Pelosi: Trump Trying to ‘Make America White Again’

President Donald Trump wants to “make America white again” by including a U.S. citizenship question on the 2020 census, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. Pelosi made the remark while addressing the media Monday in her home city of San Francisco. Republicans, Pelosi said, are attempting voter suppression and gerrymandering so “just their people vote and not the general population”.

 

Veterans Job Fair Taking Place at Heinz Field on Thursday

The Disabled American Veterans organization is teaming up with Recruit Military to hire military veterans and military spouses at a job fair at Heinz Field tomorrow. Beaver County Radio News Intern Kristian Biega has more on the story. Click on ‘play’ to hear Kristian’s report…

Fire Department Pulls Plug on Drag Queen Bingo Due to Religious Opposition

The Calumet Volunteer Fire Department in Westmoreland County has decided to pull the plug on a big fundraising event it had scheduled later this month…due to religious opposition. The event was billed as a “Sparkling Queens of Drag Bingo” night set for July 20. A similar Calumet drag queen fundraiser earlier this year raised about $10,000. But, fire department officials say they had no choice but to cancel the event because they sold only about 60 tickets. They had hoped to sell 300 by now. A group of seven pastors from churches in the Mount Pleasant Township area sent out a letter in March saying in part: “This event encourages the touching, fondling, and groping of patrons dressed in drag.” But the drag queen bingo game organizers say the volunteer fire department is now the loser. Jeffrey Kaczynski, spokesman for the Sparkling Queens of Drag, says that all of their events are sellouts…raising over $180,000 for local fire departments, and local organizations in the span of just one year.

Mob of Teens Loot Philadelphia Walgreens Pharmacy

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia police are seeking a mob of people, mostly teens, who looted a pharmacy. Police on Tuesday released video that shows about 60 people flooding into a Walgreens on South Street around 10 p.m. on July Fourth. Some are shown knocking items off shelves while others are shown fleeing with merchandise. Police Capt. Sekou Kinebrew tells WPVI-TV a cashier who tried to intervene was hit on the head with a glass bottle.

Tuition Could be Going Up at 14 State-Owned Universities

A vote is expected this week that could raise the tuition for 14 universities that are part of the State System of Higher Education. The Board of Governors are working to set the basic tuition rate for the 2019-2020 school year during the meetings today and tomorrow at the Dixon University Center. Last year, the board raised tuition three percent, which was its second-lowest increase in more than a decade.

Pittsburgh Zoo mourns death of 10-year-old African lion

Pittsburgh Zoo mourns death of 10-year-old African lion
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium says its 10-year-old African lion has died.
Razi’s death was announced Wednesday.
Officials say the lion had suffered for years from seizures. He had a grand mal seizure on Sunday and fell in his exhibit, breaking his jaw.
Veterinary and zoo staff determined that it wasn’t in Razi’s best interest to attempt the difficult surgery he would need.
Razi was first diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy after experiencing a seizure in the spring of 2013, a year after he arrived at the zoo with his brother, Ajani, who is still at the facility.

On Caribbean island whispers, suspicion about Epstein and a victim said she saw seeing former President Bill Clinton visit the island

