March 12, 2025 8:41 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation slowed last month for the first time since September even as additional tariffs on steel and aluminum kicked in Wednesday that could send prices higher. The consumer price index increased 2.8% in February from a year ago, Wednesday’s report from the Labor Department showed, down from 3% the previous month. Core prices, which exclude the volatile food and energy categories, rose 3.1% from a year earlier, down from 3.3% in January. The core figure is the lowest in nearly four years. The declines were larger than economists expected, according to a survey by data provider FactSet.
March 12, 2025 2:11 am
Washington County’s Public Affairs Director has resigned his position, following his arrest in Mahoning Valley, Ohio, on misdemeanor charges of engaging in prostitution and possession of criminal tools. The Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force says 55-year-old Patrick Geho responded to an ad and arranged to purchase sex from some females. Geho reportedly pleaded not guilty and was released on a personal recognizance bond. He is due in court June 2nd. Washington County Commissioners subsequently released the following statement: “When we became aware of the charges in Ohio, the commissioners immediately acted to place Mr. Geho on unpaid leave, pending further details. While this is now a matter for the Ohio courts, Pat and the commissioners understand that his continued employment would serve only as a distraction. Consequently, Pat has made the decision to leave his position, a decision we all agree is in the best interest of the people of Washington County.”
March 10, 2025 2:29 am
A Washington County Court Jury deliberated for a just few hours Thursday before returning a not guilty verdict in the trial of 81-year-old Victor Ardeno of Canton Township. Ardeno was facing multiple charges related to the alleged rape of a girl over a period of several years, from the time she was five-years-old until she was eleven. Prosecutors laid out their case during the trial, by calling on the victim’s divorced parents who had entrusted the care of the victim and her brother to Ardeno several days a week when the mother had to work at night during her days of custody. Testimony revealed that Ardeno told the girl not say anything to anyone regarding the assaults. Finally, a school counselor was told of the assaults while they were trying to figure out the victim’s chronic absenteeism at school and failing grades. Victim testimony described the assaults that started as inappropriate touching all the way to full acts of intercourse. Defense attorneys tried to poke holes in the victim testimony pointing to differences in a forensic interview and direct testimony on the stand regarding the timeline of events. Ardeno’s attorney, Lane Turturice told WJPA that the verdict gives him hope for our system of justice and that things went the way for someone whom he thinks is a good man.
March 12, 2025 2:48 am
South Strabane Township Police say they have arrested 29-year-old Lindsie Spillar of Oakdale on charges of operating an escort and prostitution enterprise from the Rodeway Inn in South Strabane Township. Police say they served a search warrant on her room at the Inn and they found her actively engaged in prostitution with a male guest. Spillar was jailed on multiple charges, including possession of cocaine and heroin. Police say a search of the room revealed a small amount of cocaine and heroin, a large amount of cash and sexual paraphernalia. Police say Spillar also had an arrest warrant out of Westmoreland County for unauthorized use of a vehicle and for failure to appear. South Strabane Township Police Chief Drew Hilk says North Strabane Township Police and District Attorney Jason Walsh assisted in the investigation.
March 12, 2025 4:59 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has officially increased tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%. He has promised that the taxes will help create U.S. factory jobs at a time when his seesawing tariff threats are jolting the stock market and raising fears of an economic slowdown. Wednesday’s move eliminates all exemptions from his 2018 tariffs on the metals, in addition to increasing the tariffs on aluminum from 10%. The U.S. president has separate tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, with plans to also tax imports from the European Union, Brazil and South Korea by charging “reciprocal” rates starting April 2.
March 12, 2025 4:57 am
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has announced its own countermeasures, saying they will enter into force from April 1, after the Trump administration officially increased tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that as the United States is “applying tariffs worth 28 billion dollars, we are responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros,” or about $28 billion. The commission manages trade and commercial conflicts on behalf of the 27 member countries. Von der Leyen said that the EU “will always remain open to negotiation.” Britain, which isn’t part of the EU, meanwhile said it won’t impose retaliatory measures of its own on the U.S.
March 12, 2025 5:03 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has passed legislation to avert a partial government shutdown and fund federal agencies through September. The vote provides critical momentum for the measure, which now moves to the Senate, where bipartisan support will be needed to get it over the finish line. House Republicans needed overwhelming support from their members, and they got it in the 217-213 vote. It’s one of the biggest legislative tests so far of the President Donald Trump’s second term, prompting Vice President JD Vance to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning to rally support.
March 12, 2025 4:55 am
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Police in the Dominican Republic say the FBI has joined the search for a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student who went missing nearly a week ago while on spring break. Police said Tuesday they are re-interviewing people who were with Sudiksha Konanki before she vanished in the predawn hours of March 6 at a beach in front of a hotel in the tourist town of Punta Cana. The hotel said her disappearance coincided with a power outage that prompted multiple guests to head to the beach. Dominican President Luis Abinader told reporters that he lamented the situation.
March 12, 2025 5:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department’s civil rights branch is losing nearly half its staff in the Trump administration’s layoffs, effectively gutting an office that already faced a backlog of thousands of complaints from students and families across the country. Among more than 1,300 layoffs announced Tuesday were roughly 240 in the department’s Office for Civil Rights. Seven out of 12 regional offices were entirely laid off. It leaves thousands of cases hanging in the air, including cases from families trying to get school services for students with disabilities, allegations of bias related to race or religion, and complaints over sexual violence on college campuses.
March 12, 2025 5:01 am
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The Trump administration says it will immediately lift its suspension of military aid to Ukraine and intelligence sharing with Kyiv. The announcement came Tuesday, a week after the measures were imposed to push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to enter talks to end the war with invading Russian forces. In a joint statement released following a lengthy day of talks between Ukraine and the United States in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine also said it was open to a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia, subject to Kremlin agreement. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz both said the discussions in Jeddah had been positive.
