HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) Pennsylvania’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is endorsing Joe Biden for president, just minutes after the former vice president entered the 2020 race. In a statement Thursday, Casey touted Biden as a fighter for the middle class who can beat President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania if Biden becomes the Democratic nominee. Casey himself spent two years in the Senate with Biden before the Delaware senator went on to become vice president under President Barack Obama.

WASHINGTON, D.C.  (AP) Former Vice President Joe Biden is running into immediate headwinds from some progressive Democrats from the party’s left wing as he launches his 2020 presidential bid. A group aligned with New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Justice Democrats says Biden is a centrist Democrat who could “divide the party” and could squelch progressive enthusiasm for policies like single-payer health care and a Green New Deal. Biden joined the crowded Democratic presidential contest this morning.

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un confirmed during their first summit he is willing to give up his nuclear weapons — but only if he gets an ironclad security guarantee first. Putin stressed that Moscow and Washington both want North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons. But he said the security guarantees should be underwritten by multiple countries, hinting at an arrangement like the six-nation talks that collapsed in 2009.

WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) — The mayor of a New Jersey shore town says they keep playing Kate Smith’s recording of “God Bless America” on its boardwalk despite allegations of racism against the singer.
Wildwood has traditionally started each day by playing the song.
“It’s an Irving Berlin patriotic song that has nothing to do with anything but America,” Mayor Ernie Troiano said. “We have no intention of removing it, and it’s not a statement that we don’t understand what’s going on or we’re ignorant to the history, we understand the history.”
Troiano said he plans to speak with his cabinet to make sure they all feel as passionate about the issue as he does.
The mayor’s comments come as some sports teams, including the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Flyers, have stopped playing Smith’s version of the song amid conflicting claims about several of her tunes, including her 1939 hit “That’s Why the Darkies Were Born.”
The tune originated in the 1931 Broadway revue “George White’s Scandals,” and was considered satire at the time. Smith’s likeness also appears in a 1939 ad that heavily uses the mammy caricature, one of the most well-known racist depictions of black women.
Besides taking out Smith’s “God Bless America” recording from their library, the Flyers have removed a bronze statue of her that had long stood outside their arena. The statue was removed Sunday, and its whereabouts have not been disclosed.
Smith’s connection with the Flyers started in 1969 when a team executive ordered her version of “God Bless America” to be played instead of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” That led to her performing the song several times before games in the 1970s. A year after her 1986 death, the team erected the statue.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — One of the hundreds of rare books stolen from a Pittsburgh library in a 20-year scheme has been recovered in the Netherlands. The FBI will return the 400-year-old Geneva Bible on Thursday. The Bible was among more than 300 rare books, maps, plate books, atlases and more that were discovered missing from the Carnegie Library last year. The FBI says the Bible published in 1615 was traced to the American Pilgrim Museum in Leiden. The Bible will be returned to the Carnegie Library.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge will consider former Penn State president Graham Spanier’s argument that his conviction should be thrown out, a week before he’s due to report to jail. The hearing Thursday concerns Spanier’s argument that he was wrongly convicted in Pennsylvania state court for mishandling a 2001 complaint about Jerry Sandusky under a version of the law that wasn’t in place at that time.

AN ALIQUIPPA SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER WILL RECEIVE THE DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD TONIGHT IN BEAVER. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS MORE. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

TWO BASKETBALL PLAYERS FOR CCBC WHO ARE FACING FELONY CHARGES AFTER AN ALLEGED BOMB THREAT ARE BACK ON CAMPUS COMPLETING THEIR SPRING SEMESTER STUDIES…AFTER WRITING A LETTER OF APOLOGY TO THE CCBC COMMUNITY. 21-YEAR-OLD NASIR CAMPBELL OF PHILADELPHIA AND 19-YEAR-OLD TYREE CORBETT OF CENTER TOWNSHIP ARE CHARGED WITH FELONY COUNTS OF RISKING CATASTROPHE AND MAKING TERRORISTC THREATS. BOTH MEN ARE SCHEDULED TO HAVE PRELIMINARY HEARINGS AT 10:30 TOMORROW MORNING BEFORE DISTRICT JUDGE JOHN ARMOUR.

WEATHER FORECAST FOR THURSDAY, APRIL 25TH, 2019

 

TODAY – CLOUDY WITH PERIODS OF RAIN. HIGH – 63.

TONIGHT – RAIN LIKELY. LOW – 58.

FRIDAY – PERIODS OF RAIN WITH HIGHER WIND GUSTS.
HIGH – 61.

SATURDAY – OVERCAST. HIGH – 58.

SUNDAY – SHOWERS IN THE MORNING…THEN PARTLY
CLOUDY IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH – 53.