Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania judge charged with shooting ex-boyfriend as he slept
Suspended district judge Sonya McKnight. Photo / AP
A suspended magistrate in Pennsylvania shot her estranged boyfriend in the head as he slept last weekend, police said, in filing attempted murder and aggravated assault charges against her.
Tests showed Judge Sonya McKnight, 57, had gunshot residue on her hands an hour after Michael McCoy was shot in the bed of his home in the Harrisburg area, Susquehanna Township Police wrote in an arrest affidavit.
McKnight was in the Dauphin County Prison last weekend with bail set at US$300,000 ($488,000). No lawyer was listed for her in court records. A lawyer who had represented her previously said he did not currently represent her and declined comment. A message was left on McKnight’s cellphone.
Authorities say McCoy is now blind in his right eye.
Police wrote that McCoy, 54, had tried “numerous times” to get McKnight to move out after he ended their one-year relationship. McCoy came home to find McKnight in pyjamas on the couch. When he returned from a restaurant he told her he planned to get McKnight’s mother’s help to get her out of the home.
“Michael McCoy stated that it was like she finally understood that it was over,” police said. He went to bed at about 11pm.
McCoy awoke to “massive head pain” and was unable to see, police said, and when he began to scream McKnight told him, “Mike what did you do to yourself?” He had suffered a gunshot wound to the right temple that exited his left temple, police said. McCoy told police at the scene and later at the hospital that he did not shoot himself.
When McKnight called emergency services shortly before 1am, she “could not explain what happened and stated that she was sleeping and heard him screaming”, police said in the affidavit.
Investigators found doorbell videos from neighbouring homes that contradicted McKnight’s claim that she did not leave the home the night of the shooting. McCoy suspected she had checked on him at the tavern. Detectives wrote in the affidavit that the gun was registered to McKnight and both of them said no one else was in the home at the time of the shooting.
The attempted murder case was transferred from the Dauphin County district attorney’s office, which cited a conflict of interest, to a neighbouring prosecutor, Cumberland County District Attorney Sean McCormack. A message was left seeking comment from McCormack.
McKnight, an elected judge in Dauphin County since 2016, was suspended without pay in mid-November by the Court of Judicial Discipline, which handles misconduct allegations against judges.
The Judicial Conduct Board, which investigates and charges misconduct cases against Pennsylvania judges, claimed in a September filing that McKnight had violated judicial probation from a previous misconduct case centred on her actions regarding a 2020 traffic stop involving her son. She was acquitted of criminal charges in that matter.
Among the pending misconduct allegations, the board alleges that she gave excess leave to members of her court staff; directed an aide to ignore a woman’s civil complaint that claimed McKnight owed her for a $2100 ($3419) loan; and used a Facebook profile with her photo in judicial robes to promote sales of a consumer product.
Pennlive.com reported that McKnight was not charged for shooting her estranged husband in 2019 — after inviting him to her home to help her move furniture. State prosecutors did not charge her, citing self-defence, Pennlive said.
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Pennsylvania
Bill to ensure access to contraception advances in Pennsylvania, aided by dozens of GOP House votes
![Bill to ensure access to contraception advances in Pennsylvania, aided by dozens of GOP House votes](https://whyy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/04-27-2023-k-paynter-downtown-harrisburg-pa-captial-building-dome-weather-vane-4.jpg)
Planned Parenthood PA Advocates executive director Signe Espinoza called the proposal “an enormous shift toward control over our bodies.”
“We must have control over if and when we decide to start our families, but Pennsylvania has for too long allowed loopholes, exemptions and oversights to stand between us and our autonomy,” Espinoza said in a statement.
Rep. Krueger said in an interview Monday that she also was concerned about Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in the U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion access two years ago. Thomas wrote that the Supreme Court “should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents,” including cases that found married people have the right to obtain contraceptives, people can engage in private, consensual sex acts and the right to same-sex marriage.
A state law could help people obtain contraceptives if federal law changes, Krueger said.
“We have seen that access to reproductive health care, including contraception, is coming down to a state’s rights issue,” Krueger said.
In other states, contraception has been a politically contentious issue. A review earlier this month by the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for abortion access, found several states have proposed or enacted laws to reduce access to contraception this year.
KFF, a nonprofit that studies health care issues, said in May that 14 states have legal or constitutional protections for the right to contraception, with six states and Washington, D.C., enacting them since the high court’s decision on abortion in June 2022.
Pennsylvania
Pa. woman who drowned after being swept over waterfall in Glacier National Park is ID’d
![Pa. woman who drowned after being swept over waterfall in Glacier National Park is ID’d](https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/resizer/v2/ENNPVT7HEBAILPOJTGZWNTBSLM.jpg?auth=ae6ee71154605f3d0d14626ee27547b52589449aff7199c62704aa067d22f7ab&width=1280&quality=90)
A 26-year-old Pennsylvania woman drowned after being swept over a waterfall on the east side of Glacier National Park in Montana, park officials said.
National Park Service officials on Tuesday identified the victim as Gillian Tones from North Apollo in western Pennsylvania’s Armstrong County. She was remembered as caring and kind, triblive.com reported.
Tones fell into the water above St. Mary Falls at around 5:20 p.m. Sunday. She was washed over the 35-foot (11-meter) tall waterfall and trapped under water for several minutes, the park said in a statement.
Bystanders pulled Tones from the water and administered CPR until emergency responders arrived. She was declared dead at 7 p.m., park officials said.
The death is under investigation, and an autopsy was planned.
Her name was initially withheld until family members could be notified.
Drowning is one of the leading causes of death in Glacier National Park, according to the National Park Service.
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Pennsylvania
Conestoga Road Closing Weekdays For 2 Months In Radnor: PennDOT
![Conestoga Road Closing Weekdays For 2 Months In Radnor: PennDOT](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/22896833/20240625/103022/styles/patch_image/public/roadclosed___25103005562.jpg)
RADNOR TOWNSHIP, PA — Conestoga Road in Radnor Township will have a weekday closure due to Aqua Pennsylvania work for about two months, PennDOT said.
According to PennDOT, a weekday closure is scheduled on Conestoga Road between Lowrys Lane and Glenbrook Avenue in Radnor.
The closure will be in place weekdays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Monday, July 1 to Friday, Aug. 30,
During the closure, drivers will be detoured, using Sproul Road/Route 320, Lancaster Avenue/U.S. 30, and County Line Road.
Local access will be maintained up to the work zone.
Drivers are advised to allow extra time when traveling through or near the work area because backups and delays will occur.
All scheduled activities are weather dependent.
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