July 12, 2025 5:04 am
NEW DELHI (AP) — A preliminary finding into last month’s Air India plane crash has suggested the aircraft’s fuel control switches were turned off, causing a loss of engine thrust shortly after takeoff. The report, issued by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, also indicated that both pilots were confused over the change to the switch setting. The report did not say how the switches could have flipped to the cutoff position. The June 12 crash occurred in India’s western Ahmedabad city when the plane struck a residential area shortly after takeoff. It killed at least 260 people, including 19 on the ground. Only one passenger survived the crash.
July 12, 2025 5:02 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, has spawned state-level DOGE initiatives as Republican governors and lawmakers aim to show that they’re in step. Critics say some of these initiatives are nothing new or duplicative, while some governors are using their DOGE vehicles to target welfare programs or diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The state initiatives have a markedly different character than what some say are Trump’s slash-and-burn approach. Steve Slivinski of the libertarian Cato Institute says much of what he’s seen is the same mundane stuff states routinely do to save money. Analysts at the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute say some governors and lawmakers are using DOGE agendas to consolidate power.
July 12, 2025 4:48 am
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming’s first new coal mine in 50 years is said to be operating soon but it won’t rely on the fossil fuel to make money. Ramaco Resources plans to process the coal to extract rare earth elements it says are present in profitable quantities. Rare earths are a family of 17 metallic elements used in technologies like wind turbines, electric car batteries, and military targeting hardware. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and others attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday for the Brook Mine in northern Wyoming. China supplies almost 90% of the world’s rare earth elements, and the Trump administration is seeking to encourage more U.S. production.
July 12, 2025 4:45 am
[Observer-Reporter] Pittsburgh-base EQT Corporation, one of the largest natural gas production company in the United States, has closed its $1.8 billion acquisition of Olympus Energy of Southpointe. EQT closed the deal with its former rival earlier this month. Olympus owns more than 100,000 acres it uses for drilling and fracking. Most of it is in Allegheny and Westmoreland Counties. EQT has a large presence in Western Pennsylvania, including Fayette, Greene and of course Washington County. It also extends into eastern Ohio and the West Virginia panhandle. A spokesperson said “this transaction strengthens our position nationally and in our core operating area in Appalachia.”
July 12, 2025 4:15 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — A second arrest has been made in connection with a deadly shooting near an elementary school in Washington. Police continue to investigate the death of Nasstylejah Wilkerson, now filing new charges against a man they say was always a person of interest. William Howell now faces homicide and conspiracy charges. According to WPXI-TV, Wilkerson was shot several times near John F. Kennedy Catholic Elementary School. He later died in a hospital. Wilkerson’s half-brother, Trevon McCrary, was arrested in May and charged with homicide in this case. Police believe he was the shooter that day. Both Howell and McCrary were taken into custody in Allegheny County. A witness told police she saw her neighbor’s car leaving the scene. That vehicle was later found abandoned at a grocery store parking lot in South Fayette Township. Surveillance video showed two men getting out and walking away. Detectives say Howell appears to have been the getaway driver in the shooting. The car belonged to a woman who had loaned it to McCrary. Court documents show Howell was on parole at the time, and his ankle monitor put him at the scene, and where the vehicle was abandoned. Howell is expected to be brought back to Washington next week to face these charges. Under Pennsylvania law, even if he only drove the getaway car, he could face the same penalties as the accused shooter.
July 11, 2025 11:44 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the United States is selling weapons to its NATO allies in Europe so they can provide them to Ukraine as it struggles to fend off a recent escalation in Russia’s drone and missile attacks. Trump said in an NBC interview, “NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday some of the U.S.-made weapons Ukraine is seeking are deployed with NATO allies in Europe. Rubio says those weapons could be transferred to Ukraine, with European countries buying replacements from the U.S. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says talks with the U.S. president have been “very constructive.”
July 11, 2025 8:34 pm
(WPXI) PITTSBURGH — Multiple traffic changes and ramp closures will begin soon for long-term bridge repair work on Interstate 579. PennDOT officials say a new traffic configuration from southbound I-279 (Parkway North) to southbound I-579 will begin in Pittsburgh Sunday at 10 a.m., weather permitting. The changes are being made so crews from Swank Construction can repair bridges on I-579, after inspectors found several deteriorated piers on I-579 and its HOV lanes. Here’s what the new configuration will look like: southbound I-279 traffic to southbound I-579 will be crossed over into the I-279 HOV lanes approximately 500 feet south of the Swindell Bridge. The crossover into the I-279 HOV lanes will be made from the left-hand lanes of southbound I-279. Crossed over traffic will continue from the I-279 HOV lanes into the I-579 HOV lanes. Once on the Veterans Bridge, traffic from the southbound I-579 HOV lanes will be crossed back over into the southbound I-579 lanes. Two 11-foot lanes will be maintained in this new configuration.
July 11, 2025 8:27 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein files flap is cascading, further roiling a Justice Department and FBI that have struggled for months to appease the demands of far-right conservative personalities and influential members of President Donald Trump’s base. In a sign of continued tumult, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino were revealed to have had a contentious conversation at the White House earlier in the week over the Epstein documents and a recent story that described divisions between the FBI and Justice Department. The turmoil arising from the Epstein investigation lays bare the struggles of FBI and Justice Department leaders to resolve the conspiracy theories and amped-up expectations that they had stoked.
July 11, 2025 8:09 pm
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — South Sudan has accepted eight third-country deportees from the U.S. and Rwanda says it’s in talk with the administration of President Donald Trump on a similar deal. Nigeria meanwhile says it’s rejecting pressure to do the same. These initiatives in Africa mark an expansion in U.S. efforts to deport people to countries other than their own. It has sent hundreds of Venezuelans and others to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama but has yet to announce any major deals in Africa, Asia or Europe. While proponents see such programs as a way of deterring what they describe as unmanageable levels of migration, human rights advocates have raised concerns over sending migrants to countries where they have no ties.
July 11, 2025 3:57 pm
A statewide 911 outage is affecting services in the area. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency sent out an emergency phone alert shortly after three-thirty, reporting a 911 outage that disrupting systems across the state, including here in Washington County. Because of the outage, normal 911 calls may not go through and our local 911 officials say that if you have an emergency, until further notice, call their non-emergency landline at 724-229-4600. They also encourage you to visit their Facebook page at: washington county public safety for further updates. The public is told to follow instructions from their local 911 centers or public safety agencies. The City of Washington’s Police Department is asking that citizens do not call 911 to test their phones, as it is being overwhelmed currently. Only contact 911 if there is an emergency, and no one should call 911 and then hang up to test if it is working. Officials say this would be considered a “hang-up call” and would lead to an investigation. CBS News Philadelphia reports that the problem lies with an IT issue with a third party company.
