(File Photo: Source for Photo: Suspect Luigi Mangione is taken into the Blair County Courthouse on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Hollidaysburg, Pa. (Benjamin B. Braun/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. (AP) — The suspect charged with shooting to death a health insurance company chief executive on a Manhattan street will be taken Thursday morning to hearings on related Pennsylvania criminal charges and efforts to extradite him to New York.

The preliminary hearing on forgery and firearms charges and consideration of a fugitive from justice complaint against Luigi Mangione may not take long.

He is expected to waive extradition, clearing the way for his return to New York, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.

Court officials said Mangione will attend the early morning proceedings at the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg. If a judge authorizes his extradition, Mangione would then be brought to New York, where he could appear in state court for arraignment Thursday afternoon or Friday.

The district attorney in Blair County, Pennsylvania, Pete Weeks, has said he was willing to put the Pennsylvania charges on hold while New York authorities prosecute Mangione for the Dec. 4 killing of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson. Mangione faces charges of murder as an act of terrorism in New York.

Weeks said he would not talk about what might happen at the Thursday hearings or if evidence will be presented. Mangione is accused of giving police a fake New Jersey identification and having a gun and silencer in his bag.

“Those are decisions that rest exclusively with Mr. Mangione and the rights afforded to him,” Weeks wrote in a news release sent out Tuesday.

In a court filing last week, Mangione defense attorney Tom Dickey argued prosecutors hadn’t shown there’s sufficient evidence to hold Mangione, that he was in New York when Thompson was killed or that he is a fugitive from justice.

Mangione, 26, of Towson, Maryland, was arrested on Dec. 9 when police were called to a McDonald’s restaurant on a commercial strip in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after he was reported to match the description of Thompson’s killer.

Thompson was gunned down on the street as he walked to the hotel where his Minnesota-based company was holding an investor conference. The shooting was captured on security video, but the suspect eluded police before Mangione was captured about 277 miles (446 kilometers) west of New York.

Authorities say Mangione was carrying the gun used to kill Thompson, a passport, a fake ID and about $10,000 in U.S. and foreign currency. His lawyer, Dickey, has questioned the evidence for the forgery charge and the legal basis for a gun charge. He had previously indicated Mangione would fight extradition to New York while being held in a Pennsylvania state prison.

Mangione, an Ivy League computer science graduate from a prominent family, was carrying a handwritten letter that called health insurance companies “parasitic” and complained about corporate greed, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press last week.

 

(File Photo of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania logo)

(Canonsburg, PA) According to Columbia Gas, safety hazards may arise from lower temperatures, which leads to using more energy and higher bills. Columbia Gas also suggests some tips to help lower costs, and to stay both warm and safe.

Here are the tips that Columbia Gas offers:

• Keep ice and snow away from intake and exhaust vents. 

• Place space heaters away from flammable items and put them on flat-level surfaces. 

• Check to see if all heating equipment and appliances work properly. 

• Stoves or ovens should never be a heat source in your home. 

• Do not run a generator or burn charcoal in an enclosed space or inside. 

• Before using a fireplace, clean the chimney. 

• Always keep your natural gas meter visible in an emergency. 

• Do not use a hammer or shovel to get rid of buildups of ice or snow on your natural gas meter. 

• Do not let snow completely cover your natural gas meter. 

• If you think there is a gas leak or smell a “rotten egg” smell, call 911 and the Columbia Gas emergency line at 1-888-460-4332.  

• Call 911 immediately if you are concerned with a buildup of carbon monoxide. 

• Run the furnace less often by setting it two to four degrees below the temperature that you use. 

• Wear heavier clothing to keep warm. 

• Let the sun in to reduce using heat in the home. 

• Use caulk to seal up leaks in windows or doors. 

• Do not block radiators or registers with furniture, curtains, or draperies. 

• Use a shower timer instead of a water heater. 

• Add a showerhead restrictor to not waste water. 

