March 21, 2024 3:32 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Sweet Easter baskets will likely come at a bitter cost this year for consumers as the price of cocoa climbs to record highs. Cocoa futures have roughly doubled in 2024 after surging 61% overall in 2023. Rising temperatures and weather conditions have stressed and damaged crops in West Africa, which produces more than 70% of the global cocoa supply. Big chocolate companies like Hershey’s and Mondelez have been passing those costs on to consumers. That has helped bolster profit margins. Both companies reported shrinking sales volumes for their most recent quarters as consumers grow tired of paying higher prices. (Photo: AP)
March 20, 2024 5:19 am
TEMPE, Arizona (AP) — Joe Biden and Donald Trump are moving closer to a November rematch, as primary voters around the country urge their favored candidate to keep up the fight and worry about what might happen if their side loses this fall. Both candidates are already their parties’ presumptive nominees. Trump easily won Republican primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio. Biden did the same except in Florida, where Democrats had canceled their primary and opted to award all 224 of their delegates to Biden. Both Biden’s and Trump’s campaigns are working to fire up their bases by tearing into each other and warning of the perils of the opponent.
March 20, 2024 5:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has announced new automobile emissions standards that officials call the most ambitious plan ever to cut planet-warming emissions from passenger vehicles. The new rules relax initial tailpipe limits proposed last year but eventually reach nearly the same strict standards set out by the Environmental Protection Agency. The rules announced Wednesday come as sales of electric vehicles, which are needed to meet the standards, have begun to slow. The auto industry cited lower sales growth in objecting to the earlier EPA proposal. Under its final rule, the industry could meet the limits if 56% of new vehicle sales are electric by 2032, along with 13% plug-in hybrids or other partially electric cars and more efficient gasoline-powered cars.
March 20, 2024 5:05 am
JEANNETTE, Pa. — Four children and an adult were killed in a fire Wednesday morning in a home on Guy Street in Jeannette, just off Harrison Avenue. Fire officials tell our news partners at WPXI, an adult and two children were rescued before flames spread out of control. Video from the scene shows intense flames that spread to a neighbor’s home. Both houses are a total loss, officials said. Flames also spread to a vehicle when the house collapsed. “We had an issue with the water supply,” Jeannette Fire Chief Billy Frye said. “The first hydrant that we hit gave us a little bit of water but not even enough to make it up the hill to the scene, so we did run off of tank water at one point. At that point, the fire was well involved and we had to pull our guys out.” The cause of the fire is under investigation.
March 20, 2024 10:22 am
It looks like the Washington City Mission will land a $500,000 LSA grant after all. At the request of County Commissioners, the Local Share Account committee reconvened for a virtual meeting Wednesday morning to again consider the Mission’s grant request towards its women’s shelter project. The meeting lasted less than thirty minutes and ended with a unanimous vote on a motion to amend the original vote and add the project to its list of projects for approval. It now goes back to County Commissioners for a vote that is expected at their Thursday morning meeting. Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi says the project was on an initial list of 51 projects recommended by the LSA Committee for approval totaling $9.2 million but was then excluded from a list commissioners approved last month that totaled 50 projects and $8.7 million. Former, longtime Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan (pictured) is now the President and CEO of the City Mission and took part in the the virtual meeting. She and others from the Mission answered questions from the board before the vote was taken. Irey Vaughan is thrilled that the project will land the funding. Maggi, who led the effort to get the project back to the LSA board, is also happy. He tells WJPA News the committee “did the right thing” but he also has concerns that what transpired will lead some to question the grant awarding process.
March 20, 2024 5:12 am
Charleroi Borough Council has made it official, Joe Manning is back as their Manager. The former Washington City Councilman was officially hired on a 5-2 vote during a reconvened meeting Tuesday. He is to receive a salary of $63,000. Council members Larry Celaschi and Joe Smith voted against. According to the Mon Valley Independent, Celaschi expressed concerns about Manning’s education and experience. Manning was initially hired as Charleroi’s Manager back in June of 2021 but served only six months before leaving in January of 2022. No official reason was provided and a non-disclosure agreement was reached between the two sides.
March 20, 2024 4:58 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors held a conditional use hearing for a proposed housing development near Peters Lake Park. The Collective at Peters Lake is a proposed 41 unit development that will be situated on both sides of North Spring Valley Road. The concept design calls for 12 units on the west side of the road and 29 units on the east side. The 35.5 acre development is seeking approval for a conservation subdivision that will allow houses to be built on quarter acre lots with dedicated greenspace set aside to make up for the difference of the required half acre minimum lot size in an R-2 residential zone. Steven Victor of Victor Wetzel Associates presented the plan on behalf of developer Laurel Communities, LLC. He indicated that this meeting is the first step in the process and the design presented is conceptual. The developer was attentive to traffic concerns not only along the rugged North Spring Valley Road but also its impact on traffic on Waterdam Road. Pedestrian safety along with environmental impact concerns regarding Peters Lake Park were also raised. Supervisors will address the item in their April meeting.
March 20, 2024 5:14 am
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — A federal appeals court has again prevented Texas from arresting and deporting migrants accused of entering the U.S. illegally, hours after the the law briefly took effect. Before a divided U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday let the state law take effect while a legal challenge plays out, some sheriffs were ready to relish an unprecedented state expansion into border enforcement, while others were reluctant. Hours later, an order by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put the law again on hold.
March 20, 2024 5:18 am
TOKYO (AP) — Seven people have been pronounced dead after a South Korean tanker ship capsized off an island in southwestern Japan, the coast guard said Wednesday afternoon, out of nine crew members found so far. Authorities confirmed that one member of the crew was alive, and described another’s condition as unknown. Earlier, authorities said all nine were in “unknown condition.” The coast guard is still searching for two more people who were on the chemical tanker, which flipped over after reporting trouble in a rough sea.
March 20, 2024 5:16 am
PHOENIX (AP) — Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band returned to the stage at the Footprint Center in Phoenix in a triumphant reboot of the Boss’ postponed 2023 world tour. In September, Springsteen, 74, announced his tour would be delayed until 2024, citing doctor’s advice as he recovered from peptic ulcer disease. In September, Springsteen, 74, announced his tour would be delayed until 2024, citing doctor’s advice as he recovered from peptic ulcer disease. The 29-song show came in just under three hours, but “The Boss” hardly broke a sweat while showing off a strong voice, all the while dancing, ripping into guitar solos, playing the harmonica and even tearing his shirt open near the end of the show.
