WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. —

A sudden flash flood swamped a southeastern Pennsylvania road, sweeping several cars away and claiming at least three lives. Four other people, including a 9-month-old baby, remained missing, authorities said.

Officials in Bucks County's Makefield Township said torrential rains occurred at about 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the Washington Crossing area. Other parts of the East Coast were experiencing heavy rain, including Vermont. Authorities there said landslides could become a problem on Sunday as the state copes with more rain following days of flooding.

“My team and I continue to monitor the situation as more rain falls in Vermont. There are flash flood warnings throughout the state today. Remain vigilant and be prepared,” Gov. Phil Scott said.

Sunday’s strong storms led to hundreds of flight cancellations at airports in the New York City area, according to the tracking service FlightAware. More than 300 flights were canceled at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey alone, while more than 160 flights were canceled at Kennedy International Airport in New York. Hundreds of flights were also delayed.

The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings and tornado watches for parts of Connecticut, western Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. A tornado warning was issued for an area along the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border.

Thousands of power outages also were reported in the region.

In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, a sudden, torrential downpour turned deadly in Makefield Township.

Fire Chief Tim Brewer told reporters that the area got about 6 1/2 to seven inches of rain (about 18 centimeters) in 45 minutes.

“In my 44 years, I've never seen anything like it,” he said. “When the water came up, it came up very swiftly. We do not think that anybody drove into it, that they were actively on that road when it happened.”

There were about 11 cars on the road at the time, and three were swept away. There was about four to five feet of water over the road, he said.

Two women and a man, ranging in age from 40 to 60s, were found dead. Four people were missing, three females and a male. Among the missing was a 9-month-old baby.

Brewer declined to identify the relationships of the victims but said, “One family has been severely affected.”

Eight people were rescued from the cars and two from the creek, he said.

All three vehicles swept away were later located, and no one was found inside. One was about 1.5 miles from where it entered the creek.

“We are treating this as a rescue, but we are fairly certain we are in a recovery mode at this time,” Brewer said.

About 150 people were searching the creek during the night and 100 were involved Sunday morning, walking along the creek, he said.

Meanwhile, recovery efforts were underway in Vermont from recent days of heavy precipitation.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation said 12 state roads remained closed while 12 were partially open to one lane of traffic and 87 have been reopened that were previously closed.

The agency said 211 bridge inspections have been completed this week in damaged areas and there are four state bridges closed and four town structures currently closed.

Rail lines throughout Vermont were also damaged by the rain and flooding, the transportation agency said. The agency said it reopened 57 miles (about 92 kilometers) of rail lines, and 64 miles of rail line remains closed.

“Our crews have been working tirelessly all week to repair the damaged state roads and bridges, and to restore the state’s transportation infrastructure for Vermonters and visitors to our state,” said Transportation Secretary Joe Flynn.

POTTSTOWN, Penn. — Authorities in Pennsylvania say five people are dead and two others were injured after a house exploded 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

Several media outlets reported that Pottstown Borough Manager Justin Keller said at a Friday press conference that the explosion occurred around 8 p.m. Thursday.

According to the news reports, officials say several homes were destroyed in the blast.

The news outlets reported that two people were transported to a local hospital.

According to the news outlets, one injured was in critical but stable condition, while the second victim went into surgery Friday.

The victims' names have not been released, nor has what caused the explosion.

The New York Times reported that Pottstown School District canceled classes Friday.

Over 80 million people from the Midwest to the East Coast are under air quality alerts as smoke from the Canadian wildfires sweep across the U.S. border Tuesday, prompting beach closures, warnings about reduced visibility and calls to stay indoors.Canada is seeing its worst fire season on record with hundreds of wildfires raging across the country – more than 200 of them burning "out of control," according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. The wildfires have led to the highest emissions on record for the country, according to a Tuesday report from Copernicus.Video above: The kind of air conditioner filter you need to filter smoke from your homeAs smoke crosses into the U.S., air quality alerts have been issued for the entire states of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Delaware and Maryland as well are portions of Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia, according to the National Weather Service. Residents are being advised to stay indoors with their air conditioning running or wear N95 masks if they have to be outside.Chicago had the worst air quality in the world Tuesday evening, according to IQAir. The city's Air Quality Index measured at 193 – a high reading designated as "unhealthy."The city has asked all residents – especially those with heart or lung disease, older adults, pregnant people and young children – to avoid outdoor activities and protect themselves from exposure. Chicago Public Schools and camps are also moving activities indoors, city officials said in a news release.Video below: Homemade air purifier can protect against wildfire smoke inside at homeAbout 11 miles away, Evanston, Illinois, is closing all swimming beaches and canceling a concert Tuesday due to the poor air quality, the city said on Facebook, asking residents to limit outdoor exposure through Wednesday. Across the state line in Michigan, the Mackinac Bridge stood covered with smoke Tuesday. Drivers were asked to drive slow and with caution due to the reduced visibility on the bridge. Detroit, Michigan, had the second worst air quality in the world Tuesday evening, with an "unhealthy" Air Quality Index is at 174, according to IQAir.High levels of fine particulate in the air in Michigan could become unhealthy or hazardous for all residents at some points – not just sensitive groups, the state's health department warned. "The most protective option when air is unhealthy for you is to stay indoors with air conditioning, reduce strenuous activities and limit outdoor activities. If you have to be outside, N95 masks offer enhanced protection when used according to product instructions," the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said.Indianapolis drivers were also warned about reduced visibility, with the National Weather Service saying to "be prepared for haze that could suddenly reduce visibilities" in some areas Tuesday and Wednesday.Video below: Canada's provinces, territories sign on to national climate adaptation strategyNew York is also expected to see unhealthy levels of smoke return Wednesday and Thursday to some areas – about three weeks after New York City topped the list of the world's worst air pollution as smoke from the Canadian wildfires wafted south, turning skies orange. "New Yorkers should be prepared for elevated levels of fine particulate pollution caused by smoke on Wednesday and Thursday," Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. "Current projections show the highest concentrations of smoke will slowly push east across the eastern half of New York State during the day Thursday, extending across much of the state."In Ohio, a spokesperson for the Cleveland's mayor's office said "what happened in NY a few weeks ago and Chicago today may happen here in Cleveland tomorrow."The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency issued an air quality advisory, forecasting fine particulate levels in the "Unhealthy" Air Quality Index range.Wildfire smoke carries particulate matter, or PM2.5 – a tiny but dangerous pollutant that, when inhaled, can travel deep into lung tissue and enter the bloodstream, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The particulate matter has been linked to a number of health problems including asthma, heart disease and other respiratory illnesses.

