February 5, 2023 8:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — China is threatening what it calls “further actions” after an American fighter jet shot down a suspected spy balloon off the East Coast of the United States on Saturday. The U.S. says the massive balloon was a surveillance craft that spent days crossing over sensitive military sites in North America. The White House says President Joe Biden approved the downing, and followed the advice of military officials by waiting to bring down the craft over water rather than risk debris falling on populated areas. But China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs insists again that the craft was civilian and its flight an accident. It is criticizing the U.S. for what it terms “an obvious overreaction and a serious violation of international practice.”
February 5, 2023 8:00 am
ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. (WPXI) — An 18-year-old is facing charges after police said he was driving DUI and crashed, killing one of his passengers on Christmas Eve. Emergency responders were notified at 10:14 p.m. Dec. 24 of a single-vehicle rollover crash in the 500 block of Fern Hollow Road. According to Allegheny County police, responding officers found an Audi Q5 that had left the road and stopped on a hillside around 30 feet from the edge of the road. The driver, identified as Luke Flower, wasn’t hurt but his two female passengers, another 18-year-old in the passenger seat and a 20-year-old in the back seat, were taken to area hospitals for their injuries. The backseat passenger, identified as Camden Kiggins, died from her injuries at the hospital. Homicide detectives determined that Flowers was responsible for the crash after an investigation, police said. An arrest warrant was issued for Flowers, charging him with homicide by vehicle while DUI, aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI, involuntary manslaughter, driving under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances and traffic violations. Saturday morning, Flowers turned himself into Allegheny County police. Flowers will be held in the Allegheny County Jail.
February 5, 2023 1:20 am
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) – A train derailment and resulting large fire have prompted an evacuation order in an Ohio village near the Pennsylvania state line. The Friday night derailment covered the area in billows of smoke lit orange by the flames below. Rail operator Norfolk Southern says about 50 cars derailed in East Palestine as a train was carrying a variety of freight from Illinois to Pennsylvania. No injuries were reported. An evacuation order remained in place early Saturday for people within a mile of the scene, and other residents were urged to stay inside. There was no immediate word on what caused the derailment. (Photo Credit WPXI)
February 4, 2023 8:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The massive white orb drifting across U.S. airspace has triggered a diplomatic maelstrom and is blowing up on social media. The Pentagon says it’s a Chinese spy balloon and that its presence led Secretary of State Antony Blinken to cancel a trip to China that was aimed at easing tensions between the countries. China says the balloon is just an errant civilian airship used mainly for meteorological research and that it went off course due to winds. China also says the balloon has only limited “self-steering” capabilities. But there are a lot of unanswered questions at this point, including whether to let it continue flying. For now, the Pentagon is just monitoring the balloon’s path.
February 4, 2023 3:44 am
MIAMI (AP) – Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro spoke to hundreds of supporters at a property owned by former U.S. President Donald Trump Friday and did not discourage them from claiming he lost his election due to fraud. Bolsonaro has never explicitly made that claim. But he sowed doubt about the reliability of Brazil’s voting machines before his November loss. He is now under federal investigation there for inciting an attack on the country’s congressional and supreme court buildings on Jan. 8. After rattling off his accomplishments Friday, Bolsonaro said he did not understand why he didn’t win the election. He smiled as the crowd cried, “Fraud!”
February 4, 2023 3:39 am
SAN FRANCISO (AP) – A jury has decided Elon Musk didn’t defraud investors with tweets in 2018. The verdict by the nine jurors was reached after less that two hours of deliberation following a three-week trial. The trial pitted Tesla investors represented in a class-action lawsuit against Musk, who is CEO of both the electric automaker and the Twitter service he bought for for $44 billion a few months ago. In 2018, Musk tweeted that he had the financing to take Tesla private even though it turned out he hadn’t gotten an iron-clad commitment for an aborted deal that would have cost $20 billion to $70 billion to pull off. The verdict is a major vindication for Musk.
February 4, 2023 3:38 am
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – Officials say a sixth Memphis officer was fired Friday after an internal police investigation showed he violated multiple department policies in the violent arrest of Tyre Nichols, including rules surrounding the deployment of a stun gun. Preston Hemphill had previously been suspended as he was investigated for his role in the Jan. 7 of Nichols, who died three days later. Five Memphis officers have already been fired and charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ death. Hemphill was the third officer at a traffic stop that preceded the violent arrest but was not where Nichols was beaten. Body camera footage from the initial stop has Hemphill saying that he stunned Nichols and “I hope they stomp his ass.”
February 4, 2023 3:34 am
Police say two men robbed the same two Fayette County convenience stores five times over the course of two weeks. William Fowler IV, 21, and Brandon Milton Harbarger, 27, were placed in the Fayette County Jail after a Uniontown state police and Uniontown City Police investigation into the robberies. The men allegedly used knives and box cutters to demand money from the store clerks five times from Jan. 17 to Jan. 31. They are both scheduled to appear in court later this month.
February 4, 2023 3:32 am
(WPXI)- A weekend “thaw” will bring back milder temperatures and make it more comfortable to head outdoors, but early risers Saturday will still need the extra layers.
Morning low temperatures will dip down into the single digits Saturday morning, and wind chills will drop near zero.
After lunch temperatures will slowly begin to climb with highs topping near freezing. You’ll also enjoy plenty of sunshine.
Even milder temperatures move in Sunday as winds from the south help push us back into the mid 40s.
February 4, 2023 3:22 am
Washington City Council met Thursday for their voting meeting and approved a measure to join the Washington County Land Bank. The Land Bank is operated by the Washington County Redevelopment Authority. According to Executive Director Bob Griffin the land bank is an excellent tool to use in the fight against blight. Griffin says that many of the properties purchased by the land bank are in foreclosure and the land bank makes acquisition that way. They then rehabilitate the properties, removing blight conditions, put them up for sale for individual owner purchase. The purpose is to get the homes back on the active tax rolls. Mayor Scott Putnam says that it is a good partnership for the city. The land bank will allow the city to keep its housing stock steady and receive tax revenue from those sales and the city can concentrate on demolition of structures that cannot be rehabilitated. Main Street Manager Shana Brown reported that her next event happening in the city is a Cocoa Tour scheduled for February 11. March 10 will be Washington Goes Irish Day and May 6 will be the inaugural Running of the Wools, sponsored by Range Resources.
