December 30, 2025 5:01 am
CANONSBURG, Pa. — Snow squalls made for a busy day for road crews and had a serious effect on the Tuesday morning commute here in Washington County. Canonsburg officials say they got nine inches of snow. Crews started working around 11 p.m. on Monday to try to keep the roads clear with each round of snow. Canonsburg’s Borough Manager Angela Senay said it was a team effort to stay on top of the slow-moving band of lake-effect snow. Canonsburg’s director of streets said the borough went through 125-130 tons of salt on Tuesday alone as road crews prepare for the possibility of more snow.
December 31, 2025 5:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some Federal Reserve officials who supported cutting a key interest rate earlier this month could have instead backed keeping the rate unchanged, minutes released Tuesday show, underscoring the divisions and uncertainty permeating the central bank. At their December 9-10 meeting Fed officials agreed to cut their key interest rate by a quarter point for the third time this year, to about 3.6%, the lowest in nearly three years. The minutes underscored the deep split on the 19-member policymaking committee over what constitutes the biggest threat to the economy: weak hiring or stubbornly-elevated inflation.
December 31, 2025 5:05 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Democrat Renee Hardman has been elected to the Iowa state Senate in a holiday-week special election, denying Republicans’ bid to reclaim two-thirds control of the chamber. Hardman bested Republican Lucas Loftin on Tuesday to win the seat representing parts of Des Moines’ suburbs. It became vacant after the Oct. 6 death of state Sen. Claire Celsi, a Democrat. Hardman becomes the first Black woman elected to the Senate. A GOP win would have given Republicans a super-majority once again, just months after a Democrat flipped a Republican seat in an August special election.
December 30, 2025 5:10 am
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump has indicated that the U.S. has “hit” a dock facility along a shore as he wages a pressure campaign on Venezuela. But the U.S. offered few details. Trump initially seemed to confirm a strike in what appeared to be an impromptu radio interview Friday. When questioned Monday by reporters about “an explosion in Venezuela,” the president said the U.S. struck a facility where boats accused of carrying drugs “load up.” Trump declined to say if the military or CIA was involved or where it occurred. He didn’t confirm it happened in Venezuela. The White House and Venezuela’s government did not immediately respond to a request for more details or comment.
December 30, 2025 5:09 am
Environmental journalist Tatiana Schlossberg, one of three grandchildren of the late President John F. Kennedy, has died after a battle with leukemia. Her family disclosed her death in a statement released Tuesday by the John. F. Kennedy Library Foundation. Schlossberg was 35. The daughter of Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline Kennedy, and Edwin Schlossberg, the journalist revealed she had terminal cancer in a November 2025 essay in The New Yorker. She was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in May 2024 at age 34 while in the hospital for the birth of her second child. In the essay titled “A Battle with my Blood,” Schlossberg recounted rounds of chemotherapy, stem cell transplants and clinical trials.
December 31, 2025 5:08 am
The Kennedy Center is ending the year with a new round of artists saying they are canceling scheduled performances after President Donald Trump’s name was added to the facility. The institution’s president is accusing the performers of making their decisions because of politics. The Cookers, a jazz supergroup, announced their withdrawal from “A Jazz New Year’s Eve” on their website. Doug Varone and Dancers, a dance group based in New York, said they would pull out of a performance slated for April, saying they “can no longer permit ourselves nor ask our audiences to step inside this once great institution.” Musician Chuck Redd canceled a Christmas Eve performance last week.
December 31, 2025 2:39 am
(AP) – An Idaho company is recalling nearly 3,000 pounds of raw ground beef that may have been contaminated with E. coli. The recall involves 16-ounce vacuum-sealed packages labeled “Forward Farms Grass-Fed Ground Beef.” Affected packages were produced Dec. 16 and have a label telling customers to use or freeze the meat by Jan. 13. The meat was produced by Mountain West Food Group and was shipped to distributors in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Pennsylvania and Washington. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it has no reports of illness due to the contamination, which was discovered in a sample during routine testing.
December 30, 2025 4:55 am
Overnight snow surprised commuters Tuesday morning, with significant accumulations and county-wide power outages thanks to gusting winds. Much colder air has moved in and that will settle in and will stick as another round of snow hits our area for New Year’s Eve. A Winter Storm Watch is in effect for the ridges of Fayette County from 4 p.m. Wednesday through 10 a.m. Thursday. Temperatures will be in the 20’s with wind chills in the teens as the ball drops on New Year’s Eve. (Photo: Houston, Pa. courtesy of Tony DePalma)
December 30, 2025 5:05 am
A strengthening bomb cyclone is barreling across the northern United States, unleashing severe winter weather in the Midwest and aiming at the East Coast. The storm brought blizzard conditions, treacherous travel and widespread power outages Monday across the Plains and Great Lakes. Forecasters say the storm intensified rapidly, meeting the criteria of what’s known as a bomb cyclone. The sharp cold front left parts of the central U.S. waking up to temperatures 50 degrees colder than the day before. The National Weather Service had warned of whiteout conditions beginning Sunday that could make travel impossible in some areas.
December 29, 2025 5:02 am
Gas prices are six cents lower here in Western Pennsylvania this week. That’s according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report. The average stands at $3.15 per gallon. Here in Washington, the average is down to $3.12 per gallon. Motorists continue to find lower prices at the pump. Over the past week, the national average for a gallon of unleaded has fallen three cents to $2.82. Gas prices have not been this low since December of 2020. Cheaper crude oil prices and increases in supply are contributing to the decrease in gasoline prices. Overall, 2025 has been a stable year for the national average with few fluctuations and no sharp spikes. Today’s national average is 19 cents less than a month ago and 20 cents less than a year ago.
