups during two waves of the pandemic. For Mary Francis, a 41-year-old Navajo woman from Page, Arizona, the deaths reinforce a long-held value of self-sufficiency.
“It goes back to the teachings of our elders,” said Francis, who helps get vaccines and care packages to Navajo and Hopi families. “Try to be self-sufficient, how to take care of ourselves and how to not rely so much on the government (and) other sources that may or may not have our interests at heart.”
RURAL VS URBAN
The surge that began in late 2020 was particularly rough for rural America.
Americans living in rural areas have been less likely to get vaccinated than city dwellers, more likely to be infected and more likely to die.
“I’ve had multiple people in my ambulance, in their 80s and dying,” said paramedic Mark Kennedy in Nauvoo, Illinois. “Some did die, and when you ask if they’ve been vaccinated, they say, ‘I don’t trust it.’”
Surges swamped the thin resources of rural hospitals. During the delta surge, Kennedy transferred patients to hospitals in Springfield, which is 130 miles away, and Chicago, 270 miles away.
“Every day you had multiple transfers three and four hours away in full protective gear,” Kennedy said.
The recent omicron wave felt even harder to David Schreiner, CEO of Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital in Dixon, Illinois.
“In the first wave, there were signs throughout the community about our health care heroes. ... People loved us the first time around,” Schreiner said. But by this past winter, people had COVID-19 fatigue.
“Our people have been through so much. And then we would get a patient or a family member who would come to the hospital and refuse to put a mask on,” Schreiner said. “It’s a little bit hard to take.”
___
AP writer Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/nearly-1-million-covid-19-deaths-look-us-numbers/ | 2022-05-07T16:42:56Z |
New details released in Lily Peters homicide case
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. (WEAU/Gray News) - New details about the homicide investigation into the death of a 10-year-old Chippewa Falls girl were released Friday.
A 14-year-old boy is facing charges of 1st-degree intentional homicide, 1st-degree sexual assault resulting in great bodily harm and 1st-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 in the death of 10-year-old Iliana “Lily” Peters. Two of the three charges carry a maximum lifetime sentence in prison.
After Chippewa County Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Lane said during Thursday’s review hearing that the redacted criminal complaint for the case could be unsealed, the document was made available publicly on Friday.
WARNING: Some of the details about the case that follow are graphic in nature.
According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, the Chippewa Falls Police Department was notified about a missing 10-year-old girl, Lily, at 9 p.m. on April 24, 2022. Lily’s father said that she did not come back from her aunt’s house.
At 11 p.m., Lily’s father went to look for her and found her bike near the Duncan Creek Trail in Chippewa Falls near the Leinie’s Lodge. A search that evening with law enforcement turned up empty.
At 8:54 a.m. on April 25, Lily’s body was found by someone who knew her not far from where her bicycle was located, nearly 12 hours after she had been reported missing. Investigators said that Lily had blunt-force trauma injuries to her head and some of her clothes were missing.
A preliminary autopsy was given to investigators with the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office. According to the autopsy, there was evidence of sexual assault. The autopsy also confirmed the blunt-force trauma to Lily’s face.
According to the complaint, the charged suspect in the case told investigators on April 26 that he helped Lily get her bike at a home in Chippewa Falls and that while she rode her bike, he rode his hoverboard. The suspect also told investigators it was his intention to rape and kill Lily.
He told investigators that he asked Lily to leave the trail and go into the woods, where he then physically and sexually assaulted her. At some point, the suspect said he became scared and went home to shower and wash his clothes. When he heard that Lily was missing, he decided he needed to hide her body better, so he returned to move her body and cover it with leaves.
Other documents in the case subject to open records laws, including search warrants, will remain sealed until all parties have had time to review their contents. Chippewa County District Attorney Wade Newell said that those documents contain identifying information and that some of the warrants are part of an active investigation.
A status conference in the case will be held on June 24 at 9:30 a.m. in Chippewa County Circuit Court. The conference will be conducted with the defendant and his new representation, Michael Cohen, appearing virtually.
The conference is being set to establish future court dates in the case. The date was picked to allow time for Newell to deliver materials to the defendant and his representation and for the defense to review all of the case materials.
Newell said in court Thursday that he expects to have all of the materials ready by the end of next week. Cohen said that he has not received much information about the case or had time to review anything beyond the criminal complaint.
The status conference will set future dates for hearings and allow time for all parties, including victims and witnesses, to make arrangements to be in court.
The suspect is being held at the Northwest Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Eau Claire awaiting his next court appearance. Cash bond has been set at $1 million for the suspect.
Copyright 2022 WEAU via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/new-details-released-lily-peters-homicide-case/ | 2022-05-07T16:43:02Z |
Getaway car of escaped inmate, former corrections officer found in Tennessee, police say
WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WAFF/Gray News) - The 2007 Ford Edge that authorities believe Vicky White and Casey White were driving has been found in Tennessee.
According to Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton, the car was found east of I-65 near Spring Hill.
The car was a gold/copper color and had damage to the left rear bumper.
The United States Marshals Service released a flyer on May 3 with information about the vehicle and the two fugitives.
On Thursday, U.S. Marshals released new photos on Thursday of Casey White and Vicky White. The photos show Casey White with tattoos on his chest, arms and upper back, including some affiliated with the Alabama-based white supremacist prison gang Southern Brotherhood.
WAFF EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Marshal provides insight on nationwide manhunt
Vicky White has long blonde hair, but newly released photos show what the former corrections officer would look like with dyed or longer/shorter hair.
Vicky is 5-feet, 5-inches tall, weighs approximately 145 pounds and reportedly has a waddling gait. While Casey stands 6-feet, 9-inches and weighs approximately 330 pounds. According to an official with the U.S. Marshals, Casey also has a tattoo of eyeballs on the back of his head.
On April 29, the inmate and the former Assistant Director of Corrections were reported missing. Vicky and Casey left the Lauderdale County Detention Center at 9:30 a.m. allegedly heading to the courthouse. Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Vicky was taking Casey White to a mental health evaluation at the time of the escape. Singleton later confirmed there was not a scheduled mental health evaluation.
A warrant has been issued for Vicky White’s arrest on first-degree permitting or facilitating escape charges.
According to WAFF’s independent investigation, the two had a “special relationship.”
The U.S. Marshal Service announced via Twitter that it will be offering up to $10,000 for information regarding Casey White. The Marshal Service is also offering up to $5,000 for information regarding Vicky White.
Vicky and Casey White are considered armed and dangerous. If you see them, you should not approach them and call 911.
To submit information regarding the Casey White or Vicky White, call 1-800-336-0102 or download the U.S. Marshals Tip App.
Copyright 2022 WAFF via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/new-photos-released-escaped-inmate-former-corrections-officer/ | 2022-05-07T16:43:09Z |
‘No Mow May’ puts lawnmowers on pause to help bees
PORTLAND, Maine (WMTW) - A movement aimed to help bees survive and thrive is underway during the month of May.
“No Mow May” encourages people to cut back on mowing their lawns or even skip it altogether.
“When I see a lawn covered in dandelions, I don’t see weeds. I see bee food,” said Meghan Gave, owner of The Honey Exchange.
Natural growth provides bees with nectar that they need to grow and pollinate flowers, but many of us are used to seeing and unmowed lawn as a sign of neglect.
“No Mow May” could help change that narrative.
“I think the average person wants to have a beautiful lawn, and when they see lawn just let grown, they think maybe they’re not taking care of the space,” said Jeff Tarling, Portland city arborist. “And I think ‘No Mow May’ is really promoting that it’s OK to pause for that month.”
The city of Portland has taken “No Mow May” to a whole new level. They have more than 30 acres of park space that they only mow once a year.
“And particularly for urban communities like Portland, if you can make a three-acre meadow, it’s a good thing,” Tarling said.
Tickborne illness experts warn that higher grass could create more tick exposure, but that still doesn’t mean that you necessarily must break out the mower.
“Anything we can do to, you know, increase pollinator survival and help them thrive is really critical,” said Griffin Dill of Maine Tick Lab. “But if you are going to take part, certainly just be cognizant of the potential threat of ticks, and take those personal protection measures.”
You can help your local ecosystem and save yourself some yard work while you’re at it.
“And ‘No Mow May,’ I’m all for it. Also, I don’t like mowing,” said Meghan Gave, owner of The Honey Exchange.
Copyright 2022 WMTV via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/no-mow-may-puts-lawnmower-pause-help-bees/ | 2022-05-07T16:43:16Z |
Officer returns to work to save life of 2-year-old child, officials say
Published: May. 6, 2022 at 6:53 PM EDT|Updated: 17 hours ago
WOODSTOCK, Ga. (Gray News) - Officials in Georgia are praising the work of a local officer who helped save the life of a child Thursday night.
The Woodstock Police Department reports officer B. Dixon was on his way home when a call came in regarding a 2-year-old child not breathing.
A department spokesperson said instead of continuing home, Dixon was close by and took the call to be first at the scene.
The officer immediately began performing CPR and was able to resuscitate the child. Woodstock police said the boy was taken to a local hospital and doing well after the incident.
The department thanked Dixon for being a hero to the family and for representing the agency and city well.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/officer-returns-work-save-life-2-year-old-child-officials-say/ | 2022-05-07T16:43:23Z |
US seeks to downplay role in sinking of Russian warship
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration sought Friday to downplay the role of American intelligence in the high-profile sinking of the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, distancing itself from any direct role in one of the greatest embarrassments for Russia since it attacked Ukraine.
A day after an American official confirmed that the U.S. provided Ukraine with information on the location of the ship, the White House and Pentagon described a limited role in last month’s attack and said the Ukrainians make their own decisions.
The effort reflected the fine line President Joe Biden walks as he touts increasing support for Ukraine while fighting off criticism he isn’t doing enough and simultaneously trying to avoid dragging the U.S. into a direct conflict with Russia.
“We had no prior knowledge of Ukraine’s intent to target the ship,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. “The Ukrainians have their own intelligence capabilities to track and target Russian naval vessels, as they did in this case. "
Amid strong, bipartisan support for Ukraine, the administration has provided more than $3.4 billion in military assistance, and U.S. forces are actively training Ukrainian troops in the use of howitzers, drones and other hardware in a war now focused on the eastern Donbas region of the country.
The White House announced an addition $150 million in military support Friday that included artillery rounds, radar systems capable of detecting artillery projectiles, and other equipment.
Asked about reports that the U.S. provided intelligence on the Moskva, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Ukraine receives “relevant and timely” intelligence from the U.S., but also gets assistance from other nations and makes its own decisions about how to use it.
“And if they do decide to do something with that intelligence, then they make the decisions about acting on it,” Kirby said.
American officials insist this is a fight launched by President Vladimir Putin against Ukraine, not a proxy war with the U.S., and the intelligence assistance stays within these limits.
The Pentagon spokesman said the U.S. had no advanced knowledge of the attack on the ship, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
“We provide them what we believe to be relevant and timely information about Russian units that will allow them to adjust and execute their self-defense to the best of their ability,” Kirby said. “The kind of intelligence that we provide them, it’s legitimate, it’s lawful, and it’s limited.”
An American official said Thursday that Ukraine alone decided to target and sink the Moskva using its own anti-ship missiles. But given Russia’s attacks on the Ukrainian coastline from the sea, the U.S. has provided “a range of intelligence” that includes locations of those ships, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Biden administration has ramped up intelligence sharing with Ukraine alongside the shipment of arms and missiles to help it repel Russia’s invasion. The disclosure of U.S. support in the Moskva strike comes as the White House is under pressure from Republicans to do more to support Ukraine’s resistance and as polls suggest some Americans question whether Biden is being tough enough on Russia.
Since Putin ordered the invasion in February, the White House has tried to balance supporting Ukraine, a democratic ally, against not doing anything that would seem to provoke a direct war between Putin and the U.S. and NATO allies. As the war has gone on, the White House has ramped up its military and intelligence support, removing some time and geographic limits on what it will tell Ukraine about potential Russian targets.
The official who spoke Thursday said the U.S. was not aware that Ukraine planned to strike the Moskva until after they conducted the operation.
Speaking earlier Thursday after a New York Times report about the U.S. role in supporting Ukraine’s killing of Russian generals, Kirby said American agencies “do not provide intelligence on the location of senior military leaders on the battlefield or participate in the targeting decisions of the Ukrainian military.”
“Ukraine combines information that we and other partners provide with the intel that they themselves are gathering and then they make their own decisions and they take their own actions,” Kirby said.
—-
Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/official-us-gave-intel-before-ukraine-sank-russian-warship/ | 2022-05-07T16:43:30Z |
Pence: Leaked abortion draft opinion helps some ‘22 hopefuls
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence applauded the essence of a leaked draft opinion suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark case that legalized abortion nationwide, predicting that the decision could have favorable impacts for anti-abortion candidates in midterm elections across the country.
“I hope and pray that the Supreme Court draft opinion will hold and become part of the law of the land, returning the question of abortion to the states and to the American people,” Pence said. “I also have no doubt that the women and men who are standing for public office at every level who have taken a strong stand for the unborn and the sanctity of life will be favorably impacted by this decision, particularly at the state level.”
Pence spoke Thursday night at a benefit for Carolina Pregnancy Center, a crisis pregnancy center in Spartanburg, part of South Carolina’s conservative Upstate. Ahead of his remarks, he toured the organization’s mobile ultrasound unit.
Earlier this week, a draft opinion leaked to Politico suggested the U.S. Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. It’s his second visit in a week to the early-voting state that would be key to Pence’s support among white Evangelical Christian voters.
A decision to overrule Roe would lead to abortion bans in roughly half of the country and could have huge ramifications for this year’s elections. But it’s unclear if the draft represents the court’s final word on the matter — opinions often change in ways big and small in the drafting process.
The issue of abortion has long been a centerpiece of Pence’s political life, dating to his days in Congress and as governor of Indiana. He has spent the months since the end of the Trump administration trying to position himself as a conservative who can appeal both to his white Evangelical Christian base, as well as Trump supporters and those who may have been fond of Trump’s policies, but not his pugilistic style.
As he mulls a possible presidential bid, Pence has built a post-White House operation that includes a political advocacy group, delivering speeches, fundraising and bolstering relationships that could help him, should he choose to run in 2024.
“Governors, state legislators at every level, if this Supreme Court draft opinion holds, will now have a say over the issue of life in their individual states,” Pence said Thursday. “And I have a sense, as the nation is moving more and more in the direction of recognizing the sanctity of life, that they will be looking for women and men who are willing to stand up unapologetically for the cause of life this year and in the years to come.”
This is Pence’s second visit in a week to this state, which holds the first presidential primary elections in the South. On Saturday, Pence spoke at commencement exercises at Columbia International University, sharing his personal faith story and telling graduates of the Christian school that “the antidote to cancel culture is freedom, so decide here and now that you will live as free men and women, and defend the freedoms that generations of Americans have fought to defend.”
During that visit, CIU President Mark Smith, who served as a faith adviser to the Trump White House, said he felt “Pence saved our nation by refusing to overturn the election on Jan 6.”
“I asked him, ‘How did you do it?’” Smith said. “I will not betray his words, but I will convey to you, character comes through.”
South Carolina would be key to Pence should be seek the presidency in 2024, with its large contingent of white evangelical conservative voters. Last year, Pence chose South Carolina as the scene of his first public speech since leaving the Trump administration, addressing a fundraiser for a conservative Christian nonprofit.
On Thursday, Pence told a crowd of more than 1,000 that supporting organizations like Carolina Pregnancy Center, which counsels women against seeking abortions and provides them with support, needs them to continue their financial backing.
