January 24, 2022 2:05 pm
Authorities continue to investigate the cause of a fire Sunday morning in Buffalo Township. The call came in just before nine o’clock for a home on fire in the one hundred block of East buffalo Church Road. Firefighters say the fire was visible when they arrived on scene, with heavy fire showing from an upstairs bedroom. Officials say a woman was taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh and according to reports, two children between the ages of seven and fifteen may have been placed with family members.
January 24, 2022 12:20 pm
(WPXI) – The Internal Revenue Service, which will begin to process income tax returns Monday, is urging taxpayers to make sure they have accurate information as they file their 2021 returns. Taxpayers should have received at least one of two letters from the IRS that they will need to file their return. If they have not, they soon will, the agency said late last week. The letters, one concerning the Child Tax Credit and the other one concerning stimulus payments, will be needed for anyone filing a 2021 return. The first letter, called the Advance CTC letter 6419, was first sent out in late December and is still going out to those who receive the credit, the agency said. The second letter concerns the stimulus check sent out last spring and the third Economic Impact Payment letter 6475 should be getting to taxpayers in late January.
January 24, 2022 9:54 am
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) – Don Wilson, co-founder and rhythm guitarist of the instrumental guitar band The Ventures, has died. He was 88. The News Tribune reports Wilson died Saturday in Tacoma of natural causes, surrounded by his four children. The band’s hits included á”Walk, Don’t Run,” and the theme song for “Hawaii Five-O.” They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. In the 1960s and early 1970s, 38 of the band’s albums charted in the United States. The Ventures had 14 singles in the Billboard Hot 100.
January 24, 2022 7:46 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon says that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has put about 8,500 troops on heightened alert, so they will be prepared to deploy if needed to reassure NATO allies in the face of ongoing Russian aggression on the border of Ukraine. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Monday no final decisions have been made on U.S. deployments, which depend upon NATO deciding to activate its rapid-response force. The troops would not be sent to Ukraine, which is not a NATO member. Kirby said: “What this is about is reassurance to our NATO allies.”
January 24, 2022 4:26 am
MIAMI (AP) – A cruise ship with hundreds of passengers has diverted to the Bahamas after a U.S. judge granted an order to seize the vessel as part of a lawsuit over $4 million in unpaid fuel. Passengers were taken by ferry to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday. One said it felt like they were “abducted by luxurious pirates.” The Crystal Symphony was scheduled to dock Saturday in Miami. However, a federal judge there issued an arrest warrant for the ship. Crystal Symphony is one of the ships of the luxury cruise line Crystal Cruises. Cruise trackers show the ship currently docked in the Bahamian island of Bimini.
January 24, 2022 4:24 am
OXFORD, Mich. (AP) – The Michigan high school where four students were fatally shot reopened for the first time since the Nov. 30 tragedy. Officials welcomed students back to Oxford High School on Monday. The students have been attending classes at other buildings since Jan. 10. Four students were killed and six students and a teacher were injured during the shooting. A fellow student, Ethan Crumbley, is charged with murder and other crimes. His parents also are facing charges. Oxford High School is in Oakland County, about 30 miles north of Detroit. Tim Throne, the school district superintendent, says the community “will get through this with love and grace.”
January 24, 2022 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The State Department is ordering the families of all American personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to leave the country and allowing non-essential staff to leave Ukraine. The move comes amid heightened fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine despite talks between U.S. and Russian officials. The State Department stresses that the Kyiv embassy will remain open and that the departure of families and some non-essential personnel is not an evacuation. At the same time, officials are warning all Americans against travel to Ukraine as well as to Russia, pointing in part to tensions between those two countries and, in Russia, because of potential harassment of U.S. citizens.
January 24, 2022 4:18 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – The United Arab Emirates has intercepted two ballistic missiles targeting Abu Dhabi. The state-run WAM news agency said missile fragments fell harmlessly over the Emirati capital. Videos posted to social media show the sky light up before dawn, with points of light looking like interceptor missiles. The missile fire disrupted traffic into the airport for about an hour after the attack. A spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi rebel militia later said they had launched attacks targeting both the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, without elaborating. Monday’s attack came a week after Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed an attack on the Emirati capital that killed three people.
January 24, 2022 4:16 am
UPPER ST. CLAIR, Pa. — (WPXI) – Students and staff in the Upper St. Clair School District are still required to wear masks, according to an emergency injunction filed by a federal appeals court on Sunday. A group of families of medically disabled children filed a lawsuit against the school district on Thursday, in response to the school board reversing its mandatory mask mandate in early January. According to reports, Attorney Ken Behrend sought the injunction, after a judge ruled in favor of the district on Friday. Masks would have been optional for all students and staff starting Monday without the order. “The foregoing motion by Appellants for emergency injunctive relief is granted on a temporary basis,” the emergency injunction says. “A full three-judge panel of this Court will be formed worthwith to consider the motions and issue a ruling.” Attorneys for both the parents and the school district must file responses by 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 25, and should prepare to deliver arguments this week.
January 24, 2022 4:12 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania’s payrolls are continuing to grow, but a persistent worker shortage is still keeping labor markets tight. The state Department of Labor and Industry said Friday that Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percentage point to 5.4% in December. The national rate was 3.9% in December. In a survey of households, the labor force shrank for the seventh straight month, reflecting a worker shortage that some economists attribute partly to an increase in people who have recently gone to work for themselves. In a separate survey of employers, payrolls in Pennsylvania grew in December by more than 14,000, driven primarily by hiring in trucking and warehousing.
