June 2, 2021 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is meeting with the top Republican negotiator on infrastructure, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito. Time is running out to strike a bipartisan deal. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said tapping unspent COVID-19 aid is “key” to reaching a deal. Biden has already sized up that offer as unworkable. The administration says the deadline for a deal is June. 7. Biden and GOP senators appear to be pulling farther apart as they try to narrow their ideas. The president is proposing $1.7 trillion on roads, bridges and other investments. The Republicans countered last week with $928 billion.
June 2, 2021 4:13 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – County officials are reprising their call for fixes to Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law to help them run a smoother election in November, as a fight brews over whether counties must throw out mailed-in ballots without the voter’s handwritten date on the envelope. The counties’ call for action Tuesday comes amid a partisan stalemate over how to fix shortcomings in Pennsylvania’s 2019 expansive mail-in voting law. Meanwhile, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration told counties that voters must date their mail-in ballot envelope for their ballot to count.
June 2, 2021 4:11 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pennsylvania is continuing its rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, as the state reports that tax collections through May were almost $3 billion ahead of expectations. The Department of Revenue said Tuesday that collections for the state’s main operating account were $36.6 billion through May. That is $2.9 billion, or 8.5%, above estimate, with another month to go until the fiscal year ends. Last summer, budgetmakers had warned of a multibillion-dollar deficit because of the pandemic’s impact. Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-controlled Legislature also must decide how to allocate $7.3 billion from the American Rescue Plan bill signed by President Joe Biden in March.
June 2, 2021 4:10 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) – Two winning tickets split a Pennsylvania Lottery Cash 5 with Quick Cash jackpot worth $500,000 from the Friday drawing. Each ticket matched all five balls drawn, 11-13-30-41-43, to win $250,000 each, less withholding. The Giant Eagle at 5055 Library Road in Bethel Park and Fischer’s New Brighton Foodland at 415 9th St. in New Brighton, Beaver County each will receive a $500 bonus for selling the winning tickets that split the jackpot. Winners can be identified only after prizes are claimed and tickets validated. A main Cash 5 game prize must be claimed within one year of the drawing date. Anyone holding a jackpot-winning Cash 5 with Quick Cash ticket should contact the nearest Lottery office for further instructions or call 1-800-692-7481.
June 2, 2021 4:07 am
ROSS TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – Two teenagers involved in a fight that ended in gunshots inside Ross Park Mall on Saturday are now facing gun charges. According to our partners at Channel 11, the two 17-year-old boys are being charged with illegal possession of a firearm by a person under the age of 21, along with other crimes. However, the teens are not charged with firing the guns because none of the witnesses interviewed said they saw the guns being fired. The fight broke out on the second floor of the mall around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday near Guest Services. Ross Police Department Det. Brian Kohlhepp said the fight involved as many as six people. At some point during the scuffle, guns were pulled out and several shots were fired. Three guns were recovered during the investigation. The mall was put on lockdown, shoppers went running for the exits, and employees shuffled others into back rooms and closets to stay safe. Luckily, there were no injuries.
June 1, 2021 5:49 pm
A medical helicopter was called to the scene of an accident Tuesday morning in Cecil Township. Washington County 9-1-1 tells WJPA News that the head-on crash occurred just before nine-thirty at Muse-Bishop Road and Oakbrooke Drive. Dispatchers say one female was trapped in a vehicle and two other individuals were evaulated at the scene. They say multiple emergency responders were called to the scene but there’s been no word on the extent of the injuries or what may have led to the crash.
June 1, 2021 2:55 pm
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has confirmed that he is personally liable for $700 million in loans taken by his coal companies. The loans were taken out from a lender in the United Kingdom that went bankrupt in March. Justice blamed the lender, Greensill Capital U.K., at a news conference on Tuesday. The Republican governor’s coal company, Bluestone Resources Inc., sued the lender after it went under over allegations of fraud. Justice says the loans were acquired to rebuild Bluestone after a period of decline. The Roanoke, Virginia-based company is involved in mining metallurgical grade coal used for steel making.
June 1, 2021 4:24 am
An Avella man was killed in a motorcycle crash Monday afternoon. The Washington County Coroner’s office says 43 year old Chester Lesjak was pronounced dead following the crash on Meadowcroft Road. His motorcycle collided with another vehicle. Lesjak was not wearing a helmet. State Police are investigating.
June 1, 2021 4:10 am
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is plunging Florida deeper into the culture wars. With a stroke of his pen on Tuesday, Florida is now the latest state to bar transgender girls and women from playing on public school teams intended for student athletes born as girls. The measure DeSantis signed at a Christian school was approved by the GOP-led Legislature. Starting July 1, a transgender student athlete can’t participate without first showing a birth certificate saying she was a girl when she was born. Critics call the new law hateful and are preparing to challenge it in court.
June 1, 2021 4:09 am
MEXICO CITY (AP) – Tropical Storm Blanca has gained some strength in the eastern Pacific while staying far off Mexico’s southern coast and posing no threat to land. Blanca had winds of about 60 mph (95 kph) late Monday and the U.S. National Hurricane Center says it is expected to reach its peak intensity by Tuesday before beginning to weaken while move farther into the Pacific. Blanca is the second named storm of the eastern Pacific hurricane season. The first named storm in the eastern Pacific, Andres, formed May 9 off the southwestern coast of Mexico, though it quickly dissipated.