“I think we’re going to see more and more states make a greater and greater commitment to provide support for women facing crisis pregnancies,” Pence said. “I truly do believe that, when the moment comes that the Supreme Court does their job, then it’s incumbent on us to do our job.”
___
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/pence-leaked-abortion-draft-opinion-helps-some-22-hopefuls/ | 2022-05-07T16:43:36Z |
Police: Father charged with first-degree murder in 17-year-old daughter’s death
TINLEY PARK, Ill. (Gray News) - Authorities in Illinois are investigating a deadly incident where a 17-year-old girl was killed.
The Village of Tinley Public Safety Department reports police were called to a home about 40 minutes north of downtown Chicago regarding a possible death investigation on May 1.
Officers said they discovered the body of a 17-year-old girl, later identified as Mia Maro, on the lower level of the house. They also found her father, Mohammed Almaru, 42, with self-inflicted wounds to his wrist and throat.
Almaru had ingested pills and was taken to Christ Hospital, where police said he was able to be stabilized.
A medical examiner determined Maro died as a result of multiple injuries and ruled her death a homicide, according to the public safety department.
Police said they could not speak to Maro’s father as he was being treated at the hospital. However, once he was able to be questioned and based on the evidence found, Almaru was charged with first-degree murder.
“I’d like to offer my sincerest condolences to everyone who knew and loved Mia,” Mayor Michael Glotz said. “By all accounts, she was a lovely young woman at the very beginning of her life, a life that she will now never get to fulfill. To her family, friends and fellow students at Andrew High School, we mourn her passing with you.”
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/police-father-charged-with-first-degree-murder-17-year-old-daughters-death/ | 2022-05-07T16:43:45Z |
Police: Pursuit suspect injures self in 2nd escape attempt
Published: May. 5, 2022 at 11:25 PM EDT
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) - A pursuit suspect injured himself while attempting to flee officers on foot at the Bluefield Police Department following his arrest Thursday evening, according to Chief Dennis Dillow.
The man, who Dillow said, ‘jumped off the building,’ was taken to the hospital.
The chase began when officers attempted to pull the man over for reckless driving on East Wayne Street, according to police. The pursuit ended on Ellis Street.
Chief Dillow said charges were expected to be filed against the man.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/police-pursuit-suspect-injures-self-2nd-escape-attempt/ | 2022-05-07T16:43:52Z |
Police seize nearly 150 pounds of marijuana after pursuit ends in crash
LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD/Gray News) - Authorities in Texas are investigating an incident from earlier this week that ended in an arrest and them finding several pounds of drugs.
KCBD reports troopers attempted to stop an SUV on Thursday afternoon for a traffic violation on a highway in Lubbock, Texas. The vehicle initially stopped, but officials said when a trooper approached, it took off.
Law enforcement agencies followed the vehicle until it crashed into a Jeep at a local intersection. Troopers said three people then jumped out of the car, but they were able to arrest one of the occupants.
Authorities said they found nearly 150 pounds of marijuana connected to the incident.
Texas troopers, Lubbock police and Lubbock County sheriff’s deputies report they continue to search for the two other people who left the scene.
Copyright 2022 KCBD via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/police-seize-nearly-150-pounds-marijuana-after-pursuit-ends-crash/ | 2022-05-07T16:43:58Z |
Raleigh County Housing Authority gets fresh start at new location
BECKLEY, W.Va. (WVVA) - After an FBI investigation nearly shut down the Raleigh County Housing Authority, the agency is back in business under new leadership.
Along with the fresh start, the housing authority also moved into a brand new building on Robert C. Byrd Drive on Friday.
Former Raleigh County Commissioner Ron Hedrick has stepped in temporarily as the board’s chairman to help steer the organization back on track after it was placed under ‘troubled status’ by HUD inspectors prior to the Pandemic.
While a separate FBI investigation into the agency still ongoing, Hedrick is working to ensure the continuation of federal funding at the new location.
“You don’t grow to ten counties and stay in the same building you were 30 years ago. It was time,” he said during Friday’s ribbon-cutting with the Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce on Friday.
Hedrick said the agency is currently looking for a new accountant and will eventually be seeking a new Executive Director as well.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/raleigh-county-housing-authority-gets-fresh-start-new-location/ | 2022-05-07T16:44:05Z |
Report: University fires sports medicine doctor amid sexual assault allegations
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX/Gray News) - A doctor who worked for Texas A&M University is under investigation after being charged with sexually assaulting two female patients last year.
KBTX reports Dr. Kory Lee Gill, 44, was booked into the Brazos County Detention Center on Wednesday on two counts of sexual assault.
According to the university, Gill specialized in primary care sports medicine and was on the medical staff of Texas A&M Athletics. He also served as an assistant professor of Family & Community Medicine at the Texas A&M College of Medicine.
The 44-year-old was also affiliated with several other healthcare facilities in the Bryan-College Station area.
According to arrest reports from the Bryan Police Department, the first accusation against Gill surfaced earlier this year when a woman went to police to share her story.
Police said the woman told them she first met Gill at a clinic on A&M’s campus when she complained of pain, and he offered to treat her for free.
During a fourth treatment session in November 2021, the woman said Gill was drinking whiskey, and she had a drink with him as he told her the procedure would hurt.
The woman said she was sexually assaulted during this treatment. She blacked out and woke up hours later at her home but didn’t remember how she got there.
According to the report, she later confronted Gill about the assault, and he became emotional and apologized.
Bryan police said an investigator also notified them about new allegations from another woman who said she went to Gill for an exercise-related injury that he offered free treatment.
The woman told police that during a treatment session in April 2021, she was offered alcohol by Gill, and he appeared to be more intoxicated than usual. The woman said she was sexually assaulted during this visit and never returned.
According to reports, Gill has since been fired by A&M and no longer works at a clinic where he was contracted to do work through the university.
The 44-year-old continues to face criminal charges related to the ongoing investigation.
Copyright 2022 KBTX via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/report-university-fires-sports-medicine-doctor-amid-sexual-assault-allegations/ | 2022-05-07T16:44:11Z |
Should we stop changing the clock? Lawmakers debate making daylight saving time permanent
The ‘Sunshine Protection Act’ has passed the U.S. Senate to make daylight saving time permanent. Sleep experts express that permanent change could have pro’s and con’s.
WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are spending time on a bill to stop the changing of the clock. Yet some sleep experts believe the idea of making daylight saving time permanent could have its pro’s and con’s.
Senate lawmakers passed the Sunshine Protection Act in March. The bill is still awaiting action in the House.
The bipartisan bill is driven by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and has the backing of Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). Markey’s office believes most people in America want to stop changing the clocks. His office also believes it will help the economy and the climate as more people are encouraged to spend time outside.
“Daylight savings time in the evening just makes it possible for people to be walking on sunshine,” said Markey, “...it makes it more likely that they’re going to go out and exercise, go shopping, and so it’s something that people want to have happen in our country.”
Dr. Erin Flynn-Evans, a contractor for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, believes it is wise to stop changing the clock.
“We know that changing the clocks is not helpful in general for us as a society. We see all these negative health effects that pop up right after the time change especially in the spring when we lose an hour of sleep. And so, we are all for abandoning these time changes” said Flynn-Evans.
Flynn-Evans said the time can change contribute to low productivity, increased car accidents, and negative health effects such as heart attacks.
However, Flynn-Evans said the American Academy of Sleep Medicine endorses a permanent standard time over daylight saving. She said standard time is better aligned with our bodies and the sun.
“We don’t actually get any more light during daylight saving time. In the summer, we just have more light in general because of the way that the earth is tilted. And so, in daylight saving time the big consequence that nobody talks about is that in the winter we would just shift the timing of when we have to wake up and so sunrise would happen really late. And, that’s where we get negative mood effects,” she said.
Flynn-Evans added young people such as teenagers, who have to wake up early for school, could feel the most negative effects of a permanent daylight saving time.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio spoke on the floor of the Senate following the passage of the Sunshine Protection Act in March. In part, he outlined benefits of daylight saving time. He said in part, “for example, reduced crime as there’s light later in the day. We’ve seen decreases in child obesity. A decrease in seasonal depression that many feel during standard time. And then the practical one, one that I’ve witnessed with my own eyes…. We’re a country [in which] we desperately want our kids to be outside, to be playing, to be doing sports, not just to be sitting in front of a TV or a computer terminal or playing video games all day.”
If the House takes action on the bill and approves it, permanent daylight saving would begin next year across the country.
In 2018, Rubio’s office said Florida legislature enacted year-round daylight saving time. Yet that legislation cannot apply without a change in the federal statute.
His office said “nineteen other states — Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming — have passed similar laws, resolutions, or voter initiatives, and dozens more are looking to do so. If passed by the House and signed into law by President Joe Biden, the Sunshine Protection Act would apply to those states that currently participate in DST, which most states observe for eight months out of the year. States and territories that currently remain on Standard Time year-around would continue to do so.”
Learn more information about the bill here.
Copyright 2022 Gray DC. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/should-we-stop-changing-clock-lawmakers-debate-making-daylight-saving-time-permanent/ | 2022-05-07T16:44:18Z |
Southern Regional Jail works to recruit Corrections Officers, especially minorities
BEAVER, W.Va. (WVVA) - A shortage of correctional officers is one of the biggest issues facing the W.Va. Regional Jail System, Dept. of Homeland Security Sec. Jeff Sandy said during a media tour of the facility on Thursday.
At Southern Regional Jail (SRJ) and others facilities across the state, he said officers are repeatedly working 16-hour shifts with very little downtime in between. But just as concerning, he said, is the lack of minority representation.
“Ninety-six percent of the people we employ are White. So it’s just that we need to balance our workforce,” he said.
As part of Thursday’s tour, WVVA News had the opportunity to talk to the lead recruiter at SRJ about efforts to attract more minorities to the field of corrections.
“A lot of youth, especially African-American youth, they’re hesitant to take jobs in law enforcement due to the things they see out in the press and in the community,” said Maj. Jean-Paul DeJarnett.
Field Training Officer Robert Borders Jr. reiterated that concern. “Our job entails community safety as a whole and we need to bridge that gap between corrections, law enforcement, and the community.”
To help recruit officers, SRJ is hosting a recruiting event on Wednesday, May 25th, at the jail’s location on Airport Road.
Candidates must be at least 18 years old, possess a high school diploma or GED, and be able to pass a background and physical agility test. Anyone may stop by to apply between the hours of 9 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Benefits include Health/Life Insurance, Retirement Plan, Paid Vacation/Holiday and Paid Sick Leave.
If hired before July 1, 2022, officers will receive an additional $2,550 pay raise
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/southern-regional-jail-works-recruit-corrections-officers-especially-minorities/ | 2022-05-07T16:44:25Z |
SpaceX brings 4 astronauts home, then launches 53 satellites
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX brought four astronauts home with a midnight splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, capping the busiest stretch yet for Elon Musk’s taxi service.
The three U.S. astronauts and one German in the capsule were bobbing off the Florida coast, near Tampa, less than 24 hours after leaving the International Space Station. NASA expected to have them back in Houston later in the morning.
“That was a great ride,” said Raja Chari, the capsule commander. As for the reintroduction to gravity, he noted: “Only one complaint. These water bottles are super heavy.”
NASA’s Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron, and the European Space Agency’s Matthias Maurer, were out of the capsule within an hour of splashdown, waving and giving thumbs-up as they were hustled away on rolling chaises for medical checks.
Their departure from the space station Thursday was bittersweet, as they embraced the seven astronauts remaining there.
“It’s the end of a six-month mission, but I think the space dream lives on,” Maurer said.
SpaceX brought up their U.S. and Italian replacements last week, after completing a charter trip to the station for a trio of businessmen earlier in April.
That amounts to two crew launches and two splashdowns in barely a month. Musk’s company has now launched 26 people into orbit in less than two years, since it started ferrying astronauts for NASA. Eight of those 26 were space tourists.
SpaceX’s William Gerstenmaier, a vice president, acknowledges it’s “a pretty exciting time.”
Barely five hours after splashdown, the company founded by Musk in 2002 launched a fresh batch of its own internet satellites known as Starlinks from Cape Canaveral. There were 53 of the mini flat-panel satellites in this predawn load.
“Satellites are nice, but flying people are a little special and a little bit different, and the team here sure understands that,” he told reporters. “There’s a sense of relief and and a sense of accomplishment that you know you’ve done something good.”
NASA is more impressed than ever, given SpaceX’s unprecedented pace. The only problem of note in the latest flight was a mechanical nut that wiggled loose and floated away from the SpaceX capsule following Thursday’s undocking. Officials assured everyone it would not pose a danger to the space station.
“Look at all this work in the last month,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA’s space operations mission chief. “I really want to personally thank SpaceX for just, wow, just performing such seamless operations on all those missions.”
The astronauts said their mission was highlighted by the three visitors and their ex-astronaut escort who dropped by in April, opening up NASA’s side of the station to paying guests after decades of resistance.
On the down side, they had to contend with a dangerous spike in space junk after Russia blew up a satellite in a missile test in mid-November. More than 1,500 pieces of shrapnel spread across Earth’s orbit for years to come.
While the war in Ukraine has caused tensions between the U.S. and Russia, the astronauts have stood by their Russian crewmates, and vice versa. Flight controllers in Houston and Moscow also continued to cooperate as always, according to NASA officials.
As he relinquished command of the space station earlier this week, Marshburn called it “a place of peace” and said international cooperation would likely be its lasting legacy. Russian Oleg Artemyev, the new commander, also emphasized the “peace between our countries, our friendship” in orbit and described his crewmates as brothers and sisters.
Up there now are three Russians, three Americans and one Italian.
It was Marshburn’s third spaceflight, and the first for the three returning with him. Chari and Barron’s next stop could be the moon; they are among 18 U.S. astronauts picked for NASA’s Artemis moon-landing program. Two others in that elite group are now at the space station.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/spacex-brings-4-astronauts-home-with-midnight-splashdown/ | 2022-05-07T16:44:32Z |
Stocks end rocky week with their 5th straight weekly decline
NEW YORK (AP) — A turbulent week on Wall Street ended Friday with more losses and the stock market’s fifth straight weekly decline.
The latest pullback came as investors balanced a strong U.S. jobs report against worries the Federal Reserve may cause a recession in its drive to halt inflation.
The S&P 500 ended with a loss of 0.6%, having come back partway from a bigger loss of 1.9%. Roughly 70% of the companies in the benchmark index fell. Technology stocks weighed down the index the most.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%, while the Nasdaq slid 1.4%. Both indexes also pared some of their losses from earlier in the day.
Investors focused on new data Friday showing U.S. employers continue to hire rapidly, and workers are getting relatively big raises, though short of inflation. The market’s reaction reflects concerns among investors that the strong numbers would keep the Fed on track for sharp and steady increases in interest rates to corral inflation, analysts said.
The S&P 500 fell 23.53 points to 4,123.34. The Dow dropped 98.60 points to 32,899.37. The Nasdaq fell 173.03 points to 12,144.66.
Smaller companies fell more than the broader market. The Russel 2000 slid 31.58 points, or 1.7%, to 1,839.56.
Friday’s choppy trading followed even wilder gyrations earlier this week, as all kinds of markets, from bonds to cryptocurrencies, grapple with a new market order where the Federal Reserve is aggressively moving to yank supports for the economy put in place through the pandemic.
