WJPA News

The National Weather Service has now confirmed a total of six tornadoes in Western Pennsylvania during storms over the weekend.  Three of them were in Washington County.  A tornado was confirmed southeast of Ellsworth. On Monday, investigators determined that two other tornadoes touched down. One was in Centerville and the other was in Beallsville. West Penn Power is still reporting more than 1,700 customers are still without power.  That includes more than 500 in West Pike Run Township and more than 200 in Centerville and Roscoe.  According to West Penn’s website, some customers may not have their power restored until 11 p.m Tuesday. The weather service also confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down briefly near Brownsville in Fayette County.  An EF-1 Tornado with winds of some 90 mph was also reportedly in Star Junction in Westmoreland County.  The weather service also reported that straight-line winds near 100 mph did considerable damage near Scottdale.

U.S. Steel plans to invest up to $2.5 billion into upgrades to its Mon Valley Works, which it forecasts will generate $1.7 billion for the state, according to a Monday report from the steelmaking giant. The economic impact is expected to include the combined dollars spent on things such as wages and construction costs associated with the upgrades. The investment will preserve the roughly 3,000 jobs at Mon Valley Works and create nearly 3,200 indirect and induced jobs over a three-year period, according to the report. It comes as a part of the company’s larger commitment to invest $11 billion into its domestic footprint by 2028, on the heels of a $15 billion acquisition by Japan-based Nippon Steel last year.

Chatbots on five different websites claimed to be licensed to practice medicine in the commonwealth when prompted by Spotlight PA — the same kind of output that led the Shapiro administration to file a lawsuit last month. A task force under Pennsylvania’s Department of State has been working since February to identify AI chatbots posing as licensed professionals and misleading users. Based on that work, the administration filed suit against the role-playing site Character.AI. Mirroring the investigation detailed in the lawsuit, Spotlight PA had conversations with AI characters on websites Talkie, Janitor, Kindroid, Replika, and Nomi.AI. All provided a false Pennsylvania medical license number when prompted, a key part of the state’s argument in its lawsuit against Character.AI.

PennDot is alerting Washington County motorists of nightly single lane restrictions that will occur on Interstate 70 between exit 25 (519/Eighty Four/Glyde) and Exit 32B (917/Bentleyville). The restrictions will begin on Tuesday June 9 at 6:00 PM. They will be in place nightly, Sundays through Thursdays from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM. Lane restrictions will be active in both directions. The restrictons will last until early November. Drivers are asked to exercise caution driving through the workzone.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A U.S. Army helicopter has crashed near the Strait of Hormuz, and President Donald Trump says the two crew members were not injured. Trump made the comments to journalists late Monday after watching the NBA Finals in New York while at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The New York Times first reported that a U.S. Army Apache attack helicopter went down near the strait in unclear circumstances. The crash came after Iran and Israel exchanged fire on Monday, imperiling talks over solidifying a shaky ceasefire in the Iran war.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump was booed loudly by fans inside Madison Square Garden when he was shown on video screens during the national anthem prior to Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Trump was shown for about 10 seconds giving a military salute. The boos ended when the U.S. flag followed him on the screens, and fans cheered when New York Knicks players were shown. Trump is watching from Knicks owner James Dolan’s suite. His presence Monday led to enhanced security measures, the cancelation of a watch party outside the arena and a no-bag policy for ticket-holders. The president told reporters later that he heard “mostly cheers.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters across Maine, Nevada, South Carolina and North Dakota head to the polls for another day of primary elections in America. But much of the political world will be focused on Maine’s high-stakes U.S. Senate contest. The results are not in question. Neither Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins nor Democratic challenger Graham Platner faces serious opposition for their party’s nomination. But Tuesday still marks a big moment for Platner, the embattled veteran and oyster farmer, who’s fighting to rebuild his credibility in a campaign rocked by controversy. Elsewhere, President Donald Trump’s clout within his party will be tested in South Carolina and Nevada, where he’s endorsed his favored candidates.

Three more cases of the New World screwworm have been confirmed, including one outside Texas, demonstrating the difficulty of stopping a pest that could potentially devastate the nation’s cattle industry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday the new cases were found in a dog from New Mexico and hundreds of miles away in a goat and calf in Texas. The screwworm is actually a fly, which produces a larva that eats live flesh instead of dead material. Females lay their eggs in open wounds any any warm-blooded animal such as cattle, but wildlife, pets and occasionally even humans can be infested. Before it was irradicated in the 1960s, the fly was an annual warm-weather scourge of cattle ranchers.

HONG KONG (AP) — China has reported its exports picked up pace in May, rising 19.4% from a year earlier. That was stronger than what economists had expected and an improvement from April’s 14.1% year-on-year exports growth. Exports have remained robust despite the Iran war, supported by shipments of autos and technology and artificial intelligence-related products such as semiconductors. Imports jumped 27.4% year-on-year in May, also at a faster pace compared with April’s 25.3% expansion. China’s exports to the U.S. in May were up more than 35% from the year before, after an 11% increase in April. The global AI boom and a rising worldwide shift to green technology are also helping.

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines (AP) — Rescuers are searching ruined buildings in the southern Philippines to ensure no one was still trapped a day after the strongest earthquake to hit the country in a half-century killed at least 37 people and displaced more than 20,000. Only four people were considered missing on official records in the southern provinces near where the 7.8 magnitude quake struck Monday morning. However, the Office of Civil Defense acknowledged several collapsed and heavily damaged buildings must be thoroughly inspected for possible survivors or casualties. The earthquake was centered off Mindanao and displaced more than 20,000, most of whom fled to emergency shelters.