August 10, 2019 4:15 am
MONACA, Pa. (AP) – President Donald Trump is coming to western Pennsylvania next week to visit a multibillion-dollar ethane cracker plant under construction.
A White House official said Thursday the visit to the 386-acre site in Monaca that had been planned for this week before two mass shootings occurred will take place on Tuesday.
The massive Shell Pennsylvania Chemicals plant will convert natural gas liquids into plastic pellets to be used in manufacturing. There are currently about 5,000 construction workers on the site. Shell has said it expects to have about 600 permanent workers at the Ohio River facility, once it’s fully built and up and running sometime in the early 2020s. The plant will be operated by Shell Polymers.
August 10, 2019 4:11 am
PLUM, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania man whose 3-year-old daughter drowned last week is now facing charges after police say he left his two young children alone in the pool to go inside and make a drink. According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday, 27-year-old Charles Mitchell told officers he returned to the backyard Aug. 1 to find his daughter submerged in the deep end of the pool and pulled her out and started CPR. Mitchell has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangerment. No attorney is listed in court documents. Police say he told them his 4-year-old son wanted to swim but his daughter didn’t, so he put a life vest on his son and his daughter stayed outside while he left for five minutes to fix a ginger ale mixed with an apple-flavored alcohol. They say he later changed his statement to say it was only ginger ale.
August 9, 2019 4:45 pm
Walmart is removing from all of its stores signs, displays or videos that depict violence following a mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas, store that killed 22 people. The retailer instructed employees in an internal memo to remove any marketing material, turn off or unplug video game consoles that show violent games, and to make sure that no violence is depicted on screens in its electronics departments. Employees were also ordered to turn off hunting season videos in the sporting goods department. Walmart spokeswoman Tara House said Friday that Walmart is taking the actions, “out of respect for the incidents of the past week.” No videos or video games that depict violence will be removed from shelves and there is no change in the company’s policy regarding gun sales.
August 9, 2019 4:29 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Newly released court documents show that financier Jeffrey Epstein repeatedly declined to answer questions about sex abuse as part of a lawsuit. A partial transcript of the September 2016 deposition was included in hundreds of pages of documents placed in a public file Friday by a federal appeals court in New York. The 66-year-old Epstein has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges after his July 6 arrest. Epstein was asked in the videotaped deposition whether it was standard operating procedure for his former girlfriend to bring underage girls to him to sexually abuse. Epstein replied “Fifth,” citing the constitutional amendment protecting people against incriminating themselves.
August 9, 2019 4:25 pm
AKRON, Ohio (AP) – An Ohio-based energy company says it’s closing its last coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania nearly two years earlier than expected. FirstEnergy Solutions said Friday that its plant in Shippingport will be idled Nov. 7. The company had previously said the Bruce Mansfield plant would be shut down in June 2021. FirstEnergy, which is going through bankruptcy reorganization, blamed “a lack of economic viability in current market conditions.” The company has said it can’t compete in regional wholesale markets as coal and nuclear lose out to cheaper energy sources such as natural gas and renewables. FirstEnergy announced last year that it would shut down the Pennsylvania plant and its last three coal-fired plants in Ohio. President Donald Trump has vowed to take steps to prevent struggling coal-fired and nuclear power plants from closing
August 9, 2019 3:37 pm
EL PASO, Texas (AP) – Authorities say the 21-year-old man accused of carrying out the deadly mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart confessed after surrendering and said he had been targeting Mexicans. El Paso Detective Adrian Garcia said in an arrest warrant affidavit that Patrick Crusius emerged with his hands up from a vehicle stopped at an intersection shortly after last Saturday’s attack and told officers, “I’m the shooter.” He says Crusius later waived his Miranda Rights and agreed to speak with detectives, telling them he was targeting Mexicans during his attack. Twenty-two people were killed in the attack and about two dozen others were wounded. Many of the dead had Latino last names and eight of them were Mexican nationals. El Paso sits on the border with Mexico. (Photo: CNN)
August 9, 2019 2:49 pm
Over 5000 volunteer hours, spread out over 4 years culminated Friday with a ribbon cutting. The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum dedicated their new Fairgrounds Platform Project, which tripled the size of the previous platform that was upgraded due to age. It accommodates two trolleys on each of the two tracks. The project cost more than $800,000 and was funded through SPC SMART Transportation grant funds, Washington County Local Share funds, Washington County Act 13 Greenways Funds and fairgrounds gas lease monies. The Port Authority of Allegheny County also got involved by donating signal equipment and allowing the use of their specialized bucket truck. The dedication was set to coincide with the opening of the Washington County Agricultural Fair on August 11.Local officials on hand for the dedication included Washington County Commissioners Larry Maggi, Diana Irey Vaughn and Harlan Shober. Scott Becker, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum along with State Senator Camera Bartolotta and representatives for Congressman Tim O’Neal were also on hand. For information about Park ‘N Ride tickets to the fair, go to www.patrolley.org .
August 9, 2019 1:41 pm
WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. (AP) – A western Pennsylvania amusement park says its newest and biggest attraction is back up and running after a brief shutdown. A spokesman for Kennywood Park near Pittsburgh says the Steel Curtain roller coaster reopened Wednesday afternoon and has been operating smoothly ever since. It had been closed on Aug. 3 so workers could make some “adjustments.” The 4,000-foot-long coaster contains nine inversions, which park officials say is the most in North America, and the world’s tallest inversion at 197 feet. The park says “stoppages and periodic closures” will remain possible due to the “newness, complexity and record-breaking nature” of the ride. The park is located in West Mifflin, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of downtown Pittsburgh.
August 9, 2019 9:10 am
An audit by the Washington County Controllers office has uncovered a backlog in processing filing fees in the Prothonotary’s office. The review found the backlog, related to liens filed by the Clerk of Courts office against criminal defendants who were assessed fines and costs, totalled more than $101,000 at the end of 2018. Prothonotary Joy Schury Ranko tells WJPA News that total has already been reduced to $40,679. According to Schury Ranko, they have stream-lined the process and she expects to be completely caught up by the end of the year. Officials say the audit found that no money is missing. This all comes as a State Police investigation continues into some $96,000 is missing money discovered in an audit of the Clerk of Courts office.
August 9, 2019 4:23 am
AGAT, Guam (AP) – Long after clergy sex abuse erupted into scandal in the United States, it remained a secret on the American island of Guam, spanning generations and reaching to the very top of the Catholic hierarchy. For decades, abusers held the power in a culture of impunity led by an archbishop who was among those accused. Anthony Apuron was suspended in 2016 and later convicted in a secret Vatican trial. More than 220 former altar boys, students and Scouts are now suing Guam’s archdiocese over sexual assaults by 35 clergy, teachers and scoutmasters. The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Survivors have until August 15 to file for a financial settlement. Seven men have accused Apuron of sexual assaults they endured as children, including his own nephew. Heádenies the allegations.