When Patrick Kennedy was in Congress, he would sneak in his treatments for substance abuse over the holidays, in between congressional work periods. And he refused mental health treatment recommended by his doctors, worried he would be recognized in that wing of the hospital.

Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat and the son of the late Edward Kennedy, was eventually forced to reveal his struggles when he crashed his car outside the Capitol while intoxicated in May 2006. He talked openly about his mental health and substance abuse for the first time, and something surprising happened — he became more popular with his constituency, winning reelection by a bigger margin than he had two years earlier.

On Thursday, the office of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat who was elected to the Senate after a bruising campaign during which he suffered a stroke, announced he had checked himself into the hospital for clinical depression. The statement said Fetterman had experienced depression on and off in his life, but it had only become severe in recent weeks.

Fetterman's public struggle is extraordinary in a building where few talk about their own mental health, even while members of both parties have legislation to expand aid for it. Kennedy and a handful of others who have been open about their own problems, or those in their family, say they hope Fetterman's honesty — and his decisive action to get help — will foster more openness among lawmakers and their constituents in the wake of a global pandemic that has had far-reaching effects.

"This is a moment for us to tear down the stigma of depression and anxiety," said Kennedy, who retired in 2010 and has become a leading voice on mental illness. "Sen. Fetterman may do more for people just by admitting that he's getting help for depression than any bill he ends up sponsoring."

The U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murphy, tweeted praise for Fetterman, saying he hopes his "courage will serve as an example for others."

Fetterman's Senate colleagues were immediately supportive.

"In every single city and town and rural community there is someone struggling with mental health," said Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat who shared her own stories about periods of depression on the Senate floor four years ago. "If they see somebody else, like John, saying, 'OK, I need to get medical care,' that can be important to people."

South Dakota's John Thune, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, said he thinks politicians have become more comfortable discussing the issue since the pandemic.

"The more open, transparent people can be, the better our understanding is," Thune said.

Fetterman's hospitalization comes after a rough year in which the 53-year-old suffered a stroke just ahead of the May primary election and spent much of the summer off the campaign trail, recovering. He has said the stroke nearly killed him. He also underwent surgery to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator to manage two heart conditions, atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathy. He entered the Senate in January, where he has had to adjust to life in Washington and the daily grind of a federal lawmaker.

"It's unreal what @JohnFetterman has been through in the last year," tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. "A stroke, a recovery, a bruising campaign, a transition to the Senate. I'm so proud of him for taking his health seriously. He's going to be a great Senator for a long time, and I'm pulling for him today."

Texas Sen. John Cornyn said the Senate "can be arduous. So I'm sure if somebody is not up to 100% then it's especially tough, so I wish him well."

Post-stroke depression is common, doctors say. And that could be even more difficult when dealing with it publicly, like Fetterman is.

"Having a stroke in and of itself is devastating and having to recover from a stroke in the public eye only adds to the level of stress as one recovers," said Dr. Bruce Ovbiagele, associate dean and professor of neurology at the University of California-San Francisco.

Dr. Eric Lenze, head of the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, said he thinks it's "interesting and heroic" for a major political figure to acknowledge depression, "instead of saying they're hospitalized for exhaustion or trying to hide it."

While many members are still loath to talk about themselves or their own hardships, some have been more forthcoming about mental illness in recent years. Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild declared from the House floor in 2019 that suicide is a "national emergency" and told the story of her partner, who had recently taken his own life. Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., who was elected in 2020, has said he dropped out of college and at times thought of suicide after struggling with depression, substance abuse and grief after the loss of a friend. Smith said she found that ever since she told her own story of periods of depression as a college student and young mother, people still come up to her to talk about it.

Many lawmakers have also been open about their fear and anxiety after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, when many of them ran for their lives, and the months afterward when tensions between the two parties became even worse. Democratic Reps. Dan Kildee of Michigan and Annie Kuster of New Hampshire both talked about dealing with post-traumatic stress during that time.

The Jan. 6 attack was another inflection point amid the global pandemic.

"We're living in a time of extraordinary stress and crisis," said Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, who lost his son to suicide just a few days before the insurrection and has since written a book about his experience. "We've come through a plague, we've had tremendous mental and emotional health problems."

Raskin, who was recently diagnosed with cancer, says there may have been a time when political leaders had to pretend that hardships didn't touch their own families, "but I don't think we are living in that time."

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who has been in the Senate for almost three decades, credits returning veterans from the Iraq war and other conflicts "who have convinced us that this is simple medical, mental health care that many people need from time to time. There isn't a single family that isn't touched by it."

Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, credited Fetterman for being honest. "This is a challenge, unimaginable challenge, that he's faced in life," Durbin said.

Kennedy says that when he returned from his recovery in the mid-2000s, many of his colleagues sought his help and advice privately. And he has continued to talk to some members in the decade since he retired.

He predicted Fetterman could find a "whole new world of connection with his constituency" when he returns to the Senate, and could help people understand the brain science behind depression.

"This is a very teachable moment here," Kennedy said.

___

Associated Press writers Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., and Stephen Groves, Lisa Mascaro, Farnoush Amiri and Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.

WEST READING, Pa. —

An explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania on Friday killed three people and left four people missing, authorities said. One person was pulled alive from the rubble overnight.

Rescue crews using dogs and imaging equipment continued to search through the rubble Saturday — hours after the blast that erupted just before 5 p.m. Friday at the R.M. Palmer Co. plant in the borough of West Reading, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.

West Reading Borough Chief of Police Wayne Holben said the death toll rose on Saturday with the discovery of a third body at the site. The Berks County Medical Examiner and Coroner on Saturday night also confirmed three fatalities.

Borough Fire Chief Chad Moyer said four people remained missing as emergency personnel continue searching for victims and state and local fire investigators examine the scene to determine a cause.

“Due to the violence of the explosion and the amount of time that has passed, the chance of finding survivors is decreasing rapidly," Moyer said. “However, please be assured that our primary goal is accounting for all missing individuals and reuniting them with their loved ones.”

Holben earlier said the rescue of one person from the rubble “provides hope that others still may be found.” Rescue workers were continuing a thorough search using specialized equipment and techniques. Officials said dogs and imaging equipment were being used to look for signs of life during the careful removal of debris.

The blast destroyed one building and damaged a neighboring building. Roadways near the site will be closed until Monday at 8 a.m., Holben said.

“It’s pretty leveled,” Mayor Samantha Kaag said of the explosion site. “The building in the front, with the church and the apartments, the explosion was so big that it moved that building four feet forward.”

Reading Hospital said Saturday afternoon it had received 10 patients, of which one was transferred to Lehigh Valley Hospital and another to Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center. Two were admitted to Reading Hospital in good and fair condition, respectively, and the others had been discharged, officials said.

A UGI Utilities spokesperson said crews were brought in after damage from the blast led to the release of gas that was helping to feed the fire.

“We did not receive any calls regarding a gas leak or gas order prior to the incident. But we are cooperating with the investigation and part of that will be to check all our facilities in the vicinity,” UGI spokesperson Joseph Swope said Saturday.

R.M. Palmer said in a statement late Saturday that everyone at the company was “devastated by the tragic events” and “focused on supporting our employees and their families.”

“We have lost close friends and colleagues, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of all who have been impacted,” the company said, expressing gratitude to the “extraordinary efforts” of first responders and the support of the Reading community, “which has been home to our business for more than 70 years.”

R.M. Palmer said it was anxious to get in touch with its employees and their families. But its email, phones and other communication systems were down, and it was relying on first responders and disaster recovery organizations to provide information to affected families. The company said it would be “providing additional information and making contact with employees, impacted families, and the community as soon as possible.”

Kaag said people were asked to move back about a block in each direction, but no evacuations were ordered. She had issued an emergency declaration only to allow more resources for first responders. Borough manager Dean Murray said some residents were displaced from the damaged apartment building.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, who visited the site Saturday along with the emergency management agency director, vowed “any and all commonwealth resources needed to support ongoing recovery efforts –- in addition to the extensive assets that have already been deployed.”

A team of structural engineers and K-9s from a state urban search and rescue task force had been assisting since last night, and additional personnel arrived Saturday, he said. A state police fire marshal was also assisting in the investigation, he said.

Philip Wert, vice president of the West Reading council, said the building had been constructed in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and officials had to “access our archive to pull the blueprints last night, in order to get a better layout of the building and the mechanicals and the utilities, where things are.”

“The silver lining in all this is someone was found alive, someone was found alive that was in rubble, not knowing whether they were going to live or die, and fortunately we found that person and they’ve got a second chance, and hopefully fingers crossed we’re going to find more,” he said.

Frank Gonzalez stood on a hill overlooking the blast site, watching the rubble being cleared. He said his sister, Diana Cedeno, was working at the plant at the time of the blast and was among the missing.

“It’s not good. It’s just stressful waiting, not knowing,” he said, expressing frustration at what he perceived as a lack of communication from authorities about the search. “We keep reaching out, bugging, keeping her name alive just in case she is in there and says her name.”

He said his sister has two adult children, including a son who is deployed overseas. She has a side job decorating for parties and has also been studying for ministry at her church, he said.

Gonzalez said his son and nephew had also worked at the plant, but that his son had quit a few months ago “because he said he didn’t like the smell of the gas that was in there.” His son and nephew had complained about the smell to plant supervisors, who told them, "‘It’s all right. We got it. It’s being handled. Don’t worry about it,’” he said.

Frank DeJesus said his stepdaughter, Arelis Rivera Santiago, a Palmer employee, was working in the building next door at the time of the blast. The ceiling caved, and she had to crawl under machinery to make it out, he said. DeJesus said he rushed to the scene to find her “shaking and crying hysterically," and she was still too shaken to speak about what had happened.

Plant employees, including his stepdaughter, had complained about smelling gas throughout the day Friday, DeJesus said.

“Everyone complained about smelling gas, and they kept making them work,” he said. “The supervisors told them it was nothing. It was being taken care of.”