On Caribbean island whispers, suspicion about Epstein
By DÁNICA COTO Associated Press
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — Ask about Jeffrey Epstein on St. Thomas and rooms go quiet. Some people leave. Those who share stories speak in barely audible tones.
The 66-year-old billionaire bought Little St. James Island off this U.S. Caribbean territory more than two decades ago and began to transform it — clearing the native vegetation, ringing the property with towering palm trees and planting two massive U.S. flags on either end. When guides took scuba divers to spots near the island, security guards would walk to the water’s edge.
It was off-putting to residents of St. Thomas — a lush tropical island east of Puerto Rico with winding roads through mountains dotted with dainty Danish colonial-era homes. Then, when Epstein pleaded guilty in a 2008 to soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution, his need for privacy began to appear more sinister.
“Everybody called it ‘Pedophile Island,'” said Kevin Goodrich, who is from St. Thomas and operates boat charters. “It’s our dark corner.”
Many people who worked for Epstein told The Associated Press this week that they had signed long non-disclosure agreements, and refused to talk. One former employee who declined to be identified said Epstein once had five boats, including a large ferry in which he transported up to 200 workers from St. Thomas to his island every day for construction work.
The man said he saw a handful of young women when he was on Epstein’s property but he believed they were older than 18.
“When he was there, it was keep to yourself and do your thing,” the man recalled, adding that Epstein paid well and would give away older machinery and surplus including lumber to his employees.
Epstein built a stone mansion with cream-colored walls and a bright turquoise roof surrounded by several other structures including the maids’ quarters and a massive, square-shaped white building on one end of the island. Workers told each other it was a music room fitted with a grand piano and acoustic walls. Its gold dome flew off during the deadly 2017 hurricane season. Locals recalled seeing Epstein’s black helicopter flying back and forth from the tiny international airport in St. Thomas to his helipad on Little St. James Island, a roughly 75-acre retreat a little over a mile (about 2 kilometers) southeast of St. Thomas.
Epstein later bought neighboring Great St. James Island, which once was popular with locals and tourists for its main attraction, Christmas Cove, a place where you could hang out and order pizza and have it delivered via boat.
“He wasn’t well received,” recalled Spencer Consolvo, a St. Thomas native who runs a tourist shop near a large marina. “People think he’s too rich to be policed properly.”
Federal authorities consider the smaller of the two islands to be Epstein’s primary residence in the United States, a place where at least one alleged victim said in a court affidavit that she participated in an orgy, as well as had sex with Epstein and other people. She said she saw former U.S. President Bill Clinton on the island, but that she never saw him having sex with anyone. A Clinton spokesman issued a statement saying he never visited there.
A day after he pleaded not guilty in a New York courtroom to charges of sexually abusing dozens of underage girls, there was scant movement on the Caribbean island. Hurricane shutters covered the windows, locals hadn’t seen any lights at night and a lone worker drove a bright blue golf cart around the property.
At a nearby office that locals say Epstein owns in a seaside strip mall, a man in a T-shirt and sunglasses on his head opened the door a crack, shook his head vehemently when asked about Epstein and locked the door. The firm, Southern Trust Company Inc., hired Cecile de Jongh, wife of former Gov. John de Jongh, as its office manager, according to records with the U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority.
Meanwhile, Epstein’s arrest also prompted the U.S. Virgin Islands representative in Congress, Stacey Plaskett, to announce she would give the money Epstein had donated to her campaigns to charitable groups.
Now that Epstein has been arrested a second time, locals say tourists are increasingly asking about his islands when they visit St. Thomas. A woman who did not want to be identified for fear of losing her job running a charter company said she was elated when Epstein got arrested but is now vexed at tourists’ curiosity, saying she reluctantly shares whispered details of his case to prying adults if children are around.
Some of that fascination aggravates Vernon Morgan, a taxi driver and St. Thomas native.
“It brought some kind of notoriety to the Virgin Islands,” he said. “We would much rather that the Virgin Islands be seen in a different light.”

State Police Bust Hundreds of Drunk Drivers Across PA Over 4th of July Weekend

State police say they busted more than 600 drunk drivers across the Keystone State over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Troopers made 607 DUI arrests between July 3rd and 7th and issued well over 12-thousand speeding tickets during the same period. There were also 975 crashes through that time, including nine deaths. Troopers allege alcohol was a factor in one of those fatal accidents.

Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner Ordered to Stand Trial

The Allegheny County controller charged in a Detroit altercation is being ordered to stand trial. Chelsa Wagner was in court yesterday morning for another hearing on charges related to her arrest at a hotel while on a trip to Detroit earlier this year. She was arrested after she confronted officers who were trying to remove her husband from a hotel after he lost his key card. She’s ordered to appear in court in November.