Friday, December 3, at 7:51 AM
By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Pittsburgh synagogue massacre defendant’s statements at the scene and at a hospital should be allowed at trial because concerns about public safety were a valid reason to question him even after he’d asked for an attorney. U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose is considering whether to grant Robert Bowers’ request to suppress statements made after he had been shot and was being treated. His lawyers say Bowers’ repeated assertion of his rights to remain silent and to confer with a lawyer should mean his statements can’t be used against him. Bowers is accused of killing 11 in October 2018 in what is the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history.

(File Photo)
Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano
(Aliquippa, Pa.) Aliquippa City Council met Wednesday night via ZOOM and unanimously approved the city’s Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance as recommended by the planning commission. The planning commission and city officials worked to  update the ordinances for 2 years

and  promoted Officer  Paul Woods to full time status based on the recommendation of Police Chief John Lane.

Omicron coronavirus variant found in multiple US states
By MICHELLE L. PRICE and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — The omicron variant of COVID-19 has been discovered in at least five states, showing yet again how mutations of the virus can circumnavigate the globe with speed and ease. Just a day after the first known U.S. case was found in California, tests showed Thursday the omicron variant had infected at least five people in the New York City metropolitan area, plus a man from Minnesota who had attended an anime convention in Manhattan in late November. Officials reported another case in a Colorado woman who had recently traveled to southern Africa. The variant was also confirmed in an unvaccinated Hawaii resident with no recent travel history.

Friday, December 3, 2021 at 6:43 AM
By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has passed a stopgap spending bill that avoids a short-term shutdown and funds the federal government through Feb. 18 after leaders defused a partisan standoff over federal vaccine mandates. The measure now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. Earlier in the day, congressional leaders announced they had finally reached an agreement to keep the government running for 11 more weeks, generally at current spending levels, while adding $7 billion to aid Afghanistan evacuees. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he is “glad that in the end, cooler heads prevailed.”

By MARC LEVY Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf has followed through on his veto threat and rejected Republican-penned legislation to allow people to carry a firearm openly or concealed, without a permit. The veto Thursday adds to his total for Pennsylvania’s chief executive with the most vetoes in more than four decades. Wolf, a Democrat, called the bill “dangerous.” According to online state records, Wolf has penned his 52nd veto with 13 months left in his second term. That’s more than any other governor since Milton Shapp, who left office in 1979. Wolf passed Democrat Robert P. Casey, who had 50 vetoes. The Legislature has never overridden a Wolf veto.

Pittsburgh, PA – PennDOT District 11 is announcing a lane closure on the Fort Pitt Bridge and Tunnel in the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, will occur tonight, Thursday night, December 2 weather permitting.

Keystone State News Connection

Emily Scott

MILL CREEK, Pa. — The trillion-dollar infrastructure bill passed by Congress last month includes $65 billion to provide better internet access to rural and low-income communities.

Pennsylvanians see the internet as a necessity to their economic future.

In Huntingdon County, issues with getting online led to the founding of the Rural Broadband Cooperative, a small nonprofit that built a radio tower on a nearby mountain to provide wireless internet service to the central Pennsylvania region.

Henry McCreary, general manager of the Rural Broadband Cooperative, said based on customer anecdotes, the infrastructure bill could help families with students who struggled to connect during COVID.

“Mom had to drive the kids 15 miles every day to grandmother’s house for the kids to be able to access to the internet to get their schoolwork done, which was really a burden for them for lots of reasons,” McCreary related.

The cooperative is now up to 250 customers and growing. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will provide Pennsylvania with an estimated $100 million over the next five years to increase broadband connectivity across the Commonwealth. An estimated 394,000 Pennsylvanians lack internet coverage.

In Juniata County, 26% of households don’t have broadband access, according to U.S. Census data.

Vince Giordano, director of the Juniata County Library, said many residents depend on them to get online. He said so far this year, the library’s mobile hotspots have been used about 250 times. Giordano argued making broadband widespread in Juniata County is vital to its future.

“Pennsylvania is a big state. And I think if rural areas are going to excel, they need internet,” Giordano contended. “And if they don’t excel, people are going to leave. Even just having good internet can allow people to work from home and do remote work. But if people don’t have the internet, they can’t really do that.”

Juniata County’s population fell by about eleven-hundred people between 2010 and 2020, according to U.S. census data. Through the infrastructure package, 23% of Pennsylvanians will be eligible for the Affordability Connectivity Program, which will help low-income families pay for internet access.