The Fed is hoping to raise rates and slow the economy enough to snuff out the highest inflation in four decades, but it risks choking off growth if it goes too far or too quickly. The Fed raised its key short-term interest rate this week by a half a percentage point, the largest such increase since 2000. It also said more increases that size are likely on the way.
Not only do higher interest rates tap the brakes on the economy by making it more expensive to borrow, they also put downward pressure on prices of all kinds of investments. Beyond interest rates and inflation, the war in Ukraine and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic are also weighing on markets.
Stocks nevertheless zoomed higher Wednesday afternoon, after latching onto a sliver of hope from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments following the latest rate increase. He said the Fed was not “actively considering” an even bigger jump of 0.75 percentage points at its next meeting, something markets had seen as a near certainty.
Jubilance was the market’s instant reaction, with the S&P 500 soaring 3% for its best day in nearly two years. It sobered up the next day, though, amid recognition that the Fed is still set to raise rates aggressively in its battle against inflation. The S&P 500 on Thursday lost all its prior day’s gains, plus a bit more, in one of its worst days since the early 2020 slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
That may be why stocks faltered Friday, after data showed hiring is still strong and pressure remains high on companies to raise pay for workers.
“These data do not change the outlook for Fed policy; the rates trajectory remains upward in the near term,” Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a note.
Many of the factors driving inflation higher could linger well into 2022, said Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. The latest swings in the markets could mean investors are getting closer to better adjusting for the Fed’s aggressive policy shift, Samana said.
“Powell’s conference didn’t change anything; there’s still plenty of inflation,” he said. “You’re probably getting to point where the Fed at least won’t be as much of a market driver.”
Treasury yields also swung sharply following the release of the jobs report.
The yield on the two-year Treasury, which moves with expectations for Fed policy, initially shot as high as as 2.77% earlier in the morning. But it then slipped to 2.70%, down from 2.71% late Thursday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury leaped toward 3.13% shortly after the data’s release, slipped a bit then climbed to 3.14% by late afternoon. That’s still close to its highest level since 2018 and more than double where it started 2022, at just 1.51%.
The swings came as economists pointed to some possible signs of peaking within the jobs market, which may be an early signal inflation is set to moderate. That could ultimately mean less pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise rates so forcefully.
While workers’ wages were 5.5% higher in April than a year earlier, in line with economists’ expectations, the growth in average hourly pay from March levels was slightly below forecasts. Slower wage gains are discouraging for workers, but investors see them meaning less upward pressure on inflation.
BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income, Rick Rieder, pointed to surveys showing companies’ ability to hire becoming easier and other signs that some slack may be building in the red-hot job market.
“That raises the question of whether the Fed may slow its tightening process at some point over the coming months as a result of these expected trends, but while that’s possible recent data won’t provide markets much comfort of that happening anytime soon,” Rieder said in a report.
For now, expectations of rising interest rates have been hitting high-growth stocks in particular.
Much of that is because many of them are seen as the most expensive following years of leading the market. Many tech-oriented stocks have been among the market’s biggest losers this year, including Netflix, Nvidia and Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms.
Nearly half the Nasdaq stocks were recently down by at least 50% from their 52-week highs, according to a BofA Global Research report from chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett.
___
AP Business Writers Joe McDonald and Damian J. Troise contributed. Veiga reported from Los Angeles.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/stocks-end-rocky-week-with-their-5th-straight-weekly-decline/ | 2022-05-07T16:44:39Z |
Strong to severe thunderstorms possible this afternoon
Damaging winds, hail, locally heavy downpours, and an isolated tornado is possible today
Some showers are moving through the region and will continue throughout the morning hours. The rain will keep us cooler with high temperatures in the 60s and low 70s. Rain and thunderstorms are expected this afternoon and some of which could become strong to severe.
Damaging winds, hail, and locally heavy downpours are possible with some storms later today. There is a very low chance that we could also see a weak/brief tornado as well. Some localized flooding issues are possible with any heavy thunderstorms that move through the region.
Rain and thunderstorms will continue this evening, but the severe threat will diminish heading into the overnight hours. Showers are possible at times tonight with lows getting down into the upper 40s and 50s.
Rain will fall at times throughout the day tomorrow with highs in the 50s. We will dry up just in time for Mother’s Day on Sunday with a mix of sun and clouds and temperatures in the upper 50s and 60s.
We look to stay dry for quite a while heading into next week and temperatures will be warming up into the 70s as well. Make sure to stay tuned and catch the latest on WVVA.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/strong-severe-thunderstorms-possible-this-afternoon/ | 2022-05-07T16:44:47Z |
Student admits to fatally stabbing classmate inside high school bathroom, affidavit says
BELTON, Texas (KWTX/Gray News) – A high school student in Texas admitted to detectives he stabbed and killed his classmate inside a school bathroom, according to an arrest affidavit.
The affidavit shows Caysen Tyler Allison, 18, waived his rights against self-incrimination and admitted to killing Jose Luis Ramirez Jr., 18.
The stabbing happened Tuesday at Belton High School, about 70 miles northeast of Austin. Belton police arrived at the school and said they found Ramirez with “large puncture wounds to his chest.”
Ramirez was transported to the hospital in critical condition where he was later pronounced dead. At the hospital, officers said they learned Ramirez sustained “multiple stab and slashes injuries along his chest, back, legs and arm.”
Witnesses at the scene identified the student who stabbed Ramirez as Allison, who allegedly fled from the campus.
The affidavit states police also obtained video that shows Allison brandishing a knife and stabbing Ramirez during a fight in the school bathroom.
“Allison was later arrested and transported to the Belton Police Department where he provided police with a sworn statement he provided after being informed of his rights and waiving them,” the affidavit states.
In the statement to police, Allison allegedly admitted he “stabbed Ramirez Jr. once during a fight between them.”
Police were able to obtain a search warrant to search Allison’s home where they said they recovered a “folding knife covered in what they suspected was blood.”
Allison was booked into the Bell County Jail on a $1 million bond.
A GoFundMe page has been created to help Ramirez’s family cover his funeral expenses.
Copyright 2022 KWTX via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/student-admits-fatally-stabbing-classmate-inside-high-school-bathroom-affidavit-says/ | 2022-05-07T16:44:54Z |
Tornadoes strike Texas, Oklahoma, cause widespread damage
SEMINOLE, Okla. (AP) — A storm system spawned several tornadoes that whipped through areas of Texas and Oklahoma, causing damage to a school, a marijuana farm and other structures.
There were no reports of serious injuries following the Wednesday night tornadoes, but the system caused flooding in parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas, and more stormy weather took place Thursday.
Significant damage was reported in the Oklahoma city of Seminole, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southeast of Oklahoma City, where Gov. Kevin Stitt said damage assessments were underway after he toured the area Thursday.
“(We’re) getting all the resources and supplies that the city wants and needs,” including generators, Stitt said. “Thank the Lord that nobody was hurt” and no deaths have been reported.
The National Weather Service said it found damage in Seminole from an EF2 tornado, which has winds speeds of up to 135 mph (217 kph).
More than 2,900 customers remained without power in Seminole late Thursday afternoon, according to Oklahoma Gas & Electric, more than 63% of the utility customers in the city.
The Academy of Seminole took a direct hit but no one was injured, the school said on Facebook.
Video footage from Oklahoma TV station KOCO showed a tornado hit a marijuana farm in the nearby town of Maud.
Several roads and highways were closed Thursday morning in parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas because of flash flooding.
In Bixby, Oklahoma, located south of Tulsa, officials opened a temporary shelter at a church after thunderstorms flooded some homes and streets in one neighborhood.
In East Texas, a tornado on Thursday damaged several campers and buildings at an RV park in Rusk County, Sheriff Johnwayne Valdez told KTRE-TV. The Rusk County Office of Emergency Management reported one person was injured after being hit by a tree.
On Wednesday, a “large and dangerous tornado” was spotted in the rural community of Lockett, about 170 miles (275 kilometers) northwest of Dallas, said the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma.
The weather service said it found damage near Lockett from an EF3 tornado, which has winds speeds of up to 165 mph (265 kph).
There were no significant injuries or deaths to residents in Wilbarger County, where Lockett is located, Sheriff Brian Fritze told KAUZ-TV. He said several homes and barns appeared to sustain extensive damage.
In Washington County in northwest Arkansas, officials performed more than 30 water rescues as heavy rainfall flooded homes and streets in the cities of Fayetteville and Johnson, KHBS/KHOG-TV reported.
The storms on Wednesday and Thursday were the latest in several rounds of severe weather in the central United States. Last week, a tornado damaged more than 1,000 buildings in the Wichita suburb of Andover, Kansas. Three University of Oklahoma meteorology students died in a car crash while returning from storm chasing.
The storms, which were moving east into other southern U.S. states, could bring more tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds, and the threat of severe weather will continue Friday in parts of the South and over the weekend in the central Plains and Midwest, the weather service said.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/tornadoes-strike-texas-oklahoma-cause-widespread-damage/ | 2022-05-07T16:45:03Z |
TSA catches man with 23 weapons in carry-on at DC airport
Published: May. 5, 2022 at 10:10 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Security officials in Washington, D.C., said a man was stopped at Reagan National Airport for trying to carry on 23 weapons.
The Transportation Security Administration reports agents detected the stash of weapons at a security checkpoint on Wednesday.
Agents reported they pulled out nine disposable scalpels, eight folding locking-blade knives, three martial arts throwing knives, a dagger, a switchblade and a pair of brass knuckles.
Officials said police issued the man a citation.
The TSA said the weapons would have been fine if they were in a checked bag.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/tsa-catches-man-with-23-weapons-carry-on-dc-airport/ | 2022-05-07T16:45:09Z |
US added 428,000 jobs in April despite surging inflation
WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers added 428,000 jobs in April, extending a streak of solid hiring that has defied punishing inflation, chronic supply shortages, the Russian war against Ukraine and much higher borrowing costs.
Friday’s jobs report from the Labor Department showed that last month’s hiring kept the unemployment rate at 3.6%, just above the lowest level in a half-century.
The economy’s hiring gains have been strikingly consistent in the face of the worst inflation in four decades. Employers have added at least 400,000 jobs for 12 straight months.
At the same time, the April job growth, along with steady wage gains, will fuel consumer spending and likely keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise borrowing rates sharply to fight inflation. The U.S. stock market slumped again Friday on concern that the strength of the job market will keep wages and inflation high and lead to increasingly heavy borrowing costs for consumers and businesses. Higher loan rates could, in turn, weigh down corporate profits.
“With labor market conditions still this strong — including very rapid wage growth — we doubt that the Fed is going to abandon its hawkish plans,” said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.
The latest employment figures did contain a few cautionary notes about the job market. The government revised down its estimate of job gains for February and March by a combined 39,000.
And the number of people in the labor force declined in April by 363,000, the first drop since September. Their exit slightly reduced the proportion of Americans who are either working or looking for work from 62.4% to 62.2%. Many industries have been slowed by labor shortages. The nation remains 1.2 million jobs shy of the number it had in early 2020, just before the pandemic hammered the economy.
“We need those people back,’’ said Beth Ann Bovino, chief U.S. economist at S&P Global.
Bovino noted that some Americans are remaining on the sidelines of the workforce out of lingering concerns about COVID-19 or because of difficulty finding affordable daycare for unvaccinated children.
In the meantime, employers keep handing out pay raises. Hourly wages rose 0.3% from March to April and 5.5% from a year ago. Prices, though, are rising faster than pay is.
“Yes, we saw a bump in wages,” Bovino said. But with inflation at 40-year highs “people are still squeezed.’’
Across industries last month, hiring was widespread. Factories added 55,000 jobs, the most since last July. Warehouses and transportation companies added 52,000, restaurants and bars 44,000, health care 41,000, finance 35,000, retailers 29,000 and hotels 22,000. Construction companies, which have been slowed by shortages of labor and supplies, added just 2,000.
Yet it’s unclear how long the jobs boom will continue. The Fed this week raised its key rate by a half-percentage point — its most aggressive move since 2000 — and signaled further large rate hikes to come. As the Fed’s rate hikes take effect, it will become increasingly expensive to spend and hire.
In addition, the vast economic aid that the government had been supplying to households has expired. And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has helped accelerate inflation and clouded the economic outlook. Some economists warn of a growing risk of recession.
For now, the resilience of the job market is particularly striking when set against the backdrop of galloping price increases and rising borrowing costs. This week, the Labor Department provided further evidence that the job market is still booming. It reported that only 1.38 million Americans were collecting traditional unemployment benefits, the fewest since 1970. And it said that employers posted a record-high 11.5 million job openings in March and that layoffs remained well below pre-pandemic levels.
What’s more, the economy now has, on average, two available jobs for every unemployed person. That’s the highest such proportion on record.
And in yet another sign that workers are enjoying unusual leverage in the job market, a record 4.5 million people quit their jobs in March, evidently confident that they could find a better opportunity elsewhere.
Chronic shortages of goods, supplies and workers have contributed to skyrocketing price increases — the highest inflation rate in 40 years. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February dramatically worsened the financial landscape, sending global oil and gas prices skyward and severely clouding the national and global economic picture.
The Fed, which most economists say was much too slow to recognize the inflation threat, is now raising rates aggressively. Its goal is a notoriously difficult one: a so-called soft landing.
“Trying to slow the economy just enough, without causing a recession,” said Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. “Their track record on that is not particularly good.”
Giacomo Santangelo of the jobs research firm Monster is among economists who say they think a recession is coming. Even so, Santangelo said, the Fed “doesn’t have much of a choice’' other than raising rates to combat the inflation spike.
For now, many business people, especially in industries like retail and hospitality, are still struggling with a tight labor market.
David Culhane is one of them. Since opening the White Mountain Tavern in Lincoln, New Hampshire, in August 2020, Culhane has raised his hourly starting wage from $12 to $15. Yet he still can’t bring his employee count up to the 15 he needs. He worries that he won’t have enough people to handle the summer tourist season.
His labor shortages are costly. With a full staff, Culhane could serve many more customers that he can now. In the meantime, food and electricity prices are rising.
In response, Culhane has had to raise the prices of some menu items by up to 50%. He now prices his 8-ounce steak with truffle parmesan fries and asparagus at $25, up from $17.
In his view, he has no choice.
“As (inflation) gets higher, and if we don’t adjust to that,” he said, “we are not going to make it.”
To fully achieve the staff levels they need, some companies may have to do more than raise pay.
“Employers and business leaders will need to go above and beyond salary increases to win the war for talent,’’ said Karen Fichuk, CEO of the staffing company Randstad North America. “That will mean responding to new cultural norms and generational differences.’’
Many young people, she said, want jobs that provide an attractive work-life balance, prioritize diversity and offer the opportunity to make a positive difference in society.
Among those taking advantage of more flexible work arrangements is Grace Rosenback of Mountainair, New Mexico. The freedom to work from home — a necessity during the pandemic — has proved to be a blessing for Rosenback.
After undergoing a heart transplant in 2019, Rosenback, now 49, had to stop working for a year. A designer of presentations for marketing firms and other companies, she is working remotely for a contractor and hopes to land a full-time job with the client company once the four-month contract expires.
The business world, she said, “has pretty much accepted that everyone can be remote.’’
___
AP Retail Writer Anne D’Innocenzio contributed to this report from New York.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/us-added-428000-jobs-april-despite-surging-inflation/ | 2022-05-07T16:45:16Z |
WATCH: Man cuts grass before stealing lawn mower, police say
Published: May. 6, 2022 at 3:32 PM EDT|Updated: 21 hours ago
PORT ARTHUR, Tx. (Gray News) – A man in Texas is accused of stealing a lawn mower but made sure to cut the homeowner’s grass before he left.
The Port Arthur Police Department posted security video of the man taking the lawn mower.
The video shows him cutting the homeowner’s front and back yard before running away when officers arrived.
Police say he dragged the lawn mower as he ran and ultimately left it in an alley to evade an arrest.
Officers are looking for the man for an outstanding warrant for burglary of a building.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/watch-man-cuts-grass-before-stealing-lawn-mower-police-say/ | 2022-05-07T16:45:23Z |
What a Roe v. Wade reversal could mean for abortion access across America
(Stacker) - A leaked Supreme Court draft ruling that would overturn Roe v. Wade, dated in February and published May 2 by Politico, was confirmed as authentic by Chief Justice John Roberts on May 3.
Votes can change between initial drafts and final rulings, and abortion is still legal in all 50 states and Washington D.C. Still, the leaked document sparked shock, outrage, and protests among those who see the document as a harbinger of what’s to come when the final ruling is announced in June or early July. The publication of the court’s initial draft is unprecedented in history and has been compared by some to the release of the Pentagon Papers.
To explore what overturning Roe v. Wade might mean for abortion access across the United States, Stacker analyzed data from the Guttmacher Institute’s driving distance dataset that aggregates population data at a geographic unit between 600 and 3,000 people. This dataset further determines the median distance from abortion clinics for women of reproductive age—defined in this analysis between the ages of 15 and 49—across 26 states likely to ban or severely restrict abortion access should Roe be overturned. Although Guttmacher’s data relies on census data, which collects gender data as binary, abortion access impacts people beyond those who identify as women.
The landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision put federal protections for abortion rights in place for the first time in U.S. history, marking a major victory for reproductive freedom. But the integrity of Roe eroded over the last few decades. Particularly in recent years, states like Mississippi and Texas have brought legal challenges to the decision by imposing increasingly restrictive abortion laws. These challenges coincide with a new, 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court.
Between 2012 and 2017 alone, at least 276,000 people received abortions outside their home states. And while restrictive bans are still unenforceable right now, some legal experts warn conservative states may next attempt to criminalize traveling to other states for abortion services should Roe be overturned.
An estimated 26 states would certainly or likely move to ban abortion if Roe is overturned, according to the Guttmacher Institute. This would disproportionately impact abortion access for those with limited financial resources. The most commonly cited reason for seeking an abortion was “socioeconomic concerns,” according to a 2017 study of people who got abortions across 14 countries, including the U.S. Abortions in the U.S. can cost up to $750, depending on the state, clinic, and health insurance coverage, a number that does not include the additional costs associated with crossing state lines, including travel and lodging.
Christie Citranglo contributed reporting for this story.
Current bans limit abortion access and set precedent for more barriers
Until a decision is reached by the Supreme Court this summer, abortion will remain legal in all 50 states and Washington D.C. Overturning Roe v. Wade would not immediately outlaw abortion across the U.S., but it would give states the right to determine the legality of the procedure.
Under current conditions, at what stage and under what circumstances abortions can be performed varies from state to state. In those with the tightest restrictions, multiple bans exist to limit access now and potentially in the future should Roe fall. Bans on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy are enacted in 13 states and are among the most restrictive laws on the books.
Thirteen states have trigger bans that effectively signal intent and establish preemptive legislation to ban abortion in the event that Roe is overturned. If a reversal ruling is reached—acting as the trigger—then the proactive laws established in these states would take effect almost immediately.
Near-total bans include laws that restrict all abortions with certain exceptions like saving the life of the parent or cases of rape.
Some states had abortion bans in place prior to the Roe decision, which became unenforceable after 1973. If Roe falls, these states could seek to reinforce these bans assuming they were never declared unconstitutional.
Four state constitutions have amendments that declare they are not obligated to protect a right to abortion.
Travel distance for abortion access could increase by hundreds of miles
A person seeking a legal abortion in the U.S. travels on average 25 miles to reach a clinic. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, that average distance could increase to 125 miles as clinics in states with abortion bans would likely be forced to close, according to the Myers Abortion Facility Database.
This travel burden becomes more severe in regions experiencing disproportionately low access to reproductive health care and states with restrictive anti-abortion legislation. The north-to-south corridor between North Dakota and Texas, for example, has a high concentration of counties already traveling roughly 250 miles to reach an abortion provider. Some even travel up to 350 miles.
Disparities in abortion access similarly exist in the southern U.S. In the possible reversal of Roe, travel distances in Louisiana could increase from 37 miles, or around half an hour of driving time, to 666 miles just one way—representing more than 11 hours of nonstop driving, and the largest increase in distance of any state.
Residents could have to travel as far as Maryland for legal abortions, according to Michelle Erenberg, director at reproductive health advocacy group Lift Louisiana, in an email interview with Stacker.
“Lawmakers have become much more radicalized in their views on abortion,” Erenberg said, “which has led to more radical policies.” She pointed to new legislation up for review in her home state, HB813, or “The Abolition of Abortion in Louisiana Act of 2022.”
“Under this law, Louisiana can refuse to comply with decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court,” Erenberg said. “Abortion would be considered a homicide, and attempting to get an abortion could be prosecuted as attempted murder or criminal battery.”
Increased travel distances bring increased travel costs, potentially longer wait times to receive care, and time away from work and familial responsibilities. These barriers will disproportionately affect low-income Americans’ access to safe and legal abortions.
A 2021 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that increases in distance to the nearest abortion care facility were associated with significant reductions in legal abortion rates. Conversely, when travel distances were reduced, legal abortion rates increased. Researchers estimate there would be more than 70,000 additional legal abortions each year if disparities in travel distances were eliminated.
It should be noted determining the exact number of illegal abortions and pregnancies reluctantly carried to term due to a lack of care is difficult to quantify as this data on this is often not reported or logged.
Clinic states brace for an influx of abortion patients
About 100,000 people seeking abortions will be unable to access a provider within the first year of a Roe reversal. As a result, 75,000 of them will likely give birth, according to predictions released on May 6, 2022, by Caitlin Myers, an economics professor at Middlebury College and co-Director of MiddData. Myers’ predictions are based on state policy changes made within the last month.
These predictions also assume that the people from ban states seeking an abortion are able to get an appointment with remaining providers, which Myers notes may not be possible due to high demand and long wait times.
The influx of abortion seekers to so-called clinic states—or states that have legal protections for abortion in place—is predicted to be large should Roe v. Wade be overturned. Projecting which states will see the largest increases has everything to do with geography.
A large influx of abortion-seekers is projected to look for services in North Carolina due to its proximity to many southeastern states where abortion is certain or likely to be banned if Roe is overturned. But unlike Illinois, the legal status of abortion in North Carolina is tenuous and highly dependent on whether anti-abortion candidates are successful in the state’s midterm elections over the coming months. The debate over abortion rights in North Carolina will likely be decided, at least for the time being, in 2023.
Clinics in North Carolina have already seen an increase over the past year of out-of-state abortion seekers, with some coming from as far as Texas in search of services, according to Amber Gavin, the vice president of Advocacy and Operations at A Woman’s Choice, a group of North Carolina and Florida-based abortion clinics. And if Roe is overturned, Gavin expects those numbers will keep climbing.
“I do think we’re going to see probably well over 50% to 80% [more] patients than what we’re currently seeing,” she told Stacker in an interview.
Gavin also said A Woman’s Choice clinics are considering hiring more staff and physicians to accommodate the influx. “We’re working really hard with our staff, with abortion funds, with advocates on the ground to make sure that people who need and want that care are able to get it,” she said.
Illinois has long been a reproductive care hub for Midwesterners. Out-of-state patients seeking abortions rose from 2,970 in 2014 to 9,686 in 2020, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data. These numbers are projected to continue to rise as people come from Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Missouri, and even some Southern states. To increase access, two Planned Parenthood clinics have opened in recent years along the Illinois border. The state is one of the few in the Midwest where the right to abortion is certain to be protected long-term.
Many clinic states have made moves since 2019 to fund abortion services and codify abortion. Vermont, for instance, passed Act 47, which preserves the right to reproductive choice, including abortion, in the year following the appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Several other states followed suit, including California, Connecticut, Oregon, Maine, and Illinois. The subsequent appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in 2020 cemented the court’s conservative supermajority and encouraged legal challenges to Roe v. Wade in 2021.
Some states have already taken steps to ensure access to safe abortions for people crossing state lines.
In 2019, New York funded the New York Abortion Access Fund, intended to help low-income abortion seekers from other states travel to New York for services. In March 2022, California passed SB 245, an act that eliminates out-of-pocket costs for abortions for those who have private insurance, as well as those on California’s Medicaid. In Oregon, legislators passed the Reproductive Health Equity Fund, which allocates $15 million to expand abortion services, including helping to cover expenses of those traveling to Oregon for abortions. And Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont is planning to sign a bill that would shield Connecticut abortion providers and out-of-state patients from being sued by states where abortion—even outside the state—is illegal.
Copyright 2022 Stacker via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/what-roe-v-wade-reversal-could-mean-abortion-access-across-america/ | 2022-05-07T16:45:30Z |
WNBA superstar Brittney Griner still detained amid start of the regular season
(CNN) - The WNBA’s new season tips off Friday, but the detainment of superstar Brittney Griner is weighing heavily over the league.
Russian authorities in Moscow arrested Griner in February.
Griner, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, is accused of smuggling cannabis oil in her luggage, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
It remains unconfirmed what substance was actually in the vape pen she had.
To highlight her detainment, every WNBA team will display a special court decal with Griner’s initials and number.
Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department classified her arrest as a “wrongful detention.”
Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic committee is also working to get her released.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/wnba-superstar-brittney-griner-still-detained-amid-start-regular-season/ | 2022-05-07T16:45:38Z |
Woman who drove down garage stairwell claims she was ‘just following her GPS,’ police say
PORTLAND, Maine (Gray News) – A woman who drove through a police department garage and down a stairwell claimed she was “just following her GPS instructions,” police in Maine said.
The Portland, Maine, Police Department said the 26-year-old woman drove through the parking garage, across a pedestrian plaza and then tried to drive down a stairwell, where her vehicle got stuck.
Police said they don’t believe it was the fault of the GPS but, rather, the woman’s “excessive blood alcohol level.”
The woman was issued a summons for operating while under the influence.
No one was injured in the incident, and police said there was only a small amount of property damage.
“Please don’t drink and drive,” the police department wrote in a Facebook post.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/woman-who-drove-down-garage-stairwell-claims-she-was-just-following-her-gps-police-say/ | 2022-05-07T16:45:45Z |
WVVA News invited to tour Southern Regional Jail
BEAVER, W.Va. (WVVA) - After months of reporting on conditions inside Southern Regional Jail, WVVA News was invited for a tour of the facility on Thursday.
For security reasons, cameras were not allowed inside the jail. Department of Homeland Security Sec. Jeff Sandy led the tour through everything from the quarantine units to the water fountains to the medical wing. He said the staff were not notified in advance of the surprise visit. And, in an effort to resolve future potential problems faster, he released a number relatives of inmates can call to report a problem at 304-558-2036 moving forward.
“We want to use that number so that the public has the ability to call and report an incident. We’ll be able to investigate that incident. If it is factual, we will resolve it. And I promise the public, we will resolve it.
A source inside the jail previously reported that additional maintenance crews were called in after WVVA News’ first reports on water issues at the facility. During Thursday’s visit, we were given the opportunity to test those water sources to confirm they are now in working order.
WVVA News was also given the opportunity to look at all of the supplies the facility is in hand, from the toilet paper to mattresses to cups to boats for inmates to place their mats.
“You know we can’t keep them from sleeping on the floor. But we have the products for them to sleep above ground a plastic bed frame mattress.”
During the tour, senior staff said the jail has nearly twice the amount of inmates it was designed to hold. When asked whether a new facility is needed, Sec. Sandy said the bigger issue is the current shortage of Correctional Officers, with so many at Southern Regional Jail working 16-hour shift after 16-hour shift right now and so very little downtime in between.
“We need to address hiring people. We need to be able to hire people. Law enforcement, State Police, no one wants to work in law enforcement and corrections. Even if we built a new facility, we have to have the employees to staff it,” he said.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/wvva-news-invited-tour-southern-regional-jail/ | 2022-05-07T16:45:51Z |
Wyoming East repeats as sectional champion
East beats Bluefield for second time in three days
Published: May. 6, 2022 at 12:46 AM EDT
NEW RICHMOND, W.Va. (WVVA) -Wyoming East capitalized on Bluefield defensive miscues to capture the sectional championship.
The Lady Warriors won 5-1. Paige Laxton hit a pinch-hit HR in the sixth inning.
Wyoming East will face the winner of Shady Spring and Independence in regionals.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/06/wyoming-east-repeats-sectional-champion/ | 2022-05-07T16:45:58Z |
Abortion adds to Biden’s all-but-impossible to-do list
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s list of impossible tasks keeps getting longer.
Despite lofty promises he’s made, from the campaign trail through his first year in office, he has limited power to safeguard voting rights or expand the fight against climate change on his own.
And now it’s become clear that Biden has no good options for preserving abortion access as the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.
It’s a disorienting and discouraging state of affairs for Democrats, who control both Congress and the White House for the first time in more than a decade.
But the reality is the party holds only the narrowest of majorities in the Senate, and there simply aren’t enough votes to guarantee abortion rights, especially with the filibuster in place.
Biden’s pledge to codify Roe v. Wade into law seems destined for the same rocky shoals where other parts of his agenda, like tax credits for clean energy or legislation that would preempt state voting restrictions, have already run aground.
Perhaps the most succinct explanation came from Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., earlier this week.
“We’re stuck,” she said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has scheduled a vote on abortion for next Wednesday, but it’s almost certain to fail. Republicans are united in opposition, and a handful of Democrats may not support it either.
The impasse is forcing the White House to reopen its backup playbook — scrounging for ways to make a difference through executive action or regulatory steps while criticizing Republicans for the lack of broader action.
“The White House is under enormous pressure to be more forceful and vocal,” said Lawrence Gostin, who runs the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health at Georgetown Law.
But Gostin, who is advising administration officials on next steps, said, “Biden needs to stick with winnable battles” by focusing on “low hanging fruit.”
One of those ideas involves making abortion medication more accessible by mail. The Food and Drug Administration has already eliminated the requirement to pick up the pills in person, and Gostin said the practice will need an aggressive defense as it faces conservative attacks.
The Justice Department has already gone to court over abortion access, suing Texas last year in an effort to stop a law that would ban most abortions.
Another concept, Gostin said, would be allowing Medicaid to pay for travel if a woman can’t get an abortion in her own state. Such a plan might run afoul of the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for abortions, so it would require careful wording.
For example, the policy could say Medicaid would pay for travel for authorized medical treatment if it’s not legal where the patient lives — making no mention of abortion.
None of these proposals are foolproof, and they will likely face Republican challenges in the courts or through legislation.
“It’s like whack-a-mole,” Gostin said. “Anytime a woman tries to overcome state restrictions, they make them tighter.”
These kinds of administrative steps are similar to what Biden has done when other initiatives have stalled on Capitol Hill.
On voting, for example, he signed an executive order intended to make it easier to register, and the Justice Department is ramping up its efforts to protect ballot access.
In addition, Biden included some climate policies in the infrastructure legislation that passed last year, and regulators are strengthening rules on vehicle emissions.
“The president is incredibly proud of what he’s already accomplished in 15 months of his presidency,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.
