5 threats to heart health
Many people can recite the major risk factors for heart disease, the stuff of posters, public service ads and dire warnings: smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, lack of exercise. But what about air pollution, loneliness, lack of green space, lack of sleep and stress? They’re elements of...
Health Happenings – Aug. 6, 2019
Blood drives • American Red Cross will host these blood drives: — 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. today, Excela Square at Latrobe, 100 Excela Health Drive — 1-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Community United Methodist Church, Route 130, Irwin — Noon-4:30 p.m. Friday, Export Italian American Club, 5930 Kennedy Ave. — 1-5 p.m. Monday,...
Washington hits Venezuela with full economic embargo
President Trump late Monday signed an executive order imposing a harsh, Cuba-style economic embargo on Venezuela as part of Washington’s broad push to force leader Nicolas Maduro out of power. In a letter to Congress, Trump said the measure was necessary in light of Maduro’s “continued usurpation of power” and...
Online providers knock 8chan offline as a result of mass shooting
BOSTON — The online message board 8chan was effectively knocked offline Monday after two companies cut off vital technical services following the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, whose perpetrator was linked to the site. 8chan is known for trafficking in anonymous hate speech and incitement of hate crimes. A...
Nick Cumer, Dayton shooting victim from Western Pa., was ‘someone we all could look up to’
Nick Cumer spent many long days and nights at Washington High School polishing his craft on the trombone. But, when he enrolled as a freshman at Saint Francis University, Cumer was told that the Cambria County school’s newly forming band had enough trombone players. What they needed was someone who...
‘Gentle giant’ was workplace mentor, life of the party
At age 65, Bill Marszalek could still easily bench press more than 200 pounds. A weightlifter from his teens who stood 6 feet, 2 inches tall, he cut an imposing figure. But, for those who knew him, his jovial personality, winning smile and concern for others are what really made...
Mitch McConnell campaign blasted for photos of tombstones for political foesVideo
It is not a good look for Team Mitch. The Mitch McConnell campaign tweeted an image during the weekend of a mock graveyard with the names on tombstones of the Senate majority leader’s political opponents. And the timing could not be worse. Two mass shootings where more than 30 people...
Bloody weekend renews hope of passing new gun control measures in D.C., Pennsylvania
A weekend of bloodshed, bookended by mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, may have moved the needle on gun control measures. U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, says he is optimistic the bill he and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., first partnered on in 2013 to expand background...
‘MAGA bomber’ Cesar Sayoc gets 20 years for mailing explosives to Trump critics
NEW YORK — The President Donald Trump superfan who sparked a nationwide manhunt by mailing pipe bombs to prominent Democrats was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison. Cesar Sayoc sent 16 pipe bombs to former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Joe Biden,...
Democrats: Trump should demand Senate vote on gun bill
WASHINGTON — If President Donald Trump is serious about strengthening gun laws in the wake of two mass shootings, he should demand that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put a House-passed bill strengthening background checks up for a vote, congressional Democrats said Monday. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the...
Puerto Ricans await court decision on potential new governor
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court on Monday agreed to rule on a lawsuit that the island’s Senate filed in a bid to oust a veteran politician recently sworn in as the island’s governor. The court gave all parties until Tuesday at noon to file all necessary...
Pennsylvania school safety tip system fielded 23K reports this year
HARRISBURG — A state report released Monday said bullying, self-harm and suicide were the most common concerns fielded during the first half-year of operation for a new threat reporting system that covers Pennsylvania schools. The 21-page report by the state attorney general’s office said the Safe 2 Say Something program...
Afghan official: Policeman opens fire on colleagues, kills 7
KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan policeman in the southern province of Kandahar opened fire on his colleagues, killing seven other policemen before fleeing the scene, a provincial official said Monday. The Taliban claimed the attack, saying the policeman had joined their ranks. The deadly shooting is the latest case of...
2 El Paso shooting victims die at hospital, raising death toll to 22
EL PASO, Texas — A hospital official says another victim of the weekend mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, has died. Dr. Stephen Flaherty, of the Del Sol Medical Center, says the patient was one of two victims of Saturday’s attack to die at the hospital on Monday. Police earlier...
Mexico: Texas shooting ‘act of terrorism’ against Mexicans
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s government said it considers a shooting at a crowded department store in El Paso, Texas that left seven of its citizens dead an “act of terrorism” against Mexicans and hopes it will led to changes in U.S. gun laws. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Monday...
Putin urges arms talks with U.S. after nuclear pact demise
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia will only deploy new intermediate-range missiles if the United States does, following the demise of a key nuclear pact, and called for urgent arms control talks to prevent a chaotic arms race. Putin issued his statement after the 1987 Intermediate-Range...
Over 40 rescued from rip currents at 1 North Carolina beach
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, N.C. — A North Carolina ocean rescue official says more than 40 people had to be saved from dangerous rip currents at a single beach in one day. News outlets report Dave Baker, ocean rescue director for Wrightsville Beach, confirmed dozens of swimmers were rescued from rip currents...
3 charged in case of pregnant teen made to drink turpentine
BARTLEY, W.Va. — Three people have been charged in the case of a sexually abused teen forced to drink turpentine in an attempt to end her pregnancy. A state police criminal complaint says the pregnant 15-year-old was hospitalized and is now in the care of social workers. It says 24-year-old...
Trump says he wants stronger gun checks, gives few details
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday condemned weekend shootings in Texas and Ohio as barbaric crimes “against all humanity” and called for bipartisan cooperation to respond to an epidemic of gun violence. He blamed mental illness and video games but made no mention of more limits on sales of...
2 young girls killed in Austrian electric moped crash
BERLIN — Austrian police say two young girls have died after a driver slammed into the trailer they were being pulled in behind their mother’s electric moped. Police said a 1-year-old died at the scene of the Sunday evening crash on a rural highway near the town of Hausleiten and...
Hate ruled out, but motive still a mystery in Dayton attack
DAYTON, Ohio — As authorities in Ohio try to pin down a motive for the weekend’s second U.S. mass shooting and dig into the slain shooter’s life, what they find might also help answer another big question looming over the tragedy: What, if anything, could have stopped it? Police say...
Trump says he wants stronger gun checks, but reneged in past
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump claimed Monday he wants legislation providing “strong background checks” for gun users, but he provided no details and has reneged on previous promises to strengthen gun laws after mass shootings. Trump tweeted Monday about the weekend shootings in Texas and Ohio that left 29...
Cesar Sayoc, man who sent pipe bombs to Clinton, CNN faces sentencing
NEW YORK — The Florida man who created a two-week crisis by mailing 16 packages of inoperative pipe bombs packed with fireworks powder and shards of glass to 13 famous Democrats and CNN is scheduled to learn his punishment Monday. Defense lawyers urge leniency, saying Cesar Sayoc, burdened as a...
Recent mass shootings in the United States: A timeline
Aug. 4, 2019: Dayton, Ohio, 9 dead A gunman killed nine in the Oregon District of Dayton, Ohio, but officers nearby were able to “put an end to it quickly.” At least 16 were hospitalized with injuries. The identity of the shooter, who was killed by police, has not been...
Man accused of threats against Temple University, police
TULLYTOWN — A Pennsylvania man has been charged with making threats against Temple University and its police department as he was buying ammunition in a Walmart store, authorities say. The Bucks County district attorney’s office says 29-year-old Patrick Buhler, who has addresses in Morrisville and Mount Bethel, was arraigned Saturday...
