September 1, 2026 4:36 am
Crews from PA American Water are working to repair a 24-inch water main break at N. College and Chestnut Street in the City of Washington. Water was turned off around 2:30 a.m. and about 96 customers are impacted. It’s expected that repairs could take about 12-hours and affected customers will be notified.
September 1, 2026 4:47 am
Hanover Township supervisors have once again continued the conditional use hearing for a proposed data center in Starpointe Business Park. During a three-hour hearing Monday night, Prime Data Centers, LLC answered questions about their proposed development, which would include seven buildings and a power generation facility. The hearing was standing room only, and attendees had mixed opinions. Emanuel Paris, the Vice President of Alex E. Paris Contracting Company, says he supports the data center, and the development supports the company. He explains that Starpointe Business Park is a great location for a data center, and it will cause limited disruption to residents. David Bentrem, a resident and farmer, says that data centers can have negative effects on animals and there are too many unanswered questions. Other attendees, like Mark Dumbovich, want to learn more about the proposed data center. Dumbovich says that he is neutral, but he believes that the board of supervisors should have an independent council to make sense of the information from Prime Data Centers, LLC. Solicitor Dennis Makel explains that they wanted to limit Monday night’s hearing to three hours, but it is far from over. Supervisors refused to comment after Monday’s hearing. The hearing will continue on September 21, 24, 29, and 30 at 6:00 PM at the Hanover Township Fire Department Hall.
September 1, 2026 6:19 am
A third man accused of sex related crimes against juveniles in Peters Township faced a judge and will have his charges sent to common pleas court. Charles Usner, 24 of Mt. Lebanon faces 8 felony charges including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 16, statutory sexual assault, photographing or filming sex acts on a computer and additional felonies. During the sometimes tense 90 minute hearing, defense attorney Lee Rothman tried to have charges dismissed because he said his client was misled by the victim. Police evidence stated that the victim was 15 at the time of an assault that occurred at Peters Lake Park in July of 2025. Rothman said that the victim portrayed himself to be 18 years old on a Grindr social media account. Usner said he saw “red flags” but proceeded to have the encounter. Rothman argued that the victim misled his client about his age. Police testimony indicated that parents of the victim made police aware of the incident when they found evidence of the encounter on the victim’s phone. Police detailed how they found recordings of a sexual encounter between the victim and Usner. This case was discovered during the investigation into a sextortion case against Zachariah Meyers that was charged earlier this year. Police say that Meyers coerced the victim to have sex with men and provide pictures. They indicated that the victim contacted Meyers about the encounter with Usner telling him that “I got vids”. Usner is being held in the Washington County Jail on $500,000 bond. A request to reduce the bond was denied by the judge. Usner will be formally arraigned on September 29.
September 1, 2026 4:44 am
City Fire Chief Chris Richer updated Washington City Council on the progress of the Washington Fire Department Training Facility. Richer says that the facility located on the old Ramage athletic field in the Tylerdale section of the city now has two buildings for training. One is a three story house structure that mimics many of the homes found in the city. It has steps, narrow hallways and multiple rooms. The second building is a live fire training structure where firefighters hone their skills for search and rescue and survival in a safe environment. Currently firefighters are training at the grounds. Richer says this is Firefighter Survival month. Firefighters can be seen training on how to escape a burning building or how to rescue a firefighter trapped in a burning building. Richer says that several neighboring departments are expressing interest in using the facility. He is grateful to council for granting the department the land and assisting in the buildout of the facility.
September 1, 2026 2:41 am
The search for three missing people following a boat crash on the Monongahela River in Greene County, Pennsylvania, has transitioned into a recovery operation. During a Monday afternoon press conference, Sergeant Frank Mehalko, with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission said that a 24-foot private cabin cruiser with five adults on board collided with a tugboat and its empty barges near Rices Landing Sunday night around nine o’clock. He says crews members from the barge pulled two people (a man and a woman) out of the water and both were flown to area hospitals in critical condition. Mehalko says the woman later died. Mehalko said that they have since shifted into recovery mode, after divers, air support from multiple counties and Maryland State Police, along with side-scan sonar failed to find anyone. As for the cause of the accident, Mehalko says they do not yet have that information. The identifies of those involved in the crash have not yet been released.
September 1, 2026 5:03 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down after 18 months on the job. That’s according to the White House on Monday. No reason was given for Driscoll’s departure, but tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been widely reported. It marks the latest in a series of shakeups of the military leadership, with the Army especially seeing major upheaval. A Driscoll ally was ousted as the service’s top uniformed leader in April. Under the new acting Army chief of staff, the service is pulling the plug on a drone modernization program that Driscoll had heralded. Driscoll is a friend of Vice President JD Vance and an Iraq war veteran.
September 1, 2026 7:23 am
A whistleblower for the U.S. Postal Service is warning that a new mail ballot system being hastily built to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting that method of voting could lead to the rejection of huge numbers of mail ballots. The whistleblower made the allegation anonymously in documents submitted by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal to the Postal Service. Blumenthal says the disclosure shows Trump is trying to sabotage mail voting. A federal judge has barred the Postal Service from making the changes for the midterms, but that case is being appealed, possibly to the Supreme Court.
September 1, 2026 5:05 am
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wants to rally the world’s largest economies this week at a summit in Asheville, North Carolina. The G20 finance ministers are meeting at a time when the U.S. has disrupted the international order with aggressive tariffs and an unpopular war on Iran. Bessent said he wants to focus on economic growth and debt issues, and wants to enlist support to isolate Iran. He met on the sidelines with Russia’s finance minister, but told his counterpart that Moscow needed to end its war on Ukraine before the U.S. would give it any economic relief, according to a source familiar with the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity.
September 1, 2026 5:01 am
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — The bodies of two friends — a Texas chiropractor and a martial arts studio owner — have been found after a major flash flood swept through the Grand Canyon. Officials said Monday that one person remains unaccounted for after about 80 others were rescued over the weekend. Park officials did not release identities, but the families of the two deceased men identified them as John Giusti and Brent Rosenkranz. THey say their buddy Saturday’s flash flood severely damaged the only water pipeline into the canyon. Officials have barred tourists from staying at lodges and hotels inside Grand Canyon National Park and issued emergency water restrictions for year-round residents. Officials say they used the park’s permit system to track the number of missing people.
September 1, 2026 4:59 am
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescue teams are searching for thousands of people still missing after catastrophic flooding in Nepal and China. The disaster has left over 1,000 dead. Nepal’s disaster agency reported 987 deaths and 3,916 missing, including 583 foreigners. Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing. The scale of last week’s disaster is hampering rescue efforts, with landslides and destroyed roads cutting off remote areas. In Nepal, rescuers are racing to reach hundreds of hydropower workers trapped in tunnels. The Aug. 26 disaster began with a chain of events high in the Himalayas. A glacial collapse sent large amounts of rock, ice and meltwater into valleys below, triggering powerful floods downstream.
