HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The question of what Pennsylvania’s House Republican majority will do about a $2.2 billion hole in the state budget is sending ripples of worry through some quarters. Maureen Cronin, of the Arc of Pennsylvania, says staff from Arc chapters around the state call her and ask whether it’s turning into another nine-month stalemate that played out two years ago between lawmakers and the Democratic governor.
House GOP leaders have been quiet since July’s Senate passage of a bipartisan revenue plan that Gov. Tom Wolf supports. Many House members dislike the Senate plan. Republican Rep. John Taylor, of Philadelphia, says House GOP leaders are waiting to see if rank-and-file members produce a solution. Meanwhile, the government is operating normally. Come September, Wolf may need to start freezing program cash.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man accused of setting fire to a Pittsburgh home two years ago in an attempt to kill witnesses slated to testify at his cousin’s homicide trial has been sentenced to 66½ to 133 years in prison. Charles Nevels III apologized in Allegheny County Court Friday before he was sentenced in the June 2015 fire in Troy Hill. Jurors in May convicted Nevels of three counts of attempted homicide as well as arson and witness intimidation.
BEAVER, Pa. (AP) — Defense attorneys are to begin their case Monday in the trial of one of three defendants charged in what prosecutors say was a robbery during a drug deal that claimed two lives. The Beaver County Times reports that Beaver County prosecutors rested their case Friday in the trial of Ronald Foster, who is accused of helping to plan the September robbery in Aliquippa of 18-year-old Dane Mathesius and 16-year-old William Booher. Foster’s attorney says he had nothing to do with the shootings.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A man has been charged with terroristic threats and harassment during a protest near the statue of a former Philadelphia mayor and police commissioner earlier this month. Police said Saturday that the charges against 63-year-old John Sheerin stemmed from what a spokesman called “verbal threats of violence” Aug. 16 against an officer.
Court documents don’t list an attorney and a message left at a number listed for the defendant wasn’t immediately returned. Critics have called for removal of the statue of Frank Rizzo, who served as mayor from 1972 to 1980, saying he used his power to alienate minorities. Supporters call him a devoted public servant. A man was arrested earlier after “black power” was spray-painted on the statue. A south Philadelphia mural of Rizzo was also defaced with paint.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Allegheny County authorities say they’ve arrested a man who jumped from a window onto a rooftop below to escape sheriff’s deputies serving a warrant. Deputies arrested Dale Taylor Jr., and his girlfriend, Serena Alston, in Butler County on Saturday. Authorities say Taylor fled wearing only a bath towel Friday night when deputies arrived at a Pittsburgh house looking for him. It wasn’t known if Taylor and Alston are represented by lawyers.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Conversation starters and Features
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Active-duty transgender troops say a policy change that puts them at risk of being removed and indefinitely bars transgender people from enlisting in the military is a step backward for civil rights that will promote inequality in the armed forces. President Donald Trump on Friday directed the Pentagon to extend a ban on transgender individuals joining the military but gave Defense Secretary Jim Mattis authority to decide the future of openly transgender people already serving.
This comes only days after Trump praised the military for its tolerance. Trump says the military shouldn’t pay for medical care for transgender troops. He says the process means they cannot be deployed, harming military readiness. Transgender troops say many health reasons, including pregnancy and knee surgery, can also delay deployments.
BOSTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Edward Markey is calling for a ban on menthol cigarettes, arguing that tobacco companies disproportionately target African-Americans when they market and promote the cigarettes. The Massachusetts Democrat is leading a group of fellow senators in calling on the Food and Drug Administration to prohibit the cigarettes, noting that African-Americans suffer the greatest burden of tobacco-related mortality of any ethnic or racial group in the U.S.
The letter to the FDA sent earlier this week was also signed by fellow Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, of Rhode Island, and Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut.
The letter notes that in 2011, the FDA conducted a scientific review that concluded “menthol cigarettes pose a public health risk above that seen with non-menthol cigarettes.”
ATLANTA (AP) — More than three years after Georgia lawmakers endorsed the project, a statue paying tribute to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. will be installed on the state Capitol grounds.
Getting to this point was a three-year struggle over multiple hurdles. Officials had to negotiate with King’s family for the right to use his image.