(File photo of PennDOT logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) PennDOT announced Wednesday that they will close all photo and driver’s license centers on Wednesday, December 25th. The PennDOT center that operates full-time in Harrisburg will also not be open on Christmas. You can still go online anytime to receive PennDOT services. These include renewals of vehicle registration and photo ID, scheduling driver exams, and much more. You can visit www.pa.gov/agencies/dmv.html for more information.

(File Photo of Small Business Directory Picture: Caption for Photo: “Small Business directory logo banner nov 2019”)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The administration of Governor Josh Shapiro addressed the process of the new Historically Disadvantaged Business Assistance Program in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Secretary Rick Siger talked about two sets of funds that will be achieved through the program and its process. The first set will make centers of service in Pennsylvania to apply for these funds until January 22nd, 2025. According to Siger, the second set will make micro grant programs that are local to help small businesses improve.

(File Photo)

(WASHINGTON DC) Jacob Blair, 26, of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty on Wednesday for his role in a drug conspiracy that sold a wide variety of counterfeit narcotics, including large amounts of fentanyl, on the online site Tor2Door, a Darknet marketplace.

According to the plea agreement, Blair was responsible for distributing more than 1.2 kilograms but less than 4 kilograms of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl, and at least 50 grams but less than 200 grams of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine. He also admitted to mass-marketing the narcotics by means of an interactive computer service.

The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves of the District of Columbia; U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan of the Western District of Pennsylvania; Acting Special Agent in Charge David Geist of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, Special Agent in Charge Kevin P. Rojek of the FBI Pittsburgh Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Washington Division; Inspector in Charge Damon E. Wood of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Washington Division; and Acting Special Agent in Charge KaiWah Chan of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C.

 

 

File Photo: Source for Photo: Suspect Luigi Mangione is taken into the Blair County Courthouse on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Hollidaysburg, Pa. (Benjamin B. Braun/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO has been charged with murder as an act of terrorism, prosecutors said Tuesday as they worked to bring him to a New York court from a Pennsylvania jail.

Luigi Mangione already was charged with murder in the Dec. 4 killing of Brian Thompson, but the terror allegation is new.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Thompson’s death on a midtown Manhattan street “was a killing that was intended to evoke terror. And we’ve seen that reaction.”

Mangione’s New York lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, declined to comment.

Thompson, 50, was shot while walking to a hotel where Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare — the United States’ biggest medical insurer — was holding an investor conference.

The killing kindled a fiery outpouring of resentment toward U.S. health insurance companies, as Americans swapped stories online and elsewhere of being denied coverage, left in limbo as doctors and insurers disagreed, and stuck with sizeable bills.

The shooting also rattled C-suites, as “wanted” posters with other health care executives’ names and faces appeared on New York streets and some social media users extolled Mangione’s deed as payback.

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Tuesday that “any attempt to rationalize this is vile, reckless and offensive to our deeply held principles of justice.”

A New York law passed after the Sept. 11 attacks allows prosecutors to charge crimes as acts of terrorism when they’re “intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion and affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping.”

Prosecutors have applied the statute to various contexts. Some related to international extremism, but the law was first used against a Bronx gang member after a hail of gunfire killed a 10-year-old girl and paralyzed a man outside a christening party in 2002. The state’s highest court later said the conduct didn’t amount to terrorism, and a retrial produced convictions on other charges.

Thompson’s killing, Bragg noted, happened early on a workday in an area frequented by commuters, businesspeople and tourists.

“This was a frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation,” the district attorney said.

After days of intense police searches and publicity, Mangione was spotted Dec. 9 at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and arrested. New York police officials have said Mangione was carrying the gun used to kill Thompson, a passport and various fake IDs, including one that the suspected shooter presented to check into a New York hostel.

The 26-year-old was charged with Pennsylvania gun and forgery offenses and locked up there without bail. His Pennsylvania lawyer has questioned the evidence for the forgery charge and the legal grounding for the gun charge. The attorney also has said Mangione would fight extradition to New York.

