July 17, 2025 2:21 am
Washington County will soon be involved in a court dispute between two different energy companies looking to utilize the same portion of land in East Finley Township. Tunnel Ridge, LLC is currently seeking a temporary injunction to have Mark West Liberty Midstream & Resources, LLC cease using their gas transmission pipelines while Tunnel Ridge longwall mines coal underneath those lines. Tunnel Ridge is further seeking a permanent injunction. Washington County Solicitor Gary Sweat was alerted to the case by attorneys from Range Resources. According to Sweat, typically, in situations like this, gas companies would simply raise the pipelines above ground until all mining is complete. In this case that is impossible because these lines would then be located in protected wetlands. A second solution would be for Mark West to construct another cryogenic production plant. Unfortunately, that would be a 3-4 year construction process. The county is intervening because of the large loss of revenue that could occur if Tunnel Ridge’s injunction request is granted. According to figures submitted to Sweat from Range Resources, 40 percent of royalty owners would cease to receive payments. 156 wells would be idled. Locally, 6-7 townships would have royalty and/or impact fees affected by an injunction. Washington County alone would see a financial loss of nearly $60,000 per month of royalty payments. Compensatory figures are being exchanged between the two parties. A hearing on the injunctions is scheduled for August 27-29.
July 17, 2025 2:17 am
An investigation is underway into the death of a Monongahela man who barricaded himself inside his home Wednesday night following a report made to Washington County 911 around seven-thirty. Authorities say at this time, they believe the death of 36-year-old Zachry Hamilton is a suspected suicide. SWAT crews from Washington and Beaver counties were called to the home along with the Charleroi Regional Police, Carroll Township Police and Tri-Community and Southeast Regional EMS. SWAT used a drone and observed him unresponsive with an apparent gunshot wound. An autopsy is pending.
July 16, 2025 3:41 pm
(WPXI) PITTSBURGH — North Shore-based unicorn company Gecko Robotics announced two partnerships with local companies alongside the Pennsylvania Energy & Innovation Summit. Gecko, which uses robotics and AI to perform infrastructure analysis, will “explore a new collaboration” with U.S. Steel, according to a joint statement from Gecko CEO Jake Loosararian and U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt. “Pittsburgh is fast becoming the physical AI capital of the world,” Loosararian and Burritt’s joint statement reads. “U.S. Steel and Gecko Robotics are pleased to announce plans to explore a new collaboration focused on the health of steel mill infrastructure throughout the U.S. The future of manufacturing is taking shape now, where Gecko’s advances in AI and robotics could combine with U.S. Steel’s 120-plus-year legacy of industrial ingenuity and grit.”
July 16, 2025 3:36 pm
LONDON (AP) — Britain has announced plans to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 before the next national election. The center-left Labour Party pledged before it was elected in July 2024 to lower the voting age for elections to Britain’s Parliament. The government announced the move on Thursday as part of efforts to boost democratic participation. Scotland and Wales already allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in local elections. Britain will join the short list of countries where the voting age is 16, alongside the likes of Austria, Brazil and Ecuador. Additional reforms include automatic voter registration and allowing bank cards as voter ID. Officials also aim to tighten campaign financing rules in an attempt to prevent foreign interference. The changes still require parliamentary approval. The next election is due by 2029.
July 16, 2025 2:35 pm
KUT, Iraq (AP) — Iraqi officials say a fire engulfed a newly opened shopping center in eastern Iraq, killing more than 60 people in eastern Wasit province. Iraq’s Ministry of Interior said civil defense teams rescued more than 45 people who became trapped when the fire broke out late Wednesday in the city of Kut. The ministry says 14 charred bodies remain unidentified. The provincial governor declared three days of mourning and says the cause of the fire is still under investigation but that legal cases were filed against the building owner and shopping center owner. He did not specify what the charges were. He also said that no government official has resigned or been dismissed as a result of the fire, and that they are currently awaiting the results of the investigation. The results of the preliminary investigation will be released within 48 hours, he said.
July 16, 2025 2:13 pm
SOUTH STRABANE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A man is facing charges of endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person and leaving a child unattended in a vehicle, after police said he left an infant and a toddler inside a hot car in the parking lot of the Trinity Point Walmart in Washington. Police said two girls, 9 months old and 3 years old, had been in the car for about 45 minutes. The 3-year-old was unresponsive. The children were taken to a hospital to be cared for. The girls’ mother told police that the children were left in the care of Fritzson Charles. Charles was arrested and taken to the Washington County Prison, where he was denied bail
July 16, 2025 2:11 pm
(WPXI) PITTSBURGH — A young man was killed and three others were injured in a rollover crash in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood. Just before 1 a.m. Thursday, police, fire and EMS were all dispatched to Beechwood Boulevard between Beechwood Lane and Gettysburg Street for a single vehicle rollover crash. The three survivors of the crash were able to get out of the car after it flipped upside down on the road after hitting a pole. The driver and one passenger were taken to the hospital in stable condition. The other passenger was taken in critical condition. On Thursday afternoon, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Jakob James Sirlin, 18, of Squirrel Hill. Police say their investigation points to speed as a factor in this crash. That information did not surprise neighbors who say the stretch along Beechwood Boulevard in between Reynolds and Hastings Street can be dangerous because of speeding.
July 16, 2025 5:30 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he plans to place tariffs of over 10% on smaller countries, including nations in Africa and the Caribbean. “We’ll probably set one tariff for all of them,” Trump said Tuesday, adding that it could be “a little over 10% tariff” on goods from at least 100 nations. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick interjected that the nations with goods being taxed at these rates would be in Africa and the Caribbean, places that generally do relatively modest levels of trade with the U.S. and would be relatively insignificant for addressing Trump’s goals of reducing trade imbalances with the rest of the world.
July 16, 2025 5:29 am
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The United States says it has sent five men to the small African nation of Eswatini in an expansion of the Trump administration’s third-country deportation program. The U.S. has already deported eight men to another African nation, South Sudan, after the Supreme Court lifted restrictions on sending people to countries where they have no ties. In a post on X, Homeland Security Department Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin says the men, who are citizens of Vietnam, Cuba, Yemen and Laos, have arrived in Eswatini on a plane.
July 16, 2025 5:28 am
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An American aid organization in Gaza says 20 Palestinians were killed at a distribution site in Khan Younis. The Gaza Humanitarian Fund said 19 died in a stampede, and one was fatally stabbed on Wednesday. The group accuses Hamas of spreading panic but provides no evidence. The United Nations reports 875 Palestinians have died near aid sites since May. Meanwhile, hospital officials say Israeli strikes killed 41 others, including 11 children. Israel claims its strikes target Hamas infrastructure, accusing the group of hiding among civilians. Gaza faces a severe humanitarian crisis, with over 2 million residents struggling amid ongoing conflict and blockades.
