July 27, 2024 4:35 am
VERSAILLES, Pa. – A McMurray man is facing charges that include criminal homicide and assault of a law enforcement officer. The charges were filed against 40 year old Robert Kail in connection with a stabbing in Versailles that left a man dead and two other people taken to a local hospital. It happened around 8 p.m at a home along Worthington Street. First responders found a man on the porch of a duplex. He had been stabbed multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim was later identified by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office as Vincent Bazzone, 38. A man in the adjacent home was also stabbed and a woman was assaulted. They were both taken to a local hospital. Initial investigation shows Bazzone and Kail were involved in an altercation that led up to the stabbing. Police say Kail then went into the attached home and got into an altercation with the residents, stabbing the man and assaulting the woman, before driving away. The car was found in McKeesport and Kail was arrested. While he was being taken into custody, police say he fought with officers. An officer and a police K-9 were injured in the fight. Kail was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
July 27, 2024 4:35 am
Washington County Coroner Tim Warco says a Cecil Township man died in a tractor accident Wednesday night. Warco says eighty-six-year-old Robert Cowden was the operator and sole occupant of a tractor that went over a hillside in the one-hundred block of Ciaffoni Road around seven-thirty. Warco says his death is being investigated as a medical emergency and is being handled by the Cecil Township Police Department. Meanwhile, an autopsy is pending.
July 26, 2024 7:48 am
Funeral services have been announced for Michael “Mickey” Flynn. The longtime owner of the Union Grill Restaurant in downtown Washington died Wednesday at the age of 82. He was a native of Washington and a 1959 graduate of Washington High School. He served in the U.S Navy before returning to Washington and acquiring the restaurant in 1967. He operated it for some forty years before turning it over to his daughter. Friends will be received Sunday from 2 p.m to 7 p.m. at the William G. Neal Funeral Home. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Monday at 10 a.m at Immaculate Conception Church with burial to follow at Washington Cemetery. (PHOTO: William G. Neal Funeral Home)
July 26, 2024 2:14 am
Republican State Lawmaker Bud Cook, who represents Washington and Greene counties, along with Democratic State Representative Jessica Benham from Allegheny County, participated in a “Save the Pharmacies” tour on Wednesday at Curtis Pharmacy in Carmichaels, in Greene County, to illustrate how her legislation will help smaller pharmacies compete and make medication more affordable for the patients they serve. “I’ve spoken with independent pharmacy owners in big cities, small towns, and everywhere in between,” said Benham. “And the story is always the same, that the pharmaceutical industry is currently set up to allow large corporations to dominate the market and drive up the cost of prescription drugs. “Given the lack of oversight on pharmacy benefit managers, I’m not surprised more than 140 Pennsylvania pharmacies have closed this year. I know the new reforms Governor Shapiro signed into law last week will help more community pharmacies stay in business, and I’m so proud we were able to come together in a bipartisan fashion to get this done.” “Convenient access to affordable prescription drugs is absolutely vital to the health and well-being of our citizens, and we cannot achieve that mission without independent pharmacies like those represented here today,” Cook said. “By reforming the way Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) operates, we can better protect these independent pharmacies and ensure they remain open to meet the needs of our communities.” “There is bipartisan support at both the state and federal level for PBM reform – that speaks to the significance of the issue,” said Curtis Pharmacy owner Erich Cushey. “We’ve had many local pharmacies close, and the chains are pushing us out. This new law is a great start, and we appreciate the governor and both sides of the aisle in passing the bill, but there will be more work to be done.”
July 26, 2024 5:02 am
FAYETTE COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – More than 1,600 felony charges have been filed against a woman accused of stealing or misusing more than $600,000 of an elderly dementia patient’s money. Lisa Costolo, 58, is charged in the crime, according to Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele. “They use a scale for dementia from one to 15. One is the most severe. She was a four. She wasn’t able to care for herself and she was not cognizant of what was going on,” Aubele said, explaining the victim’s condition. According to the Pennsylvania State Police, the victim and Costolo were friends and neighbors, and the victim signed over power of attorney to Costolo in 2015. In 2020, police say Costolo told a care home she could no longer afford the monthly payments and needed to apply for Medicaid. The Medicaid evaluation led the staff at Uniontown Health and Rehab to call police. A 2021 forensic audit of the victim’s accounts from 2015 to 2020 revealed Costolo allegedly made $254,000 in ATM withdrawals, paper check withdrawals of $307,000, and $130,000 in debit card transactions, totaling $691,000. “The defendant and her family were essentially using this money as a paycheck, buying very lavish things, basically living off her income, to the point where they couldn’t afford to pay for this care home, and it was because of the Medicaid evaluation that the funds were discovered,” Aubele said. Costolo was arraigned Thursday and released on $200,000 unsecured bail.
July 26, 2024 7:27 am
ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama have endorsed Kamala Harris in her White House bid, giving the vice president the expected but still crucial backing of the nation’s two most popular Democrats. The endorsement was announced Friday in a video showing Harris accepting a joint phone call from the former first couple. It comes as Harris builds momentum as the party’s likely nominee after President Joe Biden’s decision to end his reelection bid and endorse her against Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump. Harris thanks the Obamas for their backing and says she looks forward to campaigning with them ahead of the Nov. 5 Election Day.
July 26, 2024 4:56 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. — (WPXI) – Former President Donald Trump will return to Pennsylvania for the first time since a gunman tried to assassinate him at a campaign rally in Butler. NBC affiliate WGAL reports Trump will hold a rally in Harrisburg on July 31 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. The rally is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. with doors opening at 2 p.m. Anyone wishing to attend must reserve tickets. Trump was last in the Keystone State for his July 13 rally when Thomas Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, opened fire on the former president from a rooftop. Three attendees were shot and two of them survived. Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief, died shielding his family from the gunfire.
July 25, 2024 5:04 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was grievously wounded in a 2011 shooting, is taking to the campaign trail for Vice President Kamala Harris, as Harris’ nascent presidential campaign gets off the ground and a parallel campaign to be Harris’ running mate takes shape. Giffords, speaking Thursday at the Salt & Light church in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, met with community activists in a predominantly Black section of Philadelphia hit by mass shootings recently. The event had been planned, Giffords aides say, well before Giffords’ husband U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro entered the conversation to be Harris’ running mate.
July 26, 2024 5:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked to mend ties with Donald Trump on Friday and offered measured optimism about progress toward a cease-fire deal for Gaza. Netanyahu was nearing the end of a contentious U.S. visit that put on display the growing American divisions over support for the Israeli-Hamas war. Former President Trump, the Republican nominee to retake the White House, welcomed Netanyahu to his Florida estate for their first face-to-face meeting in nearly four years. The Israeli leader, asked by journalists if his U.S. trip was making progress on a cease-fire, said he hoped so and was eager for a deal. The two men are seeking to mend an important political alliance that had broken down after Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden on his 2020 victory.
July 26, 2024 5:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has told reporters that she’s “ready to debate Donald Trump.” She accused Trump of “backpedaling” away from a previous agreement for a debate hosted by ABC News on Sept. 10. Trump has said he would prefer to shift the event to Fox News, but he would be open to holding two debates with Harris. She says, “I think the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on the debate stage.” She spoke to reporters after landing at Joint Base Andrews following a trip to Indiana and Texas.
