July 31, 2025 2:43 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to reestablish the Presidential Fitness Test for American schoolchildren. The program was created in 1966 and had children run and perform situps, pullups or pushups and a sit-and-reach test. It changed in 2012 to focus more on individual health than athletic feats. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says Trump wants to promote healthy active lifestyles for future generations. Trump plans to sign an order later Thursday reestablishing the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. He’ll be joined at the White House event by a number of prominent athletes, including some who’ve faced controversy such as Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, and retired New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor.
July 30, 2025 2:10 am
UPMC, a world-renowned health care provider and insurer, and GoHealth Urgent Care, one of the fastest growing, customer-centric health care companies, announce the unveiling of 81 UPMC-GoHealth Urgent Care locations across Pennsylvania and West Virginia. This new joint venture supports expanded access to life-changing medicine and on-demand care. The UPMC-GoHealth Urgent Care locations incorporate advances in technology and operations, while providing the same premiere health care that people know and trust from UPMC. The new UPMC-GoHealth partnership creates a digital and physical front door to connect patients to care within the robust network of trusted UPMC physicians and specialists. It also brings more ambulatory services, such as primary care, women’s health, orthopedics and radiology, closer to communities that need them.a world-renowned health care provider and insurer. In Pennsylvania, the UPMC-GoHealth Urgent Care network incorporates former MedExpress, UPMC Urgent Care and UPMC Express Care locations. In West Virginia, all former MedExpress locations are now UPMC-GoHealth Urgent Care centers. For locations, hours and more information, visit www.gohealthuc.com/upmc.
July 30, 2025 5:56 pm
Attorney General Dave Sunday announced on Wednesday that a Greene County woman pleaded guilty to kidnapping and aggravated assault involving two victims in 2022, as well as her role in covering up a double murder days earlier. Shawna Smith pleaded guilty to kidnapping, aggravated assault, and conspiracy for the Feb. 14, 2022, incident at a Waynesburg home. She also pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence and obstruction for helping to conceal shell casings from a double murder committed by her boyfriend, Cortland Rogers, two weeks earlier. In accordance with a plea agreement, Smith, 26, of Waynesburg, will serve 10 to 20 years in state prison. Rogers previously pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to serve life in prison for killing Kevin Williford and Judy Hunter on Feb. 1, 2022. Two weeks later, Smith and Rogers lured two victims into a nearby home and held the victims at gunpoint for several hours. The female victim was assaulted and suffered multiple injuries from being punched, kicked, and stomped on repeatedly.
The murder victims were found the same day Rogers and Smith perpetrated the kidnapping.
July 30, 2025 3:31 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is leaving its key short-term interest rate unchanged for the fifth time this year, brushing off repeated calls from President Donald Trump for a cut. The Fed’s decision Wednesday leaves its key short-term rate at about 4.3%, where it has stood after the central bank reduced it three times last year. Chair Jerome Powell has said the Fed would likely have cut rates already if not for Trump’s sweeping tariffs. Powell and other Fed officials say they want to see how Trump’s duties on imports will impact inflation and the broader economy. Two Fed governors dissented in favor of a cut.
July 29, 2025 8:52 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy expanded at a surprising 3% annual pace from April through June, bouncing back at least temporarily from a first-quarter drop that reflected disruptions arising from President Donald Trump’s trade wars. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that America gross domestic product — the nation’s output of goods and services — rebounded after falling at a 0.5% clip from January through March. The first-quarter drop was mainly caused by a surge in imports — which are subtracted from GDP — as businesses scrambled to bring in foreign goods ahead of Trump’s tariffs. Economists had expected 2% second-quarter growth.
July 30, 2025 2:30 am
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh has come under fire for the second time from the Atlantic Center for Capital Representation – a newly formed non-profit death penalty resource center in Philadelphia. They went before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court last week, questioning the number of death penalty cases Walsh has worked on. In a filing supplement to their original petition, the agency now quotes Washington County Coroner Tim Warco as saying that Walsh lied to a county judge and coerced Warco to file a fraudulent death certificate for a deceased child. The agency quotes Warco as saying that Walsh told him, “You know that I need this to be a homicide, I need it to win an election.” All of these actions follow The Atlantic Center’s request on behalf of two clients, Jordan Clarke and Joshua George, who are charged separately in the deaths of their infant children. It alleges Walsh is seeking the death penalty against them despite scant evidence that the deaths were intentional or especially cruel. Walsh spoke with WJPA News, calling this a smear campaign. Warco offered “No comment.” (PHOTO: Washington County website)
July 29, 2025 2:45 am
More than two-thousand customers were left without power for a few hours Tuesday afternoon, for two different reasons. West Penn Power Spokesman Todd Meyers tells WJPA News that there were two different outages that disrupted power to Washington county customers. Meyers says one outage impacted about 1,100 customers in North Franklin Township and was caused by heat and additional loading due to running air conditioners. Meyers say that damaged a power line and they had to shift some customers to other power lines to restore power as repairs were made. He says the rest of the customers were impacted in downtown Washington and surrounding areas. Meyers says a similar incident occurred Monday morning. He says crews are doing work to upgrade lines and that is what led to that outage. Meyers says crews were replacing cross arms on the same line when a guy wire was inadvertently broken on one of the poles, causing an outage.
July 29, 2025 2:29 pm
A Western Pennsylvania college student has been accused of making threats of violence against his school on social media. Trevor Howard faces charges after allegedly posting a question on the popular college student social app YikYak back in February. Howard reportedly asked how many people he could kill if he opened fire on the Washington & Jefferson College campus. The local District Attorney has said that Howard declined a five-year probationary plea deal. If Howard is convicted on trial, he could face a sentence of up to seven years.
July 30, 2025 2:20 am
A dangerous heat wave is expected to continue to blanket the area, with temperatures reaching into the low to mid-90s. Heat-related illnesses can increase significantly in the extreme heat. Health officials say to make sure to be prepared and find ways to keep you and your family cool. Stay out of the sun, stay in air-conditioning, keep hydrated, and keep pets out of the heat. Due to the extreme heat, cooling centers were opened around the county and Washington County’s Public Safety Office has released locations. which will be be updated as changes occur. (Photo: AP) For the complete list, click on this link: Click Here.
July 30, 2025 2:16 am
A Belle Vernon woman has been sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay $116,758 in restitution for social security fraud and theft of government property, according to Acting United States Attorney Troy Rivetti. Teresa Sabolek, 68, was sentenced by United States District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan in federal court. Sabolek was convicted of falsely claiming that her husband did not live with her to receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, which she was not eligible for. In May 2009, Sabolek applied for SSI benefits, claiming her husband did not reside with her in their Belle Vernon home. The investigation revealed though, that Sabolek’s husband had a driver’s license, mailing address, and registered vehicles all linked to the same address where Sabolek claimed to live alone. Agents visiting the home in December 2024 found that the husband indeed lived there and contributed to the mortgage and utilities.
