WJPA News

PITTSBURGH — A hearing in federal court for a Butler County man who authorities say was planning an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack was waived on Wednesday.  Twenty-one-year-old Jonathan Kramer was arrested on Saturday at the Cranberry Park Hotel.  Investigators said he had a semi-automatic rifle and 190 rounds of ammunition, with the alleged intent to commit terrorism.  “He armed himself to carry out a mass attack against the American people and was doing so right here in the suburbs of Pittsburgh,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard Evanchec said.  He had been on the FBI’s radar since 2023 when he was charged with having child porn and his role in a “plot to commit a mass casualty” event.  A future court date has not yet been decided.

Pennsylvania’s Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt held his second virtual update on the November 3 general election on Tuesday afternoon. In a seven-minute video, he touched on a variety of topics, like September 15^th’s National Voter Registration Day, the in mail-in balloting decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court, whether the state uses AI technology in the election process, and prediction market platforms. On behalf of the Shapiro administration, he called the U.S. Postal Service’s proposed changes to mail-in balloting “unlawful” and “an overreach” and called the Supreme Court’s decision a “win” for Pennsylvania voters. Schmidt said “Nothing has changed for voters” in the Keystone State and eligible voters should continue to have confidence that they can vote securely and safely. He said that some ballots have already been sent out to voters who asked for them. He also touted a new public relations dashboard that residents can check up on their voter registration, trends and up to date information at Vote.pa.gov.   Schmidt also added that A.I. tools are not used in elections, and that workers pledge an oath against prediction markets and other wagering. Schmidt will be back again Tuesday with another video.

During the agenda meeting for Washington County Commissioners, County Solicitor Gary Sweat alerted officials of closer monitoring of county data information. Sweat stated that pension office staff were able to access pension information from another county. Immediately, the organization responsible for county pension information, Pension Technology Group was notified. They are currently monitoring and working on the internal issue. In a second instance, the county C-Track system was compromised. The C-Track system monitors all of the information regarding the court system, not only in Washington County but throughout the Commonwealth. Thompson-Reuters is the organization that performs that service and they alerted the county to a data breach within their system. According to Sweat, both companies have been notified to keep the county informed of any changes in status. He says that he has been assured by both companies that no sensitive information for employees or citizens has been accessed. Sweat credits the county information technology staff for their efforts in these instances. Sweat says IT security has been significantly improved since a 2024 data breach to the county that held them hostage for several weeks.

North Strabane Township Supervisors will be finalizing a project that will hopefully keep car speeds down on two area roads and increase public safety. The DeMar Avenue and McDowell Lane Safety Device project will be voted on next week. The project is a traffic calming effort using flashing speed signs and pavement rumble strips to alert drivers that are travelling too fast on the roads. Supervisors are also developing a data center ordinance. Supervisors will look to alert the public on its availability to be reviewed and a public hearing will be scheduled. Supervisors will vote on the issues on September 22 at 7:00 pm in the municipal building.

Buffalo Township Supervisors are embarking on a project that has not been addressed in over 50 years. Supervisors are updating their Comprehensive Plan. The purpose of the plan is to guide township leaders in what the residents feel are priorities for the township over the next 10-20 years. Residents were mailed a survey with questions about the township’s future development. The survey is also available on line at the township’s website. Township Supervisor Randall Mounts says that feedback from the community will help them keep what residents want and make the improvements that they want. It will be a tool to guide governmental decisions and a demonstration to Pennsylvania officials to generate grant funding for possible infrastructure improvements. Terri Carroll is an engineer with Harshman, CE Group. They are assisting with developing the plan. She says that community input is vital to the process in proving to Pennsylvania officials that a project is a community priority, not a pet project for an individual. The township held a public meeting. Residents were asked for their input in several interactive displays. One asked if there were particular problems with a location and they were asked to mark the location with an adhesive dot. The most intriguing display was the Buffalo Bucks display. Residents were given $100,000 in Buffalo Bucks and were asked to divide the money among three priority projects from a list of 12 by inserting their “Bucks” into slots for projects such as roads, water and sewage, parks and recreation, business development and others. For those wishing to take the survey, the opportunity is still there. The plan will be developed and hopefully be ready for adoption in about 12 months.

NEW YORK (AP) — Pennsylvania officials are reporting a fourth measles-associated death. An 18-year-old from Mifflin County died from a severe neurological complication of the virus. None of the four who died were vaccinated. The U.S. is experiencing its worst measles year since 1991, with seven deaths in two years. Pennsylvania’s outbreak includes nearly 700 illnesses across 38 counties. These are the first measles-associated deaths in the state in 35 years. Health officials emphasize the importance of the MMR vaccine to prevent outbreaks. International health officials will meet in November to assess the U.S. and Mexico’s measles-free status.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fencing has gone up around the main Kennedy Center building, a day after the Trump-aligned board voted to close most of the performing arts center for repairs. That vote came after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning President Donald Trump’s name to the building. The Republican had said in social media post that the closure was needed for safety repairs. But he said the repairs, which Congress has allocated $257 million to cover, would only happen if the board was permitted to move forward with plans to add his name to the building.