Mangione has two court hearings scheduled for Thursday in Pennsylvania, including an extradition hearing, Bragg noted.

Hours after his arrest, the Manhattan district attorney’s office filed paperwork charging him with murder and other offenses. The indictment builds on that paperwork.

Investigators’ working theory is that Mangione, an Ivy League computer science grad from a prominent Maryland family, was propelled by anger at the U.S. health care system. A law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press last week said that when arrested, he was carrying a handwritten letter that called health insurance companies “parasitic” and complained about corporate greed.

Mangione repeatedly posted on social media about how spinal surgery last year had eased his chronic back pain, encouraging people with similar conditions to speak up for themselves if told they just had to live with it.

In a Reddit post in late April, he advised someone with a back problem to seek additional opinions from surgeons and, if necessary, say the pain made it impossible to work.

“We live in a capitalist society,” Mangione wrote. “I’ve found that the medical industry responds to these key words far more urgently than you describing unbearable pain and how it’s impacting your quality of life.”

He was never a UnitedHealthcare client, according to the insurer.

Mangione apparently cut himself off from his family and close friends in recent months. His family reported him missing in San Francisco in November.

After San Francisco authorities got a tip to their New York counterparts, investigators spoke to Mangione’s mother in San Francisco late on Dec. 7. In that interview, “she said it might be something that she could see him doing,” New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Tuesday.

Before the case detectives could follow up on that lead, Mangione was arrested, Kenny said.

Mangione’s relatives have said in a statement that they were “shocked and devastated” by his arrest.

Thompson, who grew up on a farm in Iowa, was trained as an accountant. A married father of two high-schoolers, he had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm in 2021.

(File Photo of Center Township Police Car)

(Center Township, PA) According to a Facebook post from the Center Township Police Department on Monday, four of their police officers earned promotions. Three new sergeants were Nick Shawger, Jeffrey Householder, and Anthony Branchetti, while Kristen Brown is now a corporal. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano reported that the promotions occurred during Center Township’s supervisors meeting on Monday night.

(File Photo of Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According  to United States Attorney Eric Olshan, a Coraopolis man was sentenced to two years in Federal prison after filing a false tax return. Fifty-three-year-old Albert Boyd, Jr. did not report revenue for his business after selling scrap metal. The amount that Boyd must give back is $1,030,000 from his missed deposits starting in 2017 and ending in 2022.

(File Photo of AAA East Central logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) According to AAA East Central in Pittsburgh last week, more than 2.5 million people will be traveling on roads this holiday season. AAA East Central also suggests some tips for driving safely for the holiday season. They are:

• Follow the posted speed limits to get to your destination without getting there faster.  
• Get enough sleep before you drive. 
• Drive sober. 
• Do not drive overnight. 
• Do not overeat before you drive.  
• Do not take medications that make you sleepy before you drive. 
• Drive slower and change lanes when you spot work zones. 

(File Photo of Governor Josh Shapiro)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Beaver County, PA) The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency recently announced that some public and private schools in Beaver County will receive grants of more than a million dollars. These will help to give resources for mental health as well as to upgrade security. This comes from Governor Josh Shapiro’s budget totaling $120 million. According to news releases from state representatives, the following districts, prvate schools, and educational groups have received funding: 

Aliquippa School District – $122,772

Ambridge Area School District – $147,195

Baden Academy Charter School – $70,000

Beaver County Career and Technical Center – $70,000

Beaver County Christian School (Upper) – $33,000

Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit 27 – $70,000

Blackhawk School District – $144,294

Central Valley School District – $141,117

Ellwood City Area School District – $130,425

Freedom Area School District – $123,809

Hopewell Area School District – $139,024

McGuire Memorial – $70,000

New Sewickley Township Police Department – $75,000 (intended for security services for Freedom Area School District)

Provident Charter School West – $70,000

Rochester Area School District – $114,790

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School– $63,715