WJPA News

A standing room only crowd addressed North Strabane Township Supervisors at their non-legislative meeting Wednesday night to register their objections to a housing development bordering Peters Lake Park. Nearly a dozen residents told supervisors that they oppose the 41 unit development proposed to be built on North Spring Valley Road. Residents of North Spring Valley Road are concerned for their well water quality because construction may foul their drinking water. Currently, there is no provision to run public water to those residents. Traffic safety is also a concern because North Spring Valley’s construction is far from current township road standards and sight lines are being called into question. Residents that are adjacent to the lake registered emotional testimony asking supervisors to deny the application of the project so that the serenity they enjoy from the lake will not be disturbed. Supervisors did list more than a half dozen additional conditions that the developer, Laurel Communities, LLC would need meet. Terry Bove, of Laurel Communities says that he appreciates the community’s input and will study the proposed conditions when he receives them. Supervisors are expected to vote on the measure on April 30.

UPMC has announced that it will be laying off part of its workforce. In a statement, Paul Wood, the vice president and chief communication officer, said the health care system “continues to face the realities of a still-evolving, post-pandemic marketplace” and as a response to the ongoing challenges says “limited reductions are occurring.” Wood says the reductions are primarily taking place among non-clinical, non-member-facing, administrative staff through attrition, closing of open positions and elimination of redundancies, among other actions. “This realignment will not alter UPMC’s investments in our communities, facilities, commitment to clinical care and research, strategic growth, or to offering those throughout our workforce industry-leading benefits. Wood says the actions impact just over 1% of staff among its more than 100,000-person workforce, meaning at least 1,000 people are being impacted by the layoffs.  Meanwhile, Republican State Representative Tim O’Neal issued a statement saying:  “While I have great empathy for the UPMC staff who will be laid off, I have spoken to UPMC leaders, and its commitment to Washington Health System (WHS) will not change as a result of this announcement.  “UPMC promises to retain all WHS staff for at least 10 years if the merger is approved. While today’s news is upsetting, without this merger, we risk losing local access to health care. I again urge Gov. Josh Shapiro to encourage the attorney general to approve the plan.”

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday morning for the four-point-five-million-dollar Char House Renovation Project at 251 Ninth Street in Charleroi Borough.  Washington County Commissioners, along with federal, state and local officials were on hand to celebrate the project, which involved the replacement of the building’s electrical, plumbing and sanitary systems; new common area flooring and painting, the renovation of the community room kitchen and public restrooms, along with the kitchens, bathrooms, patio doors and windows of the apartments.  In addition, the parking lot was also paved.  Char House was built in 1979 on the site of the former Charleroi Ninth Street School.  Residents of Char House must be sixty-two-years of age of older or persons with a disability, and their annual income cannot exceed 56-thousand-700-dollars for an individual or sixty-four-thousand-eight-hundred-dollars for two people.

NEW YORK (AP) — A reluctant Donald Trump will be back in a New York City courtroom as his hush money trial resumes at the same time that the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in Washington over whether he should be immune from prosecution for actions he took during his time as president. They are entirely separate cases and 200 miles apart, but the proceedings Thursday are tangled together in one big legal and political puzzle. Manhattan jurors will hear more witness testimony from a veteran tabloid publisher, and Trump faces a looming decision over whether he violated a gag order imposed by the judge.

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering another abortion-related case while a repeal of Arizona’s abortion ban has picked up steam. Meanwhile, California’s governor has opened his state not only to Arizona patients seeking abortion but also their Arizona-based doctors. Those are among this week’s developments that could shape abortion policy in the U.S. as it continues to shift in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to undo a national right to abortion. States continue to diverge on the issue. Blue states like California are trying new ways to protect abortion access, and red ones like Idaho are trying to curtail it.

Palestinian hospital officials say Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip have killed at least five people. Among those killed in the strikes overnight and into Thursday were two children, identified in hospital records as Sham Najjar, 6, and Jamal Nabahan, 8. More than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in Rafah, where Israel has conducted near-daily raids as it prepares for an offensive in the city. Meanwhile, a top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy is thought to have extended its surprisingly healthy streak at the start of this year, with consumers still spending freely despite the pressure of high interest rates. The government is expected to report that the gross domestic product grew at a slow but still-decent 2.2% annual pace from January through March. Some economists envision a stronger expansion than that. A forecasting model issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta points to a first-quarter annual pace of 2.7%, propelled by a 3.3% increase in consumer spending, the principal driver of economic growth. Either way, the economy’s growth is widely expected to have decelerated from the vigorous 3.4% annual pace of October through December.

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — When cases of locally transmitted malaria were found in the United States last year, it was a reminder that climate change is reviving or migrating the threat of some diseases. But across the African continent malaria has never left, killing or sickening millions of people. Cases of resistance to antimalarial drugs and insecticides are increasing. Funding by governments and donors for innovation is slowing. And living conditions play a role, with crowded neighborhoods, stagnant water, poor sanitation and lack of access to treatment and prevention materials. For World Malaria Day on Thursday, here is what you need to know.