U.S. unemployment claims fall to 211,000, the lowest level since March
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment checks dropped last week to the lowest level since March, suggesting that suggest most workers enjoy unusual job security. Jobless claims dropped by 9,000 to 211,000 last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The four-week average of claims, which strips out...
Impeached South Korean president issues defiant message as he faces possible detention
SEOUL, South Korea — Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in a message to conservative supporters rallying outside his Seoul residence, vowed to “fight to the end” against “anti-state forces,” while his legal team warned Thursday that police officers attempting to detain him could face arrest by his presidential...
Biden giving 2nd highest civilian award to leaders of Jan. 6 congressional panel
President Joe Biden is bestowing the second highest civilian medal on Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson — the lawmakers who led the congressional investigation into the violent Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot by Donald Trump’s supporters, and who Trump has said should be jailed. Biden will award the Presidential...
What is the Islamic State group, and what attacks has it inspired by offshoots and lone wolves?
WASHINGTON — The FBI says it recovered the stark black banner of the Islamic State extremist group from the truck that an American man from Texas smashed into New Year’s partygoers in New Orleans’ French Quarter Wednesday, killing 15 people. The investigation is expected to look in part at any...
FBI says driver in New Orleans rampage acted alone, was ‘100%’ inspired by Islamic State groupVideo
NEW ORLEANS — The Army veteran who drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers in New Orleans acted alone, the FBI said Thursday, reversing its position from a day earlier that he likely worked with others in the deadly attack that officials said was inspired by...
10 people are wounded in a shooting outside a New York City nightclub
NEW YORK — Ten people were wounded in a shooting outside a New York City nightclub while they were waiting to get into a private event, police said. About 15 people were standing outside Amazura Concert Hall at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday in Jamaica, Queens, when four men on foot approached...
Firework mortars, gas cannisters stuffed inside Tesla that exploded outside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel
LAS VEGAS — Firework mortars and camp fuel canisters were found stuffed into the back of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel early Wednesday, killing a suspect inside the vehicle and sparking an intense investigation into possible terrorism. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and Clark...
Fireworks explosion in Honolulu area killed 3 people, injured at least 20
HONOLULU — A New Year’s Eve fireworks explosion in a Honolulu-area neighborhood killed at least three people and critically injured 20 others, authorities said. The accident occurred just before midnight outside a home, the Honolulu Fire Department said in a statement. The neighborhood is near Honolulu’s international airport and a...
Plastic surgery queen Jocelyne ‘Catwoman’ Wildenstein dies at 84
Jocelyne Wildenstein, the New York socialite most commonly known by the moniker “Catwoman” for her appearance due to numerous plastic surgeries, has died at 84. The Swiss-born ex-wife of billionaire Alec Wildenstein died Tuesday in Paris from a pulmonary embolism according a statement from her companion, Lloyd Klein, to Agence...
Jimmy the Baptist: Carter redefined ‘evangelical,’ from campaigns to race and women’s rights
PLAINS, Ga. — Before reaching the 1978 peace deal between Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin, Jimmy Carter managed months of intense preparation, high-stakes negotiations at Camp David and a field trip to the Gettysburg battlefield to demonstrate the consequences of war. But looking back on his most celebrated...
New Orleans New Year’s Day ramming is latest attack to use vehicle as deadly weapon
NEW ORLEANS — Police say a person who drove a pickup truck at high speed into a crowd of people celebrating the new year in New Orleans early Wednesday was hell-bent on creating carnage. While a motive for the attack that killed at least 10 people has yet to be...
South Korea air crash investigators extract black box data as grieving families mourn victims
SEOUL, South Korea — Grieving relatives of the victims of the South Korea plane crash gathered at the site to pay respects to their loved ones on New Year’s Day, as officials said they’ve extracted data from one of the retrieved black boxes to find the exact cause of the...
Israeli strikes kill 12 in Gaza including children as war grinds into the new year
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, mostly women and children, officials said Wednesday, as the nearly 15-month war ground on into the new year. One strike hit a home in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, the most isolated and...
