Judge: Charlottesville Confederate statues are protected
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — A Virginia judge has ruled that Charlottesville’s Confederate statues are war monuments protected by state law.
Judge Richard Moore’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed against Charlottesville City Council members who voted in 2017 to remove a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Moore cited how statues of Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson depict the men in military uniforms and on horses associated with them during the Civil War. Virginia law makes it illegal for local municipalities to remove war monuments without permission from the state.
Moore acknowledged the controversy that has swirled around Confederate statues in recent years, and said his ruling is limited to the question of whether the Lee and Jackson statues in Charlottesville fall under the definition of war memorials in Virginia law.
“While some people obviously see Lee and Jackson as symbols of white supremacy, others see them as brilliant military tacticians or complex leaders in a difficult time … and do not think of white supremacy at all and certainly do not believe in, accept, or believe in such. In either event, the statues to them under the undisputed facts of this case still are monuments and memorials to them, as veterans of the Civil War,” Moore wrote.
Moore said his ruling doesn’t guarantee that the plaintiffs will win if the lawsuit goes to trial. He said he still needs to rule on several pending issues, including the city councilors’ motion that they have immunity from the lawsuit.
The Monument Fund filed the lawsuit in March 2017, alleging that the council violated state law when it voted to remove the Lee statue. The lawsuit was later amended to also include the Jackson statue.
Former City Councilor Bob Fenwick, a defendant in the lawsuit, told WCAV-TV he believes the council still has a good case to remove the statues.
“The important part is, does the council have legislative immunity, sort of like how a judge has judicial immunity so that the conclusions and the decisions that we make as councilors are final,” Fenwick said. “It was a lawful act that we did.”
Hundreds of white nationalists gathered in Charlottesville in August 2017 to protest the planned removal of the Lee statue. One woman was killed and dozens were injured with a self-avowed white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of people who showed up to demonstrate against the white nationalists.
James Alex Fields Jr., of Maumee, Ohio, was convicted of murder and other charges in state court. Fields pleaded guilty last month to federal hate crimes. He is awaiting sentencing.

Pennsylvania Senate debates move to replace voting machines
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Senate is debating legislation that seeks to delay the ability of the state government to decertify voting machines in expectation of replacing them all by 2020’s presidential elections.
Tuesday’s debate emerged a year after Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf pushed for new machines following warnings by federal authorities that Russian hackers targeted Pennsylvania and at least 20 other states during 2016’s presidential election.
However, Republican senators have complained that Pennsylvania is rushing to buy machines at considerable taxpayer expense when there’s no legitimate example of a voter irregularity in the state.
Pennsylvania is one of 13 states where some or all voters use machines that store votes electronically without printed ballots or another paper-based backup that allows a voter to double-check how their vote was recorded.

POWAY, Calif. (AP) — The man accused of opening fire inside a Southern California synagogue earned good grades in high school and swam on the varsity swim team. John T. Earnest also made the dean’s list both semesters last year as a nursing student at California State University, San Marcos. His embrace of white supremacy and anti-Semitism has dumbfounded people who thought they knew him. In high school, he basked in the applause of classmates for his piano solos at talent shows.

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says Tuesday’s infrastructure meeting between President Donald Trump and Democratic lawmakers was “excellent and productive.” Trump met with Democratic lawmakers at the White House, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying afterward Trump agreed to a $2 trillion price tag for infrastructure investments. The two sides haven’t decided on how to pay for it.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is getting an unexpected windfall, as internet sales tax revenues are coming in at a rate of nearly four times what had been projected for the current fiscal year. The state’s revenue department officials say Pennsylvania estimated to collect about $50 million this year from the tax on online transactions, but it’s now looking like about $200 million will be actually remitted. Pennsylvania imposed sales tax on people who use online marketplaces to sell their wares two years ago.

BREAKING NEWS OUT OF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE THIS NOON…A DRUG RAID IN AMBRIDGE. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO HAS DETAILS. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

TAXES MAY BE GOING UP IN THE HOPEWELL SCHOOL DISTRICT. BEAVER COUNTY RADIO NEWS CORRESPONDENT SANDY GIORDANO WAS AT LAST NIGHT’S HOPEWELL SCHOOL BOARD MEETING. Click on ‘play’ to hear Sandy’s report…

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams tells The Associated Press she won’t run for a U.S. Senate seat in 2020 despite being heavily recruited by national party leaders. Abrams left open the possibility of running for president, though she says she’s in no hurry to make that call as she continues her advocacy on voting rights and educating citizens ahead of the 2020 census. The decision is a blow to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as he tries to plot Democrats’ uphill path to a majority.

Slippery Rock University is getting an apology from Dr. Phil McGraw. The television talk show host wrote an apology to the school yesterday for referring to it in a recent interview as a non-trophy university. McGraw says he didn’t know Slippery Rock was a real school and now has respect for what the university stands for.

MCKEESPORT, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a western Pennsylvania man flushed his grandparents’ ashes down a toilet after his mother kicked him out of her home. Thomas Wells was arraigned Monday on two counts of abuse of a corpse and a criminal mischief charge. McKeesport police say the 33-year-old Pittsburgh man had been staying with his mother for a brief time before she asked him to leave last September. She says a relative later told her what happened with the ashes. Authorities say Wells denied flushing the ashes.