Latest News - WFMZ-TV 69News (2024)

President Joe Biden says he will accept the outcome of his son's criminal case and “will continue to respect the judicial process.” The president made the statement after jurors convicted Hunter Biden on all three felony charges in his federal gun case in Delaware. In a written statement following the verdict, Hunter Biden said he was disappointed by the outcome but grateful for the support of family and friends. His attorney said they will continue to pursue "all the legal challenges available.” First lady Jill Biden, who sat through most of the trial, arrived at the courthouse minutes after the jury delivered its verdict and was not in the courtroom when it was read. Read morePresident Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, is convicted of all 3 felonies in federal gun trial

SCRANTON— A homeless man who refused to give back his girlfriend's belongings resisted police officers when they tried to intervene and tripped an officer causing him to fall, according to a criminal complaint. Read moreMan allegedly resists arrest, injures police officer

SB 721, which creates a permanent advisory board for WIC, received unanimous support in the state Senate and passed the PA House of Representatives by a vote of 119-83. Read moreWIC advisory board bill signed into law

Thousands of Amazon delivery drivers have filed legal claims against the company. Two law firms spearheading the action said about 15,860 Amazon Flex drivers submitted arbitration claims on Tuesday with the American Arbitration Association. They allege the company’s classification of them as independent contractors instead of employees has led to unpaid wages and other financial losses. Amazon’s Flex program signs up drivers to deliver packages with their own cars and a special app.Amazon’s Flex program, which was founded in 2015, signs up drivers to deliver packages with their own cars and a special app. The company pitches the work as a flexible, part-time opportunity that allows people to earn extra income during the hours they choose. Read moreThousands of drivers file arbitration claims against Amazon for unpaid wages and other losses

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers and edge rusher Haason Reddick are not participating in the team’s mandatory minicamp. Both players are subject to roughly $50,000 in fines for the unexcused absences. Coach Robert Saleh says Rodgers’ absence is related to an event “that is very important to him.” Meanwhile, Reddick appears to be sitting out because of a contract issue. Saleh said Rodgers was at the facility Monday for a physical and team photo shoots, but then left to attend the undisclosed event, which the quarterback told the coach about well in advance. Reddick didn’t attend any of the team’s voluntary workouts after being acquired from Philadelphia in March. Read moreAaron Rodgers and Haason Reddick are not attending Jets' mandatory minicamp

Atlanta’s mayor says four people have been shot at a food court in downtown Atlanta, including the suspect. Mayor Andre Dickens said the shooting happened Tuesday afternoon at the Peachtree Center food court. Atlanta police said in a post that all four who were shot were alert and conscious. Authorities say one of the four is believed to be the suspect. Officials did not immediately say who wounded the initial shooter or what prompted the shooting. Peachtree Center is a complex of office towers and an underground mall just blocks from several hotels that are popular venues for Atlanta’s busy convention business. Read moreFour people shot at downtown Atlanta food court, mayor says

Stocks drifted to a mixed close overall on Wall Street, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite still managed to notch more record highs. A big gain in Apple helped push both indexes higher Tuesday. The S&P 500 added 0.3%, driven largely by gains in tech stocks, even though more stocks fell than rose within the index. The Nasdaq climbed 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3%. The Federal Reserve announces its latest decision on interest rates on Wednesday and is widely expected to leave rates where they are. Apple jumped 7.3% after highlighting its push into artificial intelligence. Read moreStock market today: Wall Street drifts to a mixed close but still notches some records

U.S. officials are working to bring home four injured instructors from Iowa’s Cornell College who were stabbed in the northeast Chinese city of Jilin where they were teaching. Jilin city police said Tuesday a 55-year-old man surnamed Cui was walking in a public park when he bumped into a foreigner. They say he then stabbed the foreigner and three other foreigners who were with him, and also a Chinese person who approached in an attempt to intervene. The instructors from Cornell College were teaching at Beihua University, officials at the U.S. school said. China's Foreign Ministry says the injured were rushed to a hospital for treatment and none was in critical condition. Read moreOfficials work to bring home US instructors recovering after stabbing attack at Chinese park

Mohammed Rashid once worked as a forklift driver in a Chicago warehouse. Fast forward to these grim times and Rashid and his Palestinian soccer teammates carry a heavier weight. They know success on the field offers a little respite from the war raging in Gaza. Amid the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, the Palestinian team has produced a stirring run to reach the third round in Asia of World Cup qualifying for the first time. The Palestinians have never come close to reaching the World Cup but the expansion of the 2026 tournament to 48 teams has given the team a better chance to make history. It plays Australia on Tuesday in Perth to complete the Asian second round. Read morePalestinian players continue push for World Cup qualification amid war back home

Mexican authorities are using a simple but harsh tactic to deal with migrants trying to get to he U.S. They're wearing them out until they give up. Mexico is driven by mounting pressure from the U.S. to block millions of people headed north. But they country doesn't have the funds to deport migrants. So instead migrants are churning in limbo in Mexico. Authorities round them up across the country and dump them in southern Mexican cities of Villahermosa and Tapachula. Some migrants have been punted back as many as six times. A psychologist at the only migrant shelter in Villahermosa says, “Mexico is the wall.” Read moreMexico's tactic to cut immigration to the US: wear out migrants