Then an artist was selected for the project, only to be killed in a motorcycle accident. After a lengthy screening, sculptor Martin Dawe was chosen to replace him. Then came the artistic struggle. Dawe knew other tributes to King had been criticized and he set one goal: Make the 8-foot (2.44-meter) statue look like the man. At Monday’s unveiling, Dawe will find out if he’s succeeded.
LYON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The ashes of a cancer-stricken service dog who served three tours in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marines have reached their final resting place. The Detroit News and MLive.com report a couple hundred people gathered Saturday for the burial of Cena at the Michigan War Dog Memorial in Oakland County’s Lyon Township. The 10-year-old black lab was interred with other military service dogs.
State Sen. Mike Kowall says Cena “has done a fabulous job” and now “is welcomed home.” The dog was a bomb-sniffer for the Marines until retiring in 2014. Cena became a service dog for Lance Cpl. Jeff DeYoung, the dog’s first wartime partner. DeYoung organized a celebration last month in Muskegon that drew hundreds before Cena was euthanized at a museum ship and carried off in a flag-draped coffin.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Matt “Airistotle” Burns is the best when it comes to pretend playing guitar.
The American successfully defended his title at the 22nd Air Guitar World Championships in Oulu, Finland on Friday after competing in the finals against 15 contestants from South Korea, Pakistan, Sweden, Britain, Canada and other countries. Burns, of Staten Island, New York, finished ahead of runners-up Patrick “Ehrwolf” Culek of Germany and Alexander “The Jinja Assassin” of Australia, who tied for second place.
Japan’s 15-year-old Show-Show placed third. A heavy metal version of “I Will Survive” helped Burns romp away with a score of 35.4. Culek and Roberts each scored 34.6 points, Show-Show 34.5. The Air Guitar World Championships started off as a joke, but has grown into an annual celebration of guitar-miming chordeographers that draws people to Finland from around the world..
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Scores and Skeds
The Philadelphia Phillies play the Chicago Cubs on Newsradio 1070 WKOK today at 1:00pm. The Phillies are on 1070AM WKOK, while our normal programming (CBS Sportsradio, CBS News, and AccuWeather) continues at WKOK.com.
INTERLEAGUE
Final St. Louis 6 Tampa Bay 4
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AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final N-Y Yankees 6 Seattle 3
Final Toronto 10 Minnesota 9
Final Baltimore 7 Boston 0
Final Oakland 8 Texas 3
Final Detroit 6 Chi White Sox 3
Final Cleveland 4 Kansas City 0
Final L.A. Angels 7 Houston 6
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NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Washington 9 N-Y Mets 4
Final Pittsburgh 1 Cincinnati 0
Final Chi Cubs 17 Philadelphia 2
Final Colorado 7 Atlanta 6
Final Miami 2 San Diego 1, 11 Innings
Final Arizona 2 San Francisco 1
Final Milwaukee 3 L.A. Dodgers 0
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WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final OT Atlanta 79 Indiana 74
Final Dallas 83 Washington 78
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TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Final (14) Stanford 62 Rice 7
Final (19) South Florida 42 San Jose St. 22
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MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Final D.C. United 1 New England 0
TODAY’S SPORTS SCHEDULE
———
INTERLEAGUE
Tampa Bay at St. Louis 2:15 p.m.
———
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Seattle at N-Y Yankees 1:05 p.m.
Minnesota at Toronto 1:07 p.m.
Kansas City at Cleveland 1:10 p.m.
Baltimore at Boston 1:35 p.m.
Detroit at Chi White Sox 2:10 p.m.
Houston at L.A. Angels 3:37 p.m.
Texas at Oakland 4:05 p.m.
———
NATIONAL LEAGUE
San Diego at Miami 1:10 p.m.
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati 1:10 p.m.
Colorado at Atlanta 1:35 p.m.
Chi Cubs at Philadelphia 1:35 p.m.
N-Y Mets at Washington 1:35 p.m.
San Francisco at Arizona 4:10 p.m.
Milwaukee at L.A. Dodgers 4:10 p.m.
N-Y Mets at Washington 8:08 p.m.
———
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Chicago at N-Y Liberty 3:00 p.m.
Minnesota at L.A. Sparks 7:00 p.m.
Phoenix at Seattle 9:00 p.m.
———
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Toronto at Montreal 4:30 p.m.
