September 17, 2025 4:55 am
The Monessen School district is dealing with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. In a letter, Superintendent Dr. Robert Motte says there are 5 cases reported in the elementary school community. He says HFMD is a common viral illness that “primarily affects young children” and includes fever, mouth sores and a rash on the hands and feet. Motte says the district has conducted thorough deep cleaning and disinfecting of all classrooms, common areas, restrooms and high-touch surfaces in the building. All buses and transportation vehicles have also been deep cleaned and are disinfected daily. Officials continue to monitor the situation and are asking parents and guardians to monitor their child for symptoms and keep them home if they do show signs of HFMD.
September 17, 2025 2:51 am
North Franklin Township Supervisors Chairman Bob Sabot announced today that it is his understanding that the Washington Crown Center Mall has officially been sold. Sabot says he wants residents to know supervisors are one-hundred-percent behind the sale and want to defer – to the new owners – the opportunity to make an official announcement on the sale of the mall, the naming of the mall and what businesses will be coming to the mall. Sabot says the board this will assure a vibrant future for North Franklin Township and its residents.
September 17, 2025 2:36 am
The State Department of Environmental Protection has declared Thursday a Code Orange Air Quality Action Day for Southwestern Pennsylvania, which includes Washington, Allegheny, Westmoreland, Fayette, Armstrong, Beaver and Butler counties. DEP officials say the sunshine and high temperatures will allow for robust ozone formation during the late morning and afternoon. They encourage sensitive groups, like children, older adults and those with respiratory conditions to avoid heavy outdoor activities.
September 16, 2025 3:38 pm
PROVO, Utah (AP) — Prosecutors have brought an aggravated murder charge against the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk in Utah. Prosecutors on Tuesday outlined evidence including a text message confession to the suspect’s partner and a note saying he had the opportunity to kill one of the nation’s leading conservative voices and was “going to take it.” The charge means 22-year-old Tyler Robinson could face the death penalty if convicted of killing Kirk at Utah Valley University in Orem. Prosecutors say Robinson’s DNA was found on the trigger of the gun that fired the fatal shot. Kirk was gunned down Sept. 10 as he spoke with students. There’s no attorney listed in the Utah online court docket for Robinson
September 16, 2025 3:34 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge has dismissed terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione in New York state’s case over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, but he kept the state’s second-degree murder charges against him. Judge Gregory Carro ruled Tuesday that although there is no doubt that the killing was not an ordinary street crime, New York law doesn’t consider something terrorism simply because it was motivated by ideology. The ruling came as Mangione made his first court appearance in the state case since February. The 27-year-old Ivy League graduate has attracted a cult following as a stand-in for frustrations with the health insurance industry after Thompson was fatally shot in Manhattan in December.
September 16, 2025 9:37 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Shoppers increased their spending at a better-than-expected pace in August from July, helped by back-to-school purchases, even as President Donald Trump’s tariffs are starting to hurt the job market and lead to price hikes. The performance was also helped by the continued efforts by Americans to keep pushing up purchases ahead of expected price increases. Retail sales rose 0.6% last month from July, when sales were up a revised 0.6%, according to the Commerce Department’s report released Tuesday.
September 16, 2025 9:11 am
Robert Redford has died at 89. The Hollywood golden boy who became an Oscar-winning director, liberal activist and godfather for independent cinema died in Utah on Tuesday. His publicist didn’t immediately provide a cause of death. After rising to stardom in the 1960s, Redford was one of the biggest stars of the ’70s with such films as “The Candidate,” “All the President’s Men” and “The Way We Were.” Redford played the wily outlaw opposite Paul Newman in 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” a box-office smash from which Redford’s Sundance Institute and festival got its name.
September 16, 2025 5:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — With the Federal Reserve widely expected to reduce its key interest rate by a quarter-point to about 4.1%, economists and Wall Street investors will be looking Wednesday for signs of how deeply the Fed might cut rates in the next few months. There are typically two different approaches the Fed takes to lowering borrowing costs: Either a measured pace that typically reflects a modest adjustment to its key rate, or a much more rapid set of cuts as the economy deteriorates in an often-doomed effort to stave off recession. For now, most economists expect the central bank will take the recalibration approach.
September 16, 2025 4:57 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance says the national unity he’s “desperate” for after the assassination of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk cannot be had with people who condone political violence. The Republican vice president commented Monday as he wrapped up an appearance hosting Kirk’s radio program. Kirk, the founder of the Turning Point USA political organization, was fatally shot last week as he appeared at a Utah college. Vance said the Trump administration will explore “every option to bring real unity to our country and stop those who would kill their fellow Americans because they don’t like what they say.”
September 16, 2025 4:53 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says its expanded operation in Gaza City has begun and warned residents to move south. It said its intensified operation “to destroy Hamas’ military infrastructure” has started. Israel’s Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adraee announced the expansion of Israel’s operation on X on Tuesday morning, after a night of heavy strikes against northern Gaza that killed at least 20 people. Israel has been warning Gaza City residents to evacuate for the past month ahead of a Gaza City operation, but many have said they are unable to evacuate due to overcrowding in Gaza’s south and the high price of transport.
