August 15, 2025 4:53 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Pam Bondi has named the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration as Washington’s “emergency police commissioner,” saying she is granting him the powers of the police chief amid President Donald Trump’s takeover. Bondi said in an directive issued Thursday evening that DEA boss Terry Cole will assume “powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police.” But the capital’s attorney general responded that Bondi’s order was “unlawful” and said local officers must continue to follow Police Chief Pamela Smith’s orders. Mayor Muriel Bowser says “there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.”
August 15, 2025 4:51 am
TOKYO (AP) — Japan is paying tribute tribute to more than 3 million war dead as the country marks its surrender 80 years ago, ending World War II. But there is growing concern about the fading memories of the tragedy of war and the bitter lessons from the era of Japanese militarism. In a national ceremony Friday at Tokyo’s Budokan hall, about 4,500 officials and bereaved families and their descendants observed a moment of silence at noon. Just a block away at Yasukuni Shrine, seen by Asian neighbors as a symbol of militarism, dozens of rightwing politicians came to pray.
August 15, 2025 4:50 am
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska at a U.S. military base for a crucial summit. This Friday’s meeting could influence the war in Ukraine and European security. Trump aims to showcase his skills as a dealmaker. For Putin, it’s a chance to negotiate terms that favor Russia. The summit excludes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which could undermine Ukraine’s interests. Trump has expressed hopes for a broader peace deal, but success is uncertain. The meeting’s outcome could have significant implications for international relations and U.S. diplomacy.
August 15, 2025 4:47 am
Washington County Commissioners delivered a split decision on whether to appeal a decision from the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records that determined that the Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency is an independent corporation and not subject to county government control. After several minutes of debate between Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman and Commissioner Larry Maggi, the board voted 2-1 to retain Peacock Keller as special counsel to appeal the decision. Sherman has repeatedly requested records from the agency with regards to salaries, and consulting fees. WCTPA President Jeff Kotula has provided documentation of his agency’s spending including 20 years worth of financial audits. Sherman maintains that the documents do not satisfy his questions about salaries and consultant fees. Maggi characterized the lawsuit as a waste of taxpayer money. Sherman says he is protecting taxpayer money. The County funds the WCTPA about $2.5 million dollars annually.
August 15, 2025 2:48 am
Washington County Commissioners are looking into allegations that the controller’s office may have defaulted on approximately $1 million dollars in county bill payments. WJPA Radio received reports of the concern while commissioners were engaged in their monthly meeting on Thursday. Acting Controller Heather Sheatler was asked about the reports and she denied knowing anything about them. Pressed further, she indicated that she has no notices of default and all accounts are funded. Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman said that he learned of the concerns from the Finance Department. Commissioners have directed the Finance Department to pull files to determine exactly what occurred. He said details are limited and he will explain further when all information has been collected.
August 15, 2025 2:35 am
Police have arrested the man accused of smashing a McDonald police cruiser’s window earlier this year. McDonald Police Department officials announced over social media that they were able to solve the case with help from law enforcement partners.In April, an officer at the McDonald station reportedly heard someone pound on an office window. He went outside to find the driver’s side window of a police cruiser shattered. Video from outside showed the suspect walking around the building, wearing a black mask and gloves and holding a metal baseball bat. Officials say a case was made against Jacob Tigner, of McDonald, who had fled the state with multiple criminal cases pending against him. Tigner was arrested in Dallas County, Iowa, and brought back to Pennsylvania. He’s being held in the Washington County Jail.
August 15, 2025 2:00 am
Washington County Commissioners met and on their agenda were two items pertaining to next year’s version of the Washington County Real Estate Expo. Commissioners voted to extend the agreement with Richardson Communications to provide professional services and other consulting services under its current terms. They also agreed to approve a marketing agreement with Drive Marketing, Inc. The contract there is for $2000 and 10% of all gross funds raised by the company. The items caused dissent among the commissioners. Commissioner Larry Maggi wanted to table the matters for more discussion. Those motions failed. Both items passed 2-1 with Maggi dissenting. Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman praised last year’s Expo as a success, Maggi maintained that it was poorly attended. Sherman said the Expo led to Lighthouse Electric signing deals to redevelop the Ross Mould site in Washington and to purchase the former Brockway Glass plant in Canton Township. Maggi said that those negotiations have been underway for several years dating back to when he chaired the commissioners. Even spending caused disagreement. Sherman said the Expo did not cost taxpayers anything, Maggi said it was a waste of taxpayer dollars for county employees to be working there instead of their regular jobs. A date for next year’s Real Estate Expo is yet to be determined.
August 14, 2025 9:46 am
The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits fell modestly last week, remaining in the historically low range since the U.S. economy emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic. Applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending Aug. 9 fell by 3,000 to 224,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s below the 230,000 new applications that economists had forecast. Weekly applications for jobless benefits are seen as a proxy for U.S. layoffs and have mostly settled in a historically healthy range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years. The total number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits for the previous week of Aug. 2 fell by 15,000 to 1.96 million.
August 14, 2025 9:45 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. wholesale inflation surged unexpectedly last month as President Donald Trump’s sweeping taxes on imports are pushing costs higher. The Labor Department reported Thursday that its producer price index – which measures inflation before it hits consumers – was up 0.9% last month from June and 3.3% from a year earlier. The numbers were much higher than forecasters had expected.
August 14, 2025 5:04 am
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Rhode Island man accused of faking his death and fleeing the United States to evade rape charges has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a former girlfriend in his first of two Utah trials. A jury in Salt Lake County found Nicholas Rossi guilty of a 2008 rape after a three-day trial. He is to be sentenced on Oct. 20. An obituary published online claimed Rossi had died on Feb. 29, 2020, of late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But police in his home state of Rhode Island, along with his former lawyer and a former foster family, cast doubt on whether he was dead. He was arrested in Scotland the following year and extradited to Utah in January 2024.