A message was sent earlier to R.M. Palmer seeking comment about the blast.

Doug Olexy was home from work and checking email when the blast shook his house, rattling windows and making the walls vibrate.

“It sounded like a bomb went off,” he recalled Saturday. “I mean, all of our houses shook. I’ve never heard as loud of an explosion in my life.”

He and his neighbors ran out onto the street immediately afterward and were met by thick black smoke. At first, Olexy thought it was a train derailment because there are tracks nearby. Then he learned it was the Palmer plant, which he called a West Reading institution.

“Everybody knows Palmer chocolate,” he said.

R.M. Palmer's website says it has been making chocolate novelties since 1948 and now has 850 employees at its West Reading headquarters. Its Facebook page includes entries earlier this month advertising Easter treats such as chocolate bunnies and “the newest milk chocolate hollow" in its “bunny family” as one with jelly beans inside. The company is by no means the region's best-known chocolate manufacturer, however, with Hershey less than an hour to the west.

Freezing rain and drizzle is disrupting travel from Central Texas to the Great Lakes, with ice-glazed roads leading to hundreds of traffic accidents, including one in Kentucky that killed a toddler.

Hundreds of flights were canceled Wednesday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas braced for an ice storm.

More than half an inch of ice could accumulate in parts of the Ozarks through Friday morning, while another area of freezing rain was expected to hit south-central Pennsylvania and western Maryland, the National Weather Service said.

In western Kentucky, ice on a bridge caused multiple collisions that left a toddler dead and closed interstate lanes for hours, officials said.

Seven collisions involving 12 tractor-trailers and 6 passenger cars were reported beginning late Wednesday on Interstate 24 in Marshall County due to ice on the Tennessee River Bridge, Kentucky State Police said in a statement.

In one crash involving two semi-trailers, an 18-month-old unrestrained child was ejected and then hit by a car, police said. The toddler was declared dead at the scene by the Marshall County coroner.

In Arkansas, dozens of schools were closed or switched to remote learning on Thursday as another round of freezing rain was expected by midday. Airlines canceled more than 1,700 U.S. flights Thursday, according to the FlightAware.com tracking site. Many of them were at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, where temperatures were expected to top out above freezing only briefly late on Thursday afternoon.

DFW Airport is the biggest in the American Airlines network, and American had canceled 21% of its Thursday flights by Wednesday night, according to FlightAware. Meanwhile, heavy snow was expected in upstate New York and New England later this week, with more than 6 inches possible through Saturday morning.

Winter took a fleeting break in the Northeast on Wednesday, with temperatures soaring into the 60s before plunging within hours. The warm spell sent people streaming outdoors, but it was bad news for ski resorts.

"It's not exactly what you want to see in the middle of the busiest week of the year," said Ethan Austin, spokesperson for the Sugarloaf ski area in Maine, which was busy because of school vacation week. But he was happy to hear snow was on the way.

The weather whiplash marked the second time in less than a week that there was to be a temperature swing of more than 40 degrees in 24 hours.

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When 14-year-old Cohen Stahl decided to help emergency workers by digging fire hydrants out of the snow after a recent winter storm in Pennsylvania, he couldn't have imagined what would happen next.

Stahl, an eight-grade student, took his all-terrain vehicle with a plow out to help move snow from driveways, clear snow around mailboxes and dig fire hydrants out of the snow too, when his ATV began smoking and caught fire.

"It just shut off and started smoking. I just saw flames. I started throwing snow on it. It didn't work," Stahl told WJAC.

The local volunteer fire department took note of his good work as fire hydrants buried in snow can cause big delays for fire fighters looking to find the hydrants in emergencies.

The Conemaugh Township VFD station posted photos of Stahl's ATV which caught fire. That's when a local business decided to set up and GoFundMe page to help raise money to get him a new vehicle.

Jason Keller of Cernic Cycle World in Johnsontown, Pennsylvania decided to start the page to help Cohen, and donations have now exceeded the $10,000 goal and by Tuesday were at $10,620.

Keller wrote on the GoFundMe page, "Let’s all pull together as a community and help this nice young man get a new used ATV so he can continue helping the community and being an outstanding young man like he already has Showed us [sic]. I will be helping him get the atv at a discounted price."

Stahl's proud mother Nicole has been impressed with his achievements in the community writing, "He became popular very fast!! He’s a good kid!

President Joe Biden viewed the site of a collapsed road bridge in Pittsburgh Friday, moments before he was slated to speak in the city about a newly-passed infrastructure package.

Biden arrived in the city at about mid-day and immediately traveled to Frick Park, the site of the collapse of the Forbes Ave. bridge.

Standing with Pittsburgh city officials, Biden noted that it was a miracle that no one was killed. He also commented on the fact that Pittsburgh has more bridges than any other American city.

Ten people were injured by the bridge collapse. Three of them were taken to a hospital for treatment

During his address, Biden said the Forbes Ave. bridge will be rebuilt along with thousands of others across the country.

"We don't need headlines saying that someone was killed when the next bridge collapses," the president said.

Biden's $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed both the House and Senate with bipartisan support. The legislation includes $500 billion in federal funding for the nation's roads and bridges.

Biden linked the infrastructure law to his economic agenda, saying the law will create good-paying jobs.

He became passionate when discussing parents who struggle to pay for childcare.

"It strips you of your dignity, (expletive). Can you imagine looking at your child, and you know what they need, and not be able to do it," Biden said.

The president said the federal government is investing in the future to create more jobs and help the middle class.

“The middle class built this country," Biden said.

A Philadelphia man who served 37 years in prison was cleared on Thursday in a 1980 murder case that was tainted by perjured testimony and he promptly sued the city over his conviction.

Willie Stokes left prison this month after a federal judge overturned his conviction. At a court hearing Thursday, city prosecutors said they would not retry him.

Stokes' lawyers say that prosecutors at the time never disclosed they had charged his chief accuser with perjury after the trial. The 60-year-old Stokes says he is not bitter and is "just excited to move forward" with his life.

As the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office said that prosecutors were aware of the lie that a witness told in a statement accusing Stokes of confessing to the crime. Philadelphia homicide detectives working on the case at the time are accused of threatening that witness and bribing them with sex and drugs, the paper reported.

Matthew Stiegler, a supervisor of the District Attorney’s federal litigation unit said, “After a thorough and independent review, the federal court determined that Mr. Stokes was the victim of an egregious violation of his constitutional rights, and we are convinced that the federal court’s ruling was correct.”

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stokes was previously convicted in the 1980 fatal shooting of a man named Leslie Campbell, during a dice game in North Philadelphia.

District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a January statement, “This remarkable case is marked by prosecutorial and policing practices that were too pervasive during the so-called tough-on-crime 1980s and 1990s, and unfortunately persist in far too many jurisdictions today.”

, Pa. —

The last of the escaped monkeys from the crash of a truck towing a trailer load of 100 of the animals was accounted for by late Saturday, a day after the pickup collided with a dump truck on a Pennsylvania highway, authorities said.

Several monkeys had escaped following Friday’s collision, Pennsylvania State Police said. But only one had remained unaccounted for as of Saturday morning, prompting the Pennsylvania Game Commission and other agencies to launch a search for it amid frigid weather.

Kristen Nordlund, a spokesperson with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an email Saturday evening that all 100 of the cynomolgus macaque monkeys had since been accounted for. Three were dead after being euthanized.

The email did not elaborate on why the three were euthanized or how all came to be accounted for. But Nordlund said those euthanized were done so humanely according to American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines.

The shipment of monkeys was en route to a CDC-approved quarantine facility after arriving Friday morning at New York’s Kennedy Airport from Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island nation, police said. The Atlanta-based CDC said the agency was providing “technical assistance” to state police in Pennsylvania.

The collision occured Friday on a state highway near an Interstate 80 exit in Pennsylvania’s Montour County, Trooper Andrea Pelachick told The Daily Item newspaper of Sunbury.

The location of the quarantine facility and the type of research for which the monkeys were apparently destined weren’t clear, but cynomolgus monkeys are often used in medical studies. A 2015 paper posted on the website of the National Center for Biotechnology Information referred to them as the most widely used primate in preclinical toxicology studies.

Earlier, police had earlier urged people not to look for or capture any monkey, with troopers tweeting: “Anyone who sees or locates the monkey is asked not to approach, attempt to catch, or come in contact with the monkey. Please call 911 immediately.”

Trooper Lauren Lesher had said the concern was “due to it not being a domesticated animal and them being in an unknown territory. It is hard to say how they would react to a human approaching them.”

Lesher said state police secured the scene for the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the CDC.

The drivers of the trucks weren’t harmed and a passenger was transported to a medical center for treatment of suspected minor injuries, according to the state police’s crash report.

A crash witness, Michelle Fallon, told the Press Enterprise newspaper of Bloomsburg that she spoke with the pickup driver and a passenger after the crash. The driver appeared to be disoriented, and the passenger thought he might have injured his legs, she said.

Crates littered the road Friday as troopers searched for monkeys, rifles in hand. Valley Township firefighters used thermal imaging to try to locate the animals, and a helicopter also assisted, the Press Enterprise newspaper of Bloomsburg reported.

The pickup was heading west on I-80 when it got off at the Danville exit and then immediately tried to get back on, driving across the other lane, the newspaper reported.

Fallon told the Press Enterprise that she was behind the pickup when it was hit on the passenger side by the dump truck, tearing off the front panel of the trailer and sending more than a dozen crates tumbling out.

She and another motorist who stopped to help were standing near the scene when the other driver said he thought he saw a cat run across the road, Fallon said.

Fallon peeked into a crate and saw a small monkey looking back at her, she told the newspaper.

“They’re monkeys,” she told the other motorist.

It takes a lot of work to grow a Christmas tree.

“We are growing a crop that takes seven to 10 years until you can harvest it,” said Beth Bossio at Quarter Pine Tree Farm in Pennsylvania. “Every year, it grows about a foot, so that’s why it does take a long time.”

Quarter Pine Tree Farm is preparing for the busiest part of the year.

“We are a choose and cut tree farm,” Bossio said.

This time of year is spent tagging, cutting and hanging trees. It's not an inexpensive process.

“Prices are going up across the board with everything. We sold our trees two years ago for $60 and we raised them $5 last year, $5 this year so we’re selling our trees for $70 and I think that is comparable to what we’re seeing across the nation,” Bossio said.

“It creates a lot of difficulty in terms of managing the supply chain just because the lead times are long, lots of things can go wrong,” said Prakash Mirchandani, director of the Center for Supply Chain Management at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mirchandani said Christmas trees are a unique product with a short life cycle and a short period of demand. However, they also take a long time to grow, or for artificial trees, to create.

“The supply chains for both of these types of trees has gotten affected,” he said.

The main problem has to do with transportation, Mirchandani added.

“As far as artificial trees are concerned, almost all are imported," Mirchandani said. "Eighty percent come from China.”

