WJPA News

Residents that are in the Washington School District received some good news when the district released their preliminary budget for the 2026-2027 school year. There is going to be a tax decrease. According to the Observer-Reporter, the district has a spending plan of $36,851,554 and anticipated revenues of $$35,707,124. The budget gap will be made up by using reserve funds. The tax decrease for residents comes by way of the funding formula used by the Pennsylvania Tax Code that governs the homestead and and farmstead exclusion. According to Businesss Manager Emily DiNardo, residents will see a tax decrease of about $32. The budget is available for inspection at the district office. Earlier this week, the district revealed that there are plans under consideration to upgrade their football stadium. Renovations could cost anywhere from $7.1 million to $8.9 million depending on the complexity of the project.

A panel discussion will be held by the PA Black Mayor’s Coalition. The interactive town hall discussion will be held Saturday from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. at Eventful Dates at 54 Wheeling Street. Moderating the discussion will be Teresa Burroughs, Executive Director of the LeMoyne Community Center. Panelists include City of Washington Mayor JoJo Burgess, East Washington Mayor Demond Nixon and Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi. Other events include community networking from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm during the Pike Day event at the Bradford House and the LeMoyne House, and Community Night at EQT Park beginning at 6:30 pm. WJPA’s Tom Leturgey will be covering the panel discussion.

Family and friends gathered in front of the Washington County Courthouse on Friday, to protest a lack of movement by local authorities, including the Washington County District Attorney’s Office, in attempting to find out what happened to Matthew McDonald. McDonald was last seen on March 9, 2023, when his girlfriend reportedly picked him up at a job site in California and drove him to the area of Howe Cemetery in Long Branch Borough. She had claimed that he got out of the car and was last seen in the cemetery. She told police she returned to the job site to retrieve McDonald’s phone and when she returned to Howe, she was unable to locate McDonald. McDonald’s sister, Samantha Cummins says they believe the police department has given up on trying to locate him. She says they have not heard from any authorities since a few months after his disappearance. WJPA News reached out to District Attorney Jason Walsh who said in a brief statement, that the case has been turned over to the state’s attorney general.  McDonald is described as six-foot-one with brown hair and eyes and weighed at the time, around 185 pounds. He also has a tattoo of praying hands on his right arm. Cummins say they are not giving up hope and asks anyone with information to call the police.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on a two-day trip to Beijing next week, the Kremlin says. The announcement comes less than 24 hours after U.S. President Donald Trump finished his own state visit to China, where he also met Xi to discuss trade and the U.S. and Israel’s war in Iran. Relations between China and Russia have deepened in recent years, particularly since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Meanwhile, Ukraine on Saturday repatriated the bodies of fallen soldiers following an earlier exchange with Moscow involving prisoners of war.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says U.S. and Nigerian forces carried out a mission to kill a leader of the Islamic State group. Trump made the announcement of the joint operation to take out Abu-Bilal al-Mainuki in a late-night social media post Friday that offered few details. The president said al-Mainuki was second-in-command of the Islamic State group globally. Al-Mainuki was viewed as the key figure in the group’s organizing and finance, and had been plotting attacks against the United States and its interests, according to a U.S. official.

NEW YORK (AP) — North America’s largest commuter rail system has shut down as unionized workers have gone on strike. The Long Island Rail Road in New York ceased operations early Saturday morning after five unions representing about half its workforce walked off the job. The two sides have been negotiating for months on a new contract, but the unions were legally allowed to strike starting at 12:01 a.m. The MTA has said it will provide limited shuttle buses to New York City subway stations in the event of a strike. Gov. Kathy Hochul has urged Long Islanders to work from home if possible.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected Virginia’s bid to restore a congressional map that would have given Democrats a chance to pick up four seats in the closely divided House of Representatives. The court’s order Friday leaves in place a 4-3 ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court that struck down a constitutional amendment redrawing congressional districts that voters narrowly passed just last month. It is the latest twist in the nation’s mid-decade redistricting competition that was kicked off last year by President Donald Trump urging Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines. It was supercharged by a recent Supreme Court ruling severely weakening the Voting Rights Act that opened up even more winnable seats for the GOP.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister says that a lack of trust remains the biggest obstacle in negotiations to end the war with the U.S. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said contradictory messages from the U.S. have made Iran reluctant about its intentions in the stalled ceasefire negotiations. U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week dismissed Iran’s latest formal proposal as “garbage.” Trump has demanded a major rollback of Iran’s nuclear activities while Iran has said that it has a right to enrich uranium. Iran’s top diplomat says the issue of its enriched uranium stockpile is another one of the difficult sticking points in its negotiations.

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is commuting the sentence of a former county clerk and election conspiracy theorist following pressure from President Donald Trump. The announcement Friday stated Tina Peters will be released on June 1. The former Mesa County clerk had been serving a nine-year state prison sentence. Peters was convicted in a scheme to make a copy of her county’s election computer system in 2021. Since returning to office, the Trump administration has cut funding to Colorado as the president pressured the Democratic governor to free Peters.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration’s top drug official is leaving in the latest shake-up at the powerful health agency. Dr. Tracy Beth Hoeg said in a social media post late Friday that she was fired from the FDA. She had been leading efforts scrutinizing antidepressants, COVID-19 vaccines and other therapies at FDA. Her departure follows the resignation of FDA Commissioner Marty Makary earlier in the week. The FDA has been rocked for months by layoffs, leadership upheavals and scientific controversies. Hoeg and Makary both came to the agency as medical contrarians and critics of COVID-19 health measures. That stance aligned with health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s agenda.