June 11, 2021 4:07 am
Washington City Council held the first in person voting meeting in several months and the most anticipated item on the agenda was saved for the end of the meeting. Council was scheduled to approve or reject an ordinance to form a police review board. That board would be a mechanism to allow citizens to review allegations of police misconduct. When the motion was raised for a vote, Councilman Ken Westcott read from a prepared statement requesting that the motion be tabled. He pointed to possible litigation circumstances that may be brought on by the city’s Fraternal Order of Police chapter. Mayor Scott Putnam pointed to a case brought by the police union in Morgantown, WV over a similar ordinance. Putnam and council want to make sure the police union in Washington has its concerns addressed. Dr. Andrew Goudy, President of the Washington, PA branch of the NAACP was shocked at the motion. He indicated that he was not given any advance notice that tabling the measure was even an option. He stayed after the meeting to talk with Putnam to see exactly what brought on the tabling and where the process will go from here.
June 11, 2021 3:42 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit by Republican state lawmakers in Pennsylvania that sought to overturn a ban on gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River basin. Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia ruled that GOP lawmakers had no legal right to sue. Senate Republicans led by Sens. Gene Yaw and Lisa Baker claimed the Delaware River Basin Commission overstepped its authority and usurped the Legislature with its moratorium on natural gas development near the river and its tributaries. Diamond says the dispute “is best resolved through the political process.” But the judge gave four municipalities that had joined the suit permission to refile.
June 11, 2021 2:56 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Republican proposal to revamp Pennsylvania election law would affect deadlines, early voting and mail-in ballots and require ID for all in-person voters. The measure, sponsored by Republican State Government Committee Chairman Seth Grove, was made public Thursday. It’s likely to encounter pushback from Democrats in a state where statewide elections are usually competitive. The state’s counties have urged lawmakers to pass something by the end of the month so that changes to how and when ballots are counted will be in place for the Nov. 2 vote.
June 10, 2021 2:52 pm
ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Authorities say a shooting inside a Florida supermarket has left three people dead, including the shooter. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman Teri Barbera says a man, woman and child died in the shooting Thursday at a Publix in Royal Palm Beach. She says the shooter is among the dead. Publix had no immediate comment. Publix is Florida’s largest grocery chain, with more than 1,200 stores in the South. Further information was not immediately available.
June 10, 2021 10:18 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell for the sixth straight week as the U.S. economy reopens rapidly after being held back for months by the coronavirus pandemic. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 376,000 from 385,000 the week before. áThe number of people signing up for benefits exceeded 900,000 in early January and has fallen more or less steadily ever since. Still, claims are high by historic standards. Before the pandemic brought economic activity to a near-standstill in March 2020, weekly applications were regularly coming in below 220,000.
June 10, 2021 8:20 am
An internal inventory report determined that more than $298,000 in food purchased by the Greater Washington County Food Bank went undistributed last year. The report says that food was bought through a state food program with federal COVID-19 relief funds. It came as food insecurity was at its highest during the pandemic. Staff reportedly conducted the inventory in February after Washington County Commissioners voted to redirect some $240,000 in state and federal money to the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank. Commissioner’s Chairman Diana Irey-Vaughan tells WJPA News that they were aware “there was an issue with the distribution of product” but says “the volume was larger than we had anticipated”. Irey-Vaughan says “twelve pantries were closed during the pandemic” and “going from the truck-to-trunk model, we knew that food insecurity was on the rise and there wasn’t enough product getting to the community.” WJPA has reached out to the Greater Washington County Food Bank for comment but has yet to hear back from them.
June 10, 2021 5:10 am
A lengthy search for a new borough manager in Charleroi has ended with the hiring of a Washington City Councilman. Joe Manning was approved for the position in a 5-1 vote by council Wednesday evening. Councilman Frank Pattera cast the lone no vote. Manning is to be paid a salary of $60,000 and will begin work this month. Manning tells WJPA that he plans to finish out his current term on Washington City Council. However, he hasn’t ruled out another re-election bid in the fall. To do so, Manning says he “would have to determine that he could effectively serve both communities.” Charleroi hasn’t had a borough manager since 2014 and officials say they received applications from throughout the state. All applications were submitted through the State Department of Community and Economic Development.
June 10, 2021 4:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Johnson & Johnson says U.S. health officials have extended the expiration date for its COVID-19 vaccine by six weeks. The drugmaker said Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration approved a shelf life of 4 1/2 months for the one-dose shots. State officials recently warned that millions of doses would reach their original three-month expiration by the end of June. The extension comes as the number of U.S. vaccinations continues to slip. Vaccine expiration dates are based on information from drugmakers on how long the shots stay at the right strength. Regulators are reviewing those dates as companies have continued to test batches.
June 10, 2021 4:12 am
DETROIT (AP) – Lawyers say a son of legendary University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler was among the hundreds of men who were sexually assaulted by a campus doctor. Matt Schembechler and two players who were also victims of Dr. Robert Anderson will speak about the abuse during a news conference Thursday. A recent report commissioned by the university found that Bo Schembechler and others were aware of complaints about Anderson, yet he remained at the school for decades. Hundreds of men say Anderson molested them. He spent 37 years on campus and died in 2008.
June 10, 2021 4:10 am
The world’s largest meat processing company says it paid the equivalent of $11 million to hackers who broke into its computer system. Brazil-based JBS SA said on May 31 that it was the victim of a ransomware attack, but Wednesday was the first time the company’s U.S. division confirmed that it paid the ransom. JBS said the vast majority of its facilities were operational at the time it made the payment. It said it decided to pay in order to avoid any unforeseen issues and ensure no data was exfiltrated. The FBI has attributed the attack to REvil, a Russian-speaking gang that has made some of the largest ransomware demands on record in recent months.