“Big retailers haven't been able to bring all their trees in and get them through the ports,” said Mac Harman, CEO of Balsam Hill.

Balsam Hill is an artificial Christmas tree and decoration retailer. Harman is also one of the founders of the American Christmas Tree Association, a nonprofit organization.

He said they’ve had to raise their prices at Balsam Hill around 22 percent on average to help offset transportation costs.

“If you're buying a tree that's been trucked to you or if you're buying an artificial tree there's no question that the prices are going to go up,” he said.

And for states that grow a lot of real trees, getting them to other parts of the U.S. could also be impacted.

“The availability of transportation is certainly going to affect sending the trees from Pennsylvania to other locations,” Mirchandani said.

But farmers across the country are adding to their supply for future years. It’s something Quarter Pine Tree Farm sees firsthand.

Beth Bossio’s stepfather Jim Rockis opened Quarter Pine Tree Farm in the 1990s, but it’s more than just a tree farm. They operate a Christmas tree seed orchard too -- and they are one of a few to do it.

“There’s probably five of us in the country that do it in an industrial way -- that do Christmas trees,” Rockis said. The seedlings that grow from these seeds are distributed to over 300 farms in the Northeast -- and Bossio sees them ramping up their supply.

“In the last four years farmers are planting more and more trees,” she said. “It used to be that we would start taking orders and I’d still be taking orders in February of the following year. We’re already sold out and that's because farmers are ramping up their numbers.”

While Christmas trees may have a higher price tag this season, industry experts say there will be a tree available for people to put gifts under.

“You just need to shop early,” Bossio said. “Yes supply chain issues across the board with a lot of things, but we’re never going to run out of trees. It’s just you might not find the size tree you're looking for. It may be a 7 foot instead of an 8 foot, and that tree is still going to provide the scent and the experience you want no matter what.”

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Pennsylvania community is rallying around a female hockey goalie on a high school's boys team who was the target of vulgar and sexist harassment from spectators at a game last week.

The Post-Gazette reports that about 1,000 fans came out to the UPMC Lemieux Center in Cranberry Township to cheer the player on Monday. The larger-than-normal crowd gave the student a rousing welcome when she got on the ice and cheered when she made a save, the newspaper says.

Video obtained by WPVI shows many fans in the crowd holding up signs with messages like, “Prove them wrong,” “Girls rule,” “You are not alone,” and “We belong on the ice!”

The support for the player comes after a video surfaced on social media that showed students from Armstrong High School chanting sexist and vulgar phrases at the female goalie who was playing for the opposing team from Mars Area High School on Oct. 28.

In response to the video, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League has banned Armstrong students from attending their school’s hockey games and placed the school’s team on probation, The Associated Press reports.

Armstrong has also issued disciplinary action against the students involved in the chants, though the exact discipline wasn’t revealed by administrators, according to the Post-Gazette.

A family friend told KDKA that the student targeted by the remarks didn’t speak to the media on Monday night because she doesn’t want the attention. She just wants to play the game she loves.

The Mars Hockey Club issued this statement to KDKA:

“We are hopeful that the attention this incident has drawn will shed light on the issues our female athletes face which must not be tolerated and that this attention will help with eliminating this type of conduct from our sport.”

The situation even got the attention of Meghan Duggan, a women’s hockey Olympian on Team USA. She offered support to the affected student.

“To the Mars goalie who was targeted at a western PA hockey game last week...Every time you take the ice, women (and) girls all over the hockey community are proud of YOU! You represent so much more than the hateful words that were directed toward you. I stand with you,” she wrote.

A Pennsylvania woman facing charges that she helped steal a laptop from the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the attack on the U.S. Capitol will be released from jail, a federal judge decided Thursday.U.S. Magistrate Judge Martin Carlson released Riley June Williams into the custody of her mother, with travel restrictions, and instructed her to appear Monday in federal court in Washington to continue her case. Williams, 22, of Harrisburg, is accused of theft, obstruction and trespassing, as well as violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.During the hearing, Carlson said the “gravity of these offenses is great, it cannot be overstated.” But, he noted Williams has no prior criminal record.The FBI says an unidentified former romantic partner of Williams tipped them off that she appeared in video from the Jan. 6 rioting and the tipster claimed she had hoped to sell the computer to Russian intelligence.Video from the riot shows a woman matching Williams' description exhorting invaders to go “upstairs, upstairs, upstairs” during the attack, which briefly disrupted certification of President Joe Biden's electoral victory.Williams' attorney, federal public defender Lori Ulrich, declined to comment on the case. Williams surrendered to face charges on Monday and has been locked up in the county jail in Harrisburg.In adding the theft-related charges on Tuesday, a Virginia-based FBI agent said Williams was recorded on closed-circuit cameras in the Capitol going into and coming out of Pelosi's office.The agent's affidavit said a cellphone video that was likely shot by Williams shows a man's gloved hand lifting an HP laptop from a table, and the caption read, “they got the laptop.”Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, has said a laptop used only for presentations was taken from a conference room.A federal prosecutor earlier this week argued that Williams should not be released on bail pending trial, claiming she might flee or try to obstruct justice.

PNC Bank is the latest large U.S. financial services company to increase wages in a bid to keep and attract employees, raising its minimum wage to $18 an hour while also giving higher-paid workers a bump in pay.

The bank said Monday that the wage increase will apply to both PNC employees as well as those working for BBVA USA, which PNC acquired last year. Base-level PNC employees will see their wages increase from $15 an hour to $18, a 20% pay raise. The increase is more substantial at BBVA, which had an $11 minimum wage before PNC bought the bank.

