WJPA News

The storm system that rolled through the region early Tuesday morning resulted in plenty of problems throughout Washington County.  Washington County 9-1-1 dispatchers were busy all morning with numerous calls for accidents and disabled vehicles.  PennDot reduced the speed limit along Interstates 70 and 79 but that didn’t prevent countless crashed.  Dispatchers told WJPA News there were no major accidents but there were several jack-knifed tractor trailers and vehicles off of the roadway into the median or jersey barriers.  Washington City Police closed Murtland Avenue between Locust and Ridge because vehicles became stuck.  The weather system led most area schools to switch to remote instruction while a couple did cancel classes for the day.

The Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency Board of Directors announced $155,300 in new tourism investments on Tuesday.  Officials say the board has already awarded $454,275 in grants in 2025, and the additional grants will allow for future 2026 investments in capital projects and marketing.  According to Jeff Kotula, President of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Promotion Agency, tourism is a major economic driver in the county.  “The tourism industry continues to be a key contributor to Washington County’s economy.  In fact, according to the most recent report from the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development, the tourism economy is responsible for $719.5 million in direct visitor spending per year and supports over 5,500 jobs across the county.  These new investments in our tourism assets and attractions will support additional economic growth, improve the visitor experience, and increase our quality of life – attracting more leisure and business visitors as well as residents to our county,” Kotula stated.  The grants awarded were given to:  Always B Smiling; Claysville Playgrounds Association:  Little A Town Arena;  Marianna Outdoorsmen Association; National Duncan Glass Society; National Pike Trail Council; North Strabane Township Park; Washington County Heritage Alliance; Washington County Historical Society; Washington Symphonic Orchestra; West Alexander Agricultural Association and Family Festivals Association, Inc.

Washington County’s lone Democratic commissioner is calling for the creation of an Opioid Settlement Distribution committee.  Maggi says he wants stronger oversight of the distribution of millions of dollars in Opioid Settlement funds.  He says that there are currently only three employees deciding where that money goes, and he’s concerned that none of it, to date, has gone to the county’s drug and alcohol program.  Maggi says the county has distributed more than four-point-seven-million-dollars over the past year and a half, from a national class-action lawsuit filed against major drug companies.  Washington County’s money, according to Maggi, was intended solely to combat the opioid epidemic.  Maggi says there are several gaps in the process and he wants accountability.  He says there is no publicly available applications for entities seeking funding; no written guidelines detailing eligibility or evaluation  criteria; no published timelines or instructions for how and when to apply and no formal follow-up or auditing process to ensure that awarded funds are being used effectively and appropriately.  Maggi is also requesting a full audit and review of past awards to confirm that the funds were distributed and used in a legal, accountable and effective manner.  Commissioners Chairman Nick Sherman questioned Maggi’s proposal.  Sherman says the County has a board that oversees awarding such funds and recently held a meeting to discuss expanding it.  Sherman also says Opioid funds were also the subject of a meeting just last week at the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania meeting in which they laid out procedures for handling those funds.  Sherman says Maggi was absent from that meeting.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is citing the “fog of war” in defending a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea in early September. During Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting at the White House, Hegseth said he did not see any survivors in the water, saying the boat “exploded in fire.” Hegseth also said he “didn’t stick around” for the remainder of the mission following the initial strike, and said the admiral in charge “made the right call” in ordering it, which he “had complete authority to do.” Lawmakers have opened investigations following a Washington Post report that Hegseth issued a verbal order to “kill everybody” on the boat.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — The wife of former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández says he has been released from prison following a pardon from President Donald Trump. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has confirmed his release from a penitentiary in West Virginia on Monday. Hernández was sentenced last year to 45 years for aiding drug traffickers. His wife thanked Trump for the pardon, saying it ends nearly four years of hardship. Hernández was arrested in 2022 at U.S. request and convicted in New York. Trump, speaking Sunday on Air Force One, said he believed Hernández was set up and that Hondurans had asked for his release.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A faith-based pregnancy center will come before the Supreme Court to challenge an investigation into whether it misled people to discourage abortions. Arguments are being heard Tuesday. The facilities often known as “crisis pregnancy centers” have been on the rise in the U.S., especially since the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned abortion as a nationwide right in 2022. In New Jersey, the Democratic attorney general sent a subpoena for donor information as it investigated whether centers there had misled people into thinking they offered abortions. First Choice Women’s Resource Centers pushed back, eventually asking the Supreme Court to let it challenge the subpoena before a federal judge.

Nearly 44% of the 16,000 truck driving programs listed nationwide by the government may be forced to close if they lose their students after a review by the federal Transportation Department found they may not be complying with government requirements. Separately, the Department of Homeland Security is auditing trucking firms owned by immigrants to verify their drivers are qualified to hold a commercial license. The Transportation Department says it plans to revoke the certification of nearly 3,000 schools unless they can comply within the next 30 days. Another 4,500 schools are being warned they could face similar action.

NEW YORK (AP) — A Pennsylvania police officer has testified about confronting Luigi Mangione during an intense manhunt last year for UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson’s killer. Mangione was back in court Tuesday for the second day of a hearing in his bid to bar New York prosecutors from using some key evidence they say links him to last year’s killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Altoona, Pennsylvania, Officer Joseph Detwiler says that as soon as Mangione doffed his medical mask, the officer recognized the shooting suspect whose face had been on the news. The defense is seeking to keep jurors at Mangione’s eventual trial from hearing about some evidence. He has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges.