June 23, 2021 7:37 am
Tuesday evening saw Claysville community members congregate for a public input meeting fronted by the Master Revitalization Steering Committee. The committee, established in 2019, seeks to rejuvenate the area’s commercial and economic states alongside pursuing new opportunities with infrastructure, assets, and businesses. Composed of nine total municipalities (East/West Finley, Donegal, Claysville, Blaine, Buffalo, Morris, South Franklin, and Green Hills Borough), the committee’s Claysville Area Master Revitalization Plan primarily focuses on improving the way of life for all of its inhabitants through reviving its area and serving for their essential needs, such as functional, broadband internet. In May 2019, the committee was formed from representatives of different municipalities and organizations to decide upon the project, which was originally designed to only cover Claysville and Donora. Accrued funding from both public and private sources will be directed towards the engineering firm and consultant partners Herbert, Rowland, and Grubic Inc., who will help coordinate funding sources, according to committee member Rick Newton. “What HRG is going to do is help us create a revitalization plan: A multiyear, multiphase revitalization plan that then will also have funding sources identified”, said Newton. Since the plan pertains to a wide scope of communities with separate demands and necessities, the committee held a public meeting to hear the input of Claysville locals. Through different group surveys, attendees provided plenty of suggestions, ideas, and feedback for the area’s revitalization. Topics ranged from developing historical museums, building youth facilities, ensuring broadband internet service, and preserving the agricultural aspect of the area. Members from both the committee and Herbert, Rowland, and Grubic Inc. briefly studied the group responses recorded and found that the residents prefer infrastructure for senior living homes and communities rather than housing for larger nuclear families and that establishing a broadband, fiber-optic network is the most important utility demand for them. With the countless subjects of change espoused by the people, committee member Dennis Dutton remarked that meeting all of these goals would be difficult, but he nonetheless remained hopeful about the project. “In any area like this, each municipality has their own goals, and making that into one goal is very challenging to itself”, Dutton said. In continuing these surveys, the second and final public input meeting will be held on July 13th at the same location.
June 23, 2021 4:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is signaling that she is poised to create a new committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, pushing closer to a partisan investigation of the attack after Senate Republicans blocked the creation of an independent probe. A person familiar with the matter said after a meeting with Democrats that Pelosi had told her colleagues that she would create a select panel. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private remarks. But Pelosi later denied that, telling reporters, “No, I did not make that announcement.”
June 23, 2021 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Democrats’ sweeping attempt to rewrite U.S. election and voting law has suffered a major setback in the U.S. Senate. The bill failed in a key test vote Tuesday, blocked by a filibuster wall of Republican opposition. The measure would strike down hurdles to voting that advocates view as the Civil Rights fight of the era. President Joe Biden declared that “this fight is far from over.” But the Senate defeat leaves the Democrats with no clear path forward. Republican leader Mitch McConnell called the bill a “a solution looking for a problem,” and Sen. Ted Cruz dismissed it as merely “designed to keep Democrats in office.” Pressure has been mounting on Democrats to change Senate filibuster rules to enact Biden’s agenda.
June 23, 2021 4:16 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Kobe Bryant’s widow has agreed to settle a lawsuit against the pilot and owners of the helicopter that crashed last year, killing the NBA star, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others. Vanessa Bryant, her children and relatives of other victims filed a settlement agreement notice Tuesday with a federal judge in Los Angeles but terms of the confidential deal weren’t disclosed. Bryant and nine others died when their chopper, flying in fog, plunged into hills in January of last year while flying from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament in Ventura County. Federal investigators blamed pilot error.
June 23, 2021 4:14 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – American authorities have seized a range of Iran’s state-linked news websites they accuse of spreading “disinformation.” The move Tuesday appears to be a far-reaching crackdown on Iranian media amid heightened tensions between the two countries. The Justice Department said 33 of the seized websites were used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union, which was singled out by the U.S. government last October for what officials described as efforts to spread disinformation and sow discord among American voters ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The takedowns come as world powers scramble to resurrect Tehran’s tattered 2015 nuclear deal.
June 23, 2021 4:12 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Local police would be able to use radar to enforce speed limits under a bill that has passed the Pennsylvania Senate. Senators voted 49 to 1 on Tuesday for the legislation. Local jurisdictions would have to pass an ordinance, train police in using radar guns and follow rules for regular testing and calibration of the speed measurement devices. For the first three months of use, only warnings would be issued. Pennsylvania has long limited the use of radar to state police, and repeated efforts to allow it for local police have never succeeded. The bill was sent to the House for its consideration.
June 23, 2021 4:10 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Republican rewrite of election law is now in the hands of the state Senate after a tense debate in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The bill that passed Tuesday would mandate voter IDs, alter registration and ballot counting deadlines and give conservatives the auditing procedures they have demanded. It got out of the state House on a 110 to 91 vote Tuesday despite Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto threat. It would change the registration deadline from 15 days to 30 days before an election. Mail-in ballots would have to be requested 15 days before the vote. Drop boxes for mail-in ballots would be limited to seven days before an election.
June 23, 2021 3:48 am
Nearly 200 people came out for a rally in support of union members on strike against Allegheny Technologies, Inc. in Washington on Tuesday. Union members from United Steel Workers local 7139-5 assembled in front of the plant and were joined by union members from other plants around Pittsburgh and from Louisville, Ohio. Unit Chair for Local 7139-5 Randy Denman, Jr. states that the bargaining has been going on since a one year extension to the previous contract was signed to get the company through the Covid-19 pandemic. Denman says that since the extension expired negotiations have gone badly. ATI is being accused of bargaining in bad faith and even using illegal methods. Mike Baumgardener from Louisville, Ohio states that the company is using “service bargaining” methods that send company people to the rank and file members and discuss the contract with them on the production floor instead of discussing the contract at the bargaining table. Baumgardener states that is illegal and unfair. Denman states that the company has not given workers a raise in pay in 8 years. The company is looking for members to contribute more toward health care. Denman also states that the company is sitting on $600 million and has paid large bonuses to corporate staff. Workers have been on strike since March 30.
June 23, 2021 3:10 am
An Allegheny County man facing charges of filming children in various states of undress in a Canonsburg gymnasium waived his charges to court. Anthony Lee Fletcher, 37 of Pittsburgh spoke with his attorney David Shrager for more than 30 minutes before agreeing to stand trial for those charges. Fletcher is facing six felony charges of illegal filming of children and three charges of child pornography for filming three girls changing clothes in a restroom of the Armory Youth Center in Canonsburg using a hidden camera. First Assistant District Attorney Jason Walsh stated that Washington County will prosecute Fletcher to the fullest extent. Fletcher is also facing charges in Allegheny County for the filming of him raping an unresponsive girl in his residence.
June 22, 2021 12:38 pm
Residents within a half-mile radius of 89 Pleasant Valley Road in Claysville were evacuated for a brief time Monday night after reports of an apparent well-pad fire. According to a post on the Claysville Fire Department’s Facebook page, the call came in as an active fire and the evacuations were precautionary. Residents were allowed back into their homes around ten o’clock. Authorities say the situation was brought under control quickly.
