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.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City police say they’ve located a 14-year-old boy suspected of fatally stabbing a Barnard College freshman in a park near the school’s Manhattan campus. Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison tweeted Thursday that the boy had been found, but gave no other details. He is one of three youths police believe were involved in the stabbing of 18-year-old Tessa Majors on Dec. 11 at Morningside Park. Police tracked him down after taking the unusual step last Friday of releasing photographs of him but not his name or any other identifying information. Of the two other suspects, only one has been charged.

BOSTON (AP) — A woman and two children have died after being found unconscious on a sidewalk near a Boston parking garage. The identities of the victims, as well as the relationship of the woman to the children, has not yet been determined. Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said the children appeared to be under age 5. News video showed police looking at an SUV, with several doors wide open, parked on the top level of the parking garage, which is adjacent to the Ruggles MBTA rail station. Gross said there were two child car seats in the vehicle.

A federal judge has denied defendants’ motions to dismiss a class-action lawsuit against a juvenile detention facility and allowed nearly all the plaintiff’s claims to move forward. Andrea Sears reports…

UNDATED (AP) — A rundown of the top Pennsylvania stories of 2019 begins with the clergy abuse scandal. State lawmakers revamped child sexual abuse laws to make it easier for some victims to sue and for police to file charges. Meanwhile, Catholic dioceses paid tens of millions to victims. Other top Pennsylvania stories of the year include the state’s role in the upcoming presidential election. Former Vice President and Scranton native Joe Biden launched his candidacy in Philadelphia. President Donald Trump, hoping for a repeat of his 2016 victory in battleground Pennsylvania, made four trips to the state in 2019.