State Representative Ted Nesbit, who represents portions of Butler and Mercer Counties will be retiring from the legislature this January to become a judge in the Court of Common Pleas. Nesbit’s replacement will be picked through a special election which will be announced sometime next year.

BEIJING (AP) — Three researchers involved in the births of genetically edited babies have been convicted and sentenced by a Chinese court for practicing medicine illegally. Researcher He Jiankui’s announcement 13 months ago that he had helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies sparked a global debate over the ethics of gene editing. China’s state news agency says He received a three-year prison sentence and two other people received lesser sentences. The court that issued the verdicts said the researchers had not obtained qualification as doctors to practice medicine and violated regulations on scientific research.

MONSEY, N.Y. (AP) — The family of a man accused of stabbing five people at a Hanukkah celebration says he was raised to embrace tolerance but has a history of mental illness. An attorney issued a statement late Sunday on behalf of the family of Grafton Thomas. He pleaded not guilty on Sunday in connection with a Saturday night attack in Monsey, New York. His relatives said they are praying for those injured, and they thanked the medical workers who came to their aid. Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the savagery was the 13th anti-Semitic attack in New York since Dec. 8.

UNDATED (AP) — Authorities say a head-on crash in western Pennsylvania has left one driver dead and the other hospitalized. The crash in Luzerne occurred around 2:20 a.m. Monday. Authorities say 24-year-old Raekwon Stevenson, of Charleroi, was speeding on Thornton Road when he crossed over the center line and collided head-on with a vehicle driven by Valerie Brown. Stevenson was pronounced dead at the scene a short time later, while Brown, a 58-year-old McClellandtown resident, was being treated at a hospital for undisclosed injuries. Further details on her condition were not disclosed. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas (AP) — Texas officials are praising the armed churchgoers who fatally shot a gunman inside a Fort Worth area church. Officials say the gunman opened fire Sunday at the West Freeway Church and was shot within seconds by two congregants who were part of a volunteer security team. Witnesses say the gunman was unfamiliar and may have been wearing a fake beard. Among those killed was a deacon in the church, according to the man’s daughter. Tiffany Wallace tells Dallas TV station KXAS that her father, Tony Wallace, had just passed out communion when he was shot by the gunman.

Weather Report 12/30/19

Today- Cloudy. Periods of rain this morning. High 60.

Tomorrow- Cloudy skies. Low 34

Tomorrow- Variable clouds with snow showers. High 37.

‘Skywalker’ rises again; ‘Little Women’ go big at box office
By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer
“Star Wars” was still rising at the box office, while “Little Women” opened big. Studio estimates Sunday showed that “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” brought in $72 million over the weekend to remain the top-earning movie, well ahead of second-place “Jumanji: The Next Level.” Director Greta Gerwig’s re-imagining of the literary classic “Little Women” had a $16.5-million weekend and a five-day total of $29 million since its Christmas opening, a major performance for a smaller-audience film with a budget dwarfed by the top two. The drama is gaining momentum as an awards-season favorite.

Taliban council agrees to cease-fire in Afghanistan
By KATHY GANNON and RAHIM FAIEZ Associated Press
The Taliban say the ruling council has agreed to a temporary cease-fire nationwide, without saying when it would begin. It provides a window during which a peace agreement with the United States could be signed. A peace deal would allow Washington to bring home its troops from Afghanistan and end its 18-year military engagement there, America’s longest. The U.S. wants any deal to include a promise from the Taliban that Afghanistan would not be used as a base by terrorist groups. The U.S. currently has an estimated 12,000 troops in Afghanistan. The duration of the cease-fire announced Sunday was not specified but it is being suggested it would last for 10 days.

US strikes hit Iraq militia blamed in contractor’s death
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press
The U.S. says it has carried out military strikes in Iraq and Syria targeting a militia blamed for an attack that killed an American contractor. Defense spokesman Jonathan Hoffman says U.S. forces conducted “precision defensive strikes” against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Iraqi militia. The U.S. blames the militia for a rocket barrage Friday that killed a U.S. contractor in northern Iraq. Iraq’s Joint Operations Command says American airstrikes killed four militia fighters.

2 dead, 1 hurt in shooting at church near Fort Worth, Texas
First responders say two people were killed in a shooting at a church near Fort Worth, Texas, and a third person has been taken to a hospital. MedStar Mobile Healthcare spokeswoman Macara Trusty told the Associated Press on Sunday that one person died at the church in White Settlement, about 8 miles west of Fort Worth and another died en route to a hospital.