February 23, 2022 3:06 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — Russia is the world’s third largest oil and gas supplier. With the country on the verge of, or having already, invaded Ukraine, the fear is what will happen with the supply in the U.S. Jim Garrity with Pittsburgh AAA said we could see prices we’ve never seen before. “Knowing that the national average could very easily be at $4.00 a gallon and Pennsylvania’s average tends to trend 15 to 20% more expensive, we could potentially see prices that we’ve never seen in Pennsylvania,” he said. Oil is now hitting its highest level since 2014.
February 23, 2022 3:04 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors tabled any action related to the expansion of the Greenwood Village expansion plan. Supervisors held a public hearing over the course of two nights and ordered traffic studies so that they could determine whether to grant the conditional use application that would add 27 units on a five acre parcel. Developers would like to build this expansion to allow residents a second public access to the development. Supervisors tabled the measure in order to consider all testimony from residents from those public hearing nights. Township resident Vincent Ley is questioning the legality of the application put forth by the developer Greenwood Village, LP. He also feels that traffic studies done were not as extensive as they could have been. Supervisors now have 45 days from the closure of the public hearing on February 15 to grant or deny the conditional use application.
February 23, 2022 1:39 am
Washington County Clerk of Courts Brenda Davis is hoping to have her contempt of court hearing, scheduled for Monday, stayed by a court order. Davis’s attorney filed a request Tuesday morning with the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania requesting it review Washington County President Judge John DiSalle’s administrative orders regarding the Clerk of Courts Office. The request is seeking to find out whether the orders issued in 2021 infringe on the consitutional duties of the office. The filing is an application for a Writ of Prohibition and a request for an emergency stay of her contempt hearing. The contempt hearing was stayed once when Davis appealed to the state’s Commonwealth Court. The court, however, rejected her appeals and Judge DiSalle scheduled the hearing for Monday. The hearing stems from an incident just before Thanksgiving when Davis was detained by sheriff’s deputies for allegedly refusing to allow the transfer of juvenile court records from her office to another office.
February 23, 2022 1:00 am
Authorities have arrested two Waynesburg residents in the shooting death of a man and a woman whose bodies were found on Valentine’s Day. According to the court documents, 28-year-old Cortland Rogers and 23-year-old Shawna Smith are facing multiple charges, including criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide and burglary. The charges stem from the murder of 54-year-old Kevin Lamar Williford and 47-year-old Judy Butler Hunter. The two were found by their landlord in their second floor apartment on South Morris Street. According to the report, Rogers told police that Smith killed Williford, while Smith said that Rogers shot both of them. Police say Hunter and Williford had been shot in the head and their bodies were in advanced stages of decomposition, leading them to believe they had been dead for a long period of time. Smith reportedly told police that she and Rogers had gone to the couple’s apartment to confront Williford about missing jewelry and unpaid drug money. The charges were filed against the two while they were already in jail in Greene County. Authorities say they were being held there for allegedly tying up and assaulting a woman at their home at 41 Wood Street.
February 22, 2022 2:48 pm
ABC News – President Joe Biden, on Tuesday, in response to Russia’s supposed military action in Ukraine, issued an executive order banning “new investment, trade, and financing by U.S. persons to, from, or in the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine,” which “will also provide authority to impose sanctions on any person determined to operate in those areas of Ukraine,” according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who said the U.S. “will also soon announce additional measures related to Tuesday’s blatant violation of Russia’s international commitments.” The U.S. has not publicly confirmed Russia has sent in troops to Ukraine.
February 22, 2022 2:40 pm
A Charleroi man who pleaded guilty to felony drug possession charges learned his sentence on Tuesday. Christopher Roberts, 34, pleaded guilty to six possession with the intent to deliver, three conspiracy charges and one endangering the welfare of children charges. His home was raided in February of 2020 after state police set up purchases by confidential informants in the previous three weeks. During the raid, police recovered 35 grams of cocaine and $7200. A fifteen year old child was also present during the raid. Roberts will serve 18-36 months in state prison followed by four years state supervised probation. He is scheduled to turn himself over to authorities on March 8. His wife and accused accomplice, Krystal Roberts has her case working its way through the court system.
February 22, 2022 10:42 am
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) – The three men convicted of murder in Ahmaud Arbery’s fatal shooting have been found guilty of federal hate crimes. A jury delivered its verdict Tuesday after several hours of deliberations. The jury found that father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan violated Arbery’s civil rights in the fatal chase and targeted him because he was Black. During the trial, prosecutors showed roughly two dozen text messages and social media posts in which Travis McMichael and Bryan used racist slurs and made derogatory comments about Black people. The McMichaels and Bryan had pleaded not guilty to the hate crime charges.
February 22, 2022 10:20 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A federal lawsuit claims the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would overstep its authority by selecting a new set of congressional district maps. The plaintiffs asked Monday for a restraining order to prevent the state justices from changing the election calendar. The lawsuit was filed by two Republicans running for Congress, a member of the election board in rural Susquehanna County and two others. They’re suing Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and two high-ranking state elections officials, arguing that the stalemate over passing new maps should require all 17 races to be run as “at-large” statewide contests this year.
February 22, 2022 4:17 am
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) – A federal prosecutor says three Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights sat by and “chose to do nothing” as Floyd pleaded for air and then went silent. Prosecutor Manda Sertich singled out each former officer as closing arguments in their trial began Tuesday. Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane are charged with depriving Floyd of his right to medical care as Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes in May 2020. Lane held the 46-year-old Black man’s feet, Kueng knelt on his back and Thao held back bystanders. Kueng and Thao are also charged with failing to intervene to stop Chauvin. (Photo: ABC)
February 22, 2022 4:15 am
TORONTO (AP) – Canadian lawmakers have voted to extend the emergency powers that police can invoke to quell any potential restart of blockades by those opposed to COVID-19 restrictions. Lawmakers in the House of Commons voted 185 to 151 to affirm the powers Monday night. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier that the powers were still needed despite police ending the occupation of the nation’s capital by truckers over the weekend and police ending border blockades before that. The emergencies act allows authorities to declare certain areas as no-go zones. It also allows police to freeze truckers’ personal and corporate bank accounts and compel tow truck companies to haul away vehicles.