About 20,000 PNC and BBVA employees will see their base pay rise to $18 an hour, the bank said.

“We want the best we can find, and we can afford to do so," said Bill Demchak, chairman and CEO of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., in an interview. "We need to show that we can provide both a career path as well as compensation that makes it us a lifetime opportunity.”

In addition to the higher base pay, PNC and BBVA employees making more than minimum wage will also receive a bump up in pay, in what Demchak described as an “accordion effect” across the its branches.

Pittsburgh-based PNC is now one of the country's largest banks after acquiring BBVA, giving it a nationwide footprint and making it able to compete more effectively with the large money-center banks like JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America.

When the acquisition is completed, PNC will have about 60,000 employees nationwide.

Bank of America announced in May that it would increase its minimum wage to $25 by 2025, and announced last year it would pay all employees $20 an hour. Other banks like JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are paying up to $20 an hour, depending on the geography of where the employee is based.

Demchak said the wage increase was necessary both to compete with other banks but also a moral decision. Along with the fact that many bank branch employees had to work physically at their locations throughout the pandemic, the economic impact of the pandemic made many of their jobs more complex and more important than ever, he said.

“There was a lot of discussion in the past couple years about what entails a living wage, and it resonated with me. I thought ‘how can I offer a person a lifetime career if I cannot offer them a living wage?’," he said.

When Meghan Kahler and Steven Halstead adopted the Japanese mastiff, he came with the name Daniel.He is a big, old goofy dog, emphasis on big. He has paws the size of saucers and a head the size of a volleyball. He tips the scale at more than 100 pounds, with a wide body and a back you could use as a coffee table.Daniel didn’t seem to be a good name, the couple thought. It didn’t seem to capture his personality, or his heritage, so they changed it. They named him Ham.It’s not short for Hamilton – as in the play or the founding father. It’s just Ham, “like Christmas ham,” Meghan said.It made sense. They adopted Ham around Christmas 2020. And just a few months before that, Ham was destined to become ham, having been rescued from a South Korean farm where dogs were bred and raised to be food.“We think we’re funny,” Steven said. “For a meat market dog, it’s a great name.” Ham was among 170 dogs liberated from a farm in late October last year, rescued by South Korean members of the Humane Society International’s Animal Rescue Team from the facility in Haemi, a rural town south of the capital, Seoul.Although dog meat is not a staple in the South Korean diet, it is still part of the nation’s tradition, particularly in rural parts of the country during what’s known as Bok days, the hottest days in late July and early August. Bok days are, quite literally, the dog days of summer. Consuming dog, it is believed, increases energy and brings luck and prosperity.The majority of South Koreans, though, abhor the practice. Eighty-four percent of South Koreans, according to a poll commissioned by the Humane Society, have never eaten dog meat and have no plans to do so. And a majority of South Koreans – 57 percent, according to the poll – believe that dog meat consumption reflects poorly on the nation, contributing to racist Asian stereotypes.The South Korean government, responding to increased pressure, both internationally and domestically, has been leaning toward banning dog meat. Authorities, in the past couple of years, have shut down some of the nation’s largest dog meat farms, markets and slaughterhouses.Among those was the farm in Haemi. The 170 dogs in the farm lived in terrible conditions, kept in cages, stacked one upon another in a long, seemingly haphazard structure fashioned from PVC pipe, corrugated metal sheets and plastic tarps.An investigator from the Humane Society described the conditions as “truly pitiful.” Nara Kim, the Humane Society’s dog meat campaign manager, said, “Every dog meat farm I’ve visited has a horrible stench of feces and rotting food, but there was something different about this dog farm; it had a smell of death. When we found these dogs, they had looks of utter despair on their faces that will haunt us forever.”Nine of the dogs wound up at the York County SPCA. All but one has been adopted, a difficult feat considering that these dogs would need special attention to make the transition from the dinner table to the couch.Watch video above: South Korea expected to grant legal status to animals to end years of abuse and abandonment

SCOTT TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A woman was rescued in Pennsylvania after she left notes in multiple public restrooms that said she was being held against her will, according to multiple reports.

The victim told police that 38-year-old Corey Brewer held her captive in a townhome in Scott Township for more than two months, according to a criminal complaint obtained by WTAE.

The woman also reportedly claimed Brewer strangled her, sexually assaulted her, punched her, and threatened to kill her or her child if she told anyone.

WTAE reports that police were led to Brewer’s home outside Pittsburgh after the woman left a note on the bathroom mirror inside a Walmart in Carnegie on July 8, asking for help.

Two days later, police said the woman left a similar note on the mirror in the restroom at the Fallingwater property, where Frank Lloyd Wright's work is on display.

Police said one of the notes read, “If I don’t make it, tell my family I love them,” KDKA reports.

When officers located the woman, she reportedly had bruises on her arms, a cut on her foot, and sections of her hair were missing. She was then taken to an area hospital to be cared for.

Brewer was arrested and charged with strangulation, terroristic threats, and sexual assault, as well as a list of other alleged crimes, KDKA reports.

He was taken to jail Monday, but WTAE reports he posted bond and is awaiting his preliminary hearing.

A woman held captive was rescued after leaving notes for help in public bathrooms throughout western Pennsylvania.

According to the criminal complaint, Scott Township police were called to a Walmart store on July 8. Employees provided police with a handwritten note stuck to the mirror in the women's bathroom. The note stated the writer's name, explained that she was being held against her will and sexually and physically assaulted by 38-year-old Corey Brewer.

Police went to Brewer's home but were not able to make contact with anyone in the residence.

