August 29, 2021 7:51 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — Servicemembers from the Pittsburgh-based 911th Airlift Wing are in Afghanistan helping with the evacuation effort at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. Our newspartners at Channel 11 spoke with the Commander of the 911th Col. John Robinson, who choked up at one point talking about seeing his planes and his people working to get people out. Robinson said his crews are providing security, mission support, operations and more ahead of President Joe Biden’s Monday deadline. He said when the 911th Airlift Wing got the call, they were ready. He said he can’t release how many planes and airmen from Pittsburgh are over there, but said the region is well represented.
August 29, 2021 1:38 am
SOUTH STRABANE, Pa. — A man was hospitalized after getting shot Friday night in South Strabane Township. Washington County 911 confirms a 20-year-old male was shot in the stomach near the intersection of Route 19 and Manifold Road. Reports say the victim was found behind the Jimmy John’s restaurant just after 10:00 p.m. Officials say the victim was flown by medical helicopter to an area hospital for treatment. There is no word on his condition. Officials confirm one person was taken into custody at the scene, but Chief Drew Hilk of the South Strabane Police Department says the 22-year old male was interviewed and later released. No identities of the victim or suspect have been made public at this time. Chief Hilk says the department is not searching for a shooter and there is no threat to the public. South Strabane Police continue to investigate the situation.
August 29, 2021 1:23 am
A Washington County judge has denied a request to reverse the mask mandate at Peters Township School District. Senior Judge Katherine Emery denied the temporary injunction requested by parents who are against the mandate. Therefore, the decision by the school board requiring masks for everyone in all district buildings stands. The attorney representing the parents said they are disappointed, but the lawsuit will move forward.
August 28, 2021 4:30 am
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has ordered a mandatory evacuation for a small area of the city outside the levee system. But with Hurricane Ida intensifying so much over a short time, she said it wasn’t possible to do so for the entire city. Forecasters say Ida could grow to an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm with top winds of 140 mph when it nears the U.S. coast late Sunday. The National Hurricane Center says Ida already has top winds of 80 mph and should rapidly intensify as it speeds across warm Gulf waters and slams into Louisiana. Gov. John Bel Edwards has declared an emergency for all of Louisiana.
August 28, 2021 4:29 am
BEIJING (AP) – China’s defense ministry has protested the passage of a U.S. Navy warship and Coast Guard cutter through the waters between China and Taiwan, a self-governing island claimed by China. A statement posted Saturday on the ministry’s website called the move provocative and said it shows that the United States is the biggest creator of security risks in the Taiwan Strait. The USS Kidd guided-missile destroyer and Coast Guard cutter Munro sailed through the passage Friday. Such exercises are seen as a warning to China, which recently conducted drills near Taiwan and has not renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.
August 28, 2021 4:28 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States military struck back at the Islamic State in Afghanistan on Saturday, acting on President Joe Biden’s vow to hit the extremists in retaliation for a suicide bombing claimed by IS that killed as many as 169 Afghans and 13 American service members at Kabul airport Thursday. A U.S. Central Command statement said a drone strike targeted an IS planner in the eastern province of Nangahar. It said initial indications were that the target was killed. Biden said Thursday he would strike back at the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate. “We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said.
August 28, 2021 4:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Across the county, the offices of members of Congress have become makeshift crisis centers. The lawmakers are being flooded with requests for help getting people onto one of the last flights coming out of the Kabul airport before Tuesday. That’s President Joe Biden’s deadline for the withdrawal of all U.S. military forces out of Afghanistan. The requests run into the hundreds, and sometimes the thousands, for each lawmaker. The work is gut-wrenching with stories of people they’re trying to help being turned away from the Kabul airport. Still, there are successes amid one of the largest airlifts in U.S. history.
August 28, 2021 4:24 am
CECIL, Pa. (AP) – The Rev. George T. DeVille fills the gold-plated container – called a pyx – with 15 consecrated Holy Communion hosts. After distributing Communion to members of St. Oscar Romero Parish inside Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Cecil, he takes Communion to residences of the faithful, some homebound, others recovering from medical issues and others uncomfortable returning to services because of the pandemic. Praying with them as they receive the host is “an honor,” said DeVille, who has been a priest for 64 years. As a senior parochial vicar, he is the oldest priest still active in an assignment in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
August 28, 2021 4:12 am
AMWELL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — West Penn Power took care of a power outage affecting nearly 400 residents in Washington County Saturday morning. The issues were reportedly stemming from Vance Station Road near the KOA Campground. Municipalities with outages at the time included Amwell, South Strabane, North Franklin, North Strabane and the City of Washington. The power company had the power restored around 6:00 a.m.
August 27, 2021 4:25 am
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) – A community on the shore of Lake Tahoe issued an emergency declaration and a tourism group discouraged visitors from coming amid smoky skies from a major wildfire. South Lake Tahoe declared an emergency Thursday to be better prepared if evacuations are ordered and the community is threatened by the Caldor Fire. Some residents under evacuation warnings cleared up pine needles and flammable debris from their homes; others fled. Firefighters were trying to stop the fire before winds and temperatures pick up and humidity drops. The fire is one of nearly 90 blazes burning in the West.
