WJPA News

CANONSBURG, Pa. — A Canonsburg business was raided Thursday after parents reported their concerns to police. An investigation at Canonsburg Vapors began after multiple parents contacted police with concerns about the items their teens were allegedly bringing home from this local vape shop. On Thursday afternoon, the whole parking lot was filled with police cars, as officers from multiple agencies looked for illegal substances that investigators say were being sold at the store. The raid came after a months-long investigation by the Canonsburg Police, the AG’s Office, Homeland Security and the District attorney’s office. Detectives went undercover to get products that they then tested and discovered to be illegal. “During the course of the investigation, we were able to obtain some of the suspected chemicals or packages… It was sent to a crime lab,” Canonsburg Police Chief Al Coghill said. “Of course it was not marketed as what the label said, it was much more potent than the label indicated.” As of Thursday evening, the store remained open.

A missing boy has been found safe. The South Strabane Fire Department had posted on social media that they were looking for the boy at Community Park just before 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The boy’s name and age were not released. No other details are available.

The City of Washington Police have issued a statement stating that city police were called to an incident at the 7th ward playground on Wednesday May 7th at about 6:30 pm for multiple juveniles fighting. Upon police arrival, most of the individuals, including the victim left the scene. The victim did return to police a short time later to make a report of the incident. Police are asking anyone who witnessed the incident, knows the parties involved or has video of the incident to contact them.

WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. — (WPXI) – Kennywood’s record-setting rollercoaster, the Steel Curtain, is set to reopen at the end of this month. The park made the big announcement on Thursday morning, saying the work is officially complete and that test runs have already begun. The Steel Curtain will reopen on Saturday, May 24, at 11 a.m. The coaster has been closed since April of last year, before the 2024 season started. The park called it an extensive modification project “to increase ride reliability and longevity” as the reason for closing. The Steel Curtain was introduced to Kennywood in 2019 and quickly became a flagship attraction.

China’s exports to the United States have tumbled while its trade with other economies surged in April. Data released Friday showed China’s total exports rose 8% last month from a year earlier, much faster than most economists had been expecting. Exports to the U.S. sank 21% as President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese exports rose to as high as 145%. But China’s total exports remained resilient, with exports to Latin America, India and Southeast Asia expanding at a double-digit pace in the first four months of the year. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other senior trade officials are due to meet with Chinese officials in Geneva for talks this weekend.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he is naming Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, a former county prosecutor and elected judge, to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital after abandoning his first pick for the job. He made the announcement in a post Thursday on Truth Social. Pirro cohosts the show “The Five” on Fox on weekday evenings. She was elected as a judge in New York’s Westchester County Court in 1990 before serving three terms as the county’s elected district attorney. Trump tapped Pirro to lead the nation’s largest U.S. Attorney’s office after pulling his nomination of conservative activist Ed Martin Jr. for the position.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV will celebrate his first Mass after his historic election as the first North American pope. He will meet on Friday with the cardinals who chose him to lead the Catholic Church and follow in Pope Francis’ reform-minded footsteps. Leo, the Chicago-born Augustinian missionary Robert Prevost, surprised the world on Thursday when he emerged on the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, since there had long been a taboo against a pope from the United States. He spoke to the crowd in Italian and Spanish, but not English, and honored Pope Francis for his final salute to the crowd on Easter Sunday.

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged heavy volleys of shells and gunfire across their frontier in Kashmir overnight, killing at least five civilians amid a growing military standoff that erupted following an attack on tourists in the India-controlled portion of the disputed region. In Pakistan, an unusually intense night of artillery exchanges left at least four civilians dead and wounded 12 others in areas near the Line of Control that divides Kashmir, local police official Adeel Ahmad said. In India, military officials said Pakistani troops barraged their posts overnight with artillery, mortars and gunfire at multiple locations. A woman was killed and two other civilians were injured in Uri sector, police said.

MOSCOW (AP) — A military parade has begun on Red Square in Moscow, marking the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. President Vladimir Putin and a host of foreign leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, attended the parade. Victory Day is celebrated in Russia on May 9, the country’s most important secular holiday. The Red Square parade and other ceremonies underline Moscow’s efforts to project its power and cement the alliances it has forged while seeking a counterbalance to the West amid the 3-year-old war in Ukraine. The festivities were overshadowed by reports of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Moscow, disrupting service at the capital’s airports.