WJPA News

The Washington County Chamber of Commerce hosted a Municipal Leaders Panel Discussion on Friday. Leaders from six communities related to members the challenges, successes and outlooks for each of their townships. Successes included ongoing recreational developments. Struggles described were with infrastructure funding and state regulatory bureaucracy. Outlooks, overall, were positive despite any difficulties that the communities faced. Darla Protch, Township Manager for Mt. Pleasant Township discussed her struggles trying to fund a $35 million sewerage project where they are financially qualified for a project one third that size due to their rural make up. Recreation projects were highlighted by Peters Township and North Franklin Township with regards to new parks in each township. Erin Dinch, Director of Planning and Development in North Franklin Township spoke of how their new Waterside Park will give the community the place to gain a sense of community and allow residents to meet the neighbors they otherwise may not meet. Outlooks overall were positive. Cecil Township Manager Don Gennuso says that supervisors there will be reviewing their comprehensive plan to make sure commercial and industrial development will be spurred along the recently opened Southern Beltway. South Strabane Township Manager Brandon Stanick spoke of their juggling act of planning for extensive residential and ongoing commercial development. The event was moderated by Chartiers Township Manager Jodi Noble.

(WPXI) – Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. said he believes Kennywood Park is unsafe following a shooting in September. He told our news partners at Channel 11 that his office compiled a list of security demands at the end of November and told the park to have them complete by opening day. According to Zappala, some things are not complete and the park is just one month from opening. Neither the park nor the DA would go into detail about what still needed to be done. Zappala said he hopes to work with the park in order to get safety measures in place before the opening in April. If the company does not comply, he says he is willing to go to court.

WEST READING, Pa. (AP) — An explosion at a chocolate factory in Pennsylvania Friday killed two people and left nine people missing. West Reading Borough Police Department Chief of Police Wayne Holben says several other people were injured by the explosion at the R.M. Palmer Co. plant about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The explosion just before 5 p.m. sent a plume of black smoke into the air, destroying one building at the facility and damaging a neighboring building with apartments. Holden says the cause of the explosion remains under investigation. A spokesperson says eight people were taken to Reading Hospital Friday evening.

NEW YORK (AP) — A powdery substance was found Friday with a threatening letter in a mailroom at the offices of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. It’s the latest security scare as the prosecutor weighs a potential historic indictment of former President Donald Trump. The letter said, “Alvin, I am going to kill you,” according to a person familiar with the matter. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation and did so on condition of anonymity. The discovery, in the same court building where a grand jury is expected to resume work Monday on the Trump case, came amid increasingly hostile rhetoric from the Republican.

NEW YORK (AP) — After nearly two years and $1.4 million spent, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration released an external review of its overseas operations that barely mentions recent corruption scandals and offers a series of recommendations that critics dismissed as overly vague. Much of the report outlines the DEA’s 69-country “foreign footprint,” while lauding its efforts to plug gaping holes in the oversight of undercover money laundering operations. The probe followed reporting by The Associated Press on a disgraced former DEA agent who confessed to laundering money for Colombian drug cartels and skimming millions to fund an international joyride of parties and prostitutes.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Shares in Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest lender, have fallen sharply and dragged down major European banks as fears about the global financial system send fresh shudders through the market. Deutsche Bank closed down 8.5% on the German stock exchange Friday after falling as much as 14%. That followed a steep rise in the cost to insure bondholders against the bank defaulting on its debts, known as credit default swaps. The new turmoil in the global financial system comes after the collapse of two U.S. banks and a government-orchestrated takeover of Swiss lender Credit Suisse by rival UBS. Asked whether Deutsche Bank could be the next Credit Suisse, Scholz said, “There is no reason to worry.”