Asked about Biden’s struggles on Capitol Hill, Psaki pointed to his long experience as a senator.
“He knows and understands it sometimes takes more time than he would like to get your agenda forward,” she said.
However, abortion stirs even greater passions than other issues across the political spectrum, and frustration about inaction is bubbling up.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who wants his state to become a refuge for people seeking abortions, said this week that Democrats are falling short.
“Where the hell is my party?” he said. Abortion opponents are winning, Newsom added. “We need to stand up. Where’s the counteroffensive?”
Cecilia Muñoz, a senior adviser at New America, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, said in an interview earlier this year “there’s an assumption that the president has a magic wand that he doesn’t always have.”
She saw that firsthand as director of President Barack Obama’s Domestic Policy Council, when the White House increasingly relied on executive actions to make progress toward its goals despite Republican opposition.
“I think the advocacy community has gotten used to the idea that there are shortcuts,” she said. “But there are no good shortcuts.”
Mini Timmaraju, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said the expected end of Roe v. Wade will require activists to use different tactics.
“The American people are used to relying on the courts to protect their fundamental freedoms,” she said. “And now we really have to get folks used to shifting their attention to legislators, members of Congress, legislative bodies. And that’s going to be a little bit of a culture shock and a little bit of a shift in the way we think.”
Democrats seem likely to lose control of Congress in the November elections, especially with Biden’s sagging approval ratings. However, some hope that the Supreme Court decision will fire up their voters.
“What you’re looking for in politics is an opportunity,” said Cornell Belcher, a Democratic pollster. “There’s an opportunity that wasn’t there before this came out.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, rejected the idea that voters are frustrated by Biden’s ability to deliver on some of his priorities.
“If we show the fight we need to show ... our voters will come out in large numbers,” he said before Biden toured a metal company in his state Friday. He added, “They know if we had a few more members of the Senate, a lot of those things they care about would have been enacted.”
Michael Beschloss, a presidential historian, compared Biden’s situation to President Harry Truman, who was floundering as he ran for reelection in 1948. He turned his campaign into an indictment of a “do-nothing Congress,” which was controlled by Republicans at the time, and he managed to pull off a narrow victory.
The goal, Beschloss said, is to “take a bad hand and play it perfectly.”
Biden is trying a similar tack ahead of the midterms, escalating his criticism of other Republican proposals.
He repeatedly points to a blueprint from the National Republican Senatorial Committee that would increase taxes on people at the lower end of the income scale and force federal programs like Social Security to be reauthorized every five years.
“I’ve offered a different plan — a plan rooted in American values of fairness and decency,” Biden said Wednesday.
And he warns that Republicans won’t stop at abortion and could target other rights that were earned through the Supreme Court, such as access to birth control or same sex marriage.
“This MAGA crowd” — a reference to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan — “is really the most extreme political organization that’s existed in recent American history,” Biden said.
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Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/abortion-adds-bidens-all-but-impossible-to-do-list/ | 2022-05-07T16:46:04Z |
Brittney Griner detained in Russia as Mercury opens season
PHOENIX (AP) — The purple-and-orange throng snaked its way through the maze of barricades that fill downtown Phoenix these days, excitement growing with each step toward the Footprint Center.
Their voices, no longer drowned out by traffic and tractors, created the type of palpable buzz inside the arena that only a season opener can generate.
Underneath flowed a current of fear and sorrow for the one person missing.
Brittney Griner, a seven-time All-Star and key cog in two trips to the WNBA Finals, was not with the Phoenix Mercury for their opener against the Las Vegas Aces Friday night. As the Mercury and the rest of the WNBA moved forward into the season, Griner nears the three-month mark of her detention in Russia, with no timetable for her release.
“It’s horrible what happened to her, knowing as well as some of us fans have gotten to know her,” said MJ Hill, a Mercury season-ticket holder since the WNBA’s first season in 1997 who wore a “Free BG” t-shirt. “She’s a kind and gentle person, and it’s horrible to think about where she is and what she’s going through.”
Griner was detained Feb. 17 after authorities at the Moscow airport said they found vape cartridges that allegedly contained oil derived from cannabis in her luggage, which could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The Biden administration determined Griner is being wrongfully detained. A hearing in a Russian court is set for May 19.
The WNBA and and U.S. officials have worked toward Griner’s release, but have yet to make any headway with the Russian government.
“There is not a day that goes by that I’m not working on this in some way, talking with a variety of folks at the U.S. government, her agent, family, others who are experts in this area who can help us navigate a very complex and quite frankly, like I said at our draft, unimaginable situation,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in Seattle.
The WNBA and Mercury were at first reticent to say anything in fear of exacerbating Griner’s situation, but have become more vocal as her detention has spanned longer. Several players have spoken out about Griner’s detention, including Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart, who has tweeted daily about her.
“BG is on my mind every day,” Stewart said before the Storm’s game against the Minnesota Lynx Friday night. “You have these moments where you just can’t believe that she’s still in Russia wrongfully detained. Hoping we get her home. The WNBA isn’t the WNBA without BG.”
The WNBA is acknowledging Griner this season with a floor decal with “BG” and her No. 42 in all 12 arenas across the league as she continues to be detained.
Washington placed its decal on the blue sideline between the benches at the Mystics’ arena in the nation’s capital, placed next to a “Black Lives Matter” decal. Some Indiana Fever substitutes would sit on the ground near the “BG42″ while waiting for a break in the action so they could enter the game.
“We all have concern for the situation, something that normally would be handled a lot quicker,” Washington coach Mike Thibault said. “(It) certainly hasn’t been and I think everybody sees what’s happening. She’s in everybody’s thoughts.”
Mercury players wore black t-shirts with “We Are BG” in white letters during warmups and introductions. Guard Sophie Cunningham addressed the crowd before the game against Las Vegas.
“We’re still hopeful she’ll be back with us soon, but until then we’ll be kicking butt and winning games,” she said.
Griner’s absence seemed to take a toll on the Mercury once the game started, both emotionally and on the floor. Phoenix, which was missing two other key players to injuries, fell into a big early hole and lost 106-88.
“In the first half, we didn’t give a lot of resistance,” Mercury guard Skylar Diggins-Smith said. “We know we’ve got to get better. That’s the first time all of us out there. They were more physical, they got to their spots, shared the basketball and we were lacking on both sides of the floor”
Chicago Sky season-ticket holder Montie Apostolos wore a white hoodie Friday night with “Free Britney Griner Now!” in front and “WOMENHOOPTOO MOVEMENT” in back. She also had a sign with “Free BG#42″ with a ball going through the net.
“I’m concerned about her emotional well being,” said Apostolos, whose niece, Jewell Loyd, plays for the Seattle Storm. “I want her to know that we love her and that we’re pushing everyday as far as we can to make sure — keeping it out there, keeping it in front, that they still know — and hopefully, she’ll get the word. And hopefully, she’s gonna be freed.”
A 6-foot-9 center, Griner and WNBA career scoring leader Diana Taurasi have been the key players for a Mercury franchise that won the 2014 WNBA title and reached the final last season, losing to the Chicago Sky.
Griner is a six-time All-Star, won consecutive WNBA Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2014-15 and is the most prolific dunker in WNBA history. A two-time gold medalist, she had one of the best seasons of her nine-year WNBA career in 2021, leading the WNBA in blocked shots while finishing second in scoring and sixth in rebounding.
Griner again was expected to play a key role for the Mercury this season after the team bolstered its roster with the additions of Tina Charles and Diamond DeShields.
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AP sports writers Howard Fendrich in Washington, D.C., Tim Booth in Seattle and Andrew Seligman in Chicago contributed to this report.
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More AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/brittney-griner-detained-russia-mercury-opens-season/ | 2022-05-07T16:46:12Z |
Coronavirus forces cancellations in Jazz Fest’s 2nd weekend
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Willie Nelson is cancelling an upcoming performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival and postponing other shows after a positive case of the coronavirus in his band.
The 89-year-old musician posted on his band’s website on Friday that “due to a positive Covid case in the Willie Nelson Family Band” two upcoming shows scheduled to happen May 6 and May 7 would be postponed and that Nelson’s Sunday performance at Jazz Fest would be cancelled.
Nelson was slated to close the Gentilly Stage — the same stage where his son Lukas Nelson is performing earlier in the day with his band the Promise of the Real. No replacement for the elder Nelson has yet been announced.
The news comes after Melissa Etheridge announced Thursday that she would not be able to perform Saturday at Jazz Fest due to “COVID hitting my crew.” Mavis Staples will perform during that time period instead.
“Oh my heart hurts not to be there. Mavis will be amazing, I know. I am hoping I can be asked back again. Dave and crew are healing. Thank you for all the well wishes. COVID heartbreak,” tweeted Etheridge after news that Staples would appear on Saturday was announced.
Also on Friday, legendary New Orleans bass player George Porter Jr. said on Instagram that he had the coronavirus and was out for the rest of the festival. The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate reported that Porter played multiple shows during Jazz Fest’s first weekend and had a number of performances scheduled outside the festival during the second weekend.
The seven-day festival started on Friday, April 29, and ends Sunday, May 8.
The event draws tens of thousands to the city’s Fair Grounds Race Course, where as many as 80 musical acts perform daily on more than a dozen stages, complemented by art and craft exhibits and an array of booths featuring foods from Louisiana and beyond. While it attracts national and international talent such as Nelson and Etheridge, the festival is also known for showcasing the wide gamut of musical talent and genres found in Louisiana such as zydeco, gospel, blues and of course, jazz.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/coronavirus-forces-cancellations-jazz-fests-2nd-weekend/ | 2022-05-07T16:46:18Z |
Ukraine braces for escalated attacks ahead of Russia’s V-Day
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops solidified their positions around the nation’s second-largest city Saturday as Russian forces delivered more punishing attacks on an embattled steelworks in a bid to complete their conquest of the southern port of Mariupol in time for Victory Day celebrations.
As Monday’s holiday commemorating the Soviet Union’s World War II victory over Nazi Germany approached, cities across Ukraine prepared for an expected increase in Russian attacks. Officials urged residents numbed by more than 10 weeks of war to heed air raid warnings.
“These symbolic dates are to the Russian aggressor like red to a bull,” Ukraine’s first deputy interior minister, Yevhen Yenin, said. “While the entire civilized world remembers the victims of terrible wars on these days, the Russian Federation wants parades and is preparing to dance over bones in Mariupol.”
The most intense fighting in recent days has befallen eastern Ukraine, where the two sides are entrenched in a fierce race to capture territory not under their control. Western military analysts said a Ukrainian counter-offensive was advancing around the northeastern city of Kharkiv while the Russians made minor gains in Luhansk, an area where Moscow-backed separatists have fought since 2014.
Against that backdrop, Ukrainian fighters were making a final stand to prevent a complete takeover of Mariupol. Securing the strategically important Sea of Azov port that would give Moscow a land bridge to the Crimea Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine during a 2014 invasion.
New satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed vast devastation at a sprawling seaside steel mill that is the last corner of Ukrainian resistance in the city. Buildings at the Azovstal plant, including one under which hundreds of fighters and civilians are likely hiding, had large, gaping holes in the roof, according to the images shot Friday by Planet Labs PBC.
The bombardment of the steel mill intensified in recent days despite a Russian pledge for a temporary cease-fire to allow civilians inside to escape. Russia has used mortars, artillery, truck-mounted rocket systems, aerial bombardment and shelling from sea to target the facility.
Rescuers sought to evacuate more civilians on Saturday after a week of on-and-off convoys to get people out of Mariupol. Dozens of civilians were delivered Friday to the care of United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross representatives, Russian and Ukrainian officials confirmed. The Russian military said the group of 50 included 11 children.
The latest evacuees followed roughly 500 others who were allowed to leave the plant and other parts of the city in recent days.
The Ukrainian government has called on international organizations to also help evacuate the fighters defending the plant. By Russia’s most recent estimate, roughly 2,000 Ukrainian fighters remained at the Azovstal steelworks. They have repeatedly refused to surrender.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “influential states” were involved in efforts to rescue the soldiers, although he did not mention any by name.
“We are also working on diplomatic options to save our troops who are still at Azovstal,” he said in his nightly video address early Saturday.
While they pounded away at the plant, Russian forces struggled to make significant gains elsewhere nearly 2 1/2 months into a ruinous war that has killed thousands of people, forced millions to flee Ukraine and flattened large swaths of some cities.
Kharkiv, which was the first Soviet capital in Ukraine and which the Russia-backed rebels failed to capture in 2014, remained a key target of Russian shelling, the Ukrainian military said. The Ukrainian army said it made progress around the hotly contested city with a pre-war population of about 1.4 million, recapturing five villages and part of a sixth.
A Washington-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said in its most recent assessment that Ukraine may be able to push Russian forces “out of artillery range of Kharkiv in the coming days,” providing a respite for the city and building the momentum “into a successful, broader counteroffensive.”
Zelenskyy said in his nightly address that the “extraordinary strength of the Ukrainian position” lies in all the countries of the free world understanding what is at stake in the ruinous war.
“We are defending ourselves against an onslaught of tyranny that wants to destroy everything that freedom gives to people and states,” the Ukrainian leader said. “And such a struggle, for freedom and against tyranny, is fully comprehensible for any society, in any corner of the globe.”
In other developments:
- Four Russian cruise missiles fired from aircraft hit the region of Odesa, where authorities have a curfew in place until Tuesday morning. Natalia Humeniuk, the spokesperson for the Ukrainian military’s southern operational command, made the announcement Saturday afternoon as air raid sirens sounded throughout much of the country. She said the strike targeted the city of Arcyz and no one was injured.
- Satellite photos analyzed by the AP showed Ukraine targeting a Russian-held island off its coast in a bid to impede Russia’s efforts to control the Black Sea. The image from Planet Labs PBC showed thick black smoke rising off Snake Island, some 35 kilometers (20 miles) off the coast of Ukraine. Ukrainian officials in the last day released drone footage suggesting that Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2 drones launched strikes on the island. The satellite images analyzed by the AP provided the first independent confirmation of the strikes.
- A Russian missile on Saturday destroyed a Ukrainian national museum dedicated to the life and work of an 18th-century philosopher, the local council said. It posted photographs on Facebook showing the Gregory Skovoroda museum engulfed in flames. As an indication of his importance to Ukraine’s cultural heritage, Skovoroda’s likeness adorns a Ukrainian banknote. The museum in Skovorodynivka lies near the Russian border in the Kharkiv region where fighting has been fierce.
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Gambrell reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Yesica Fisch in Zaporizhzhia, Inna Varenytsia and David Keyton in Kyiv, Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkiv, Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/evacuation-efforts-go-sprawling-ukrainian-steel-mill/ | 2022-05-07T16:46:25Z |
‘Everybody knew her’: School district identifies 18-year-old student reportedly killed by father
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS/Gray News) - A high school in South Carolina is helping to remember one of their students who was reportedly killed in a domestic situation involving her father.
WIS reports officials with the Richland County School District One said that Sha’Neal Brown, 18, died Thursday evening.
Sha’Neal Brown was a student at Eau Clarie High School, and principal Neshunda Walters said that her heart was broken when it came to losing such a well-liked person and student.
Authorities said Sha’Neal Brown’s father, Rafael Brown, is facing murder charges stemming from the deadly Thursday incident.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department reports it was called regarding a domestic situation involving a weapon that evening at a home. Deputies found two bodies inside the house, later identified as Sha’neal Brown and her grandmother Jessie Brown, 83.
Officials said Rafael Brown was taken into custody at the scene and booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.
