WJPA News

The search for three missing people following a boat crash on the Monongahela River in Greene County, Pennsylvania, has transitioned into a recovery operation.  During a Monday afternoon press conference, Sergeant Frank Mehalko, with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission said that  a 24-foot private cabin cruiser with five adults on board collided with a tugboat and its empty barges near Rices Landing Sunday night around nine o’clock.  He says crews members from the barge pulled two people (a man and a woman) out of the water and both were flown to area hospitals in critical condition.  Mehalko says the last information he had on them, was that they were still alive.  Mehalko said that they have since shifted into recovery mode, after divers, air support from multiple counties and Maryland State Police, along with side-scan sonar failed to find anyone.  As for the cause of the accident, Mehalko says they do not yet have that information.  The identifies of those involved in the crash have not yet been released.

Gas prices are a penny lower in Western Pennsylvania this week at $4.332 per gallon, according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report.  The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is one cent lower than last week at $4.08, but there’s been little movement on the crude oil front. Due to continued volatility in the Strait of Hormuz, crude oil prices remain in the $85 per barrel range. For the first time ever, the national average in August has been above $4 per gallon every day. This month is poised to set a new record as the most expensive August at the pump, surpassing the previous August record set in 2022.  The average price per gallon in Washington is four-dollars and thirty-four cents.

An elderly Woman in Monongahela was pronounced dead Sunday, after being found, following a house fire Saturday.  Washington County Coroner Tim Warco says seventy-five-year-old Linda Pankiewicz died in a fire at a home in the five-hundred block of Warne Street Extension.  Warco says a passerby reported the fire just before ten p.m.  Emergency Responders reportedly thought the home was vacant, however, human remains were discovered during the State Police Fire Marshal’s investigation on Sunday.  The Monongahela Fire Department said two firefighters were taken to local hospitals after suffering injuries in a fall. Their injuries were minor, and they have since been released.  The cause and manner of death is pending.  The investigation continues.  (Photo:  Charleroi Fire Department)

SEWICKLEY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A homicide investigation is underway in Westmoreland County.  State Troopers responded to a home on Herminie West Newton Road in Sewickley Township for an unresponsive female Sunday morning.  The Westmoreland County Office of the Coroner identified the female as Christin E. Hamilton of West Newton. An age was not provided.  A cause and manner of death have not yet been determined.  State police initially said they were searching for Jakob Michael Korber, who was in the area.  According to our news partners at WPXI, state police confirmed that Korber was taken into custody without incident. State police were conducting an investigation in the 1100 block of Herminie West Newton Road Sunday evening.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — The bodies of a Texas chiropractor and at least one other person have been found after a major weekend flash flood swept through the Grand Canyon, and forecasters warned more flooding was possible as heavy rain shrouded the canyon walls. Saturday’s flash flood severely damaged the only water pipeline into the canyon. Officials have barred tourists from staying at lodges and hotels inside Grand Canyon National Park and issued emergency water restrictions for year-round residents. More than a dozen hikers, including two on a dream trip with their chiropractor friend, remain missing Monday following waves of rain in the Bright Angel Creek area of the tourist destination that hosts 4.4 million visitors a year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing the White House to continue construction on President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project while his administration appeals a judge’s order halting the work. The justices intervened Monday after lower courts found work must stop because the project doesn’t have congressional approval. The decision replaces a temporary order signed by Chief Justice John Roberts hours before a court-ordered halt was set to go into effect. It allows the construction to continue as the lawsuit plays out, a potentially lengthy process. It’s a win for Trump as he flexes unprecedented executive power and remakes the capital in his image, and he says he is “pleased” with the ruling.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescuers are trying to find trapped workers in hydroelectric plant tunnels after catastrophic flooding in Nepal and Tibet killed at least 900 people and left more than 4,700 missing. Multiple foreign teams were assisting local rescuers to find workers in multiple tunnels at Nepal’s power plants on the rivers that flooded last Wednesday. Rescuers have been trying to find survivors for days, working through the rain. On the Chinese side, rescue and recovery efforts included rebuilding the road leading to Gyirong Port at the border between China and Nepal. They worked next to rushing water covering the road and hampering the ability to reach the border.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s newest space telescope has blasted off on a quest to find planets around other stars and explore the hidden universe. SpaceX launched the $4 billion Roman Space Telescope on Sunday from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. Roman blazed toward an observation point 1 million miles away that’s home to the Webb Space Telescope, one of NASA’s other crown jewels in the sky. Roman will take three months to reach its destination. Once there, it will survey the cosmos like never before. The telescope is named after the late Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer.

NEW YORK (AP) — Dolly Parton has been laid to rest at her Nashville burial site, Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum.  It was a private ceremony attended only by immediate family, as per her wishes.  Parton may be gone, but she is not done yet.  The estate behind the icon, who died of cancer last week at age 80, has announced Dollyfest, a two-day festival to be held in Nashville and London in 2027. According to a press release, the festival was originally conceived to take place in January 2026, around her 80th birthday. It was going to feature Parton as a performer and host. Now, organizers say it will serve as a celebration of her legacy.  (Photo:  AP)