AP PA Headlines 10/16/19
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania will start collecting corporate income taxes from companies that don’t have offices, employees or property in the state, making it one of the last states to target such companies. Pennsylvania announced the change starting in the 2020 tax year through a tax bulletin published Sept. 30. It cites a ground-breaking U.S. Supreme Court decision last year as the legal basis to expand how it applies the tax.
The change will undoubtedly result in more cash for Pennsylvania, which is facing huge demographic challenges in the coming years. Until now, corporations without offices, employees or property in Pennsylvania didn’t have to file a Pennsylvania tax return. Starting next year, they’ll have to pay the state’s net corporate income tax if they record more than $500,000 in sales in Pennsylvania.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A former Pennsylvania state senator’s conviction for using government employees to work on political campaigns is being upheld by federal appeals judges. A 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Tuesday ruled against former Allegheny County Republican Sen. Jane Orie, saying her second trial in 2012 did not constitute double jeopardy and that the trial judge properly prevented testimony from a defense expert.
The appeals court says it was not a violation for the first trial to be halted during jury deliberations because a forgery had just come to light that could have tainted the verdict. Orie served most of a 2½-year minimum sentence for theft of services, conspiracy, evidence tampering and forgery.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s governor is telling President Donald Trump he won’t be using state authority granted last month to refuse to accept refugees. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday wrote Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to say his state will continue to welcome those facing persecution and danger, including people that other states won’t accept.
Wolf’s letter says refugees have long improved communities and that he’s dismayed that the United States is “sharply reducing” its commitment to vulnerable families around the world. Trump, a Republican, last month slashed the number of refugees allowed into the United States and for the first time gave state and local governments the authority to refuse to accept them. The president’s order requires state and local officials to provide public written consent to receive refugees.
BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) — Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky will learn next month what his new prison sentence will be for a 45-count child sexual abuse conviction. An order was filed Tuesday in Centre County that set Sandusky’s resentencing for Nov. 8 in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Judge Maureen Skerda, appointed last week to take over the case, also directed the sheriff to bring Sandusky to the courthouse from the State Correctional Institution at Laurel Highlands.
Sandusky was convicted and sentenced in 2012 to 30 to 60 years, but the state Superior Court ruled in February that mandatory minimums had been improperly applied. It’s not clear whether Sandusky’s sentence will change significantly. Skerda was appointed after the previous judge recused himself last month for reasons that were not fully disclosed in public documents.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Features
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Attorneys are considering offering diversion to a 13-year-old Kansas girl who was arrested last week for pointing a finger gun at classmates. The Kansas City Star reports diversion was discussed Tuesday during a juvenile court hearing for the Overland Park eighth-grader, who is charged with felony threatening. Another court hearing was scheduled for Dec. 17.
The girl’s mother told The Star last week that on Sept. 18, a boy asked her daughter who she would kill if she could kill five classmates. The girl reportedly made a gun with her fingers and pointed at four students, then herself. The Associated Press is not identifying the mother to protect the girl’s identity. Overland Park Police Chief Frank Donchez confirmed the mother’s story but said there are more facts that he could not disclose.
Under diversion, the charge would be dismissed if the girl successfully meets certain conditions set by authorities. The most serious sentence for felony threatening would be a year of probation, unless the girl violated the probation requirements, which could result in her being sent to juvenile detention.
NEW YORK (AP) — ABC News is apologizing for airing a video that it said depicted a Turkish attack on Kurds in Syria, but instead was taken at a military gun demonstration in Kentucky. The brief footage was aired on “World News Tonight” Sunday and “Good Morning America” on Monday. The network said it “appears to show the fury of the Turkish attack.”
ABC says it relied on an outside source that it would not identify for the material. It gave no immediate explanation Tuesday for how it got through. The mistake was first noticed by conservative media, which had suggested ABC was trying to make President Trump look bad. Trump has been criticized for withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria, enabling Turkey to attack. ABC had no comment on the accusations.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman — aka prisoner No. 77806-112 — reported Tuesday to a federal prison in California to serve a two-week sentence in a college admissions scandal that ensnared dozens of wealthy mothers and fathers trying to get their children into elite schools. Huffman’s husband, actor William H. Macy, dropped her off at the Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, a low-security prison for women in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to TASC Group, which represents Huffman.
The prison has been described by media as “Club Fed,” making its way onto a Forbes list in 2009 of America’s 10 Cushiest Prisons.
Like all inmates, Huffman would be issued a prison uniform and underwear and referred to by her number once inside the prison, where she will share a room and open toilet with three other inmates, according to a TASC Group publicist who declined to be named in accordance with company policy. Huffman, 56, “is prepared to serve the term of imprisonment Judge (Indira) Talwani ordered as one part of the punishment she imposed for Ms. Huffman’s actions,” the TASC Group said in a statement that provided no further details.
NEW YORK (AP) — Gina Rodriguez has apologized for singing along on her Instagram story to a Fugees verse that includes the N-word. The “Jane the Virgin” actress deleted the short video she posted Tuesday and replaced it with her apology, but not before memes and other backlash ensued. Rodriguez said in her apology she’s a longtime Fugees and Lauryn Hill fan and didn’t mean to offend anyone.
She sang along to “Ready or Not” and recited the racial slur as she sat in a makeup chair. Some of the outrage focused on remarks Rodriguez made last year during a panel discussion. She said black women in Hollywood are paid more than Latina women. Detractors at the time noted the highest paid TV actress in the world that year was Sofia Vergara, from Colombia.
