July 31, 2026 2:24 am
Washington County Commissioners on Thursday, awarded bids for the new public safety building that will replace the old Courthouse Square building on Beau Street. The demolition of that building was completed last week and Beau Street, which was closed in early April, was reopened. Commission Chair Nick Sherman says construction on the new building should be getting underway in two to three weeks and the finished structure should be ready by early January, 2028. The vote to award the bids was two to one, with Democratic Commissioner Larry Maggi voting no. In a press release, Maggi says he is against spending forty-million-dollars to building a new public safety building at the same site of the old building that had allegedly been riddled with structural and foundation issues for years. “Now that we have a huge, gaping hole in the middle of downtown Washington and no other viable plans for the site, it seems like we have no other choice than to saddle our taxpayers with additional debt to approve this project. However, I have major concerns that prevent me from putting my name behind this costly burden to the taxpayers,” he said. Maggi says he is concerned about the site containing pyrite – a mineral that is easily damaged by water and can damage a foundation. Sherman, however, says that issue was addressed and rectified.
July 31, 2026 1:45 am
Charleroi, PA – Governor Josh Shapiro and Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Secretary Rick Siger, on Thursday, announced that the Commonwealth has secured a $166 million investment from GE Vernova to expand its operations in Western Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth is investing $6 million in the project, which will create at least 714 new jobs over the next four years and retain 735 existing, full-time positions. The global energy equipment and services company plans to expand its current operations at 101 North Campus Drive in Findlay Township, Allegheny County, and 216 Finley Road in Rostraver Township. GE Vernova recently purchased the Rostraver facility it had been leasing and plans to install new industrial machinery and equipment at both facilities. This expansion will support the company’s 714 new jobs. “From day one, my Administration has worked to make Pennsylvania a leader on economic development, supporting Pennsylvania businesses and workers to keep our Commonwealth moving forward. As part of that work, we identified energy and manufacturing as two key pillars of opportunity – sectors in which we’re poised to lead and continue to grow,” said Governor Shapiro. “It’s clear that strategy is paying off as companies like GE Vernova choose the Commonwealth as the place to expand and invest in, creating good-paying jobs that strengthen our communities and position our Commonwealth to lead the future of energy and advanced manufacturing.” GE Vernova also operates facilities in Allentown, Lehigh County and Charleroi, Washington County — where Thursday’s event was held.
July 31, 2026 4:51 am
It’s called ‘Washington Goes to Work’. A job fair that will feature some 13 Agencies looking for workers. It will be held at Alpine Bowling along Jefferson Avenue in Washington from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Mayor Jo Jo Burgess says it is an opportunity to meet employers, explore careers and build your future.
July 31, 2026 2:25 am
PERRYOPOLIS, Pa. — Two people were killed and another critically injured following a crash involving a motorcycle on Route 51 in Fayette County. Emergency crews were called to the 3530 block of Pittsburgh Road in Perryopolis near Randall’s Restaurant around 11:51 a.m. State police confirmed the motorcyclist and the driver of the other vehicle were killed. A passenger in the vehicle was flown to a hospital in critical condition. Fayette County Coroner Dr. Bob Baker identified the victims as Larry Hall, 81, of Belle Vernon and Frank McKula, 41, of Grindstone. Baker said McKula was driving the motorcycle that crashed into Hall’s vehicle at a high rate of speed. The person who was taken to a hospital was Hall’s passenger. State Police are investigating.
July 31, 2026 5:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he may withdraw and delay Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general until Republican senators who are seeking concessions from the top prosecutor leave office. Trump doubled down Thursday on choosing his former personal lawyer as the nation’s top lawman, calling him “a STAR” and saying he will keep him in the role as acting attorney general until Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina leave office next year. Cornyn and Tillis have sought additional assurances in writing that the Justice Department will not revive an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” created to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
July 31, 2026 5:01 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says a deal has been reached for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its forces from Gaza. But many hurdles, conditions and long timelines remain to wind down the war in the Palestinian territory. On Friday, a Hamas official said they have reached an agreement on disarmament. The White House announcement comes nine months after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was signed. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas had largely deadlocked over the implementation of its second phase, including the disarmament of Hamas and the reconstruction of Gaza.
July 31, 2026 5:06 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Analysts are expecting major oil companies to report large profits while fighting between Iran and the U.S. impeded petroleum shipments. Prices for Brent crude soared above $100 a barrel for much of the spring. Constrained supplies meant consumers around the world paid more for fuel and confronted shortages. But higher prices resulted in elevated profits for some of the biggest publicly traded oil companies. American oil and gas giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron are set to announce their earnings from April through June on Friday. They are among the companies positioned to benefit because they own refineries as well as extract oil and gas. Democrats in Congress have proposed taxing oil producers for war-related windfalls.
July 31, 2026 4:59 am
Anthropic says its AI models hacked into three organizations during testing. This comes just days after OpenAI said its AI models went rogue and hacked into another company. Anthropic, based in San Francisco, posted on its website that it discovered the incidents after reviewing over 141,000 evaluation runs. The company says it launched the large-scale cybersecurity review in response to the OpenAI incident. The models involved were Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Mythos 5 and an internal research test model. Anthropic says it reached out to the affected organizations, with two confirming they were unaware of the activity beforehand. The incidents highlight the vulnerabilities in AI security and controls, and raise questions over how AI can used safely.
July 31, 2026 5:03 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon said it will be increasing this year’s capital spending on technology, mostly artificial intelligence, by an additional 10% after the tech and e-commerce giant delivered strong profits and net sales during for fiscal second quarter, helped by surging growth in its prominent cloud computing unit. The e-commerce and technology company said Thursday that sales in its cloud computing unit called AWS were up 37% during the April-June period, faster than the 28% clip in the previous quarter and marking the fastest growth rate in 18 quarters. Amazon reported net income of $62.65 billion or $5.75 per share, in the three-month period ended June 30.
July 30, 2026 12:44 pm
Two Delta Air Lines planes were involved in a near miss at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday evening. The FAA says it has launched an investigation into the incident involving a flight arriving from Pittsburgh, and a flight departing for Rochester. The Pittsburgh flight, which was scheduled to land in Atlanta, had been diverted to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for several hours due to bad weather. In air traffic control recordings, the pilot of the Pittsburgh flight said he saw the departing flight on the runway and was going to circle around. At the same time, the departing flight took off from a parallel runway. Initially, both planes were told to turn right, and anti-collision alarms went off in both aircraft almost immediately. The controller was able to get both planes to fly away from each other but they were at one point about 1,800 feet and 600 feet in altitude from each other. Authorities say the Pittsburgh flight landed safely and there were no reported injuries.
