Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania teacher arrested in Russia on drug charges is wrongfully detained: US officials
A Pennsylvania history teacher arrested in Russia on drug charges has been officially designated as wrongfully detained, US officials announced Friday.
Marc Fogel, a husband and father of two, was arrested in 2021 when he and his wife flew to Russia to teach. He was caught at the airport with what his family said was medically prescribed marijuana that he took for chronic back pain.
Fogel is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence.
The US State Department determined in October that Fogel was wrongfully detained but just confirmed the designation Friday.
Fogel was omitted from a prisoner swap in August that included the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, corporate security executive Paul Whelan and others.
“The United States has been working to secure Marc Fogel’s release for some time,” the State Department said in a statement. “We have long called for his humanitarian release and tried to include him in the August 1 deal, but were unable to.”
Fogel’s wife, Jane, and his sons, Ethan and Sam, said in a statement that “The State Department has finally acknowledged what we have known all along — that our husband and father, Marc Fogel, has and continues to be wrongfully detained.
“Now that we have the full force of the U.S. government behind us, we must do everything in our power to bring Marc home as quickly and safely as possible.”
The designation means the federal government is now legally required to work for his release. His case will be transferred to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, which deals with hostage and detainee releases.
In making the determination, the State Department considers factors, including if there is credible information that the person is innocent and if the country holding the prisoner is seeking to influence US policy or get concessions from the US government.
With Post wires
The war with Iran could start impacting your wallet as soon as today.
Jim Garrity from AAA East Central says oil prices are up.
“They’re hovering around $72. They were pretty consistently around $65, $66 for a while,” he said.
Nationally, AAA said the average for a gallon of regular sits at about $3, up approximately six cents from last week.
In Pennsylvania, it’s around $3.12 a gallon, and in the Pittsburgh region, it’s around $3.24 a gallon. That’s actually down about four cents from last week.
Garrity added that gas prices this time of year would already be increasing, usually because of higher demand for the warmer months and the production of the summer blend of gas used for those months.
The impacts of what’s happening in Iran may not be immediate, which could be part of why our region and the state overall have not seen a spike yet, he said.
“It could be a couple of days later. It could be up to a week later,” Garrity said.
A lot of people are watching what happens with the Strait of Hormuz. Iran borders it to the north, and 20% of the world’s oil goes through it.
Iran is one of the world’s biggest oil producers, and China gets a lot of that oil.
“If there is an impact there, you could see oil start to come in from other parts of the world, which has a downstream effect on [the United States],” Garrity said.
One way you can save on gas if prices increase in our area is by slowing down.
“When you drive faster every five miles, over 50 miles an hour, your fuel efficiency is going down,” Garrity said. “You’re making the car work harder, making the gasoline consumption less effective.”
Garrity added that in 2022, when our area and many others saw some of the highest gas prices ever recorded, people changed their driving habits.
“We saw people make seemingly permanent changes to their driving behaviors, driving less in general, consolidating trips,” he said.
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