July 16, 2025 5:23 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Officials say Russian weapons pounded Ukrainian cities overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, injuring at least 15 people in an attack that mostly targeted energy infrastructure. The latest bombardment in Russia’s escalating aerial campaign against civilian areas came ahead of a Sept. 2 deadline set by U.S. President Donald Trump for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal in the three-year war, under the threat of possible severe Washington sanctions if it doesn’t. No date has yet been publicly set for a possible third round of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine. Two previous rounds delivered no progress apart from prisoner swaps.
July 16, 2025 5:01 am
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is lashing out at his own supporters as he tries to clamp down on criticism over his administration’s handling of much-hyped records in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation. And Trump told reporters Wednesday that “it’s all been a big hoax” that, in his words, has been ”perpetrated by the Democrats.” He says “some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans” have fallen “into the net.” There is no evidence Democrats played any role in promoting conspiracies about the files, which members of Trump’s administration stoked for years. The rhetoric marks a dramatic escalation for the Republican president, who has broken with some of his most loyal backers on issues in the past, but never with such fervor.
July 16, 2025 4:57 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is gaining some key backing on Capitol Hill from Republican senators. They fear the repercussions if President Donald Trump follows through with threats to try and remove the politically independent central banker. As Trump seemingly waffled back and forth between moving to dismiss the Fed chair this week, some Republicans in Congress began to speak up to warn that such a move would be a mistake. Still, plenty of other Republicans think that dismissing Powell is a fine idea.
July 16, 2025 4:52 am
Vice President JD Vance was in the swing political turf of northeastern Pennsylvania to begin selling President Donald Trump’s sweeping budget-and-policy package. Vance’s stop Wednesday in West Pittston is in a working-class district that could see a ferocious congressional campaign next year. Vance’s tiebreaking vote got the bill through the Senate, and he has promoted the bill’s passage as another example of the Trump administration’s “promises made, promises kept.” Debate over the package is expected to shape the 2026 midterm battle for control of the House of Representatives, which Democrats see as their best opportunity to block Trump’s agenda in his final two years in the Oval Office.
July 16, 2025 4:50 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — President Donald Trump is touting tens of billions of dollars of energy and tech investments at a new summit focusing on energy and innovation. At the event Tuesday in Pittsburgh helmed by Republican Sen. David McCormick, Trump boasted of a “true golden age for America” in energy policy and artificial intelligence. Pennsylvania is a swing state critical to Trump’s wins in 2016 and 2024, and is at the forefront of his energy agenda. In a panel discussion, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Trump administration won’t let the U.S. lose the artificial intelligence race. Participating companies at the conference included Blackstone, Bridgewater, SoftBank, Amazon Web Services and ExxonMobil.
July 16, 2025 4:50 am
WEST PITTSTON, Pa. (AP) — Vice President JD Vance made the Trump administration’s first big pitch to sell the public on President Donald Trump’s sweeping budget-and-policy package in the swing political turf of northeastern Pennsylvania. The vice president, whose tiebreaking vote got the bill through the Senate, touted the legislation’s tax breaks and cast Democrats as opponents of the cutting taxes because of their unanimous opposition to the legislation. Democrats who’ve decried the law’s cuts to Medicaid and food stamps are expected to try to use it against Republicans in closely contested congressional campaigns next year, including one expected to play out in the working class-area where Vance promoted the legislation.
July 16, 2025 2:07 am
The idea of a personal warehouse development has been working its way to reality for more than a year in North Strabane Township. One additional step has been accomplished. Supervisors held a public hearing about amending the ordnance that permits a personal warehouse in the C-1 commercial district with regards to parking limits. Supervisors will entertain passage of the amendment that states that parking must be provided for one car for every 400 square feet of warehouse space. That is up from the original one car per 300 square feet of warehouse space. Additionally, a parking space in front of the door of each unit will not be counted in the total parking requirement. Township Manager Andrew Walz says the purpose is to try an minimize a “sea of asphalt” that is created when the parking is not utilized. He says it creates difficulty with storm water management. Another change is that there will be a five-acre minimum lot size for any personal warehouse development. CC Realty Advisors is the developer of the personal warehose. It is proposed for the corner of Morganza and Curry Roads. Supervisors could possibly vote on the changes in their August meeting.
July 16, 2025 1:29 am
A Canon McMillan High School teacher and former varsity golf coach has been arraigned on charges of allegedly having a sexual relationship with one of his students. Forty-eight-year-old Justin Harry White is facing several charges, including 13 counts of institutional sexual assault. Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh says an investigation by North Strabane Township Police uncovered thousands of texts and emails between White and the victim, which were described as a “daily sexual, romantic and inappropriate for a student-teacher relationship.” Authorities said White and the victim, who was a senior at the time, had multiple sexual encounters, including in White’s classroom, a parking lot three miles from the high school and at the soccer fields in North Strabane Township. North Strabane Township Police say White is being held in the Washington County Jail on a 150-thousand-dollar straight bond. His preliminary hearing has been set for August 5th. (Photo: WPXI)
July 15, 2025 5:51 pm
(AP) – The Emmy nominations are in, and familiar favorites like “Hacks,” “The Bear,” and “Abbott Elementary” dominate the comedy categories. However, there were some differences, too. Kathy Bates became the oldest lead drama actress nominee at 77 for “Matlock.” Apple TV+’s “Shrinking” gained traction with seven nominations, including Harrison Ford’s first Emmy nod. Netflix’s “Adolescence” scored 13 nominations, while “The Handmaid’s Tale” earned just one as it concluded its six-season run. Meanwhile, “The Voice” missed a reality competition nod for the first time since 2012, and Kristen Bell received her first-ever Emmy nomination for “Nobody Wants This.” (Photo: AP)
July 15, 2025 1:24 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Four independent voters in Pennsylvania are asking the state Supreme Court to rule that the closed primary system violates the state constitution. They filed a lawsuit Tuesday arguing that keeping independents out of primaries effectively denies them the right to vote in many districts where primaries determine the outcome. Pennsylvania is one of 14 states with closed primaries. New Mexico passed a law this year allowing voters with no party affiliation to vote in primary elections without changing their nonpartisan status. Lawsuits are pending in Wyoming, Oregon and Maryland.
