Former fire chief served Ligonier community
John Vucina of Ligonier Township was a man who served his country during a time of war and served his community for more than 60 years as a member of his local fire department. He left Ligonier High School in his junior year to enlist in the Army during World...
Officials: Don’t eat romaine lettuce grown in Salinas, California
U.S. health officials on Friday told people to avoid romaine lettuce grown in Salinas, California, because of another food poisoning outbreak. The warning comes almost exactly one year after a similar outbreak led to a blanket warning about tainted romaine. The officials urged people not to eat the leafy green...
Syracuse University, shaken by racism, welcomes the holiday break
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Benny Callahan didn’t leave her dorm for two straight days this week. The Syracuse University freshman didn’t feel safe, she said, away from home and under siege, it seemed, by day-after-day reports of racism in campus residence and academic halls. “My parents are freaking out,” Callahan, who...
Trump denigrates U.S. diplomats, pushes conspiracy theories
Offering his own take on five long days of public hearings, President Donald Trump brushed off the impeachment inquiry as “total nonsense” on Friday and bad-mouthed a number of the U.S. diplomats who testified to Congress about his Ukraine pressure campaign. In one breath, Trump said House Democrats looked like...
Thanksgiving Pennsylvania Turnpike travel to be busiest of the year
If you’re traveling by car during Thanksgiving week, expect to see the heaviest traffic of the year on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission estimates 3.6 million cars and trucks will be driven on the turnpike during the six-day period, beginning Tuesday and ending Dec. 1. The most heavily...
Spacewalking astronauts slice into cosmic ray detector
Spacewalking astronauts ventured out Friday for the second week in a row to repair a cosmic ray detector, this time actually cutting into the $2 billion instrument. The International Space Station’s Luca Parmitano sliced through eight stainless steel tubes, using hardware store-type bolt cutters. That set the stage to install...
Jerry Sandusky resentenced to 30 to 60 years, same as before
Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was resentenced Friday to 30 to 60 years in prison, the same penalty as before, for sexually abusing children. Sandusky, 75, was sentenced by Judge Maureen Skerda at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte. He wore a yellow jumpsuit and entered court...
Former Boston College student charged in boyfriend’s suicide pleads not guilty
BOSTON — A former Boston College student made her first court appearance Friday to face charges that she encouraged her boyfriend to take his own life in what prosecutors describe as a toxic and abusive relationship. Inyoung You, 21, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Suffolk County Superior Court...
Police: Pregnant woman forced to drink toilet water, bleach
ST. PETERS, Mo. — An eastern Missouri man is accused of holding his pregnant girlfriend captive, punching her and forcing her to drink toilet water and bleach. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 40-year-old Ronnie William Howard of St. Peters is charged with kidnapping, domestic assault and unlawful use of...
Supreme Court will hear case over no-fly list
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will take up the Trump administration’s bid to end a lawsuit filed by Muslim men who say they were placed on the government’s no-fly list because they refused to serve as FBI informants. The three foreign-born men claim in the lawsuit that their religious convictions...
FBI lawyer suspected of altering Russia probe document
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday touted news reports that a former FBI lawyer is suspected of altering a document related to surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser in 2016. The Associated Press has confirmed reports by CNN and The Washington Post that the finding is part of...
Dog befriends baby giraffe abandoned in South Africa
MOKOPANE, South Africa — A dog in South Africa has befriended a baby giraffe that was abandoned at birth, rescued and taken to a local orphanage. Jazz the giraffe arrived at The Rhino Orphanage just days after birth. A farmer found him in the wild, weak and dehydrated, and called...
Tesla edges into pickup truck market with electric modelVideo
Tesla is aiming for the heart of the auto industry’s profit machine with its own version of the heavy pickup truck. Rolling onstage before a wall of lasers and flame at the Los Angeles Auto Show, the introduction of Tesla’s sharp-angled, stainless-steel “cybertruck” was not a quiet one. Nor was...
UN: Spike in violence may jeopardize ending Ebola in Congo
GENEVA — The World Health Organization on Friday noted “a very dangerous and alarming development” in efforts to end the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, warning that the eruption of violence may re-ignite the epidemic. Dr. Mike Ryan, who directs the U.N. health agency’s Ebola response, said there were only...
Campus ministry ex-director sentenced in child porn case
PHILADELPHIA — A former campus minister at Villanova University who admitted possessing child pornography has been sentenced to nearly seven years in prison. Timothy O’Connell must also serve 10 years of supervised release once he’s freed from prison. The 52-year-old Drexel Hill resident had pleaded guilty in June to obtaining...
Jerry Sandusky expected in court for new sentencing in abuse case
BELLEFONTE — Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky is expected in a Pennsylvania courtroom to be resentenced after an appeals court said mandatory minimum sentences had been improperly applied against him. The 75-year-old Sandusky will be resentenced Friday by Judge Maureen Skerda at the county courthouse in Bellefonte....
Indiana University says it can’t fire professor for ‘bigoted’ remarks
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — An Indiana University professor who defended comments he posted on his social media accounts that denigrated women, people of color and gay men will keep his job because his views are protected under the Constitution, university officials announced after they were bombarded with demands to fire him....
Pennsylvania moves to raise cigarettes, e-cigs, other tobacco products to age to 21
The General Assembly Thursday put Pennsylvania on a track to become the 19th state in America to raise the minimum age for purchase of tobacco products to age 21, effective next July 1. The bill passed both the House, 135-49, and Senate, 44-5, and now heads to Gov. Tom Wolf’s...
Sheriff at troubled Ohio’s Gallia County jail responds to allegations
CLEVELAND — The sheriff who oversees a small Ohio county jail that has been plagued with deaths and injuries over the last year said Thursday he’ll share information about the facility once an internal investigation is complete. The Associated Press reported Wednesday that family members of those who have died...
Mike Pence emerges largely unscathed as Sondland, Democrats say he knew of quid pro quoVideo
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers and witnesses this week repeatedly brought up Vice President Mike Pence during public impeachment hearings, but President Donald Trump’s No. 2 has emerged mostly unscathed. Wednesday was a rough one for Trump, with testimony from a top U.S. diplomat implicating him in a quid pro quo. But...
Pennsylvanians to get more time on sex abuse charges, suits
HARRISBURG — The state where a grand jury’s groundbreaking report set off a new wave of reckoning over sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church passed legislation Thursday giving victims more time to sue and police more time to file charges. The Pennsylvania House sent the statute-of-limitations bill to Democratic...
Westmoreland ‘Science Scholars’ will compete for $12,000 in Pitt-Greensburg scholarships
Students from five Westmoreland County schools will compete Monday for $12,000 in scholarship money to attend the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg at the college’s Science Scholar Showdown. The four-member teams will put their scientific knowledge and teamwork to the test as they participate in three rounds of competition. Students...
Utah woman fights charges after stepkids see her topless at home
SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah woman charged with a crime after her stepchildren saw her topless in her own home is fighting the case that could force her to register as a sex offender, pointing to a court ruling that overturned a topless ban in Colorado and helped fuel...
Man shot by police in struggle on Las Vegas airport tarmac
LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas police shot a man who fought with officers, including one who was knocked unconscious, before dawn Thursday on the tarmac near a terminal at McCarran International Airport, authorities said. The wounded intruder and the injured officer were hospitalized after the incident about 4 a.m. in...
Glitch in Medicare drug plan finder could cost consumers
WASHINGTON — A glitch in Medicare’s revamped prescription plan finder can steer unwitting seniors to coverage that costs much more than they need to pay, according to people who help with sign-ups as well as program experts. Serving some 60 million Medicare recipients, the plan finder is the most commonly...
