April 1, 2025 5:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker has held the Senate floor with a marathon speech that lasted more than 25 hours. He set the historic mark to show Democrats’ resistance to President Donald Trump’s sweeping actions. Booker took to the Senate floor Monday evening and finished Tuesday evening. He broke a record set 68 years ago by then-Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, a segregationist, to filibuster the advance of the Civil Rights Act in 1957. Booker invoked the civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, arguing that changing history requires the public to get involved.
April 1, 2025 5:08 am
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The Chinese military has announced large-scale drills around Taiwan as it again warned the self-ruled island against seeking formal independence. A spokesperson for the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command said the joint drills involve navy, air ground and rocket forces. The exercises are meant to be a “severe warning and forceful containment against Taiwan independence,” the spokesperson, Shi Yi, said in a statement. Tuesday’s drills comes just two weeks after a large-scale exercise in mid-March, when Beijing sent a large number of drones and ships toward the island. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said it had tracked 19 Chinese navy vessels in the waters surrounding the island in a 24-hour period from 6 a.m. Monday until 6 a.m. Tuesday.
April 1, 2025 5:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to launch a barrage of so-called reciprocal tariffs on friend and foe alike. Wednesday’s tariffs come on what Trump has dubbed “Liberation Day” to free the U.S. from what he has said are years of unfair trade practices. By most economists’ assessments, the risky move threatens to plunge the economy into a downturn and mangle decades-old alliances. The White House is exuding confidence despite the political and financial gamble being undertaken. Importers would likely pass along some of the cost of the taxes on to consumers. The Budget Lab at Yale University estimates a 20% universal tariff would cost the average household $3,400 to $4,200.
April 1, 2025 5:04 am
BENTLEYVILLE, Pa. — An investigation continues into a cell phone fire Monday in the Bentworth School District. Superintendent Scott Martin says a classroom was evacuated after a students phone caught fire around 9 a.m. The statement said “Due to the fire originating from a lithium-ion battery, a Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal arrived on-site to investigate, and Washington County Haz-Mat personnel were also called to properly handle the disposal of the cell phone,” the statement said. No hazardous materials were found in the air and all students returned to their classrooms. (Photo: Bentleyville Fire-Rescue)
April 1, 2025 4:57 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A federal judge says enforcing the requirement that Pennsylvania mail-in ballots include an accurate exterior envelope date violates the federal Constitution. Judge Susan Paradise Baxter ruled Monday that election boards in Pennsylvania’s 67 counties can’t invalidate mail-in ballots simply because they lack accurate, handwritten dates on their exterior return envelopes. It’s the latest in a long-running legal dispute over what is a small percentage of votes cast in the state. Baxter says there’s no compelling state interest that outweighs invalidating thousands of ballots. The envelope dates aren’t used to check whether votes are received on time.
April 1, 2025 2:40 am
A former long-time fixture in Washington County politics has died. Seventy-nine-year-old Scott Fergus, an attorney who had been dealing with health issues for the past few years, passed away on Monday. Fergus, who was often referred to as “the fourth commissioner,” was himself, a county commissioner in the 1990’s, after being appointed to the position to replace Joe Ford. Fergus, however, when he ran for re-election, lost the race. He was then appointed to fill a vacancy on Washington City Council and won re-election to a full four-year term, but later resigned to become the county’s Director of Administraton for the next fifteen-years. Visitation will be held on Thursday, April 3rd from one to three p.m. and 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Piatt and Barnhill Funeral Home in Washington. A funeral service will be held at eleven o’clock in the funeral home on April 4th. (Photo: Facebook)
April 1, 2025 1:22 am
When Washington City Council meets Thursday, they will take disciplinary action against four firefighters. Two will be terminated. One will be demoted and another will be suspended for two weeks. Neither Mayor Burgess or Fire Chief Chris Richer would comment on the infractions causing the disciplinary measures. Council will also say good bye to their city administrator. Donn Henderson will attend his final meeting before heading off into retirement. City officials are wishing him well and are appreciative of his efforts since he came on board in 2022. Henderson is proud of the modernization efforts that he accomplished over the previous three years. Councilman Ken Westcott pointed to those efforts and thanked him for his experience in other municipalities and bringing that knowledge to Washington. Mayor JoJo Burgess praised Henderson for being able to shepherd him along in his early stages of being Mayor and thanked him for his cooperation. Rich Cleveland is the new city administrator and has been working with Henderson getting to know the arena.
March 31, 2025 4:57 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — As the trade wars launched by U.S. President Donald Trump continue to escalate, all eyes are on Wednesday. Trump has repeatedly called April 2 “Liberation Day,” with promises to roll out a set of tariffs, or taxes on imports from other countries, that he says will free the U.S. from a reliance on foreign goods. To do this, Trump has said he’ll impose “reciprocal” tariffs to match the duties that other countries charge on U.S. products. But a lot remains unknown about how these levies will actually be implemented. And it’s possible that we’ll see more delays or confusion this week.
March 31, 2025 1:30 pm
(WPXI) – One person is dead following a multi-vehicle crash on the Parkway East Monday morning. Troopers responded to the crash involving four vehicles near the Squirrel Hill Tunnel around 1:50 a.m. State police said a silver Corvette was speeding in the westbound lanes before crashing into a Honda Civic that was stopped due to a temporary closure of the tunnel. The impact of the crash pushed the Civic into two other vehicles. The driver of the Civic, Landon Ray, was extricated from the vehicle and taken to a hospital where he later died. All other people involved in the crash were treated on the scene by medics. The road was shut down for 4 hours before reopening at 5:45 a.m. The investigation into the crash is still ongoing.
March 31, 2025 12:53 pm
State Police are investigating the traffic death of a Greene County man over the weekend. Washington County Coroner Tim Warco says 75-year-old David Brendel of Sycamore was killed Saturday morning in a one-vehicle accident that occurred around nine-thirty on Route 18 in Morris Township. No further information has been released.