Principal Walters released the following statement after Sha’neal Brown was identified:
“Everybody knew her. She was a well-known student who was well-liked and involved in several service and extracurricular activities. She assisted in the school counseling office and in the library, and she was a special assistant and mentee to our school social worker. She was also a member of our marching band’s dance team and a member of the Shamrockettes girls mentoring group. Our hearts are truly broken.”
Copyright 2022 WIS via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/everybody-knew-her-school-district-identifies-18-year-old-student-reportedly-killed-by-father/ | 2022-05-07T16:46:32Z |
Ex-deputy accused of posing as wedding guest to steal gifts
CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) - A retired sheriff’s deputy posed as a guest at two Phoenix-area weddings to steal boxes of cards containing thousands of dollars and is under investigation in a series of similar crimes, authorities said Friday.
Landon Earl Rankin, 54, was arrested Wednesday in the thefts at private venues in April and was being held without bond, according to Chandler police and court and jail records.
According to police, the two stolen boxes of wedding cards each contained between $3,000 and $6,000.
Rankin was a deputy with the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, joining the agency in 1994. He retired in 2015 but remained a reserve officer until 2017, office spokesperson Lauren Reimer said.
Rankin was jailed on suspicion of two counts of burglary. He also was booked on several drug possession and drug paraphernalia offenses because he had amphetamine and fentanyl on him when he was arrested, police said.
Court records didn’t list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Surveillance video from one of the Chandler wedding venues showed Rankin grabbing the gift box, placing it in a bag, walking out the venue’s rear door, running to his vehicle and driving away, police said in a probable-cause statement.
When interviewed by police, Rankin said he attended the weddings to hear the wedding vows “because he was going through a divorce,” the statement said.
During their investigation of the two Chandler thefts, police learned of at least seven similar crimes in other Phoenix-area jurisdictions, said Sgt. Jason McClimans, a Chandler police spokesman.
Rankin is now under investigation in those cases, and Chandler police have heard from “four or five” additional newlywed couples regarding possible additional thefts, McClimans said.
Police urged victims of such crimes to contact appropriate law enforcement agencies.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/ex-deputy-accused-posing-wedding-guest-steal-gifts/ | 2022-05-07T16:46:39Z |
Fred Savage dropped from ‘The Wonder Years’ amid allegations
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fred Savage has been dropped as an executive producer and director of the rebooted “The Wonder Years” amid allegations of inappropriate conduct, the television show’s production company has confirmed.
“Recently, we were made aware of allegations of inappropriate conduct by Fred Savage, and as is policy, an investigation was launched. Upon its completion, the decision was made to terminate his employment as an executive producer and director of ‘The Wonder Years,’” a statement Saturday from 20th Television said.
20th Television did not immediately provide any additional details. A spokesperson for Savage did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Savage, 45, was a child star when he appeared in the original series, which ran on ABC from 1988-93 and followed a suburban white family in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A new version of the show, which features Don Cheadle as the narrator, premiered last fall. The new series revolves around a Black family living in Montgomery, Alabama, in the late 1960s.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/fred-savage-dropped-wonder-years-amid-allegations/ | 2022-05-07T16:46:46Z |
Governor signs ‘sales tax holiday’ package; gas, diapers, essential items becoming tax-free
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WWSB/Gray News) - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a package on Friday that will give residents a series of sales tax “holidays.”
WWSB reports the tax breaks will be on items like school clothes, hurricane supplies, tools and a suspension of the state gas tax in October.
Tax package HB 7071 was passed by the Legislature in March and is said to reduce state and local revenues by $804.3 million during the upcoming fiscal year.
Officials said the package will eliminate taxes during the 2022-2023 fiscal year on baby clothes, diapers, children’s books, Energy Star appliances, impact-resistant doors and windows, new mobile homes and admissions to Formula One Grand Prix races and the Daytona 500.
“This bill comes at an opportune time, as families grapple with the rising costs of everyday expenses like gas, food and clothing,” said Department of Children and Families Secretary Shevaun Harris. “I know that every penny saved counts.”
State leaders touted that the election-year package would help consumers.
“The tax relief you’re going to see are going to be breaks for really critical needs, like gas, diapers, disaster supplies, tools for skilled trades, recreational activities, you name it,” DeSantis said. “And, so, families are going to be able to save for things that really matter to them.”
DeSantis, whose youngest child is 2-years-old, highlighted the tax breaks for diapers and baby clothes during a bill-signing ceremony at Sam’s Club in Ocala, Florida. The ceremony included a stack of Huggies diapers and several families.
While most of the tax breaks will not take effect until July 1 or later, two parts will start this month.
A sales-tax exemption on children’s books will run from May 14 to Aug. 14. Also, a tax holiday will start on May 28 on hurricane supplies.
Officials said shoppers would be able to avoid paying sales taxes on an array of items, from packages of batteries and radios under $50 to generators up to $1,000. The hurricane-season holiday for the first time, will include pet supplies.
The second tax holiday will be for what lawmakers have dubbed “Freedom Week,” which will run from July 1 through July 7. Shoppers will be able to avoid paying sales taxes on such things as tickets for concerts, movies, ballgames, museum visits and select outdoor gear.
A back-to-school tax holiday will start July 25 and last through Aug. 7. Shoppers will be able to avoid paying sales taxes on clothes and shoes that cost $100 or less, school supplies that cost $50 or less and personal computers with price tags of $1,500 or less.
Economists estimate the holiday’s impact to total $100.1 million.
In the month before voters go to the polls for the November elections, they also will get a break at the gas pump. The package includes suspending a .25-cent gas tax per gallon in October.
“There are certain things when you have inflation that you can maybe dial back, certain entertainment, whatever, people can make decisions with their family budget,” DeSantis said. “You can’t just not get to your job. So, you’ve got to fill up your gas tank.”
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democratic candidate for governor, issued a statement Friday that said many of the tax breaks were aided by federal stimulus money.
“This tax relief package was made possible by the American Rescue Plan, which provided Florida with more than $10 billion in federal funds,” Fried said.
Officials said parents are projected to see savings of $74.7 million by not having to pay sales taxes on clothes and shoes for toddlers and another $35.7 million on the costs of diapers.
Copyright 2022 WWSB via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/governor-signs-sales-tax-holiday-package-gas-diapers-essential-items-becoming-tax-free/ | 2022-05-07T16:46:54Z |
Hospitals across the country participate in National Nurses Week
BECKLEY, W.Va. (WVVA) - Today marks the start of National Nurses Week, and it starts with National Nurses Day, which honors these vital healthcare workers. But with the appreciation of nurses, comes the acknowledgment that there aren’t enough of them.
There’s been a well-documented nursing shortage making headlines across the country since the start of the pandemic. Many hospitals have even implemented sign-on bonuses and other incentives to lure more nurses to their facilities.
It is a problem that is plaguing nearly every healthcare facility in the United States, including here in the two Virginias.
We spoke with nurses and administrators in Raleigh and Mercer Counties. The shortage has depleted their nursing staff as well.
“We want to make sure that we take care of the nurses we have on staff and that we can recruit and retain more nurses into our ranks,” shared Marsha Jamison, Chief Nursing Officer at Raleigh General Hospital.
Jamison has more than three decades under her belt and has learned to roll with the punches. But a younger nurse on the floor at Raleigh General Hospital says he wasn’t expecting the challenges but was surprised by the rewards in his chosen career.
“Nursing is hard, I’m not gonna lie about that,” said Justin Smitherman. “But it is such a rewarding profession. Just knowing that you have patients that come in and they’re very sick and they need you, and you can be there for them and give back to them and touch them in positive ways, and they’ll remember that for the rest of their life.”
The end of National Nurses Week falls on May 12, the birthday of legendary nurse, Florence Nightingale. But her name isn’t alone among historic nurses, from Clara Barton to Mary Eliza Mahoney and every name in between- executives say nurses show a dedication that deserves praise beyond one week.
They say it’s worthy of 52 weeks of appreciation.
“Nurses have weathered the storm,” Karen Bowling, President and CEO of Princeton Community Hospital, shared. “I mean, they are those ones there by the bedside taking care of these challenging patients and doing so with a smile on their face. The profession is so important, and if you are the type of person that wants to make a difference being a nurse can do that.”
The State of West Virginia recently invested millions of dollars to expand nursing programs to educate the next generation of nurses.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/hospitals-across-country-participate-national-nurses-week/ | 2022-05-07T16:47:00Z |
James Monroe’s Shad Sauvage signs with Alice Lloyd men’s basketball
Published: May. 7, 2022 at 12:56 AM EDT|Updated: 11 hours ago
LINDSIDE, W.Va. (WVVA) - James Monroe’s Shad Sauvage put pen to paper on Friday. He’s headed to Alice Lloyd College to join the men’s basketball team.
Sauvage left a mark on his high school program, helping to lead the boys basketball team to its first ever state title. He also racked up 1,717 points scored for the Mavericks with over 300 three-point shots -- among many other achievements.
WVVA caught up with the newest Eagle and his dad/high school coach.
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/james-monroes-shad-sauvage-signs-with-alice-lloyd-mens-basketball/ | 2022-05-07T16:47:07Z |
Jill Biden hears heartbreak of Ukrainian moms now in Romania
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Jill Biden on Saturday heard heartbreaking stories from Ukrainian women and children who fled Russia’s war and found safe haven across the border in Romania, and the American first lady praised the Romanian government and relief organizations for the range of humanitarian aid they are providing to refugees.
At a Romanian public school hosting refugee students, Biden saw firsthand the relief efforts to assist some of the 900,000 Ukrainians who have fled to Romania since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Most of those Ukrainians have moved on to other countries, but many — mainly women and children — have remained as the fighting rages.
“We stand with you,” Biden told mothers of some of the students after visiting classrooms where kids ages 5 to 15 attend school.
Earlier, Biden received a briefing at the U.S. Embassy on the relief effort. Her visit to Eastern Europe comes as President Joe Biden is pressing Congress to pass an additional $33 billion in security and economic assistance for Ukraine.
Jill Biden called the show of solidarity “amazing” but also “just the beginning.” She said it was inspiring for Romanians “to welcome all these refugees into their homes and offer them food and clothing and shelter and give them their hearts.”
But she also cautioned that much more needs to be done by the U.S. and allies to assist Ukraine.
“We’re all hopeful, right,” she told reporters. “We wake up every morning and think ‘this has to end’ but it still keeps going on and on.”
About 7,000 Ukrainians cross the border and arrive in Romania daily, said Pablo Zapata, the Romanian representative for the U.N. refugee agency.
U.N. and other agencies and the Romanian government are providing refugees with a range of services, including food, shelter, education, health and mental health care, and counseling, among other services.
Biden asked specifically about the provision of mental health services and whether summer school was available to help refugee students catch up on their education.
The first lady is on the second day of a four-day trip to Romania and Slovakia that is designed to showcase U.S. support for Ukrainian refugees. Slovakia also shares a border with Ukraine. Biden was scheduled to spend Sunday, Mother’s Day, there meeting with refugees and visiting a border village.
Biden met with Romanian first lady Carmen Iohannis over lunch at her private residence. Iohannis, who also accompanied Biden during the school visit, kept her job as an English teacher when her husband took office just like Biden kept hers teaching at a northern Virginia community college.
At her tour of the public school, Biden had an exchange with one young Ukrainian girl told her through a translator, “I want to return to my father.” Biden later told reporters the girl’s words were “heartbreaking.”
At moments, Biden appeared anguished as she listened to the stories from mothers who told her of their own difficult decisions to flee their homeland.
Svitlana Gollyak told Biden that her young daughter had difficulty adapting in the early days of the war but now seems to be turning the corner after arriving in Romania from Kharkiv, Ukraine.
“I think mothers will do anything for their children,” Biden told Gollyak and the other mothers, adding that they were “amazingly strong and resilient.”
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Follow all AP stories on global migration https://apnews.com/hub/migration
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/jill-biden-hears-heartbreak-ukrainian-moms-now-romania/ | 2022-05-07T16:47:14Z |
Police: Father killed on highway while trying to find child’s toy thrown from car
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Gray News) - A Tennessee man was killed on a highway when he was trying to find his child’s toy that was thrown out of their car.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department reports that 32-year-old Joshua Thomas Taylor was traveling on Thursday with his family on Interstate 65 when his child threw one of their favorite toys out of the window.
Police said Taylor returned later that evening to the area to look for the toy. He parked his car near a ramp and walked along the highway.
Tennessee Department of Transportation HELP truck drivers told police that they found Taylor and tried to talk with him, but he ran across the interstate and jumped over the barrier to the other side.
The truck drivers said they began traveling to the opposite side of the highway when they heard a collision.
Nashville police said the 32-year-old was struck by a GMC Yukon and pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the Yukon did not display any indications of impairment and officials said speed did not appear to be a factor.
Nashville police reminded everyone that walking on the interstate is illegal and very dangerous.
Copyright 2022 Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/police-father-killed-highway-while-trying-find-childs-toy-thrown-car/ | 2022-05-07T16:47:20Z |
Raleigh County NAACP Chapter hosts candidate forum in Beckley
BECKLEY, W.Va. (WVVA) - Voters in Beckley on Friday got a chance to hear from candidates on the ballot for Tuesday’s primary election. Hosted by the NAACP’s Raleigh County chapter, candidates were given five minutes to reply to questions from voters following a round of opening statements.
Nine candidates from a range of local and state races were present for the event, and answered questions on a variety of topics.
“I like to hit these just to see what they actually stand for,” said Brian Akers. “You can always hear their soundbites but they’re usually you know, ‘pro-life, pro-choice, religious,’ that thing. I like to see where they stand on some more, things that relate to me.”
Friday’s forum provided a final chance for voters to see many candidates in-person before Tuesday’s primary. Questions ranged from Medicare funding and abortion, to public safety and more.
“The question that I had for our candidates was how they felt about Narcan training for youth,” said Elaina Hurley.
Hurley said advocating for such training is a part of her job as a recovery support specialist -- but for all attendees present on Friday, the opportunity was seen as a true privilege.
“I’m a formerly incarcerated person,” said Akers. “Actually just got my right to vote back maybe a month ago.”
“We have to be the change that we want to see,” said Hurley. “I’m here to be the change that I want to see. I can sit in my chair of complacency and complain about the state of the nation, but until we get involved such as we are here today, nothing changes.”
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/raleigh-county-naacp-chapter-hosts-candidate-forum-beckley/ | 2022-05-07T16:47:27Z |
Desperate search for survivors in Cuba hotel blast; 26 dead
HAVANA (AP) — Relatives of the missing in Cuba’s capital desperately searched Saturday for victims of an explosion at one of Havana’s most luxurious hotels that killed at least 26 people. They checked the morgue, hospitals and if unsuccessful, they returned to the partially collapsed Hotel Saratoga, where rescuers used dogs to hunt for survivors.
A natural gas leak was the apparent cause of Friday’s blast at the 96-room hotel. The 19th-century structure in the Old Havana neighborhood did not have any guests at the time because it was undergoing renovations ahead of a planned Tuesday reopening after being closed.
Havana city officials raised the death toll to 26 on Saturday, according to the official Cubadebate news site. The dead included four children and a pregnant woman. Spain’s President Pedro Sánchez said via Twitter that a Spanish tourist was among the dead and that another Spaniard was seriously injured. Cuban authorities had not provided details on the tourist’s death.