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — The University of Wyoming could lose the papers of a longtime “Superman” comic book editor after his son took offense to comments by Congresswoman Liz Cheney. The Casper Star-Tribune reports Hank Weisinger contacted the university’s American Heritage Center Tuesday demanding the return of the collected papers of Mort Weisinger.
The elder Weisinger spent three decades as the story editor of the “Superman” series published by DC Comics Inc. Hank Weisinger says his action was prompted by comments the Wyoming Republican representative made Monday placing blame for Turkey’s Oct. 9 invasion of Syria on presidential impeachment proceedings by Democrats. Weisinger says he does not want his father’s papers at a university represented by a member of Congress he perceives as opposing Superman’s values of “truth, justice and the American way.”
DADE CITY, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Florida man repeatedly called 911 to report that his roommate had stolen his marijuana. A deputy for the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office posted a Twitter response to the man’s calls Saturday night: Stop calling. Deputy Neal Zalva says in the Twitter video that he called the man back to tell him to quit contacting the sheriff’s office about his stolen marijuana.
Zalva recorded the video as part of the agency’s #TweetAlong program, which allows viewers to get a behind-the-scenes look at the police work by the deputies. Recreational marijuana use remains illegal in Florida. A sheriff’s office spokesman says no charges were filed against the caller. Sheriff’s office communications director Kevin Doll said Tuesday they just wanted the man to stop calling about the stolen weed.
NEW YORK (AP) — A pack of handsome brothers is getting settled at New York’s Bronx Zoo. The foxlike wild dogs — called dholes (dohlz) — were born at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in 2016. The trio, named Roan, Apollo and Kito, have brownish-red coats dappled with white markings, and bushy tails. Dholes are native to parts of southern and central Asia.
The Wildlife Conservation Society says populations of the pups are endangered by development, hunting and diseases from domestic dogs. The society’s long-term plans include acquiring female dholes for a breeding program. An exhibit formerly occupied by polar bears has been repurposed for the dhole’s habitat. The Bronx Zoo’s last polar bear, Tundra, died in 2017 at age 26.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Grammy-winning singer Lauren Daigle reigned at the 50th annual Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards on Tuesday, winning artist of the year, song of the year and pop/contemporary album of the year. The 28-year-old Louisiana-born artist was the leading artist nominee coming into the awards show, held in Nashville, Tennessee, and marks her second artist of the year win in just three years. Her 2018 album “Look Up Child,” debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 all-genre chart and has broken chart records for weeks atop the Top Christian Albums chart.
She won song of the year for her multiplatinum and Grammy-winning crossover single “You Say,” which has introduced her to much wider audiences in the last year. Producer and songwriter Jason Ingram, who helped write and record Daigle’s record, also won four awards including songwriter of the year, non-artist, and song of the year, which he co-wrote. “Just to see the support of so many people, it’s really, really moving. It’s overwhelming,” Daigle said after winning song of the year.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford says getting their second nomination for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is “another thrill.” Halford tells Billboard magazine he sees it as a victory that the Rock Hall is recognizing heavy metal and especially British heavy metal. Wayne Kramer of the MC5, who have been nominated for the fifth time, says he’s out of insights into what the nomination means and adds, “I guess we wait and see. Again.”
The other nominees are Dave Matthews Band, Whitney Houston, Notorious B.I.G., Motorhead, Pat Benatar, Soundgarden, The Doobie Brothers, T. Rex, Thin Lizzy, Nine Inch Nails, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk and Todd Rundgren. The inductees will be announced in January, with the induction ceremony set for May 2 in Cleveland.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
PA Sports, Scores & Skeds.
CALGARY,Alberta (AP) — Michael Frolik scored in his 800th NHL game and the Calgary Flames beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1. Andrew Mangiapane also scored, and Elias Lindholm added an empty-net goal for Calgary, which snapped a two-game losing skid.
Here are the scores from yesterday’s sports events:
AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final Houston 4 N-Y Yankees 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Final Washington 7 St. Louis 4
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PRESEASON
Final Boston 118 Cleveland 95
Final Minnesota 119 Indiana 111
Final Philadelphia 106 Detroit 86
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Tampa Bay 3 Montreal 1
Final Toronto 4 Minnesota 2
Final Arizona 4 Winnipeg 2
Final Calgary 3 Philadelphia 1
Final Vancouver 5 Detroit 1
Final Nashville 5 Vegas 2
Final Carolina 2 Los Angeles 0
TODAY’S SPORTS SCHEDULE
AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Houston at N-Y Yankees 8:08 p.m.
NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
St. Louis 0 Washington 0 (in progress)
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PRESEASON
Detroit at Charlotte 7 p.m.
San Antonio at Houston 8 p.m.
Atlanta at New York 8 p.m.
Memphis at Oklahoma City 8 p.m.
Portland at Utah 9 p.m.
Melbourne United at Sacramento 10 p.m.
Golden State at L.A. Lakers 10:30 p.m.
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Dallas at Columbus 7 p.m.
Colorado at Pittsburgh 7 p.m.
Toronto at Washington 7 p.m.
Philadelphia at Edmonton 9:30 p.m.
Buffalo at Anaheim 10 p.m.
Carolina at San Jose 10:30 p.m.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
