WJPA News

Bentleyville Borough residents are now looking at a tax increase. Council this week voted unanimously to approve a more than $1.2 million spending plan that resulted after they reopened a budget adopted in December. According to the Observer-Reporter, it includes a one-mill tax increase that would be the first in the borough since 2018. Officials say the borough has operated at a deficit for four of the past five years and a review of that previous budget showed that it would have resulted in a large shortfall. The new budget includes higher wages for borough personnel, including the secretary, police chief and street supervisor. A special meeting will be held January 26 to vote on the new budget, which must be approved by Feb. 15. Newly elected Mayor Adrian Gordon can veto the budget if approved.

Pennsylvania’s attorney general wants utility customers to be alert for a scam that is circulating in the Commonwealth. AG Dave Sunday said his office is receiving an increase in calls about impersonation scams involving utility providers. He highlighted false websites that mirror websites that legitimately belong to utility providers, which are showing up in Google searches. Sunday added that people who click these links often encounter claims that say their payment is past due. The websites also try to frighten victims into making a rushed payment or giving up their personal information. Anyone who is unsure if they are communicating with someone who is a representative of their utility company is encouraged to try calling the number on their bill. People who fall victim to a scam or believe they are a victim should contact the Bureau of Consumer Protection by clicking here to file a complaint.

Columbus, OHIO (AP) — An Ohio grand jury has indicted a man in the double homicide of his ex-wife and her husband who were killed in their Columbus home last month.  Court records show a Franklin County grand jury charged Michael David McKee on Jan. 16, with aggravated murder and aggravated burglary while using a firearm suppressor.  McKee, 39, a vascular surgeon who was living in Chicago, is charged in the shooting deaths of 39-year-old Monique Tepe, from whom he was divorced in 2017, and dentist Dr. Spencer Tepe, 37, in their home on Dec. 30.  No attorney for McKee was listed on court documents.  Authorities apprehended McKee in Rockford, Illinois, last weekend. The hospital where he worked — OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center — has said it is cooperating with the investigation. He is currently being held after he waived his right to an extradition hearing Monday. His next hearing in Winnebago County, Illinois, is scheduled for Jan. 23.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks edged a bit lower on Wall Street as the first week of corporate earnings season closes out with markets trading near record levels. The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% Friday after a day of wavering between gains and losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1%. Gains for several big tech companies helped offset weakness elsewhere. A handful of regional U.S. banks reported their earnings following mixed reports from their larger peers. Pittsburgh’s PNC jumped after it beat Wall Street’s fourth-quarter targets, but Regions Financial fell after reporting results that missed forecasts.  (Photo:  AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal from agrochemical manufacturer Bayer to block thousands of state lawsuits alleging it failed to warn people its popular weedkiller could cause cancer. The justices said Friday they’ll consider whether the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of the Roundup weedkiller without a cancer warning should rule out state court claims. The justices will hear a case from Missouri, where a man developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after spraying Roundup on a community garden. The Trump administration has weighed in on Bayer’s behalf, reversing the Biden administration’s position. Some studies associate Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, with cancer. The EPA has said it’s unlikely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.

Federal immigration agents deployed to Minneapolis have used aggressive crowd-control tactics — including pointing rifles at demonstrators and deploying chemical irritants — actions the government says are necessary to protect officers from violent attacks and growing protests. But law enforcement experts warn these measures are escalating risk and being carried out by agents without extensive crowd-management training. Videos and witness accounts reviewed by The Associated Press show federal agents breaking vehicle windows, pulling occupants from cars and deploying chemical agents such as tear gas and pepper spray during confrontations with protesters. Experts say such tactics, while sometimes justified in targeted arrests, carry heightened risks when used for crowd control.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as U.S. layoffs remain low despite growing concern about a weakening job market. U.S. filings for jobless aid for the week ending Jan. 10 fell by 9,000 to 198,000, down from 207,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The figure was significantly less than the 215,000 that analysts polled by the data firm FactSet were expecting. Applications for unemployment benefits are viewed as a proxy for layoffs. The total number of Americans filing for jobless benefits for the previous week ending Jan. 3 declined by 19,000 to 1.89 million, the government said.