January 18, 2023 4:08 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – The chief of Ukraine’s National Police says a helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb has killed 17 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister and two children. Ihor Klymenko says Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and Yurii Lubkovych, State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, were among those killed Wednesday. There was no immediate word on whether the crash was an accident or due to the almost 11-month war with Russia. Nine of those killed were reportedly aboard the emergency services helicopter that crashed in Brovary, an eastern suburb of the Ukrainian capital. A total of 22 people were injured, including 10 children.
January 18, 2023 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Two decades after a teacher’s aide was suspended for wearing a cross necklace at school, Pennsylvania lawmakers are looking to remove a provision in state law that bars educators from wearing religious garb while in the classroom. The Senate approved the legislation by a 49-0 vote on Wednesday. The measure now goes to the House. The bill would uphold a 2003 Pennsylvania federal court decision in which an Indiana County teacher was reinstated and provided backpay after she had been suspended for refusing to remove her cross necklace. Under the current language in the public school code in state law, an educator wearing religious garb must be suspended for one year and will be fired after multiple offenses. Administrators who don’t enforce the law could be fined and could lose their job. The cosponsors — Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York, and Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Berks — said Pennsylvania is the last state to strike such language, and that it applies to expression of all faiths.
January 18, 2023 4:03 am
An investigation continues into the death of a one-month old in Amwell Township. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner reports that Jameson Metz of Washington was found unresponsive Sunday at a home along Laurie Lane and transported to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. The infant died the next day. A cause and manner of death have not been released. State Police are investigating. Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh confirmed to WJPA News that the incident was under investigation.
January 18, 2023 3:57 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors met at their agenda meeting on Tuesday night. During department reports, North Strabane Township Municipal Authority (NSTMA) Manager Mark Wolinsky informed supervisors of a sewage rate increase that will be in effect from the beginning of 2023. The rate increase will be a $1.96 per 1000 gallons of water used. That increase is a combination of two increases, the first is a $1.56 per 1000 gallons levied by the Canonsburg Houston Joint Authority and the second 40 cent increase is levied by the NSTMA. The average household that uses 4000 gallons of water per month will see an increase of just under $100 per year. Supervisors also held a public hearing to consider a conditional use application filed by R. Williams Paving, LLC to build a storage facility for trucks at the corner of Linden Road and Route 19. The item will be considered at the next legislative meeting. Supervisors also promoted two individuals in the fire department. Richard Yosi was sworn in as Assistant Fire Chief and John Storey was sworn in as Deputy Fire Chief. The township will hold their legislative meeting on January 25.
January 18, 2023 2:49 am
A Washington man pleaded guilty to a November 2021 city robbery on Wednesday. Arthur Harris, 61 will spend the next 6 to 12 years in a state correctional facility for robbing the Family Dollar store on Highland Avenue. Harris is accused of walking into the store with his hand in a sweatshirt pocket pretending to be a gun. He demanded the store clerk to give him money. He escaped with $141. In addition to the 6-12 year sentence, Harris will have to make restitution of that $141 to Family Dollar.
January 18, 2023 2:41 am
(WPXI) – A student has been charged for allegedly assaulting a school employee in Fairfield Township, Westmoreland County. State Police in Greensburg say Anthony Jenkins, 15, of Bolivar, was placed in the Westmoreland County Jail, unable to post $200,000 bond, after he assaulted a 32-year-old male employee from Charleroi, with an extension cord. Troopers were called to the Outside In School along Fort Palmer Road Monday evening for a report of an assault in progress. Troopers said Jenkins “struck, bit, elbowed, punched and head-butted” a youth supervisor before striking him with an extension cord/power strip, and wrapping it around his neck, strangling him with it. He is facing multiple charges, including aggravated assault, simple assault, strangulation, disorderly conduct, possessing an instrument of crime, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and harassment. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for later this month. The Outside In School is a private, non-profit facility in Westmoreland County that provides residential treatment programs for males. According to their website, they also offer outpatient services, like substance abuse programs and family therapy.
January 18, 2023 2:22 am
A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, theft of government property and aiding and abetting during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 Presidential election. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 11, 2023 for 29-year-old Jorden Robert Mink of Oakdale. Authorities say Mink used a baseball bat to shatter a window in the Capitol Building, entered the building through that broken window, and started removing property – including chairs. He handed the property to individuals in the crowd on the exterior of the building. Mink was also seen striking an adjacent window repeatedly with a baseball bat, in an apparent attempt to shatter it. In video surveillance, Mink is seen engaging in assaultive conduct, spitting at officers guarding one of the doors and then throwing several objects at them – including a traffic cone, a large rectangular-shaped object (possibly a step or drawer), and a stick. Mink was arrested on January 19, 2021, in McKees Rocks, PA. He faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison for the felony charge and up to one year in prison for the misdemeanor, plus possible financial penalties.
January 18, 2023 2:20 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Democrat Josh Shapiro took the oath of office Tuesday to become the 48th governor of Pennsylvania, placing his hand on a stack of three Jewish Bibles at Tuesday’s inaugural ceremony outside the state Capitol to cap his blowout win in November’s election. Shapiro, 49, takes over in the nation’s fifth-most populous state with more experience in state government than any of his recent predecessors, including six years as Pennsylvania’s elected attorney general. He took the oath from Chief Justice Debra Todd on a cold winter day on a stage erected behind the state’s ornate Capitol in Harrisburg, with lawmakers, ex-governors, members of Congress and several thousand others looking on. “I am humbled to stand before you today as Pennsylvania’s 48th governor,” Shapiro said at the start of his remarks from the podium. “Along the winding road that has led to this moment, I have been grounded in my faith and family.” Shapiro succeeds term-limited Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, and is the first governor of Pennsylvania since 1966 to be elected to succeed a member of his own party. In his speech, Shapiro did not spell out specific policy aims, but he emphasized themes that he has developed before and after the election: that voters are embracing democracy, rejecting extremism and asking their leaders to protect their rights and make progress on important quality-of-life issues.
January 17, 2023 5:46 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Actor Jeremy Renner says he is out of the hospital after being treated for serious injuries from a snow plow accident. In response to a Twitter post Monday about his TV series “Mayor of Kingstown,” Renner tweeted that other than the brain fog that remains, he is very excited to watch the next episode with his family at home. Authorities in Nevada say Renner suffered serious chest injuries when he was run over by his own snow plow while helping free a relative’s car on a road near Lake Tahoe on New Year’s Day. The 52-year-old Oscar nominee also plays Hawkeye in Marvel’s “Avengers” movies.
January 17, 2023 7:49 am
A Charleroi man and a passenger in his tractor trailer were killed in a fiery crash in Dauphin County late Sunday night. State Police Harrisburg say 49 year old Greg Stupar was the driver of the truck that left Interstate 83 and struck the guard rail before hitting a concrete abutment and catching fire. Police say Troopers attempts to put out the fire were unsuccessful. Fire personnel finally put out the fire, but the two occupants were discovered deceased. The identity of the passenger has not yet been released. The investigation into the crash continues.
