WJPA News

Due to persistent inclement weather and unsafe playing conditions, the championship game of the 2026 PONY League World Series at Lew Hays PONY Field in Washington has been cancelled.  The championship game between Taichung City, Taiwan and Washington County, Pennsylvania, has been cancelled and will not be rescheduled.  Organizers say they determined that the field was unplayable and out of an abundance of caution for the safety of the players and all involved, the game was called off.  Abraham Key, President and CEO of PONY Baseball said that this is the first time in the seventy-five-year history of the league that they have had to make this decision.  He offered apologies to all involved and said, “Sometimes Mother Nature does not cooperate.”

Nearly every chair was filled when the Building and Grounds Committee of the Peters Township School Board met to review their Five Year Capital Plan. Budget estimates are for $19 million to be spent on a wide range of items from transportation, to security and building maintenance. Alex O’Neill is the President of the school board and the chairman of the Building and Grounds Committee. After the plan was presented, several directors spoke up about timing of certain building maintenance issues. Spending scheduled for next year is $4.6 million dollars. Discussion had the committee consider advancing repairs to the HVAC at Bower Hill Elementary School bringing the new total for 2026-2027 to a new estimate of $6.3 million dollars. The fluidity of the discussion kept moving throughout the night. Paving and drainage work for the middle school parking lot and the Bower Hill parking lot along with HVAC repairs in several buildings are the biggest ticket items for the next five years. Improvements to the football stadium are also on tap. Bleacher replacement, track resurfacing and press box renovations are a few of the items in the project. The football stadium was a big topic of discussion. Several residents called the current stadium and facilities inadequate and overcrowded. School Director Rolf Briegel suggested the idea of building a field house to alleviate locker room overcrowding and possibly add practice space. Directors are considering financing options. They will be updated on their borrowing status during their voting meeting next Monday.

Washington, PA – Pennsylvania State Police, Troop B, has announced the arrest of seven individuals following a five-month investigation into numerous thefts of communication wire, specifically Verizon telephone lines, occurring from January 2026 to present throughout Washington County. The investigation resulted in the identification and arrest of the following individuals, who have been charged in connection with these thefts:  Ryan Michael Scott, 37, of Avella; Dennis John Kinkela, 49, of Burgettstown; Michael Douglas Hancher, 45, of Washington; Lawrence Angelo Bogo, Jr., 56, of Avella; Allen Cecil Jackson, 28, of Wellsburg, West Virginia; Justin Lee Fusarelli, 43, of Avella and Donald Edward Martin III, 36, of Bulger.  On August 8th, police say an arrest warrant sweep was conducted in Washington County, resulting in the apprehension of all of the suspects with the exception of Fusarelli and Martin, who remain at large.  Police are asking anyone with information regarding their whereabouts to call them at 724-223-5200.  The State Police were assisted throughout both the investigation and subsequent apprehension by the Washington County District Attorney’s Office, the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, the Jefferson Township Police Department, the Smith Township Police Department, the Hanover Township Police Department, and the Donegal Township Police Department.

A federal safety agency has issued its final report into a 2025 blast at a U.S. Steel plant near Pittsburgh that left two workers dead. The blast at the Clairton Coke Works plant occurred after a gas valve being flushed with pressurized water ruptured. The report by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board recommends that U.S. Steel develop a written procedure for washing valves with pressurized water in order to minimize the operation’s hazards. The report says the valve that failed was more than 70 years old and made from brittle cast iron. U.S. Steel previously was fined more than $118,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will be leaving the administration at the end of the month to spend time with her young family. Leavitt is the youngest person in history to hold the role. Leavitt, who served Trump as a press aide during his first go-around in the White House, has been one of the most visible advocates of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement. The Republican president described her as one of his “most trusted aides” in a social media post announcing her departure.  Leavitt recently returned to work after taking leave following the birth of her second child, a daughter, in May. She also has a two-year-old son.  “The truth is since returning to the White House after the birth of my daughter, I have felt in my heart that I cannot be the best mom my two young children deserve while devoting the constant time, energy, and attention required of the White House Press Secretary — and that is why I have ultimately made the bittersweet decision to depart the White House and embark on a new chapter in my life,” Leavitt said in a social media post.  (Photo:  AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation slowed last month and a measure of underlying price pressures also cooled, suggesting higher oil and gas prices from the Iran war are only having a limited impact on broader costs in the economy. Consumer prices rose 3.4% in July from a year ago, down slightly from 3.5% in June, the Labor Department said Wednesday. But inflation is still higher than before the Iran war began in February, when it was 2.4%. On a monthly basis, prices rose just 0.1% from June to July.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Moderate Democrat David Crowley has won the Wisconsin primary for governor. He defeated democratic socialist Francesca Hong. Crowley is vying to become Wisconsin’s first Black governor. He pitched himself as the candidate best positioned to win in November against Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump. Supporters of Hong and others in the four-person field faulted Crowley for getting back in the race after he had quit in early July. Crowley locked up the backing of more mainstream Democrats, overcoming Hong’s insurgent campaign. Crowley didn’t address supporters Tuesday night but was expected at an event later Wednesday.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan won the Minnesota Democratic Senate primary in the latest victory for an insurgent progressive over the party’s establishment. Flanagan on Tuesday defeated centrist U.S. Rep. Angie Craig with a pledge to fight the influence of corporations and confront Republican President Donald Trump. She was backed by popular progressives including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who rallied with her in the campaign’s final weeks. In the governor’s race, House Speaker Lisa Demuth won the Republican primary for governor. Among the candidates she defeated was Mike Lindell, the Trump-endorsed pillow purveyor, who has been among the most persistent advocates of the lie that Trump’s 2020 loss to Joe Biden was fraudulent.

(AP) – Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks that are intended to gain compliance from combative individuals. A notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security says ICE plans to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices” for officers and agents by March. The devices are known as the G.L.O.V. E. That stands for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter. They’re made by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky. They have been used in recent years by some jails and police departments.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles County grand jury has indicted Nick Reiner on murder charges in the killing of his parents, actor Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner. The indictment, unsealed Wednesday, includes an allegation that Reiner was lying in wait before attacking them. The couple was stabbed to death in their Brentwood home on December 14. Nick Reiner was arrested hours later and charged two days after the incident. The indictment allows prosecutors to skip California’s preliminary hearing process. The lying in wait allegation makes Reiner eligible for the death penalty, though prosecutors haven’t decided whether to seek it.

MEDINACELI, Spain (AP) — Millions of people crowded cloudless cities and towns in Spain in search of the best views of a total solar eclipse, when the alignment of the sun, moon and Earth briefly plunged parts of the planet into darkness. The crowds brought lawn chairs and umbrellas as they eagerly awaited the celestial spectacle, which began early in the evening. As the sky darkened, people broke into applause and cheered. It was the country’s first total solar eclipse in more than a century. Across a wide band of northern and central Spain and Portugal, millions of people enjoyed some of mainland Europe’s best views of the eclipse.