August 13, 2025 1:06 am
North Franklin Township Supervisors were greeted by a crowd of approximately 50 residents for their meeting on Tuesday. Scheduled speakers included Ridgewood Road resident George Leasure who spoke for the whole street. He employed a power point presentation to describe back yard flooding that occurred on June 14 and July 26. Some of that flooding affected people’s basements. He showed how a cross drain needs maintenance to clear out silt that holds water and limits the flow of the pipe during heavy rains. He also called into question the maintenance of a pond in Walnut Ridge. His presentation prompted more than a dozen other complaints from residents in other areas of the township, particularly from Cario Drive and Holiday Hills residents. Supervisor Bob Sabot sympathized with residents as he described his own dealings with flood waters. He pledged to work to get infrastructure failures addressed either temporarily or as in the case of Ridgewood Drive, totally next year during the road paving season. Sabot made an interesting comment about development. He said the board is concentrating on supporting the Washington Crown Center Mall redevelopment and addressing current infrastructure deficiencies before approving more housing to add to the existing problems with water and adding more cars to create traffic problems.
August 13, 2025 4:52 am
In the late 1970s, 9-year-old Kimberly Sever of Brookline was caught up in the Pittsburgh pride sparked by Myron Cope’s “Terrible Towel.” Though not a football fan, she noticed how Steelers mania transformed the city, with black-and-gold “terrible” versions of everything. She thought a “Terrible Trolley” would be very cool and, encouraged by her grandmother, wrote Mayor Caliguri with her idea. The mayor replied that he would pass the suggestion to the Port Authority, which ran Pittsburgh’s trolleys. Decades later, the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum contacted Sever to tell her she had inspired the original Terrible Trolley, streetcar 1713, which ran from Pittsburgh to Charleroi starting in 1949. The trolley’s restoration took just over two years, one of the fastest projects in the museum’s history. Restoration manager Michael Buchta said the car was in rough shape with rust, corrosion, and chipping paint. Prime Collision Center donated paintwork using PPG Paints from ATI, helping raise over $90,000, with more funds still needed. Now part of the museum’s operating fleet, the Terrible Trolley will run regularly or be on display for visitors.
August 13, 2025 5:04 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Some of the 800 National Guard members deployed by the Trump administration to assist with law enforcement have begun arriving in Washington, D.C. The city’s police and federal officials took the first steps Tuesday in an uneasy partnership to reduce crime in what President Donald Trump called — without substantiation — a lawless city. Mayor Muriel Bowser pledged to work alongside the federal officials Trump has tasked with overseeing the capital city’s law enforcement. Bowser insists the police chief remains in charge of the department and its officers. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said about 850 officers and agents fanned out across Washington on Monday and arrested 23 people overnight.
August 13, 2025 5:06 am
BERLIN (AP) — The German government says that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Berlin on Wednesday to join Chancellor Friedrich Merz for talks with European and U.S. leaders ahead of the Trump-Putin summit later this week. Merz has convened a series of virtual meetings on Wednesday in an attempt to have the voice of European and Ukraine’s leaders heard ahead of a summit that they have been sidelined from. Zelenskyy is due to meet with European leaders first, to prepare for a virtual call with U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance about an hour later.
August 13, 2025 5:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mexico is sending 26 high-ranking cartel figures to the United States in the latest major deal with the Trump administration. American authorities are ratcheting up pressure on criminal networks sending drugs across the border. Those being handed over to U.S. custody include Abigael González Valencia, a leader of “Los Cuinis,” a group closely aligned with notorious cartel Jalisco New Generation or CJNG, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. They were being flown to American soil after the Justice Department agreed not to seek the death penalty against any of the defendants or against any cartel leaders and members transferred to the U.S. in February.
August 13, 2025 5:05 am
Billionaire SpaceX, Tesla and X owner Elon Musk says he plans to sue Apple for not featuring X and its Grok artificial intelligence chatbot app in its top recommended apps in its App Store. Musk posted the comments on X, saying, “Hey @Apple App Store, why do you refuse to put either X or Grok in your ‘Must Have’ section when X is the #1 news app in the world and Grok is #5 among all apps?” He added that “Apple is behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation. xAI will take immediate legal action.”
August 13, 2025 5:26 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has put a personal touch on this year’s Kennedy Center Honors. Trump announced the honorees himself, naming George Strait, Sylvester Stallone, Gloria Gaynor, Kiss and Michael Crawford. Trump is now chair of the Kennedy Center and revealed the names during a Wednesday press conference at the Washington cultural institution. Unlike in Trump’s first term, when he didn’t attend an honors ceremony, this year he plans to host the awards himself. Trump says he was “98% involved” in choosing the nominees. At least some of this year’s winners have a history of backing Trump, though one member of Kiss, Paul Stanley, has often criticized the president. The ceremony is Dec. 7.
August 13, 2025 5:30 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is now rolling out a service where its Prime members can order their blueberries and milk at the same time as their batteries and other basic items. The online juggernaut said Wednesday that customers in more than 1,000 cities and towns now have access to fresh groceries with its free Same-Day Delivery on orders over $25 for Prime members, with plans to reach over 2,300 locations by year-end. The company said that if an order doesn’t meet the minimum, members can still choose Same-Day Delivery for a $2.99 fee. For customers without a Prime membership, the service is available with a $12.99 fee, regardless of order size.
August 12, 2025 8:14 am
Sections of Alaska’s capital city are bracing for the arrival of what could be record floodwaters due to rainwater and snowmelt flowing downstream from a basin dammed by the Mendenhall Glacier. Residents in some parts of Juneau have evacuated. Flooding from the basin has become an annual concern for residents. On Tuesday, officials confirmed water had started escaping the ice dam and was flowing downstream, with flooding expected into Wednesday. In past years the flooding has swept away houses and swamped hundreds of homes. The Mendenhall Glacier is a thinning, retreating glacier that acts as a dam for Suicide Basin, which fills each spring and summer with rainwater and snowmelt.
August 12, 2025 8:21 am
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders have urged U.S. President Donald Trump to defend their security interests at an upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The meeting, set for Friday, focuses on the ongoing war in Ukraine. European leaders are concerned about being sidelined and fear that Putin might secure favorable concessions. Trump has suggested that Ukraine may need to give up some territory, which has disappointed U.S. allies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected this idea. Meanwhile, Russia appeared close to capturing a key city in the Donetsk region on Tuesday, complicating the situation further.
