July 12, 2025 4:15 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — A second arrest has been made in connection with a deadly shooting near an elementary school in Washington. Police continue to investigate the death of Nasstylejah Wilkerson, now filing new charges against a man they say was always a person of interest. William Howell now faces homicide and conspiracy charges. According to WPXI-TV, Wilkerson was shot several times near John F. Kennedy Catholic Elementary School. He later died in a hospital. Wilkerson’s half-brother, Trevon McCrary, was arrested in May and charged with homicide in this case. Police believe he was the shooter that day. Both Howell and McCrary were taken into custody in Allegheny County. A witness told police she saw her neighbor’s car leaving the scene. That vehicle was later found abandoned at a grocery store parking lot in South Fayette Township. Surveillance video showed two men getting out and walking away. Detectives say Howell appears to have been the getaway driver in the shooting. The car belonged to a woman who had loaned it to McCrary. Court documents show Howell was on parole at the time, and his ankle monitor put him at the scene, and where the vehicle was abandoned. Howell is expected to be brought back to Washington next week to face these charges. Under Pennsylvania law, even if he only drove the getaway car, he could face the same penalties as the accused shooter.
July 11, 2025 11:44 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the United States is selling weapons to its NATO allies in Europe so they can provide them to Ukraine as it struggles to fend off a recent escalation in Russia’s drone and missile attacks. Trump said in an NBC interview, “NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday some of the U.S.-made weapons Ukraine is seeking are deployed with NATO allies in Europe. Rubio says those weapons could be transferred to Ukraine, with European countries buying replacements from the U.S. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says talks with the U.S. president have been “very constructive.”
July 11, 2025 8:34 pm
(WPXI) PITTSBURGH — Multiple traffic changes and ramp closures will begin soon for long-term bridge repair work on Interstate 579. PennDOT officials say a new traffic configuration from southbound I-279 (Parkway North) to southbound I-579 will begin in Pittsburgh Sunday at 10 a.m., weather permitting. The changes are being made so crews from Swank Construction can repair bridges on I-579, after inspectors found several deteriorated piers on I-579 and its HOV lanes. Here’s what the new configuration will look like: southbound I-279 traffic to southbound I-579 will be crossed over into the I-279 HOV lanes approximately 500 feet south of the Swindell Bridge. The crossover into the I-279 HOV lanes will be made from the left-hand lanes of southbound I-279. Crossed over traffic will continue from the I-279 HOV lanes into the I-579 HOV lanes. Once on the Veterans Bridge, traffic from the southbound I-579 HOV lanes will be crossed back over into the southbound I-579 lanes. Two 11-foot lanes will be maintained in this new configuration.
July 11, 2025 8:27 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein files flap is cascading, further roiling a Justice Department and FBI that have struggled for months to appease the demands of far-right conservative personalities and influential members of President Donald Trump’s base. In a sign of continued tumult, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino were revealed to have had a contentious conversation at the White House earlier in the week over the Epstein documents and a recent story that described divisions between the FBI and Justice Department. The turmoil arising from the Epstein investigation lays bare the struggles of FBI and Justice Department leaders to resolve the conspiracy theories and amped-up expectations that they had stoked.
July 11, 2025 8:09 pm
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — South Sudan has accepted eight third-country deportees from the U.S. and Rwanda says it’s in talk with the administration of President Donald Trump on a similar deal. Nigeria meanwhile says it’s rejecting pressure to do the same. These initiatives in Africa mark an expansion in U.S. efforts to deport people to countries other than their own. It has sent hundreds of Venezuelans and others to Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama but has yet to announce any major deals in Africa, Asia or Europe. While proponents see such programs as a way of deterring what they describe as unmanageable levels of migration, human rights advocates have raised concerns over sending migrants to countries where they have no ties.
July 11, 2025 3:57 pm
A statewide 911 outage is affecting services in the area. The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency sent out an emergency phone alert shortly after three-thirty, reporting a 911 outage that disrupting systems across the state, including here in Washington County. Because of the outage, normal 911 calls may not go through and our local 911 officials say that if you have an emergency, until further notice, call their non-emergency landline at 724-229-4600. They also encourage you to visit their Facebook page at: washington county public safety for further updates. The public is told to follow instructions from their local 911 centers or public safety agencies. The City of Washington’s Police Department is asking that citizens do not call 911 to test their phones, as it is being overwhelmed currently. Only contact 911 if there is an emergency, and no one should call 911 and then hang up to test if it is working. Officials say this would be considered a “hang-up call” and would lead to an investigation. CBS News Philadelphia reports that the problem lies with an IT issue with a third party company.
July 11, 2025 3:00 pm
SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) — Fighters with a Kurdish separatist militant group that has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey have begun laying down their weapons. About 30 fighters took part in a symbolic ceremony Friday in northern Iraq. The move was the first concrete step toward a promised disarmament as part of a peace process. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, announced in May it would disband and renounce armed conflict to end four decades of hostilities. The move came after PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan urged his group in February to convene a congress and formally disband and disarm. Öcalan has been imprisoned on an island near Istanbul since 1999.
July 11, 2025 9:32 am
Officials have announced that the beach at Raccoon Creek State Park has been closed for swimming after an elevated level of E. coli was detected in the water. It is closed until further notice. The park uses Department of Health standards and they monitor sample results and notify the park when a closure is required. The swimming area will remain closed until levels drop, but the beach will remain open.
July 11, 2025 8:54 am
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The State Department is firing over 1,300 employees in line with a dramatic reorganization plan initiated by the Trump administration earlier this year. A senior State Department official said Friday the department is sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with domestic assignments in the United States. While lauded by President Donald Trump’s administration as overdue and necessary to make the department leaner and more efficient, the cuts have been roundly criticized by current and former diplomats who say they will weaken U.S. influence and its ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad.
July 11, 2025 5:02 am
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva says he will impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States if President Donald Trump follows through on a pledge to boost import taxes by 50%. Lula’s comments raise the risk of a tariffs war erupting between the two countries, similar to what has happened between the U.S. and China. Trump has vowed to respond forcefully if countries seek to punish the U.S. The letter that Trump sent to Brazil on Wednesday railing against the “witch hunt” trial against former President Jair Bolsonaro opened up a new front in his trade wars.
