February 21, 2025 4:56 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A news conference that was planned to follow talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump’s Ukraine envoy has been canceled. The cancellation happened Thursday as political tensions deepened between the two countries over how to end the almost three-year war with Russia. The event was originally supposed to include comments to the media by Zelenskyy and retired U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg. But it was changed at the last minute to a simple photo opportunity where two leaders posed for journalists. They did not deliver statements or field questions. A Ukrainian presidential spokesman said the change was requested by the U.S. side.
February 20, 2025 3:50 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has narrowly voted to confirm Kash Patel as President Donald Trump’s FBI director. The 51-49 vote Thursday puts the Trump loyalist atop the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency despite Democrats’ doubts about his qualifications and concerns he’ll do Trump’s bidding and go after the Republican president’s adversaries. Patel has fiercely criticized an agency that’s now gripped by turmoil. Trump’s Justice Department has forced out a group of senior FBI officials and made a highly unusual demand for the names of thousands of agents who participated in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
February 20, 2025 1:15 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Fellow senators have clapped for Mitch McConnell after he announced he won’t seek reelection next year. The Kentucky Republican is ending a decadeslong tenure as a power broker who championed conservative causes but ultimately ceded ground to the fierce populism of President Donald Trump. McConnell chose his 83rd birthday on Thursday to share his decision to retire when his current term ends in January 2027. McConnell is the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history. McConnell helped forge a conservative Supreme Court and steered the Senate through tax cuts and presidential impeachment trials. McConnell says he still has “some unfinished business to attend to.” (Photo: AP)
February 20, 2025 4:54 am
Washington City Police are investigating after an apparent robbery attempt early Thursday morning. According to Washington County 9-1-1 , officers were called to the West End Bottle Shop along Cumberland Avenue. Dispatchers tell WJPA News that three masked men entered the store just before 4:30 a.m. We are told one had a firearm while another was carrying a sledgehammer. It’s unclear if they got away with anything. The men all fled on foot. At this time, there are no reports of any injuries but EMS was called to the scene to evaluate two employees. No other information is currently being released. Tune to 95.3FM/1450AM for the very latest.
February 20, 2025 2:50 am
The end is near for the crumbling Washington Mall in South Strabane Township. Washington County Commissioners announced on Wednesday that after eleven years of working on it, the mall is finally going to be demolished to make way for retail establishments and other businesses. Washington County Commission Chair Nick Sherman says the initiative is supported by a major county investment from the newly established Blight Mitigation and Demolition Fund. He says the county’s decision to demolish the existing structure aims to re-purpose the site with new infrastructure, creating viable economic opportunities. Plans for the site’s development and revitalization are already underway and will include retail and dining establishments. Additional details are expected to be announced this spring. According to Commissioner Nick Sherman, “Eliminating blight is essential to sustaining healthy communities, fostering economic development, and improving the quality of life in Washington County. Blighted buildings drain municipal resources, inhibit economic growth, and create negative perceptions of our communities.” As for the cost, Sherman tells WJPA that it’s still an open bid and the bids are out. He says they have allocated funding not to exceed six-million-dollars. Sherman says most of the mall will be demolished to make way for other retail opportunities, but the former Toys ‘R Us and Giant Eagle sites will be renovated, and a new recreational vehicle dealership and service center will be established there. The tenant is an award-winning and respected nationwide brand, operating 36 locations nationwide.
February 20, 2025 5:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS plans to lay off roughly 7,000 workers in Washington and around the country beginning Thursday. That’s according to a person familiar with the plans who was not authorized to discuss them publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The layoffs affect probationary employees with roughly one year or less of service at the agency and largely include workers in compliance departments. Compliance work includes ensuring that taxpayers are abiding by the tax code, filing their returns and paying their taxes, among other duties. It’s unclear how the layoffs may affect tax collection services this year. The IRS has roughly 90,000 employees total across the United States.
February 20, 2025 5:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Newly installed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told agency employees that a commission formed by President Donald Trump will investigate the childhood vaccine schedule and other issues as a way to examine the rise in chronic diseases. The announcement on Tuesday raises questions about the promise he made during his confirmation hearings to Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana physician. Cassidy harbored deep misgivings over Kennedy’s anti-vaccine advocacy, but said Kennedy had promised not to change the nation’s current vaccination schedule. Cassidy’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
February 20, 2025 5:12 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Relations between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump are deteriorating rapidly. Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space,” and Trump called Zelenskyy “a dictator without elections” in comments that were sure to complicate efforts to end the war. Zelenskyy also said he would like Trump’s team “to be more truthful” as he offered his first response to a series of striking claims that Trump made a day earlier, including falsely suggesting that Kyiv was to blame for the war, which enters its fourth year next week.
February 20, 2025 5:04 am
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas has handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages, said to include a mother and her two children who have long been feared dead and had come to embody the nation’s agony following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The militant group said it released the remains of Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, as well as Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted. Kfir was the youngest captive taken that day. Hamas has said all four were killed in Israeli airstrikes.
February 20, 2025 2:38 pm
Long-time KDKA-TV reporter John Burnett has died. KDKA officials say Burnett, who was seventy-one, died of complications from suspected Chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Burnett was hired by KDKA in 1982 as the new co-host of Evening Magazine. Burnett was a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, but came to be a much-loved Pittsburgher. In 1985, he also began co-hosting Pittsburgh 2Day. And, when both Evening Magazine and Pittsburgh 2Day ended in the early 90′, Jon returned to his roots as a weather forecaster. He retired from KDKA IN 2019. (Photo: Courtesy of KDKA Facebook Page)
