January 20, 2023 2:29 am
Washington County Prothonotary Laura Hough announced Thursday, her plans to run for re-election. Hough says she plans to seek the Republican nomination for the Prothonotary’s office in the May Primary. Hough was election to the position in 2019 as the first registered Republican to hold the office in over forty-years. Hough touted her actions during the COVID-19 Pandemic. She said she implemented immediate changes to provide needed services to the taxpayers. Hough says she made images of filed documents available remotely as allowed by statutes, provided the ability to file documents via email when the courthouse was closed to the public, and continued filing operations during the emergency period. Public daily list of filings known as Counter Pads were also made electronic and available on the county website. Hough has previously served as a West Pike Run Township Supervisor and has been active in the Republican party as a volunteer within the California Area School District.
January 20, 2023 2:15 am
A preliminary hearing for a North Strabane Township man accused of multiple instances of child sexual assault was held on Thursday. Leo McIntyre, 27 has been accused by six victims of indecent assault of minors and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child. McIntyre waived his right to a preliminary hearing and all charges were waived to the court of common pleas. According to police, the assaults occurred at McIntyre’s North Strabane Township residence. According to victim interviews with police the assaults occurred over the span of many years some as early as 2008. Another victim stated that assaults occurred earlier in 2022 before McIntyre was arrested in December. McIntyre is facing 15 felony charges including involuntary sexual intercourse with a child, indecent assault of a minor and corruption of minors. McIntyre is being held in the Washington County Jail without bond. A request for bond modification was denied by the judge, agreeing with the District Attorney that McIntyre is a danger to the community at large.
January 19, 2023 12:37 pm
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – Actor Alec Baldwin and a weapons specialist will be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer who was killed on a New Mexico movie set. The Santa Fe district attorney issued a statement Thursday announcing the charges against Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who supervised weapons on the set of the Western “Rust.” Halyna Hutchins died shortly after being wounded during rehearsals at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe in October 2021. Baldwin was pointing a pistol at her when the gun went off. Officials said the assistant director who handed Baldwin the gun has signed an agreement to plead guilty to negligent use of a deadly weapon.
January 19, 2023 9:56 am
Washington County Commissioner Nick Sherman has officially announced his bid for reelection. The Republican, in a release, says conservatives in the County have recognized his “first term as resoundingly successful.” He pointed to a charge against harmful lock-downs and mandates during the pandemic, as well as filing a multi-county lawsuit against Governor Tom Wolf. Sherman says he “fought to safeguard the voting process, eliminating unsecured ballot drop boxes and cleaning the county voter rolls of 26,000 deceased and ineligible voters.” Sherman went on to say “he strongly opposed the referendum vote to form a Local Study Commission in Washington County. The commission would have studied the adoption of a Home Rule charter or other governmental systems. Sherman was born and raised in Washington County and currently resides in North Strabane Township.
January 19, 2023 8:49 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell last week to their lowest level in 16 weeks, defying the Federal Reserve’s attempts to slow the economy and bring down inflation. The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of Americans applying for jobless aid for the week ending Jan. 14 fell by 15,000 to 190,000, from 205,000 the week before. The four-week moving average of claims, which can even out the week-to-week volatility, declined by 6,500 to 206,000. About 1.65 million people were receiving jobless aid the week that ended Jan. 7, an increase of 17,000 from the week before.
January 19, 2023 5:54 am
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has bared his frustration about not obtaining enough tanks from some Western countries to help Ukraine’s defend against Russian forces. The Ukrainian leader, at a breakfast Thursday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, offered a veiled critique of countries like Germany, Poland and the United States – crucial supporters of Ukraine – that have nonetheless hesitated about sending tanks. Speaking by video link, Zelenskyy bemoaned a “lack of specific weaponry” and said that to win the war, “we cannot just do it with motivation and morale.” He thanked allies for the military aid so far but urged them not to hesitate on tanks.
January 19, 2023 5:51 am
A lifelong Washington County resident is looking to become the first female District Attorney in the County. Christina A. DeMarco-Breeden has announced her candidacy for the office and will seek the Democratic nomination in the May primary. She currently serves as a Deputy District Attorney in Somerset County and operates a private law practice here in Washington County. She previously served as a prosecutor in both Greene and Fayette Counties. DeMarco-Breeden is originally from Carroll Township and graduated from Ringgold High School. She attended Temple University and received her law degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She currently resides in Washington.
January 19, 2023 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court says an eight-month investigation has failed to find who leaked a draft of the court’s opinion overturning abortion rights. That investigation included more than 120 interviews and revealed shortcomings in how sensitive documents are secured. The court says 97 employees, including the justices’ law clerks, swore under oath that they didn’t disclose a draft of Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade. It’s unclear whether the justices themselves were questioned about the leak. The court says its investigative team “has to date been unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence.”
January 19, 2023 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Treasury Department says it has started taking “extraordinary measures” as the government has brushed up against its legal borrowing capacity of $38.381 trillion. The Department sent a letter to congressional leaders Thursday to that effect. Frictions between President Joe Biden and House Republicans are raising alarms about whether the U.S. can sidestep a potential economic crisis. Markets so far remain calm, as the government can temporarily rely on accounting tweaks to stay open. That means any threats to the economy are several months away. But this particular moment seems more fraught than past brushes with the debt limit.
January 18, 2023 3:31 pm
(AP) – Anti-abortion activists will have multiple reasons to celebrate – and some reasons for unease – when they gather Friday in Washington for the annual March for Life. The march has been held since January 1974 – a year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision established a nationwide right to abortion. This year’s gathering will be the first since the high court struck down Roe in a momentous ruling last June. Since then, 12 Republican-governed states have implemented sweeping bans on abortion. But in the same period, abortion opponents were defeated in votes on ballot measures in Kansas, Michigan and Kentucky. And state courts have blocked several abortion bans from taking effect. (Photo: marchforlife.org)
