A 70-year-old man was arrested in connection with a double shooting overnight Wednesday in Big Beaver. State police were called to a home on Fairlane Boulevard where two people were shot. State police said 70-year-old Rickey Neal of Koppel was arrested. He has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault, six counts of recklessly endangering another person and one count of possessing a firearm when he is not permitted to do so. He is being held in the Beaver County Jail on $200,000 bail. The conditions of the shooting victims are unknown at this time.

UNDATED (AP) — A fire at a North Versailles apartment complex has left two people injured and displaced more than a dozen residents. The blaze broke out early Friday at the Versailles Castle Apartments in North Versailles, causing thick smoke to pour out of windows and doorways. It caused heavy damage to one building, and at least two people were briefly trapped on a back porch there before emergency responders were able to rescue them. Both are expected to survive. The fire displaced about 15 people overall, and many of them were receiving help from the American Red Cross. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

WEATHER FORECAST FOR FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27TH, 2019

 

 

TODAY – A FEW SHOWERS THIS MORNING WITH OVERCAST
SKIES DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. HIGH – 56.

TONIGHT – A FEW CLOUDS. LOW – 31.

SATURDAY – MOSTLY CLOUDY. HIGH – 47.

SUNDAY – RAIN LIKELY. HIGH – 55.

Bloomberg axes company using prisoners for campaign calls
By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press
Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg has cut ties with a contractor that used prisoners to make calls for his presidential campaign. The online news site The Intercept reported Tuesday that Bloomberg’s campaign contracted a New Jersey-based call center company that, in at least one instance, used Oklahoma inmates to make calls on behalf of the billionaire’s campaign. The former New York mayor says he was unaware of the arrangement until it a reporter raised it. Bloomberg says in a statement that the campaign is making sure its vendors more properly vet subcontractors in the future.

NEW YORK (AP) — More people did their shopping online this year in one of the shortest holiday shopping seasons in years and that pushed overall sales higher. Early data from Mastercard SpendingPulse shows that retail sales in the US rose 3.4% between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24 compared with last year. However, that’s slower growth than in the previous year, when sales grew 5.1%. Online sales rose at a faster pace, up 18.8% from last year.

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — Police in New Mexico are investigating the shooting of four people who were found dead on Christmas Day in a home in an Albuquerque suburb. Police in Rio Rancho have not identified the dead. They didn’t say whether they have a suspect or suspects, but issued a statement that they did not believe there was an ongoing threat to the public. A woman told KRQE-TV she’s related to the people who lived in the home, and her mother and brother found the bodies. They went to the home because they were concerned that they had not heard from the family.