January 11, 2025 4:04 am
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was sworn in for a third six-year term after a reelection widely viewed as illegitimate and as his administration grows increasingly brazen in cracking down on its opponents. On Friday, the European Union imposed sanctions on 15 top Venezuelan officials who had a role in the country’s 2024 election, including the president and vice president of Venezuela’s Supreme Court. The U.S. and Canada also slapped a new round of sanctions on Venezuelan officials.
January 12, 2025 1:02 am
The jury reached a split verdict decision in the trial of Brandon Allen, 33 of Washington. Allen is one of three men charged in the May 2022 drive-by shooting on Ridge Avenue in Washington that took the life of Kristin Barfield. The jury’s decision was delivered at about 5:40 on Friday evening. Allen was found not guilty of the most serious of the charges, criminal homicide. He was found guilty on charges of attempted homicide, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, aggravated assault and two counts of recklessly endangering another person. Those were for attempts on the life of Trey Willis, the intended target of the shooting. He also was guilty of possession of a firearm without a license. Allen was found not guilty on charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and conspiracy aggravated assault for actions against Charles Dickson who was seated next to Barfield during the shooting. Allen is scheduled to be sentenced on April 9.
January 12, 2025 3:38 am
Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman released a statement indicating that voter rolls are being analyzed and inactive voters are being removed from those rolls. According to Sherman 4573 voters who have not taken part in two consecutive federal election cycles have been removed. These actions are in line with state law and the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Mail in ballot applications for eligible voters on the annual list are also now being sent out. Eligible voters that wish to vote by mail must have their application delivered to the elections office by the May 13 deadline.
January 11, 2025 3:37 am
District Attorney Jason Walsh has announced that his office will be providing a state of the art drug testing machine to the Canonsburg and Peters Township Police Departments. The District Attorney’s office obtained grant funding to supply the MX908 mass spectrometer. In what is described as a game changing tool to fight illegal drugs through real time chemical detection and identification, officers are able to quickly identify narcotics on the scene and act accordingly. Earlier this month, the District Attorney’s Office delivered an MX908 to the Charleroi Regional Police Department.
January 12, 2025 3:34 am
The Washington County Community Foundation has released a statement saying that President and CEO Betsie Trew will be retiring. The Board of Directors has been working on a succession plan for the last year. They say that they are reviewing many options but the day to day operations are in capable hands of the staff under the direction of the Board of Directors. According to the statement the WCCF has awarded over $30 million in grants and has assets of approximately $60 million. Betsie Trew is planning to spend more time with her family and grandchildren. (Photo courtesey of WCCF)
January 11, 2025 4:00 am
Interstate 70 Westbound was closed for several hours just after midnight on Saturday. According to Washington County 9-1-1 dispatchers, two tractor trailers collided. It was described as a sideswipe collision that happened in Fallowfield Township. No injuries were reported. Interstate 70 Westbound was reported to be open at 4:00 AM.
January 10, 2025 5:04 am
NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has been formally sentenced in his New York hush money case, but the judge has declined to impose any punishment. The sentence pronounced Friday by Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan cements Trump’s conviction while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine. It caps a norm-smashing case that saw the Republican convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a payment to bury affair allegations that threatened to cloud his 2016 presidential run. Yet it didn’t hurt him with voters. Trump denies wrongdoing and has vowed to appeal.
January 9, 2025 2:18 am
Jury deliberations began Friday morning in the trial of Brandon Allen, 31 of Washington for his role in a May 2022 drive by shooting on Ridge Avenue that killed Kristin Barfield while she was sitting on her porch. Prosecutors rested their case after cross examination of Detective Todd Foreman, Retired from the Washington Police Department regarding video evidence and cell phone records. Ballistics testimony wrapped up the prosecution’s case. The defense called only one witness, Amari Miller. The 21 year old Washington man was the fourth person in the car when shots rang out killing Barfield. Miller testified that he was in the front passenger seat when the shots were fired. He identified Juan Worthy as the shooter. He stated that he did see Brandon Allen racking a pistol but he did not see him fire it. That testimony regarding Allen is directly opposite of testimony from Tyriq Moss that identified Allen and Worthy as shooters. .
January 10, 2025 2:24 am
Washington City Council approved their measure to implement the 2025 fee for solid waste collection and alter the fee collection calendar. The fee for this year will be $300 until June 1. A late fee of $50 will be assessed from June 2 through October 31. On November 1 through December 31 the charge will be $350 plus fines and penalties. Council also had a first reading of two ordinances that expect to be passed next month. Those ordinances will address fees and collection timelines for the Business Privilege Tax and Mercantile Tax. According to Mayor JoJo Burgess, council has worked with their solicitor to determine practices to more aggressively collect taxes not being paid by businesses in the city and assess fines for non-compliance. A 2025 tax hike in the city has angered council and they are determined to make sure that residents are not saddled with taxes that should be paid by business owners. In other city business council hired two new police officers and two new fire fighters. They also re-allocated $152,000 in LSA funding to be used for the “President’s Pathway Project.” It is a pathway that will lead students from Washington And Jefferson into the city so they may take advantage of the restaurants and shops.
January 10, 2025 2:20 am
Washington County Commissioners unanimously approved a new person to serve as Chairman of the Local Share Account Committee. Mark Hrutkay of South Strabane was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Jeff Kotula earlier this week. Hrutkay is the former Director of Human Resources at CONSOL Energy. According to Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman, Hrutkay has also worked with the Republican Party in Washington County, he is a philanthropist and he and his wife have established a veternary service facility in South Strabane. Hrutkay has never served on the LSA Committee. Kotula served as chairman of the LSA Committee since 2008. Given Kotula’s lengthy term as chairman we asked if term limits on appointed positions to the committee could be a possibility. Sherman said that term limits would be a good thing to have but no plans are under consideration at this time.
