April 4, 2025 2:19 am
Washington City Council has handed down disciplinary action against three firefighters. In a roll call vote with councilman Joe Pintola absent, council unanimously suspended one fire fighter for two weeks with an additional period of 60 days of ineligibility for overtime. A second fire fighter was demoted from captain and then terminated. A third fire fighter was terminated. Neither Fire Chief Chris Richer or Mayor JoJo Burgess would elaborate on details of any incident. Both issued statements pointing out that at no time was the public involved, nor was there any danger to the public. They will remain silent on the details to allow the accused to have their due process in finalizing their incident. Swearing in was also held for one new firefighter while another was promoted to Fire Department Engineer. According to Richer, the department has two fire fighters attending the Fire Academy with an anticipated graduation date in June. The department is fully staffed at 22. In addition to the fire department actions, the police department accepted the retirement of Captain Von Lacock, a 23 year veteran. They also swore in Police Officer Lt. Michael Cain. At the end of the meeting, Mayor JoJo Burgess announced a Job Fair that will be held May 12. He also announced a low income housing program that is in its early stages. He stated that the city is working with the Redevelopment Authority of Washington County and local contractors to renovate abandoned homes to sell to low income home buyers. Burgess hopes to have the first home closed by the end of this year.
April 4, 2025 2:10 am
Opening Day at Kennywood is a little over a week away. The 127-year-old amusement park will open on April 12 and remain open until early 2026. That’s the West Mifflin park’s longest season ever. There’s an all-new Kennywood Junction themed area modeled after a small steel town neighborhood. There’s Tuft’s a 6-foot rabbit character, a new celebration room that people can rent out for special events, a retail store and more focused on an “Eggcellent” Celebration. Plus, General Manager Ricky Spicuzza says the Steel Curtain will re-open again sometime this year. There are also other surprises planned that officials weren’t quite ready to announce. There are some new food options on various menus, but one thing won’t change. Even though Kennywood has a new owner, there will always be Kennywood fries.
April 3, 2025 5:43 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former heart surgeon and TV pitchman Dr. Mehmet Oz was confirmed Thursday to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Oz became the agency’s administrator in a party line 53-45 vote. The 64-year-old will manage health insurance programs for roughly half the country, with oversight of Medicare, Medicaid or Affordable Care Act coverage. He steps into the new role as Congress is debating cuts to the Medicaid program, which provides coverage to millions of poor and disabled Americans.
April 3, 2025 2:39 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Financial markets around the world are reeling following President Donald Trump’s latest and most severe volley of tariffs, and the U.S. stock market is taking the worst of it so far. The S&P 500 fell 4.2% Thursday, more than other major stock markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,394 points, and the Nasdaq composite sank 5.3%. Little was spared as fear flared globally about the potentially toxic mix of higher inflation and weakening economic growth that tariffs can create. Everything from crude oil to Big Tech stocks to the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies fell. Even gold pulled lower. (Photo: AP)
April 3, 2025 5:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Amazon has put in a bid to purchase TikTok. A Trump administration confirmed the eleventh-hour pitch as a U.S. ban on the platform is set to go into effect Saturday. The official wasn’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The official says the offer came in a letter to Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The existence of an Amazon bid surfaced as Trump was scheduled on Wednesday to meet with senior officials to discuss the coming deadline for a TikTok sale.
April 3, 2025 5:09 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Tesla sales fell in the first three months of the year in another sign that Elon Musk’s once high-flying electric car company is struggling to attract buyers. The company reported that deliveries of its electric vehicles dropped 13% in the January to March period. The weak demand was likely due to a combination of factors, including its aging lineup, competition from rivals and a backlash from Musk’s embrace of right wing politics. It also is a warning that the company’s first-quarter earnings report later this month could disappoint investors.
April 3, 2025 5:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A vaccination to prevent horribly painful shingles may offer an extra benefit: New research suggests it might lower the risk of dementia, too. There have long been hints that certain viruses increase risk for later-in-life dementia, including the virus that causes chickenpox. That virus never leaves the body, hiding in nerves to erupt later when the immune system wanes from illness or age — what’s called shingles. The new study tracked seniors in Wales and found shingles vaccination cut their risk of developing dementia over the next seven years by 20%. The study was published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
April 3, 2025 5:05 am
Violent storms have cut through a wide swath of the South and Midwest, spawning tornadoes and killing at least one person, knocking down power lines and trees and ripping roofs off homes. Dozens of tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings were posted in several states as violent storms hit the region Wednesday. At least one tornado emergency was issued in Arkansas. Forecasters say it is the opening act for a week of wild weather as daytime heating combines with an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming in from the Gulf.
April 3, 2025 5:03 am
(AP) – Sweeping new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump have provoked dismay, threats of countermeasures and calls for further negotiations to make trade rules fairer. But responses are measured, highlighting a lack of appetite among key trading partners for an outright trade war with the world’s biggest economy. Trump said the import taxes, ranging from 10% to 49%, would do to U.S. trading partners what they have long done to the U.S. European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen says they are a “major blow to the world economy.”
April 3, 2025 5:01 am
BANGKOK (AP) — The death toll from the massive earthquake that hit Myanmar nearly a week ago has risen to 3,085 as search and rescue teams find more bodies. The military-led government said Thursday another 4,715 have been injured and 341 people are missing. Last Friday’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake had an epicenter near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, and brought down thousands of buildings, buckled roads and destroyed bridges. Local media reports of casualties have been much higher than the official figures and with telecommunications widely out and many places difficult to reach, it’s thought the numbers could rise sharply as more details come in.