NEW YORK (AP) — Consumers stepped up their spending at a better-than-expected pace in August after an unexpectedly sharp pullback in July. Retail sales rose 1.2% last month after recording a revised 0.5% dip in July, according to Commerce Department data released Wednesday. The decline in July was notable because there had been few signs of fatigue from U.S. consumers. Americans spent heavily during the World Cup and Amazon Prime Day sales this summer. That followed heavy retail traffic in April and May as Americans dipped into their government tax refunds. Excluding gas prices, retail sales rose 1.1% in August. The government figures aren’t adjusted for inflation.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Officials say a news helicopter for NBC and Telemundo 52 crashed in Los Angeles and killed at least three people. NBC4 Los Angeles anchor Colleen Williams confirmed during live broadcasts Tuesday that the station’s chopper went down just before 7 p.m. She identified two people on the helicopter who were killed as reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw. An official says one person outside in a parking lot was killed. The helicopter was covering a fatal bus accident. Officials say two people were killed and six others were injured after an SUV crashed into a city bus. Photos and videos online showed around half an SUV lodged into the side of an MTA bus.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barely four months into the job, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is stuck between two strong but opposing forces: Financial markets that anticipate the central bank will raise interest rates, and President Donald Trump, who wants the Fed to cut them or leave them unchanged. Economists expect that on Wednesday, Warsh and his fellow policymakers will side with the markets. Warsh, many Fed-watchers say, has largely boxed himself into a rate hike after delivering a high-profile speech last month warning that inflation remains too far above the Fed’s 2% target and might require higher borrowing costs to bring it down.

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Kash Patel is defending the bureau’s loosening of hiring requirements regarding prostitution and bestiality, saying the changes were meant to enable victims of those acts to apply for employment without fear of automatic disqualification. The subject arose during a contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in which Patel clashed with Democrats over his firing of agents who participated in investigations of President Donald Trump, a spate of media leak probes, and whether employees would be dispatched to the polls on Election Day in light of the bureau’s ongoing election-related investigations and Trump’s repeated and false claims about the existence of pervasive voter fraud.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats have blocked legislation to create a new regulatory framework for cryptocurrency. In doing so, they are stalling an industry-backed effort to place new guardrails around digital assets after demanding more limits on President Donald Trump’s investments. Tuesday’s vote was a pivotal election-year test for the $2.3 trillion cryptocurrency market and came as Trump has amassed significant crypto wealth while in office. While some Democrats are friendly toward the industry and support the idea of regulation, they have been adamant that the bill include strong ethics safeguards to prevent Trump and his family from enriching themselves in office.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is planning to deliver powerful 2,000-pound bombs to Israel as part of an upcoming arms deal. The $2.8 billion package includes 40,000 of the bombs, made up of 20,000 Mk84s and 20,000 BLU-117s. That’s according to two U.S. officials and a person familiar with the plan who spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the package, which is not yet final. Such weapons prompted such concerns about the possibility of mass casualties in Gaza that the Biden administration paused their delivery two years ago. Congress has been informally notified about the pending deal.

NEW YORK (AP) — Small business owners in the United States and Canada say a trade war between their countries is hurting sales while they are also dealing with rising expenses from higher fuel costs. Canada imposed reciprocal tariffs on about $20 billion worth of U.S. goods last week after President Donald Trump placed import taxes on Canadian goods worth the same amount. Trump said the U.S. also would ban imports of wine, whiskey, selected motorcycles and the cheese-derived protein additive whey from Canada. The conflict between the economically entwined neighbors affects only about 5% of total exports and imports, but it is having a big impact on small businesses that depend on cross-border sales.

Leading voices in AI, including Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, agree that AI development needs to slow down. This consensus follows a former researcher’s warning about AI’s threats to humanity. But implementing a slowdown faces challenges like global competition, profit motives and pushback from the Trump administration. Amodei suggests independent evaluators for safety monitoring and calls for government regulation. Critics question the feasibility of these measures. President Donald Trump opposes limiting AI, viewing regulation as an obstacle for progress and beating China in the AI race. Industry experts are hopeful but uncertain about achieving a more safety-focused approach.

(AP) – Ed Sheeran’s tour has been thrown into turmoil by all of his supporting acts quitting after the rapper Macklemore was dropped as an opener due to pro-Palestinian comments he made onstage. Sheeran says the decision to drop Macklemore made by the promoter, not him. But the ouster led to Finneas, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe, and Beoga all leaving as well, citing artistic freedom and opposition to financial influence. That’s an apparent reference to billionaire Robert Kraft’s role in Macklemore’s ouster. Sheeran hasn’t commented since the other supporting acts left. His next performance is in Philadelphia on Saturday.