August 25, 2025 4:44 am
Pricey prescriptions and nagging medical costs are swamping some insurers and employers, which means patients may start paying more next year. Health insurance will grow more expensive in many corners of the market in 2026, and some coverage may shrink. That could leave patients exposed to more costs for doctor visits and prescription coverage changes. Price changes could be especially stark in individual coverage marketplaces, where insurers also are predicting the end of some government support that helps people buy coverage. Expensive gene therapies and diabetes and obesity treatments are pressuring prescription coverage.
August 25, 2025 4:42 am
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Witnesses say Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinian aid-seekers traveling through a military zone south of Gaza City that is regularly used to reach a food distribution point. Gaza City is now officially in famine after 22 months of war, while Israel’s military moves ahead with a planned offensive to seize the city. That could begin within days. Gaza’s Health Ministry on Sunday reported eight malnutrition-related deaths, including a child. Gaza City and its hundreds of thousands of people are now the focus of both a famine and the looming offensive. But many people are too exhausted or wary to flee.
August 25, 2025 4:40 am
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday threatening to withhold federal funding from local and state governments that allow cashless bail, arguing that it is a threat to public safety. Proponents of eliminating cash bail argue it penalizes poverty, as wealthier individuals can pay to await trial outside jail. Critics believe it is a time-honored way to ensure defendants released from jail show up for court proceedings and warn that cashless bail could lead to more crime. Studies show mixed results on the impact of cashless bail.
August 25, 2025 4:28 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg says officials are “working very, very hard” on efforts to end the three-year war between Russia and Ukraine. Kellogg said in Kyiv on Monday that officials are “hoping to get to a position where, in the near term, we have, with a lack of a better term, security guarantees” that address Ukraine’s fears of another invasion by Russia in the future. A lack of progress in talks is fueling doubts about whether a peace settlement could be on the horizon.
August 25, 2025 4:21 am
Firefighters were called to a fire in South Franklin Township, Sunday night. According to Washington County 9-1-1, a neighbor reported a fire at 890 S Bridge Road in Prosperity at 11:35 PM. No injuries were reported, the house was unoccupied at the time of the fire. The State Police Fire Marshal is investigating the incident.
August 25, 2025 3:38 am
HANOVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A two vehicle crash injured two people and shut down Route 22 near Burgettstown for several hours on Sunday evening. According to Washington County 9-1-1, the incident occurred a at mile marker one on Westbound Route 22 at 6:13 PM. Among the vehicles involved was a tractor trailer that overturned. The two people injured were transported to area hospitals, one by helicopter. Route 22 was closed in both directions between exits PA 18-Florence Burgettstown and the West Virginia line for nearly six hours to clear the scene. Pennsylvania State Police are investigating the crash.
August 25, 2025 1:30 am
Funeral arrangements have been set for Ron Todd, a Washington High School football assistant coach who collapsed in the grandstands shortly after the team’s season home opener Friday night against McGuffey. Todd, a junior high teacher in the district, was attended to by both teams athletic training staff, then transported to UPMC-Washington where he later died. District officials say grief counseling services were available Monday at both the Jr/Sr High School and at the Washington Park School. Family and friends are invited to the William G. Neal Funeral Home 925 Allison Avenue in Washington from two to eight p.m. on Wednesday, August 27th. A funeral service will take place on Thursday, August 28th, 2025 at eleven a.m. at the Funeral Home. Burial will follow in Washington Cemetery. (Photo courtesy of William G. Neal Funeral Home)
August 25, 2025 1:00 am
Traffic will be restricted to a single lane from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday in South Strabane Township for bridge inspections, according to PennDot. The inspections will affect the flyover ramp from Interstate 79 North to Interstate 70 and the ramp from Interstate 70 East to Interstate 79 North in South Strabane. Also, Interstate 70 traffic will be reduced to a single lane between Exit 1 and Exit 21 on Interstate 70 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday eastbound and westbound.
August 24, 2025 8:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Now that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has signaled that the central bank could soon cut its key interest rate, he faces a new challenge: how to do it without seeming to cave to the White House’s demands. For months, Powell has largely ignored President Donald Trump’s relentless hectoring that he reduce borrowing costs. Yet on Friday, in a highly-anticipated speech, Powell suggested that the Fed could take such a step as soon as its next meeting in September. It will be a fraught decision for the Fed, which must weigh it against persistent inflation that remains a problem and an economy that could also improve in the second half of this year. Both trends, if they occur, could make a cut look premature. (Photo: AP)
August 24, 2025 8:10 am
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Soon after arriving at a Gaza City hospital, Texas surgeon Mohammed Adeel Khaleel examined a 17-year-old with gunshot wounds sustained when he went to an aid site. The teen whose ribs protruded from his emaciated torso was just one of many patients showing signs of severe malnutrition. When doctors at Al-Ahli Hospital stabilized him, he raised his heavily bandaged hand and pointed to his empty mouth. He and other doctors didn’t have to wait until the pronouncement Friday by the world’s leading authority on food crises that Gaza’s largest city is gripped by famine. They see evidence of deprivation in the patients right in front of them.
