July 23, 2025 2:04 am
(WPXI) SOMERSET COUNTY, Pa — After months of testing the water at Blue Hole Creek for heavy metals, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection sent a notice of violation to Highlands Sporting Clay — a clay shooting range in Somerset County — saying they believe lead and other heavy metal concentrations in the water are because of lead shots at the range. “It’s a combination of poor events that lead to where we are today,” said Eric Harder, the Youghiogheny Riverkeeper with the Mountain Watershed Association. Harder said they started looking into concerns last fall after they went to sample bugs at the creek, and didn’t collect enough. Online records show Highlands Sporting Clay is owned by Highlands Ventures LLC, which is owned by Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bob Nutting.
July 23, 2025 5:02 am
A judge has rejected a Trump administration request to unseal transcripts from grand jury investigations of Jeffrey Epstein years ago in Florida. A similar request for the work of a different grand jury is pending in New York. U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach said Wednesday the request to release grand jury documents from 2005 and 2007 did not meet any of the extraordinary exceptions under federal law that could make them public. Supporters of President Donald Trump believe there was a conspiracy to protect Epstein’s clients, conceal videos of crimes being committed and other evidence.
July 23, 2025 5:01 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s order seeking to end birthright citizenship is unconstitutional, affirming a lower-court decision that blocked its enforcement nationwide. The ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes after the push was also blocked by a federal judge in New Hampshire, and puts the issue one step closer to quickly coming back before the Supreme Court. The 9th Circuit decision keeps a block on the Trump administration enforcing the order that would deny citizenship to children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily.
July 24, 2025 5:00 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University has reached a deal with the Trump administration to pay more than $220 million to the federal government. The agreement was made to restore federal research money that was canceled in the name of combating antisemitism on campus. The Ivy League school announced the agreement Wednesday. It will pay a $200 million settlement over three years to the federal government. The White House says it will also pay $21 million to resolve alleged civil rights violations against Jewish employees that occurred following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The school had been threatened with the potential loss of billions of dollars in government support,
July 24, 2025 3:40 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell bickeredface to face over the cost of the Fed’s renovations as the president visited the construction site. Trump claims the project costs $3.1 billion, while the Fed estimates it at $2.5 billion. The disagreement surfaced during a tour of the unfinished project on Thursday. Trump, a former real estate developer, joked about firing someone for such cost overruns. He also suggested he might back off Powell if interest rates were lowered. The renovation has become a point of contention, with Trump using it as a potential reason to push for Powell’s removal, though he recently stated he has no plans to do so.
July 23, 2025 4:59 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard this month declassified material that she claimed proved a “treasonous conspiracy” by the Obama administration in 2016 to politicize U.S. intelligence in service of casting doubt on the legitimacy of Donald Trump’s election victory. But a review by The Associated Press of reports produced by federal prosecutors and congressional committees casts doubt on that claim and others made by the nation’s top intelligence official.
July 24, 2025 5:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has unveiled an “AI Action Plan” shaped by Silicon Valley tech leaders who supported his campaign. The plan, disclosed Wednesday, focuses on boosting artificial intelligence technology exports, streamlining permits for energy-intensive data centers and exporting American AI around the world. Trump gave his tech advisers six months to come up with new AI policies after revoking President Joe Biden’s AI guardrails on his first day in office. Opponents of the Republican president’s AI agenda argue it prioritizes the needs of Big Tech over people. More than 100 groups have come together to sign a resolution calling for a “People’s AI Action Plan” that would preserve safeguards for the American public.
July 24, 2025 2:37 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff says the United States is cutting short Gaza ceasefire talks and bringing its negotiating team home from Qatar after the latest response from Hamas “shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.” Witkoff said Thursday mediators made a great effort but Hamas “does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith.” Witkoff says the U.S. will “consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza.” A breakthrough in talks on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas has eluded Trump’s Republican administration for months as conditions worsen in Gaza.
July 24, 2025 2:28 pm
(WPXI) HOMESTEAD, Pa. — Police have charged a man in connection with a shooting that injured a man in Homestead Wednesday night. Allegheny County police say Joseph Poole, 37, is facing multiple charges, including aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person. Poole is being held in the Allegheny County Jail ahead of his preliminary arraignment. Police say a call came in at 10:44 p.m. for a man who’d been shot in the 300 block of East 13th Avenue. Emergency crews found a man in a home who’d been shot in the leg. He was taken to a hospital in stable condition. In court records, police say the victim would not talk about what happened. Later, Poole reportedly went to the West Homestead police station and told officers, “I just shot somebody on 13th,” before being arrested. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the County Police Tip Line at 1-833-ALL-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.
July 24, 2025 2:02 am
(WPXI) BRIGHTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A retired Brighton Township police captain has been charged with possessing child pornography. Peter James Benedict Jr., 68, of Beaver, is charged with 11 counts of possessing child sexual abuse material and one count of criminal use of a communication facility. According to court records, a CyberTip was received June 6 for activity with a suspected file of child pornography. Investigators subpoenaed information from an internet service provider and were able to track the activity to Benedict’s address. Police executed a search warrant at Benedict’s home, where he reportedly confessed to viewing child pornography on a home computer. Benedict is being held in the Beaver County Prison with bail set at $500,000.
