December 22, 2021 4:05 am
North Strabane Township supervisors buttoned up their year by approving the budget for 2022. No tax increase is in store for residents this year as the $36 million spending plan was adopted by a vote of 4-1. Council chairman Neil Kelly was the dissenting vote and offered no comment on why he voted no. The new budget is $6 million more than last year. According to Township Manager Andrew Walz, a bond floated earlier this year figures into the budget total. The Building Construction fund is the biggest category holding more than $9.4 million in funds. Walz indicates that a lot of construction is ongoing and will begin in 2022 to use that fund category. The township will finish the Eighty Four fire department substation, they will put out to bid the new public safety building on Rt. 19 and they hope to begin design on the new administration building near the park.
December 21, 2021 3:56 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – A strike at Kellogg that has gone on since early October has ended after workers voted to ratify a new labor contract at the company’s four U.S. cereal plants. The contract covers approximately 1,400 workers represented by the union at plants in Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Kellogg said Tuesday that the new contract provides immediate, across the board wage increases and enhanced benefits for all. It also provides an accelerated, defined path to top-tier wages, a major sticking point for workers. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union said the contract is a win for workers.
December 21, 2021 3:52 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania has rebuffed a request for him to sit down for an interview and turn over documents to the committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection. Perry joins other allies of former President Donald Trump in trying to stonewall the committee. Perry said Tuesday the nine-member panel is “illegitimate” and “not duly constituted under the rules of” the House. Perry is the first sitting member of Congress the panel has requested to speak with. The committee has requested Perry provide information for its investigation surrounding his efforts to “install former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark as acting Attorney General.”
December 21, 2021 4:43 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Republican state senator who has helped spread conspiracy theories about last year’s presidential election and led opposition to pandemic-related shutdowns, vaccine mandates and masking orders is all but officially declaring that he’ll run for governor. Sen. Doug Mastriano said in appearances online over the weekend that he has reached the fundraising goal he set to formally become a candidate and is organizing an announcement rally Jan. 8 near his home in south-central Pennsylvania. Mastriano is the third state senator to enter the double-digits-deep Republican field to potentially succeed outgoing Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat.
December 21, 2021 4:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – A committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection has requested an interview and documents from congressman Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. The Republican lawmaker is the first sitting member of Congress the panel has requested to speak with. The committee has requested Perry provide information for its investigation surrounding his efforts to “install former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark as acting Attorney General.” Investigators say Perry pushed the Justice Department to overturn the election and met with President Donald Trump ahead of the violent attack.
December 21, 2021 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden plans to stress in an upcoming speech the importance of getting vaccinated to protect from a wave of COVID-19 infections tied to the new omicron variant as Christmas approaches. The world is confronting the prospect of a second straight holiday season with COVID-19. Scientists don’t yet know whether omicron causes more serious disease, but they do know that vaccination should offer strong protections against severe illness and death. Biden’s top medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says Biden will issue “a stark warning of what the winter will look like” for unvaccinated Americans when he speaks on Tuesday.
December 21, 2021 4:16 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Omicron has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the U.S. Federal health officials said Monday that omicron accounted for an estimated 73% of new infections last week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers show nearly a six-fold increase in the proportion of infections in only one week. Since the end of June, the delta variant has been the main version causing U.S. infections. Scientists in Africa first sounded the alarm about omicron less than a month ago.
December 21, 2021 4:14 am
Christmas came early to Peters Township as State Representative Natalie Mihalek (R-40) stopped by the final council meeting for 2021. In her hand was a grant from the Redevelopment Capital Assistance Program that is worth $2 million. The express use of this grant will be for the development of the aquatic facility that is proposed for Rolling Hills Park. Mihalek states that she has been working on obtaining this grant for the last 18 months. Council Chairman Dave Ball indicates that it is not a blank check, but a reimbursement grant that will take a lot of work to make sure all monies spent can be reimbursed up to that $2 million mark. Council voted unanimously to accept the grant. The aquatic center has not been approved. That step will be taken by the next council that will be sworn in on January 3, 2022. In other council action, a sharpshooter program was narrowly approved by a 4-3 margin. This is part of a deer culling program that will help with the deer population that is causing nearly 100 car accidents annually on state roads in the township. Some of the state roads that will be in the program are E. McMurray Rd., Valleybrook Rd. and Route 19. This is a one year pilot to see if the program will be successful in significantly decreasing the deer population along those roads.
December 21, 2021 2:59 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Former President Donald Trump has revealed he received a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, drawing boos from a crowd in Dallas. Trump made the disclosure Sunday night during the final stop of “The History Tour,” a live interview show he has been doing with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly. A clip of the response was shared online by O’Reilly’s “No Spin News.” While Trump has expressed opposition to vaccine mandates, he has long taken credit for the vaccines developed on his watch. But while other world leaders have received their doses publicly, Trump chose to receive his privately. The vaccine is unpopular with large swaths of his base.
December 21, 2021 2:51 am
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board released gaming numbers from November. Total revenue numbers were $432,916,762, a 52 percent increase over the same period last year. The Hollywood Casino at the Meadows generated more than $26,700,000 in November, a nearly 42% gain over the same period last year. Slot machines generated nearly $12,000,000. Sports wagering generated $12,000,000
