October 7, 2025 4:46 am
REIM, Israel (AP) — Israelis are mourning the dead and fearing for the remaining hostages as they mark two years since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack plunged the region into a devastating war. Tuesday’s commemorations come as Israel and Hamas hold indirect negotiations in Egypt. The main memorial ceremony is being organized by bereaved families. The government-organized memorial will be held according to the Jewish calendar next week. The rift reflects deep divisions over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership, which many blame for the failure to secure a ceasefire that would free the hostages. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed tens of thousands and razed entire towns and cities in the Gaza Strip.
October 7, 2025 2:38 am
The second day of testimony in the trial of Joshua George, accused of violently shaking his infant son and delivering him to his grandparents for baby sitting has concluded. Morning testimony was a continuation of cross examination of the infant’s grandmother Cheska Rotellini, supplemented by video of her interviews with police. Defense attorneys tried to show Rotellini’s qualities as a baby sitter as deficient and unqualified to care for a child. They pointed to several instances of bruising and a battered lip on the infant that was in her care in the month leading up to his death. Afternoon testimony featured expert witness testimony from independent forensic pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers. She described her report provided to prosecutors on the cause and manner of death of the infant. She classified the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head. The manner was homicide. Defense attorneys concentrated on timelines of when someone several months old could develop bruising and brain swelling associated with a skull fracture. Hammers testimony said that especially in the case of infants, those symptoms can be immediate or delayed by several hours. She did say the force needed to fracture the infant’s skull would have needed to be significant.
October 7, 2025 2:15 am
Police are investigating a fatal motorcycle accident that occurred sometime between nine o’clock Sunday night and eight-thirty Monday morning in Cecil Township. Washington County Coroner Tim Warco says 32-year-old Alexander Adams of Lawrence was operating a motorcycle, west, on Baker Road, when he went over an embankment and landed in the yard of a home at 960 Baker Road. Warco says his family had been searching for him, when they discovered the wreck. Warco says he was not wearing a helmet.
October 7, 2025 2:04 am
A McDonald man was killed in a motorcycle crash Monday evening. The Washington County Coroner’s office says 67 year old John Dinsmore was traveling east on Millers Run Road in Cecil Township just before 6 p.m. A witness says an SUV crossed the center line and collided with the bike in the 38-hundred block. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A cause and manner of death are pending. Cecil Township Police continue to investigate.
October 7, 2025 1:19 am
The fate of West Alexander – and whether it will become a borough again – won’t be known for at least another 30 days. A Washington County judge on Tuesday delayed a hearing until Nov. 7 to determine whether the West Alexander community can separate from Donegal Township. Dennis Makel, a lawyer for residents leading the charge, met with lawyers for the township for about 45 minutes in Judge Brandon Neuman’s chambers before returning to the courtroom and announcing the delay. He told Dr. Kathleen Miller, coordinator of the West Alexander Borough Project, and about 15 supporters in attendance that the township agreed to drop challenges related to the map and population of the proposed borough but is questioning the legality of some of the signatures the residents were required to gather to petition for the change. Miller said the residents submitted signatures from 2,042 of the 4,056 landowners within the proposed borough, 14 more than the required 50 percent.
October 6, 2025 4:43 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned ex-girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein. The justices Monday declined to take up a case that would’ve renewed attention on the Epstein sexual-abuse saga after President Donald Trump’s administration sought to tamp down criticism over its refusal to publicly release more investigative files. Trump’s Republican administration had urged the high court to stay out of the case. Lawyers for Maxwell argued she never should’ve been tried or convicted for a role in luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. Maxwell is serving 20 years and recently was transferred from a Florida prison to a Texas prison camp. (Photo: AP)
October 6, 2025 4:40 pm
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi have won the Nobel Prize in medicine for discoveries about how the body ensures immune cells attack intruders but not our own tissues. Their findings advanced the search for autoimmune disease treatments, as well as work in cancer and organ transplants. The Nobel Assembly announced the award Monday. Sakaguchi first discovered regulatory T cells in 1995. In 2001, Brunkow and Ramsdell identified a gene mutation involved in autoimmune diseases. Sakaguchi later connected these findings to explain a previously unknown way the body keeps the immune system in check. The trio will share nearly $1.2 million in prize money.
October 6, 2025 9:09 am
CAIRO (AP) — Israeli and Hamas officials are set to hold indirect talks in Egypt on a potential ceasefire in Gaza. The talks are taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh, with Israeli and Hamas delegations arriving Sunday and Monday. The negotiations focus on a ceasefire’s first stage, including the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are also expected to join. This push for peace follows Hamas accepting some elements of the U.S. peace plan, which Israel supports. The talks are expected to be brief.
October 6, 2025 7:57 am
A three-vehicle crash in Canton Township injured two people Monday morning. Washington County 9-1-1 dispatchers say it happened just before 7 a.m. at the intersection of Route-40 and Mckee Road. A garbage truck and two other passenger vehicles were involved. Dispatchers say one person was flown by medical helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital. Another was transported by ambulance to UPMC Washington. There is no word on their identities or conditions. Route 40 was closed as a result of the crash, but at last report one lane has reopened.
October 6, 2025 5:05 am
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Authorities say rival gunmen shot at each other in a crowded downtown nightlife district in Alabama’s capital city, killing two people and injuring 12 others. Montgomery Police Chief James Graboys said five people wounded in Saturday night’s shootings were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. Those killed included a 43-year-old woman and a 17-year-old male. Police were called around 11:30 p.m. to what Graboys described as a “mass shooting” in which two rival parties were firing at each other in the middle of a crowd without regard for the people around them. Graboys said investigators were combing through evidence and interviewing potential suspects, although no one had been charged as of Sunday afternoon.
