WJPA News

An Oakdale man is facing 20 charges, including homicide by vehicle, for a crash in August that killed a truck driver on a ramp in Washington County. State Police say they filed the charges against nineteen-year-old Jaxon Farrell, alleging that he was lane splitting between two trucks, one moving and one pulled over, on the Route 22 overpass in Robinson Township, that leads onto the Southern Beltway. Authorities allege that, while doing so, he first hit the tires of the stopped truck, then hit and killed the driver, 46-year-old Brian Everhart. Washington County Coroner Tim Warco had previously said that Everhart had parked to the right of the fog line and got out of his truck to check on a mechanical issue. Police say Farrell kept driving after the crash, but his vehicle broke down less than a mile down the road.  After catching up with him, State Police say he admitted to lane splitting but didn’t know he had hit a person.

PennDOT has announced 31 projects that are expected to start during the 2026 construction season, and will continue in 2026 in the four-county region. Officials say they anticipate investing more than $200 million in the region, which encompasses Washington, Fayette, Greene and Westmoreland counties. This investment includes rehabilitating, reconstructing, and resurfacing 99 miles of highways, as well as improving 48 bridges – 27 through preservation, three through rehabilitation, and 18 through replacement.   In Washington County, some of that work will include the Route 18 over Catfish Creek project which will replace the structure carrying Route 18/South Main Street, over a branch of Catfish Creek in the City of Washington.  That is expected to cost two-point-two-million dollars.  A second project involves the I-70 Bentleyville to Route 519 Preservation project.  Crews will mill and pave I-70 and the ramps at the Route 519/84 Interchange, Dunningsville Interchange, and Kammerer Interchange. The project will also include base repair, drainage upgrades, and raising the bridge that crosses Route 519, and will cost between twenty-million and twenty-five-million dollars.

The Monessen School District is asking parents and guardians to monitor their children for signs of chickenpox.  In a letter,  the district says a confirmed case of chickenpox was identified at the Elementary Center.  Officials say they are working closely  with the school nurse and following recommended health guidelines to monitor the situation and support the health and safety of students and staff.  Chickenpox is a contagious illness that typically begins with mild symptoms such as fever, fatigue and loss of appetite, followed by the development of an itchy rash.  The rash often begins as small red spots and progresses to blisters.  Symptoms usually appear 10-21 days after exposure.  The district is asking families to keep children home if they develop symptoms and contact their healthcare provider.  The district’s custodial team continues to maintain enhanced cleaning procedures at the school.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran responded to U.S. President Donald Trump’s address to Americans on the war with new missile attacks targeting Israel and the Gulf Arab states. The attacks underline Tehran’s insistence that it rejected Washington’s outreach for a ceasefire while maintaining its grip on the Strait of Hormuz. Britain, meantime, plans to hold a call with nearly three dozen countries about how to reopen the strait. About 20% of all oil and natural gas traded passes through the strait in peacetime. Trump has urged other countries to secure the strait, and the U.S. is not involved in the talks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump sought to explain his rationale for the war against Iran in a primetime address Wednesday. It was his first address on the war and it came at a pivotal moment at home and abroad as he amasses extraordinary executive authority to prosecute the military operation. Notably missing was his oft-repeated assertion that negotiations with Iran were underway. He softened his insults against NATO allies and did not indicate he was preparing to send in ground troops, particularly to retrieve Iran’s enriched uranium. But he gave no definitive end date for the conflict.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is expected to try quickly passing a measure Thursday that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security, though it’s unclear how swiftly the House will follow to largely end the longest partial government shutdown in history. House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced a plan on Wednesday to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security as part of a two-step process. The agreement puts the leaders on the same page for ending the impasse after they pursued separate plans that resulted in Congress leaving Washington last week without a fix.

WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell last week as layoffs remain sparse despite a softening labor market and rising energy costs due to the Iran war. The number of Americans applying for jobless aid for the week ending March 28 fell by 9,000 to 202,000 from the previous week’s 211,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 212,000 new filings analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet were expecting and within the range of the past several years. Filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Four astronauts have embarked on a high-stakes flight around the moon, humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than half a century. It’s the thrilling leadoff in NASA’s push toward a lunar landing in two years. The 32-story moon rocket blasted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center Wednesday evening, carrying three Americans and one Canadian. The Artemis II crew will spend a day in orbit around Earth checking their capsule before firing the main engine that will propel them to the moon. The nearly 10-day mission will see them fly around the moon and set a distance record, before coming straight back home.