A Minneapolis police officer who was killed by a man he was trying to help at the site of a shooting is being memorialized as someone who exemplified the type of public servant the city’s police force has been trying to recruit amid years of tumult. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told those gathered at a service Tuesday for Officer Jamal Mitchell that the 36-year-old will be remembered as a hero in the city forever. Frey, Police Chief Brian O’Hara, family members, friends and fellow officers delivered remarks. Investigators are calling the May 30 shooting of Mitchell an ambush. He had been with the Minneapolis Police Department for about 18 months. Read moreMinneapolis police officer killed while responding to a shooting call is remembered as a hero

Jay-Z is putting his weight behind an effort to fund private school vouchers in Philadelphia. The entertainment mogul’s Roc Nation announced it is funding a campaign this month to drum up support for the Pennsylvania Award for Student Success. That's a statewide legislative proposal to spend taxpayer money on private school scholarships for low-income families in neighborhoods with low-achieving schools. Vouchers are controversial in many states — including Pennsylvania, where Republicans promote them as a way to help students escape underperforming schools, and teachers unions, school boards and many Democrats oppose sending taxpayer money to private and religious schools. Jay-Z’s support of the voucher bill is drawing pushback online. Read moreJay-Z's Roc Nation to drum up support for private school vouchers in Philadelphia

President Joe Biden says he will accept the outcome of his son's criminal case and “will continue to respect the judicial process.” The president made the statement after jurors convicted Hunter Biden on all three felony charges in his federal gun case in Delaware. In a written statement following the verdict, Hunter Biden said he was disappointed by the outcome but grateful for the support of family and friends. His attorney said they will continue to pursue "all the legal challenges available.” First lady Jill Biden, who sat through most of the trial, arrived at the courthouse minutes after the jury delivered its verdict and was not in the courtroom when it was read. Read morePresident Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, is convicted of all 3 felonies in federal gun trial

Haiti’s transitional council has appointed a new Cabinet. It’s the final step in rebuilding the government in a country under siege by gangs. Carlos Hercules, the attorney for new Prime Minister Garry Conille, is the minister of justice and public security. Conille will be interior minister. Jean Marc Berthier Antoine will be defense minister. Haiti struggles with gangs that control at least 80% of the capital of Port-au-Prince. The country is preparing for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from Kenya. The new Cabinet has four women, and critics note that Haiti’s government barely has female representation. Read moreHaiti’s transitional council appoints new Cabinet tasked with leading a country under siege by gangs

Hamas has responded to a U.S.-backed proposal for a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, with some “remarks” on the deal. Key mediators Qatar and Egypt said Tuesday that they were examining the response and that they would keep up their efforts along with the U.S. “until an agreement is reached.” Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant group said they were ready to “deal positively to arrive at an agreement” and that their priority is to bring a “complete stop” to the war. A senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, told Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen television that the group had “submitted some remarks on the proposal to the mediators.” He did not give any details. Read moreThe Latest | Hamas responds to Gaza cease-fire plan, with 'remarks,' and US is evaluating

President Joe Biden kept his distance from the courtroom where his son Hunter stood trial on felony gun charges to avoid any appearance of meddling. But the president's quick statement reacting to the jury’s guilty verdict spoke to where his heart has been all along. Biden, in a written statement, expressed pride at “the man” Hunter has become and at his strength in overcoming addiction. Biden aides and allies have privately worried about the toll a guilty verdict would take on the 81-year-old president. The president made plans for a quick overnight trip to Wilmington, Delaware, to be with his family after the verdict was announced. Read morePresident offers love and pride for his son's addiction recovery after Hunter Biden's guilty verdict

The children who survived the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, will be graduating high school with mixed emotions. Although they're excited to go off to college or start a career, they say they're also sad that their classmates who were killed can't be with them to celebrate and live the rest of their lives. A gunman killed 20 first graders and six educators in the attack. About 60 members of that first grade class is set to graduate Wednesday from Newtown High School. The tragic attack has made many of the students into advocates against gun violence, and some plan to continue those efforts into adulthood. Read moreSandy Hook shooting survivors to graduate with mixed emotions without 20 of their classmates

A federal judge has struck down as unconstitutional a 2023 Florida law that blocked gender-affirming care for transgender minors and severely restricted such treatment for adults. Senior Judge Robert Hinkle ruled Tuesday that the state went too far when it barred transgender minors from being prescribed puberty blockers and hormonal treatments with their parents' permission. He also stopped the state from requiring that transgender adults only receive treatment from a doctor and not from a registered nurse or other qualified medical practitioner. And he barred a ban on online treatment for transgender adults. Gov. Ron DeSantis' office blasted the decision, calling it erroneous. He vowed to appeal. Read moreA Florida law blocking treatment for transgender children is thrown out by a federal judge