Due to prior involvements with Brewer, officers reached out to him by phone and were able to speak with the victim on July 9. After it was revealed that officers could not talk to the victim without Brewer listening, the call was ended.

On July 10, Pennsylvania State Police were called to Fallingwater for reports of another note stuck to the mirror in the women's restroom.

Related video: 3 kids escape parents' apparent murder-suicide

In the note, the victim said she had been held hostage since May 1 and asked officers not to give up on helping her. The note also said, "If I don't make it, tell my family I love them."

Troopers were able to contact the victim's ex-boyfriend and discovered he had not seen her since the end of April and was in the process of reporting her missing. He also knew the victim to have been in a relationship with Brewer.

After spotting the victim with Brewer on cameras, detectives were able to get a search warrant for his residence on July 11.

SWAT was able to take Brewer into custody and take the victim to the hospital. According to the complaint, the victim said she never ran because Brewer threatened to kill her and her children.

Brewer is facing multiple charges, including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, strangulation, sexual assault, terroristic threats, simple assault and unlawful restraint.

Two new baby bald eagles were born in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

The Audubon Society confirmed the Hays bald eagles welcomed an eaglet just after three this morning.

A second eaglet hatched later Tuesday evening.

The eaglets are the first to come from the three eggs the Hays eagles laid this year.

Tuesday marks 39 days since the first egg was laid, a normal timeframe for eaglets to hatch.

The Audubon Society said now that there’s are eaglets in the nest one of the eagles will be there constantly to keep the eaglet warm and incubate the last of the egg. Another will bring back food.

The live camera can be viewed by clicking here.

PHILADELPHIA —

Bill Cosby's sexual assault conviction was thrown out Wednesday by Pennsylvania's highest court in a ruling that swiftly freed the actor from prison more than three years after he was found guilty of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion.

Cosby, 83, was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era, and his conviction was seen as a turning point in the movement to hold powerful men accountable for sexual misconduct.

Here's a look at the case against Cosby and the court's decision:

WHY DID THE COURT TOSS HIS CONVICTION?

The split court found that Cosby was unfairly prosecuted because the previous district attorney had promised the comedian once known as "America's Dad" that he wouldn't be charged over Constand's accusations. Cosby was charged by another prosecutor who claimed he wasn't bound by that agreement.

The court said that's not the case. The justices found that Cosby relied on that promise when he agreed to testify without invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a lawsuit brought against him by Constand.

The court concluded that prosecutor who later brought the charges was obligated to stick to the nonprosecution agreement, so the conviction cannot stand. The justices wrote that "denying the defendant the benefit of that decision is an affront to fundamental fairness, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution that was foregone for more than a decade."

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THE NONPROSECUTION AGREEMENT?

The promise not to prosecute Cosby was made in 2005 by Bruce Castor, who was then the top prosecutor for Montgomery County. Castor was also on the legal team that defended former President Donald Trump during his historic second impeachment trial over the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.

During a court hearing weeks after Cosby's 2015 arrest, Castor testified that he promised Cosby he wouldn't be prosecuted in the hopes that it would persuade the actor to testify in a civil case brought by Constand and allow her to win damages. Castor acknowledged the only place the matter was put in writing was in the 2005 press release announcing his decision not to prosecute, but said his decision was meant to shield Cosby from prosecution "for all time."

His successor noted, during the appeal arguments, that Castor went on to say in the press release that he could revisit the decision in the future.

Castor had said that Constand's case would be difficult to prove in court because she waited a year to come forward and stayed in contact with Cosby.

The first jurors who heard the case may have agreed with him, as they could not reach a verdict in 2017. But a second jury empaneled after the #MeToo movement exploded found him guilty at his 2018 retrial. Constand settled her civil case against Cosby for more than $3 million.

Castor's successor, District Attorney Kevin Steele, charged Cosby in 2015 after a federal judge, acting on a request from The Associated Press, unsealed documents from her 2005 lawsuit against Cosby, revealing his damaging testimony about sexual encounters with Constand and others. Castor has said Cosby "would've had to have been nuts to say those things if there was any chance he could've been prosecuted."

HOW RARE IS THIS?

Extremely rare.

Wesley Oliver, a Pennsylvania law professor who has followed Cosby's case closely over the years, said he has never heard of a high court in Pennsylvania or anywhere else grappling with a prosecutor's informal promise not to prosecute.

"It breaks new ground entirely," said Oliver, who teaches at Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh. "It sets precedent not just for Pennsylvania but probably other states."

He said the ruling should drive home to prosecutors the risks of suggesting at news conferences, in press releases or verbally in private that they will not prosecute.

"They should at least add three words — 'at this time,'" he said. "If you add that qualifier, which wasn't done in Cosby's case, you should be good to go," Oliver said.

CAN COSBY BE TRIED AGAIN?

It's highly unlikely. The decision on Wednesday bars Cosby from being tried again over Constand's complaint, finding it to be the "only remedy that comports with society's reasonable expectations of its elected prosecutors and our criminal justice system."

And the accusations raised by dozens of other women, including the five who testified at his 2018 trial, often go back decades and are most likely too remote to prosecute.

Cosby turns 84 next month. However, his lawyer said he remains in good health, except for vision problems that render him legally blind.

The trial judge deemed him a sexually violent predator who could still pose a danger to women given his wealth, power and fame, and ordered that he be on a lifetime sex offender registry and check in monthly with authorities. However, the decision negates that finding.

___

Richer reported from Boston. Associated Press reporter Michael Tarm contributed to this report from Chicago.