July 24, 2022 8:05 am
SOUTH STRABANE, Pa. — Multiple fire crews were called to the scene of an industrial oven fire at the X-Mark Plant along North Main Street in South Strabane Saturday afternoon. Fire crews say the incident was contained quickly and personnel was only on scene for about 50 minutes to put out the fire and ventilate the building. South Strabane Fire Department was assisted by the City of Washington, Canton Township and Chartiers Township Fire Departments. Ambulance and Chair also contributed to this call. No injuries were reported.
July 24, 2022 7:48 am
PERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WPXI) — The county coroner was called to the scene of a water rescue in Fayette County Saturday. A dive team was issued to the Youghiogheny River in Perry Township near Layton Road. Multiple departments and crews were on scene during the incident, including the Perry Township Fire Department, Dawson Fire Department, Westmoreland County units, Fayette County EMS and Pennsylvania State Police. Response to the situation began at 4:55 p.m.
July 24, 2022 3:53 am
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh and Coroner Tim Warco held a joint press conference Friday to address an officer involved shooting that occurred May 22 of this year. Warco announced that Dennis Fonoimoana, 25 was killed by multiple gunshot wounds having been shot five times. District Attorney Jason Walsh cleared a Pennsylvania State Trooper of criminal charges and detailed the events that transpired causing the trooper to fire his weapon seven times killing Fonoimoana. Fonoimoana was part of a pair of individuals that stole a chain saw from Rural King and were tracked down by state police in Mt. Pleasant Twp. The trooper pulled the vehicle identified in the robbery over and the passenger, Fonoimoana refused to exit and refused orders to show the trooper his hands that were poised beneath the car seat. Fonoimoana revealed a loaded weapon from beneath the seat and the trooper fired his weapon killing him. Walsh termed the incident a justifiable homicide and indicated no charges will be filed for this incident. Pennsylvania State Police confirmed that the officer involved is still on administrative leave and will return to full duty soon.
July 24, 2022 1:48 am
Washington PA-Covid cases in Washington County continue to rise. On Friday the Center for Disease Control and Prevention shifted Washington and Fayette counties from the medium community transmission rate category to high transmission. Greene County moved from low to medium. The CDC recommends that people in high transmission areas to wear masks indoors in public and on public transportation. They also recommend staying up to date with vaccinations and boosters and to test if you have symptoms.
July 23, 2022 9:46 am
VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis’ trip to Canada to apologize for the horrors of church-run Indigenous residential schools marks a radical rethink of the Catholic Church’s missionary legacy in the Americas. Francis has said his week long visit, which begins Sunday, is a “penitential pilgrimage” to beg forgiveness on Canadian soil for the “evil” done to Native peoples by Catholic missionaries. His tone of repentance signals a marked shift for the papacy, which has long acknowledged abuses in the residential schools and strongly asserted the rights and dignity of Indigenous peoples. But past popes have also hailed the sacrifice and holiness of the European Catholic missionaries who brought Christianity to the Americas.
July 23, 2022 9:45 am
ALTO, Georgia (AP) – After a bruising opening to his general election campaign for the U.S. Senate, Georgia Republican Herschel Walker is trying to deflect attention back onto Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. He’s trying to saddle the incumbent with the weight of high inflation and President Joe Biden’s poor standing with Georgia voters. Republicans in Washington and Georgia quietly admit it’s the best – if not the only – way Walker, a former University of Georgia football star and political novice, can win in a newfound battleground state that the GOP insists still leans its way.
July 23, 2022 9:42 am
UVALDE, Texas (AP) – In the aftermath of the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, families of victims and many residents are navigating mixed emotions as they channel their grief and fury into demands for change. In the close-knit community, accountability can mean calling for the job of your friend, neighbor or employer. There are signs of political mobilization. The school board is considering firing police Chief Pete Arredondo over the slow law enforcement response to the killing of 21 people. The mere possibility of firing Arredondo after months of resistance from local officials stands as a demonstration of the victims’ families’ rising political clout.
July 23, 2022 9:39 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russian missiles have struck Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa just hours after Moscow and Kyiv signed deals to allow grain exports to resume from there. A Ukrainian spokesperson described Saturday’s attack as “spit in the face” of Turkey and the United Nations, which brokered the deal. The Ukrainian military says two Russian cruise missiles hit the port’s infrastructure and Ukrainian air defenses brought down two others. The Foreign Ministry said Russia would bear full responsibility if the war in Ukraine results in a global food crisis. Elsewhere, Russia fired missiles Saturday at an airfield and a railway in central Ukraine, killing at least three people, while Ukraine launched rocket strikes on river crossings in a Russian-occupied southern region.
July 23, 2022 3:53 am
(AP) – Authorities have filed charges against three more people in the case of a Pennsylvania 911 operator accused of failing to send an ambulance to the rural home of a woman who died of internal bleeding about a day later. Greg Leathers, Richard Policz and Robert Rhodes are charged with tampering with public records, tampering with or fabricating evidence and obstruction. They are or were managers for Greene County’s emergency management system. Prosecutors allege they failed to provide policy memo binders that detail standard operating procedures. Earlier this month, authorities charged 911 operator Leon Price with involuntary manslaughter in the July 2020 death of DianIa Kronk. The charges were based on Price’s failure to dispatch help without getting more assurance that Kronk would go to the hospital. All three men have surrendered to authorities and are free on twenty-five-thousand-dollars bond
July 23, 2022 3:53 am
CHARTIERS TOWNSHIP, Pa. – Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh says multiple charges have been filed against a Greene County woman in a shooting late Wednesday night in Chartiers Township. Walsh says 27-year-old Michaela Marie Hildreth of Nineveh faces charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and simple assault, for shooting 39-year-old Amy Mruk following an altercation in the area of 290 Moon Road. Authorities say Mruk was shot in the chest and was taken to Washington Hospital for treatment. Police say when they responded to the call they found a Black Chevrolet Tahoe in the middle of Moon Road, where the confrontation allegedly took place. In the car was John Thomas Mruk Jr. who told police that the victim was his ex-wife and she had been shot by Hildreth, his girlfriend. Police say they recovered the weapon they believe was used in the shooting, a Glock Model 43x 9mm gun.