Search and rescue teams worked through the night and into Saturday, using ladders to descend through the rubble and twisted metal into the hotel’s basement as heavy machinery gingerly moved away piles of the building’s façade to allow access. Above, chunks of drywall dangled from wires, desks sat seemingly undisturbed inches from the void where the front of the building cleaved away.
Rescuers declined to answer questions because the authorities had ordered them to avoid confusion.
At least one survivor was found early Saturday in the shattered ruins, and rescuers using search dogs clambered over huge chunks of concrete looking for more. Relatives of missing people remained at the site while others gathered at hospitals where the injured were being treated.
A desperate Yatmara Cobas stood outside the perimeter waiting for word of her daughter, 27-year-old housekeeper Shaidis Cobas.
“My daughter is in the Saratoga; she’s been there since 8 a.m. (Friday), and at this time I don’t know anything about her,” Cobas said. “She’s not at the morgue, she’s not in the hospital.” The mother said she had gone everywhere seeking answers from authorities, but coming up empty.
“I’m tired of the lies,” she said.
Lt. Col. Enrique Peña briefed Comandante Ramiro Valdés, who fought alongside Fidel Castro, on the search efforts at the site Saturday morning.
Peña said the presence of people had been detected on the first floor and in the basement and four teams of search dogs and handlers were working. He did not know if the victims were alive or dead.
“I don’t want to move from here,” Cristina Avellar told The Associated Press near the hotel.
Avellar was waiting for news of Odalys Barrera, a 57-year-old cashier who has worked at the hotel for five years. She is the godmother of Barrera’s daughters and considers her like a sister.
Neighbors were still in shock a day after the explosion.
“I thought it was a bomb,” said Guillermo Madan, a 73-year-old retiree, who lives just meters from the building, but was not injured. The three-decade resident of the neighborhood was cooking and watching television when he heard the blast. “My room moved from here to there. My neighbor’s window broke, the plates, everything.”
Katerine Marrero, 31, was shopping at the time. “I left the store, I felt the explosion,” she said. “Everyone started to run.”
Although no tourists were reported injured, the explosion is another blow to the country’s crucial tourism industry.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic kept tourists away from Cuba, the country was struggling with tightened sanctions imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump and kept in place the Biden administration. Those limited visits by U.S. tourists to the islands and restricted remittances from Cubans in the U.S. to their families in Cuba.
Tourism had started to revive somewhat early this year, but the war in Ukraine deflated a boom of Russian visitors, who accounted for almost a third of the tourists arriving in Cuba last year.
Dr. Julio Guerra Izquierdo, chief of hospital services at the Ministry of Health, said at least 74 people had been injured. Among them were 14 children, according to a tweet from the office of President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
A 300-student school next to the hotel was evacuated. Havana Gov. Reinaldo García Zapata said five of the students suffered minor injuries.
The emblematic hotel had a stunning view of Cuba’s center, including the domed Capitol building about 110 yards (100 meters) away. The Capitol suffered broken glass and damaged masonry from the explosion.
The hotel was renovated in 2005 as part of the Cuban government’s revival of Old Havana and is owned by the Cuban military’s tourism business arm, Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA. The company said it was investigating the cause of the blast and did not respond to an email from the AP seeking more details about the hotel and the renovation it was undergoing.
In the past, the Hotel Saratoga has been used by visiting VIPs and political figures, including high-ranking U.S. government delegations. Beyoncé and Jay-Z stayed there in 2013.
García Zapata said structures adjacent to the hotel were being evaluated, including two badly damaged apartment buildings. Díaz-Canel said families in affected buildings had been transferred to safer locations.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was scheduled to arrive in Havana for a visit late Saturday and Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the visit would still take place.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/rescuers-look-victims-cuba-hotel-after-blast-kills-22/ | 2022-05-07T16:47:33Z |
The severe threat is ending; flooding remains a concern for a bit longer
Rain will be on and off as we head into Saturday
As we head into the overnight hours, the severe threat will wrap up as cooler, more stable air moves in behind a departing front. We’ll still see lingering rain throughout the night and into Saturday though, which could further agitate any ongoing flooding issues, Temps tonight will fall into the upper 40s-mid 50s.
A FLOOD WATCH WILL CONTINUE FOR POCAHONTAS, FAYETTE, RALEIGH, WYOMING, MCDOWELL AND BUCHANAN counties until 8 AM Saturday.
Localized flooding issues will be possible overnight, especially in low-lying areas, especially in areas that received heavy downpours earlier.
Rain will lighten up as we head into Saturday, but will be on and off throughout the day. We’ll be cool as well as damp, with highs in the 50s, and a bit breezy at times.
We should dry out overnight Saturday night and into Sunday. Lingering clouds still look possible at times on Mother’s Day, and we will still be a bit cool for this time of year, with highs in the upper 50s-mid 60s for most.
Next week looks warmer and drier at a glance...stay tuned!
BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) -
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/severe-threat-is-ending-flooding-remains-concern-bit-longer/ | 2022-05-07T16:47:40Z |
South Korea: North Korea test-fired missile from submarine
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea flight-tested a ballistic missile that was likely fired from a submarine on Saturday, South Korea’s military said, continuing a provocative streak in weapons demonstrations that may culminate with a nuclear test in the coming weeks or months.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch occurred from waters near the eastern port city of Sinpo, where North Korea has a major shipyard building submarines. It said the short-range missile flew 600 kilometers (372 miles) at a maximum altitude of 60 kilometers (37 miles) but it didn’t immediately provide details about the submarine that would have been involved in the launch.
South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials were analyzing the launch, the military said, describing it as a clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and a “serious threatening act that harms international peace and stability.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in response to the missile firing ordered officials to prepare for all “unforeseeable situations” and secure the safety of aircraft and ships. There were no immediate reports of damage. South Korea’s national security director Suh Hoon and other senior officials during an emergency National Security Council meeting denounced the launch and urged North Korea to return to long-stalled talks aimed at defusing the nuclear standoff, Seoul’s presidential office said.
It was apparently North Korea’s first demonstration of a submarine-launched ballistic missile system since October last year, when it fired a new short-range missile from the 8.24 Yongung – its only known submarine capable of launching a missile. The October underwater launch was the North’s first in two years.
On Wednesday, the South Korean and Japanese militaries detected a suspected ballistic missile fired from near the capital, Pyongyang. Both exercises come ahead of the inauguration on Tuesday of South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol, who has vowed to take a tougher approach over the North’s nuclear ambitions.
Yoon’s office said in a statement that his government will pursue “actual deterrence ability” against the North’s nuclear and missile threat, but didn’t specify how. Yoon has vowed to strengthen South Korea’s defense in conjunction with its alliance with the United States, which he said would include enhancing missile striking capabilities.
So far this year, North Korea has fired missiles 15 times. They include the country’s first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017 in March that demonstrated a potential range to reach the entirety of the U.S. mainland.
North Korea has been clearly exploiting a favorable environment to push forward its weapons program with the U.N. Security Council divided and effectively paralyzed over Russia’s war on Ukraine. The unusually fast pace in testing activity underscores a brinkmanship aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and remove crippling sanctions, experts say.
There are also signs that North Korea is restoring tunnels at a nuclear testing ground, where it had conducted its sixth and last nuclear test in September 2017, in possible preparations for another explosive test. Analysts say the North could use another nuclear test to claim it can now build small nuclear warheads for its expanding range of shorter-range weapons threatening South Korea and Japan, or put a cluster of bombs on a multi-warhead ICBM.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has punctuated his recent missile tests with statements warning that the North could proactively use its nuclear weapons if threatened or provoked. Experts say such rhetoric possibly portends an escalatory nuclear doctrine that would create greater concerns for South Korea and Japan.
Kim made one of those statements during an April 25 parade in Pyongyang, where he showcased the most notable weapons in his military nuclear program, including ICBMs and what appeared to be a new type of missile designed to be fired from submarines that could be larger than previous models.
“(North Korea’s) submarine technology probably remains short of being able to stay at sea for extended periods while avoiding detection. But the ability to launch ballistic missiles from a submarine would further complicate missions to neutralize and defend against North Korea’s nuclear forces,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Seoul’s Ewha Womans University.
He said the Kim regime appears to be preparing to test a miniaturized nuclear device that it can use to arm its submarine-launched or tactical missiles, and multiple warheads on its ICBMs.
North Korea has been pushing hard to acquire an ability to fire nuclear-armed missiles from submarines, which in theory would bolster its deterrent by ensuring retaliation after absorbing a nuclear attack on land.
Ballistic missile submarines would also add a new maritime threat to the North’s growing collection of solid-fuel weapons fired from land vehicles, which are being developed with an apparent aim to overwhelm missile defense systems in South Korea and Japan.
The North in recent years has been developing and testing a family of missiles named Pukguksong, which are designed to be fired from submarines or land vehicles. Still experts say the heavily sanctioned nation would need considerably more time, resources and major technological improvements to build at least several submarines that could travel quietly in seas and reliably execute strikes.
The South Korean and Japanese militaries said the North Korean missile fired on Wednesday traveled about 500 kilometers (310 miles) at a maximum altitude of 800 kilometers (500 miles). North Korean state media have yet to comment on that test.
___ Associated Press writer Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo contributed to the report.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/07/south-koreas-military-says-north-korea-has-fired-projectile-toward-sea/ | 2022-05-07T16:47:46Z |
(WVVA) - It’s election night in the West Virginia, and WVVA News is covering dozens of races.
Polls are open from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm.
To find the locations where you can vote and what will be on your ballot, go to the Secretary of State’s website.
Here’s a look at current election results, updated as data is released throughout the night:
Copyright 2022 WVVA. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/page/decision-2022-primary-election-results/ | 2022-05-07T16:49:10Z |
Recreational bowling: Wakeham and Golubinski close season with first 300s
The Saturday Nite Bridge league at Port Huron Lanes produced two first-time 300 games in the final regular session of the season. Shaun Golubinski started the fun when he was perfect in the first game and Mike Wakeham closed it out with a perfecto in game three. Golubinski ended with a league-high 731 series while Wakeham was not far behind with a 715. Alex Thomes knocked down his second 300 game of the season and finished with a 734 series in Cowboys & Indians at Port Huron Lanes.
Heather Bombard rolled an outstanding 267 game in Cowboys & Indians. She added a 225 and finished with easily the week’s high series at 641. Amanda Long fired a 245 game and ended with a 590 in Saturday Nite Bridge. Two others with solid series were Shawna Lentner 589 and Tammy Forstner 575. Brenda Bruehan pitched a 234 game in Friday Wanna Bees at Port Huron Lanes.
Matt Langolf led all bowlers with a 776 series in Cowboys & Indians. Casey Donnenworth was second in that session with a 763, while Ken Tyson Jr was third at 754. Chuck Ouellette finished another strong season with series of 723 and 720. Mike Church also threw a 720 series.
After the 300 games, Jose Ganhs was tops with a 289 in Friday Wanna Bees. Other great games were Casey Donnenworth 279, Wesley Hawley 279, Tom Bruehan 278, Dan Hawley Jr 276 and Matt Langolf 275.
Re-capping the season and previewing the potential candidates for the All Association Teams:
Final averages will have a strong determination of who makes the three All Association Teams (Open, Women, and Senior). But some tournaments factor into the point system as well as award scores and top series/game scores for women.
Kristie Lashbrook owned the high series of the season with a 741. Shawna Lentner was second with a 734. Lillie Miller rounds out the top three with a 712. Sarah Teschler had series of 711, 706, and 701. Amanda Long and Heather Bombard were the other two to reach the 700s with 705 and 704, respectively.
Sam Creasor posted the high game of the year, a beautiful yet agonizing 299. Irene Simmons was second with a 289. Kristie Lashbrook had 280. Others in the 270s were Sarah Teschler 279, Nikki Hollis 279, Brenda Bruehan 278 and Krista Sharples 277.
Multiple award scores is a strong start to making the open All Association team, but not a guarantee if consistency throughout the season did not result in a top 10 final average or other complementing scratch tournament success.
Jose Ganhs led all bowlers with five award scores including an 815 series and four 300 games. Brian Krauss and Ed Crampton were the only bowlers with two 800 series, and both of them had two 300 games. Scott Badley and Chuck Ouellette also had four award scores as each had an 800 series and three 300 games. Badley’s 841 was top series of the season while Ouellette’s 820 was third. Two others, Don Purdy and Dave Klaas, had an 800 series and two 300 games. Klaas had second-highest series with an 824.
Final point calculations for the All-Association teams will be posted on the association’s Facebook page and website (phba.net) when all final averages are received. | https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/sports/2022/05/07/recreational-bowling-wakeham-and-golubinski-close-season-300-s/9679882002/ | 2022-05-07T16:58:56Z |
...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM HST SUNDAY...
* WHAT...East winds 20 to 30 kt. Seas 7 to 10 feet.
* WHERE...Kauai Northwest Waters, Kauai Windward Waters, Kauai
Leeward Waters, Kauai Channel, Oahu Windward Waters, Oahu
Leeward Waters, Kaiwi Channel, Maui County Windward Waters, Maui
County Leeward Waters, Big Island Windward Waters, Big Island
Leeward Waters-Big Island Southeast Waters.
* WHEN...Until 6 AM HST Sunday.
* IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller
vessels, should avoid navigating in these conditions.
&&
Saturday forecast: Wind advisory warns of gusts up to 50 mph today, cloudy skies expected
PUKALANI, Maui (KITV4) - A wind advisory is posted for parts of Maui County and the Big Island this morning. Models are indicating winds in the 20-30 mph range, gusting to 50 mph in some spots.
A Gale Warning is also posted for the Alenuihaha and Pailolo channels, along with Ma'alaea Bay. Small Craft Advisories are posted for all remaining coastal waters.
Cloudy skies are in store for us this weekend with a departing disturbance bringing us high clouds. Rainfall rates are expected to be in trace amounts statewide. Just filtered sunshine for us today with that blanket of clouds.
Temperatures are expected to climb into the mid 80's statewide.
Surfwise, our current south swell is on the way down. East shores will stay up and blustery as long as those winds are blowing. North and west shores are forecast to be pretty small.
N: 1-3'
W: 2-4'
S: 4-6'
E: 5-7'
Do you have a story idea? Email news tips to news@kitv.com
Weekend Meteorologist and Maui County correspondent
Malika has been at KITV since July 2020. She graduated from the University of Hawaii and attended Mississippi State University for her certification in Broadcast Meteorology. Malika started her career in the Hawaii news industry in 2007. | https://www.kitv.com/news/local/saturday-forecast-wind-advisory-warns-of-gusts-up-to-50-mph-today-cloudy-skies-expected/article_996f260e-ce1a-11ec-ae66-1f7363278779.html | 2022-05-07T17:58:32Z |
3 US tourists die at Bahamas hotel after falling ill
Published: May. 7, 2022 at 1:38 PM EDT|Updated: 42 minutes ago
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Officials in the Bahamas say three U.S. tourists have died at a resort there after falling ill.
And another has been airlifted to a hospital for treatment.
Acting Prime Minister Chester Cooper issued a statement Friday saying that police are investigating and the cause of death was unknown, though foul play “is not suspected.”
Their identities haven’t been made public.
Health Minister Michael Darville said Saturday that some hotel guests went to a clinic Thursday with nausea and vomiting, were treated and left. Three were later found dead. A fourth was flown to a hospital.
He said initial investigations indicate it was an isolated incident.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/05/07/3-us-tourists-die-bahamas-hotel-after-falling-ill/ | 2022-05-07T18:21:34Z |
‘I knew she would be OK’: Pet owner explains decision to leave dog tied to fire hydrant
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY/Gray News) - A pet owner in Wisconsin is explaining her decision to leave her dog left tied to a fire hydrant in Green Bay last weekend.
