December 6, 2025 4:09 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Netflix has struck a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max. The $72 billion deal announced Friday would bring together two of the biggest players in television and film and potentially reshape the entertainment industry. If approved by regulators, the merger would put two of the world’s biggest streaming services under the same ownership — and join Warner’s television and motion picture division, including DC Studios, with Netflix’s vast library and its production arm, which has released popular titles such as “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game.”
December 6, 2025 4:04 am
NEW YORK (AP) — A pretrial hearing on Luigi Mangione’s bid to exclude evidence from his state murder case has been postponed because his lawyers and the judge say he’s sick. It is slated to resume on Monday. Mangione is seeking to exclude a gun, notebook and other items police officers say they found in his backpack when he was arrested Dec. 9, 2024, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed in Manhattan. He and his lawyers are also trying to suppress some statements he made to police.
December 5, 2025 12:45 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal vaccine advisory committee has voted to end a longstanding recommendation that all U.S. babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born. For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses. But U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee voted Friday to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive. For other babies, it will be up to the parents and their doctors to decide if a birth dose is appropriate.
December 4, 2025 2:41 am
The Washington County Chamber of Commerce has notified County Commissioners that they need to pay nearly $460,000 for breaching a long-term contract for job creation and economic development services the Chamber provided without proper notice. Chamber President Jeff Kotula says the County violated the original termination requirements in the contract which called for one year’s notice. Commissioners Nick Sherman and Electra Janis voted to end the contract effective January 1, 2026 with only 51 days notice. The Chamber is requesting full and immediate payment to satisfy the County’s remaining commitment. Kotula says “due to their violation, we are certain the commissioners will honor the amount remaining on the contract to avoid litigation”. Kotula says the reasons provided by Sherman and Janis for cancelling the contract are “not true”. In response, Sherman said he believes the Chamber has not been transparent in their communications over use of county funds. Claiming he has repeatedly asked to see how county money is spent, not just on projects but with salaries and office expenditures as well. Janis feels the county is due that information also. Both agree that communication between the organizations needs to be improved. Commissioner Larry Maggi voted against the cancellation of the contract. Echoing a statement from the letter sent by the Chamber, he says that right now, Washington County is the only county that does not have an economic development program. Maggi is concerned that if the issue goes to court and the county is found liable, it will cost not only the balance of the contract funds, but additional payments to staff and legal representation above the contract settlement.
December 5, 2025 2:46 am
Washington County Commissioners were happy to announce that there will be no tax increase for residents in 2026. The 2.43 mil tax rate has been in effect since the 2010 budget. The total amount of money allocated for this year is $135 million. The finance department was able to craft together the balanced budget despite losing nearly $1 million in revenues due to the delayed approval of the state budget and the closure of the federal government. Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman said those impacts forced the county to dip into its rainy day fund to provide services, but never did the county have to halt services in 2025 because of those impasses. Commissioner Electra Janis is proud that the county never cut services this year and she looks forward to possible expansion of services next year. Commissioner Larry Maggi voted to pass the budget but offered reservations about possible expansion of government next year. He said that he is not in favor of Sherman’s and Janis’ plans to incorporate the functions of the Washington Drug and Alcohol Commission into the Human Services Department and create two administrative and 10 counseling positions. He offered his yes vote to make sure all other existing services in the county continue. According to a statement from the county, they have eliminated 16 positions through attrition. The budget passed unanimously.
December 5, 2025 1:58 am
The City of Washington approved their 2026 budget with no tax increase. The $15.3 million budget is balanced and was unanimously approved. Mayor JoJo Burgess credited city staff and council for their hard work. In other city business, council approved the Federal Community Development Block Grants for the year. The grant is worth $527,525, the biggest projects being funded are the Washington Park Pool Upper Parking Lot Paving Project for $122,350. Street Paving projects worth $205,175 will see Shannon Street and Erie Street from Ridge Avenue to Pine Street being paved. Also Hallam Avenue to Ridge Avenue will be paved. The City also entered into a licensing agreement with the WashPA Outdoors Co., LLC for the use of a vacant parcel of land behind the Freedom Transit Center as a community garden called Firefly Gardens.
December 5, 2025 5:42 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — U.S. Steel says it’ll resume making steel slabs at its Granite City Works plant in Illinois amid strengthening demand. The company made the announcement Thursday. It shut down the last blast furnace there in 2023. However, U.S. Steel says it can profitably operate the blast furnace to meet 2026 demand. The American Iron and Steel Institute reports that shipments from domestic steel mills are up this year. The move by Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel comes months after Japan-based Nippon Steel sealed a deal with President Donald Trump to buy the American steelmaker for $14.9 billion. Granite City Works makes rolls of sheet steel for the construction, container, pipe and automotive industries. (Photo: AP)
December 4, 2025 5:01 am
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The Justice Department has failed to secure a new indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James after a judge dismissed the previous mortgage fraud prosecution encouraged by President Donald Trump. Prosecutors went back to a grand jury in Virginia after a judge’s ruling halting the prosecution of James and another longtime Trump foe, former FBI Director James Comey, on the grounds that the U.S. attorney who presented the cases was illegally appointed. Thursday’s failed indictment against James is the latest setback for the Justice Department in its bid to prosecute the frequent political target of the Republican president.
December 4, 2025 5:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Navy admiral has told lawmakers that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the boat attack in the Caribbean, but the video of survivors being killed has alarmed lawmakers, That disclosure Thursday comes as Congress scrutinizes an attack on an alleged drug boat in international waters near Venezuela. The classified sessions provided fresh information at a crucial moment as Hegseth’s leadership comes under scrutiny. But they did little to resolve questions about the legal basis for President Donald Trump’s extraordinary campaign to use war powers against suspected drug smugglers. Lawmakers haven’t specifically authorized the use of military force against the alleged drug boats.
December 4, 2025 5:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has arrested a man accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack. It’s an abrupt breakthrough in an investigation that for years flummoxed law enforcement and spawned conspiracy theories about Jan. 6, 2021. The suspect has been identified as 30-year-old Brian J. Cole Jr. of Woodbridge, Virginia. Key questions remain unanswered after his arrest on explosives charges, including a possible motive and what connection if any the act had to the assault on the Capitol the following day by supporters of President Donald Trump.