Greensburg’s Abie & Bimbo’s Pizza closes after 57 years
New Year’s came with a wave of sadness for Doug Mirolli, as he announced the closure of the pizza restaurant he has owned for nearly two decades. Mirolli, 47, of Greensburg has owned Abie & Bimbo’s Pizza along Greensburg’s Highland Avenue since 2007. Known for its Pizzaroni subs and giant...
‘This is evil’: Driver rams New Year’s revelers in New Orleans, killing 15
NEW ORLEANS — An Army veteran driving a pickup truck that bore the flag of the Islamic State group wrought carnage on New Orleans’ raucous New Year’s celebration, killing 15 people as he steered around a police blockade and slammed into revelers before being shot dead by police. The FBI...
U.S. imposes sanctions on Russian and Iranian groups over disinformation targeting American voters
WASHINGTON — The United States has imposed sanctions on two groups linked to Iranian and Russian efforts to target American voters with disinformation ahead of this year’s election. Treasury officials announced the sanctions Tuesday, alleging that the two organizations sought to stoke divisions among Americans before November’s vote. U.S. intelligence...
New York prison where man died after being beaten by guards will get new leaderVideo
MARCY, N.Y. — A New York prison where an man was beaten by correctional officers and then died will get a new superintendent, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced after visiting the facility. Body camera video had been released days earlier showing officers punching Robert Brooks while he was handcuffed on a...
Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown, who helped viewers through the Sept. 11 attacks, dies at 76
Aaron Brown, a veteran television news anchor whose steady hand helped guide CNN viewers through the unfolding tragedy of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, has died. Brown died Sunday of pneumonia in Washington, D.C., where he lived, family spokesperson Molly Levinson said. He was 76. Brown began his career in...
New York Police identify woman burned to death inside subway train
NEW YORK — The woman who died after being set on fire in a New York subway train this month was a 57-year-old from New Jersey, police announced Tuesday. The woman, Debrina Kawam, had worked at the pharmaceutical giant Merck in from 2000 until 2002, but her life at some...
Greensburg, Hempfield areas see changes in fast food, retail business scene
As fast food chains and other popular retail locations close in the Greensburg-Hempfield area, the region’s business scene will see some changes in the new year. Dick’s Sporting Goods While Westmoreland Mall prepares to welcome a Dick’s Sporting Goods House of Sport, one of the chain’s stores along Route 30...
The world begins welcoming 2025 with light shows, embraces and ice plunges
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — From Sydney to Vladivostok, communities around the world have begun welcoming 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges. Auckland became the first major city to celebrate, as thousands thronged downtown or climbed the city’s ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point. A...
Pennsylvania’s political pendulum swung to Republicans this year. Will it stay there?
PHILADELPHIA — Republicans had a major political comeback in Pennsylvania in 2024 after a series of disappointments in recent elections. President-elect Donald Trump won the state by a margin of 1.7 percentage points. Republicans swept the row offices, and ousted two incumbent Democrats in the U.S. House along with longtime...
Trump calls it the ‘center of the universe.’ Mar-a-Lago is a magnet for those seeking influence
PALM BEACH, Fla. — The cars begin lining up early in the morning to be screened by Secret Service agents under white tents near the fence that surrounds President-elect Donald Trump’s vast south Florida estate. Famous figures such as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Tesla...
Pentagon chief loses bid to reject 9/11 plea deals
WASHINGTON — A military appeals court has ruled against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s effort to throw out the plea deals reached for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants in the 9/11 attacks, a U.S. official said. The decision puts back on track the agreements that would have the three...
Nearly all of Puerto Rico is without power on New Year’s Eve
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A blackout hit nearly all of Puerto Rico early Tuesday as the U.S. territory prepared to celebrate New Year’s, leaving more than 1.3 million clients in the dark. Officials said it could take up to two days to restore power. The outage hit at dawn,...
