July 18, 2024 4:53 am
Federal transportation officials are providing $5 billion to replace or improve aging bridges in 16 states. The grants announced Wednesday by President Joe Biden’s administration come from a $1 trillion infrastructure package he signed into law in 2021. The largest project provides an additional $1.4 billion to help replace two bridges carrying Interstate 5 traffic over the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington. Other projects receiving $500 million or more include bridges in Cape Code, Massachusetts; Mobile, Alabama; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. More than 42,000 bridges across the U.S. are in poor condition, and they are on average 70 years old.
July 17, 2024 5:42 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee has issued a subpoena to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle compelling her to appear before the committee on Monday for what is scheduled to be the first congressional hearing into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general also says it’s investigating the Secret Service’s handling of security for Trump the day a gunman tried to assassinate him at a Pennsylvania rally. The agency said Wednesday the objective is to evaluate the Secret Service’s “process for securing” Trump’s Saturday event. The Secret Service has said it will participate with congressional committees looking into the shooting.
July 17, 2024 4:51 am
BETHEL PARK, Pa. (AP) — Three days after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the 20-year-old man who came close to killing the former president remains an enigma. Neighbors describe Thomas Matthew Crooks as an intelligent loner with few friends who left a vanishingly thin social media footprint and no hint of strong political beliefs. Even his cellphone bore few clues after the FBI accessed its contents, frustrating investigators’ efforts to identify a potential motive. Classmates at Bethel Park High School said Crooks was smart but standoffish, often seen wearing headphones and preferring to sit alone at lunch looking at his phone.
July 17, 2024 5:03 am
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance will introduce himself to a national audience as he addresses the Republican National Convention. The Ohio senator’s headlining address on Wednesday will be his first speech as the Republican vice-presidential nominee. He’s a relative political unknown who rapidly morphed in recent years from a severe critic to an aggressive defender of Trump. Vance is the first millennial to join a major-party ticket, and he joins the race as questions about the age of the men at the top of the tickets — 78-year-old Trump and 81-year-old President Joe Biden — have been high on the list of voters’ concerns.
July 17, 2024 5:40 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — California Rep. Adam Schiff has become the highest-profile Democrat to call for President Joe Biden to drop his reelection bid, as the party pushes ahead with plans to hold a virtual vote to formally make Biden its nominee in the first week of August. That’s before the party’s convention opens in person two weeks later. The move to schedule the roll call vote comes after nearly 20 Democratic members of Congress have called on Biden to withdraw from the presidential race in the wake of his halting debate performance against Republican former President Donald Trump last month. Among Democrats nationwide, nearly two-thirds say Biden should step aside and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Wednesday
July 17, 2024 4:44 am
The trial lasted five days but it took jurors just over one hour to decide the fate of Scott Edmonds, the North Strabane Township physical therapist who was accused of killing his 49 year old wife Louise Weis-Edmonds in March of 2014. The jury returned a guilty verdict of first degree murder to Edmonds along with a guilty verdict on a tampering with evidence charge. Edmonds had his bond immediately revoked and he was led from the courtroom in handcuffs. After a presentencing investigation is completed, Edmonds will be sentenced in 90 days. District Attorney Jason Walsh was pleased with the verdict. Edmonds and his attorney vowed to appeal the verdict. Louise Weis-Edmonds’ brother Martin and sister in law Elizabeth both thanked law enforcement and the jury for their efforts to bring closure to the more than 10 year old case.
July 17, 2024 4:44 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors will entertain a rather procedural agenda at their Legislative Meeting next week. On tap will be updates to the fee schedule. Fees across the board, construction, inspection and recreation fees will see some sort of an adjustment with some new fees to be introduced. Supervisors will also look to hire a new Director of Community Development. One item still under consideration is the rezoning of a lot at the corner of Curry and Morganza Roads from commercial to industrial to accommodate the construction of a personal warehouse. Planning and zoning officials are still struggling with the definition of a personal warehouse and which zone fits the development best. Supervisors will hold their Legislative Meeting on Tuesday July 23.
July 17, 2024 10:52 am
BUTLER, Pa. (AP) — A common refrain on the streets of Butler, Pennsylvania, in the wake of Saturday’s assassination attempt on Donald Trump was: “Of all the places.” The town is rural and neighborly. And it’s in Trump country. Residents expressed shock that an attempt would be made on his life in such a Trump stronghold. Butler County sits on the western edge of a presidential swing state. The Republican won there twice with about 66% of the vote, and about 57% of the county’s 139,000 registered voters are Republican. A local attorney likened it to the pope being shot in Vatican City.
July 16, 2024 2:56 am
A Greene County woman was killed in an early morning accident Tuesday in Jefferson. Greene County Coroner Gene Rush says 55-year-old Linda Morris of Jefferson died after being involved in a two car crash on Route 188 in the borough of Jefferson just before six o’clock. No further details are being released pending the results of an autopsy.
July 17, 2024 4:55 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Police are looking for the person who pulled the trigger after a man was shot in Downtown Pittsburgh Tuesday afternoon. According to police, he was hit twice in the arm and taken to the hospital in stable condition. The victim stopped his car near the corner of 4th Avenue and Smithfield Street just after 4 p.m. Police say the shooting likely happened about a block away on 3rd Avenue and Cherry Street but the whole ordeal began in the South Side as a road rage incident. “The victim vehicle was driving erratically from the Smithfield Street Bridge into town,” Police Chief Larry Scirotto said. “His aggressive driving may have prompted this gunfire exchange.” Police are still looking for the shooter and a silver Dodge Charger. If you have any information that can help, you are asked to call them. The victim may also face charges for his role in the road rage incident that led to the shooting.