After a picture of her dog “Baby girl” went viral, she said she wanted to share her side of the story.
WBAY reported the owner wanted to remain anonymous because of the story’s nationwide attention, and she fears backlash from her decision.
The woman admitted that leaving her dog at the fire hydrant was the hardest thing she’s ever had to do, but at the time, it was her last resort and only option.
“It was the worst. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but I knew she would be OK. Somebody would pick her up and she’d be safe,” she said.
Currently, she said she’s living on the street and going through chemotherapy, making it impossible for her to care for her “Baby girl properly.”
“I was on the streets with her, and I said it needs to be done because she’s with me outside, under bushes. And I was told no one had any kennels,” she explained.
The dog owner said she then tried working with other humane societies and going door-to-door to find someone to take the dog and ended up taking advice to call the police for an emergency surrender.
“I called seven places. I called everybody to see if I could give her up,” she said.
The woman said she was just a block away, watching as her dog got picked up by police. She had left the dog with her favorite toys, food and a note explaining the situation.
“When I put her at the hydrant, I saw her face that she was like, ‘Mom, what’s going on here?’” she said.
Now, she’s hoping her “Baby girl” can find a good home and that people will understand she tried to do the right thing.
“I hope she finds a fantastic family. She deserves it. Just forgive me and bless her. Make sure she’s OK,” she said.
The Wisconsin Humane Society Green Bay said they had no record of a conversation with the dog owner.
“We have no record of such a conversation. Although we ask for a surrender appointment to best prepare for an animal’s arrival, we make exceptions for emergencies and definitely would if someone expressed that they were homeless. In fact, it happened with another client this week,” a spokesperson for the shelter said.
On Friday, the humane society reported that “Baby girl” was happy, healthy and quickly becoming a staff favorite.
Copyright 2022 WBAY via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/05/07/i-knew-she-would-be-ok-pet-owner-explains-decision-leave-dog-tied-fire-hydrant/ | 2022-05-07T18:21:41Z |
Record debt: Consumers are racking up credit card debt at record rates
Published: May. 7, 2022 at 1:56 PM EDT|Updated: 23 minutes ago
(CNN) - U.S. consumers are racking up credit card debt at record rates.
The Federal Reserve reports consumer debt levels for March 2022 climbed by more than $52 billion. Revolving credit, which includes credit cards, surged by more than 21%.
Officials said those credit card bills are likely going to be harder to pay off because interest rates are also expected to rise.
Americans are making more money, as average hourly earnings have gone up by more than 5% in the past year, but their paychecks aren’t going much further with the highest inflation in 40 years.
Analysts say it’s not clear yet if the increase in credit card debt is a sign of confidence in the economy or a sign of concern.
Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.whsv.com/2022/05/07/record-debt-consumers-are-racking-up-credit-card-debt-record-rates/ | 2022-05-07T18:21:47Z |
Biden administration to crack down on polluters in poor, minority areas
WASHINGTON (AP) — Following through on a campaign promise, the Biden administration on Thursday announced a wide-ranging enforcement strategy aimed at holding industrial polluters accountable for damage done to poor and minority communities.
The strategy includes the creation of an Office of Environmental Justice within the Justice Department to focus on “fenceline communities” that have been exposed to air and water pollution from chemical plants, refineries and other industrial sites.
The plan also reinstates a dormant program that allowed fines paid by industry as part of a settlement to go to river cleanup, health clinics or other programs that benefit the environment or public health. The program was used by presidents from both parties before being eliminated in the Trump administration.
“Although violations of our environmental laws can happen anywhere, communities of color, indigenous communities and low-income communities often bear the brunt of the harm caused by environmental crime, pollution and climate change,’’ Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference.
“And for far too long, these communities have faced barriers to accessing the justice they deserve,’’ he said.
“No American should have to live, work or send their kids to school in a neighborhood that carries an unfair share of environmental hazards,’’ added Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta.
President Joe Biden had promised during the 2020 campaign that he would establish an environmental justice division within the Justice Department and elevate environmental justice issues in an all-of-government approach.
In a related development, the White House announced Thursday that advocate Jalonne White-Newsome will lead environmental justice efforts at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. White-Newsome succeeds Cecilia Martinez, who stepped down in January.
White-Newsome, of Michigan, is founder and CEO of Empowering a Green Environment and Economy, a consulting firm focused on climate change, public health and environmental and racial equity.
CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory called White-Newsome “a strong and effective champion for communities that have been overburdened by pollution and subjected to decades of environmental injustice.’’
On enforcement, the strategy unveiled Thursday is intended to guide the work of employees throughout the Justice Department, including U.S. attorneys across the country who will begin a renewed focus on environmental justice issues, Garland and Gupta said.
The new office “will prioritize meaningful and constructive engagement with the communities most affected by environmental crime and injustice,’’ Garland said. “Whenever possible, these efforts will respond directly to community needs and concerns.’’
Environmental Protection Agency head Michael Regan said the “partnership” between his agency and the Justice Department “has never been stronger” and will ensure that the federal government does all it can “to protect overburdened and underserved communities across America.’’
The strategy follows a series of enforcement actions announced by Regan in January to address air pollution, unsafe drinking water and other problems afflicting minority communities in three Gulf Coast states that Regan toured in November.
The plan includes unannounced inspections of chemical plants, refineries and other industrial sites and installation of air monitoring equipment in Louisiana’s “chemical corridor” to enhance enforcement at a series of chemical and plastics plants between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The region contains several hotspots where cancer risks are far above national levels.
EPA also issued a notice to the city of Jackson, Mississippi, saying its aging and overwhelmed drinking water system violates the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The agency also said it was moving forward to clean up creosote contamination from a site in Houston now owned by Union Pacific Railroad. The site has been linked to high cancer rates in the historically Black neighborhood in the city’s Fifth Ward.
Regan has made environmental justice a priority since taking the helm at EPA in March 2021. The weeklong “Journey to Justice” tour in November was intended to highlight areas in the American South that have long been marginalized and overburdened by pollution.
Biden requested $1.4 million for the environmental justice office in his budget proposal. Cynthia Ferguson, an attorney in the department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, will serve as acting director. The office will support environmental justice investigations and litigation and work with communities across the country, the Justice Department said.
Granta Nakayama, a former assistant EPA administrator for enforcement, hailed the new office.
“This moves environmental justice from a slogan to a program, with metrics to measure progress,’’ said Nakayama, who led EPA’s enforcement office in the George W. Bush administration. “It brings the full legal stature and muscle of the Justice Department to focus on” environmental justice.
A rule being published in the Federal Register, meanwhile, will restore the department’s ability to use Supplemental Environmental Projects, or SEPs, as part of settlements with industrial polluters. The projects are intended to bring environmental and public health benefits to communities directly affected by the underlying violations.
A 2007 settlement with Texas-based energy company Valero included a $4.25 million penalty and $232 million in pollution controls at refineries in Tennessee, Ohio and Texas. The company was required to spend at least $1 million to enhance efforts by a health center in Port Arthur, Texas, to diagnose and treat asthma and other respiratory problems.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/05/biden-administration-crack-down-polluters-poor-minority-areas/ | 2022-05-07T18:33:27Z |
Bidens host Mexico first lady at Cinco de Mayo celebration
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden marked Cinco de Mayo on Thursday by honoring the impact that Mexican Americans and other immigrant communities have had in the United States as he hosted a White House party with Mexico’s first lady as the guest of honor.
Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, wife of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, joined Biden and first lady Jill Biden for the Rose Garden reception that featured tables draped in orange, blue, lime-green and other party colors.
“We are an immigrant nation. We say that, but people act like they don’t believe it,” said Biden who briefly left the podium to personally greet Gutiérrez Müller. “That is our strength.”
The president urged lawmakers to approve an immigration overhaul he sent to Congress his first week in office that remains stalled. He said that if that measure does not pass, action could still be taken on smaller initiatives that have bipartisan support, including protecting people brought to the United States illegally as children.
About 100 attendees ate steak tacos, pork tamales, empanadas, ceviche, jicama salad and watermelon, as well as chocolate-dipped churros. Margaritas on the rocks, beer and other drink options, were also served, as a chef mashed avocados for guacamole in a large molcajete.
The day marks Mexico’s triumph on May 5, 1862, over the French in the Battle of Puebla, where Mexican soldiers beat back Napoleon III’s forces despite being vastly outnumbered. Cinco de Mayo has become more popular in the United States than it is in much of Mexico. It gives Mexican Americans a chance to celebrate Mexican heritage, but the day also is heavily promoted for commercial purposes by beer and snack companies.
“Our relationship with Mexico is special,” Jill Biden said, adding, “Joe always says that politics is personal. And I’m grateful to continue building our friendship.”
U.S. presidents from both parties have tried to use Cinco de Mayo to celebrate the contributions of Mexican-Americans — a growing and powerful voting bloc.
The exception was President Donald Trump, whose centerpiece campaign promise before his 2016 election was vowing to wall off the entire U.S.-Mexico border. The 45th president didn’t attend Cinco de Mayo ceremonies, though he released statements, including one in 2018, that hailed “the significant contributions of Mexican Americans to the United States.”
Trump also tweeted about the holiday before being banned from the social media site. As a candidate in 2016, he wrote that “I love Hispanics” while lauding the taco bowls on the menu at the Trump Tower office building in Manhattan.
Last year, Biden commemorated the day by visiting a Washington taqueria that had benefited from Biden administration program to help eateries that lost business because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/05/bidens-host-mexico-first-lady-cinco-de-mayo-celebration/ | 2022-05-07T18:33:38Z |
No felony charge for man who tackled Dave Chappelle on stage
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The man who tackled comedian Dave Chappelle during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl will not be charged with any felonies, the district attorney’s office said Thursday.
Isaiah Lee, 23, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, police said, after rushing the stage toward the end of Chappelle’s set in the last of a four-night stint at the outdoor amphitheater as part of the “Netflix Is a Joke” festival.
He was carrying a replica handgun with a large blade that folded out of it similar to a pocket knife, according to a photo released by police.
“After reviewing the evidence, prosecutors determined that while criminal conduct occurred, the evidence as presented did not constitute felony conduct,” the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said in a statement.
The case has been referred to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, which prosecutes misdemeanors within the city. An email seeking comment from the office was not immediately returned.
Jail records showed Lee was still being held Thursday in lieu of $30,000 bail, Mendez said. It was not immediately known if he had retained a lawyer, and the motive for the attack was unclear.
People standing in the wings of the stage, including actor Jamie Foxx and rapper Busta Rhymes, rushed on to the stage to try to help Chappelle.
Security guards chased and overpowered Lee, who was taken away in an ambulance for treatment of an unspecified injury.
“The performances by Chappelle at the Hollywood Bowl were epic and record-breaking and he refuses to allow last night’s incident to overshadow the magic of this historic moment,” Chapelle’s publicist Carla Sims said in a statement.
Chappelle was attacked as he was wrapping up a routine in which he talked about how comedians have to worry more about their personal security in the wake of this year’s Academy Awards ceremony where the Oscar-winning actor slapped Chris Rock on live television in reaction to a joke about his wife.
Rock was also in the wings of Chappelle’s show, He grabbed the mic and jokingly asked, “Was that Will Smith?”
___
Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.wvva.com/2022/05/05/no-felony-charge-man-who-tackled-dave-chappelle-stage/ | 2022-05-07T18:33:44Z |
Cindy Clancy had successfully moved her Paint horse, Takoda, through several challenges at the Fly’n O Ranch. But the horse wasn’t keen on moving through a large, green tarp draped in the corner of the ranch’s indoor riding facility.
Every time she moved him in position, he refused to budge.
Clancy was patient, reassuring Takoda everything was safe. But the 10-year-old gelding was as stubborn as a toddler refusing to leave the candy aisle. She walked him from side to side, showing him there was nothing to fear.
Eventually, the two put their heads down and walked through the cut sections of the tarp challenge. It’s all about building trust, she said.
“This is a challenge that he won’t get exposed to (on a trail),” she said. “The challenge helps him trust me to take him through it.”
Several horse owners from across the region were at the Fly’n O Saturday to build better relationships with their horses.
The training at the ranch east of Powell was provided free by the Shoshone Back Country Horsemen — something they do every year with the help of noted horse trainer and saddle maker, Ron Ostrom. After the tragic loss of his brother, Daniel, during a horseback outing 26 years ago, Ostrom dedicated his life to helping others build trust between riders and horses.
“This builds a relationship between the horse and the rider so that when they encounter something on the trail, whether it’s a grizzly bear, or a flying feedsack,” Ostrom said, “the horse looks at the rider and says, ‘What do you want me to do,’” versus their natural instinct to run off.
Ostrom and his brother were riding in Crandall in the spring of 1996 looking for antlers “like we did when we were young,” he said.
The horse and rider went over a snowdrift, but the horse lost its footing. It fell and rolled over the top of Daniel. They finished the ride, but Daniel later complained about a headache.
“We didn’t know anything was wrong at the time,” Ostrom said. “By the time we got him life-flighted out of there and to Billings, it was just too late.”
The accident changed Ron’s life. He wanted to turn the life-altering event into something positive.
He spent the next few years of his life training with law enforcement mounted patrols from Los Angeles to New York and following experienced cowboys into the backcountry, hoping to combine his experiences to teach horsemanship to area riders.
His training eventually led to the business, as he found a serious need across the West.
Last year he helped train more than 1,300 riders both here in Powell and on the road.
“Last week I was in Utah (training) a mounted patrol police outfit,” he said.
But Saturday was a free community event “so we can keep people riding and going to the mountains where they all want to go right and have a safe trip.”
Riding organizations like the Shoshone Back Country Horsemen and the Boot & Bottle Riding Club in Cody assist by donating to help with expenses for the training opportunities for their members. Ostrom is also a member of the Back Country Horsemen.
Yet another positive coming from Daniel’s tragic accident is the Dano Youth Camp. The nonprofit organization provides eight-day backpacking wilderness adventures to teenagers in the Park County area.
“Our camps seek to promote and foster character qualities in campers such as responsibility, courage, compassion, loyalty, honesty, friendship, persistence, hard work, self-discipline, and faith,” according to the group’s mission statement.
To be eligible to apply, campers must be 13 years or older. Camps are filled on a first-come, first-serve basis, with a priority given to Park County residents.
“Our camps are unique in that we provide the equipment (tents, backpacks, camping gear, food, etc.) needed for the trip. The only requirement of the campers is to fill out the appropriate paperwork, make a commitment to the time frame, bring a few personal items, and be prepared for summer fun!” the group advertises.
There is no charge to participate.
To help keep the camp going strong, the Shoshone Back Country Horsemen sponsored a raffle for a retired saw decorated with a mountain scene painted by Powell Middle School art teacher Jane Woods. The group brought in $1,000 through the raffle, and all proceeds are being donated to the camp.
Woods dedicated the saw to two of her former students, Shelby and Danika Fagan, who are members of the organization that clears more than 100 miles of mountain trails per year. The idea was brought to the group by former president Dale Olson, who passed away last year before the project could be finished. James Seckman, of Powell’s Seckman and Thomas CPAs, won the saw and funds from the raffle will be presented to camp officials in a June ceremony. | https://www.wyomingnews.com/laramieboomerang/news/trust-is-key-in-horse-rider-relationship/article_82a4f5a0-d6f3-58d1-9081-f2c1f9868fa7.html | 2022-05-07T18:54:55Z |
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