December 18, 2019 3:33 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. House voted to impeach President Donald Trump in a historic nighttime vote that split lawmakers along party lines. In a long day of debate, Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that lawmakers were rising to “defend democracy.” But Trump insisted they were actually perpetrating “an assault on America.” Trump would be just the third American president to be impeached, a lasting dark mark on his tenure. Now that they have been approved, the two charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress will be sent to the Senate for a trial in January. Republican supporters say the Democrats are just trying to remove a president they couldn’t defeat.
December 18, 2019 3:22 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The Pennsylvania House is advancing changes to the state’s parole system for lower-level, less violent offenders and revamping the process by which inmates get into drug treatment. Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to send the amended legislation back to the Senate. It would set up a system of more automated parole, a change designed to make it more consistent and efficient. The bill also provides a “quick dip,” short-term detention for parole violations that aren’t considered serious enough to return them to prison, and authorizes a Corrections Department review team to examine homicides by parolees.
December 18, 2019 3:20 am
PITTSBURGH, Pa. (WPXI) — The Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium announced that its northern elephant seal, Coolio, died Tuesday morning. “Our animals are like family and today we lost a unique member,” says Dr. Barbara Baker, president and CEO. “Coolio was an amazing animal who touched not only our lives but our visitors as well. He will be missed dearly.” Zoo officials said Coolio passed away during a veterinary procedure and gross necropsy results indicated the seal suffered from congenital abnormalities, including blood vessel abnormalities, likely resulting in severe hypertension. Coolio was found severely injured and near death when he was just three months old along the California coast. The zoo said it’s not unusual for northern elephant seals to accidentally beach themselves at young ages as they learn to hunt for food and navigate the oceans. Coolio was rescued by the Northern Marine Mammal Center and nursed back to health, but the damage he suffered to his eyes left him blind. The NMMC reached out to the Pittsburgh Zoo after they determined he could not be released back into the wild. “He was always eager to learn and despite his disability, he made great progress,” says Paul Moylett, curator of Aquatic Life. When the zoo rescued a second northern elephant seal, Ellie Mae, keepers wondered how Coolio would react. “He was cautious at first,” said Moylett. “But he adapted quickly. He and Ellie Mae got along very well.”
December 18, 2019 3:19 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — About 100 Washington County residents gathered on Main Street near the courthouse to rally support for the impeachment of President Donald Trump. The event was called “Impeach and Remove, Nobody is Above the Law” and its purpose was to send a message to Washington D.C. and especially Republican officeholders that actions performed by President Trump are worthy of impeachment and removal. Activist Sharon Laffey organized the event and was extremely pleased with the turnout. Supporters were very vocal and cheered as drivers passed by and honked their horns. One protester, Matt Cairone feels that Trump’s living outside the boundary of the law must come to an end. Protesters wanted to make sure that Representative Guy Reschenthaler and Senator Pat Toomey both knew that this group wants to see Trump impeached and removed from office. This was just one rally of many held nationwide on Tuesday night, right before the House Of Representatives vote to impeach on Wednesday. When asked about senators that already have their minds made up about the senate trial, many believe that those senators are breaching their oath of office, having their minds made up before even one word is spoken in testimony. Other events like this were held in Mt. Lebanon and in the City of Pittsburgh.
December 18, 2019 3:14 am
NORTH STRABANE, Pa. — Tax news was good coming from North Strabane Township Supervisors. Property taxes will not be going up to support a 30 million dollar budget approved by Supervisors on Tuesday night. The vote to hold the line on taxes was unanimous, but the budget spending plan had one dissent. Harold Close voted not to adopt the budget. He states that he felt more could be done to reign in spending to avoid future tax increases. Chairman Rob Balogh pointed to several building projects around town that will be funded this year. Two items are the new fire department substation being built in Eighty Four and the new Public Safety building. Supervisors tabled their decision to grant a conditional use application to Traditions of America. Prior to the Legislative meeting, Supervisors reopened a public hearing regarding that application. Traditions of America is proposing a 245 unit development between Mansfield Road and Brehm Road. The reopening was a request by resident Marti Caskey. She wanted to put in public record her concerns about the development as far as traffic and road conditions are concerned. She states that the roads in that area do not meet current township standards and they never will. Caskey feels an additional 1200 cars per day will over burden those roads. Supervisors will make a final decision on the conditional use application on December 23.
December 17, 2019 9:54 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – On the eve of his all-but-certain impeachment, President Donald Trump sent off a fiery letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denouncing the “crusade” against him. But he acknowledged that at this point he was unlikely to change any votes. At the Capitol, meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans sparred over the rules of debate for Wednesday’s historic session. They set aside the lofty rhetoric of constitutional duty for the rugged politics of the House action and the Senate trial that is expected to follow. Impeachment on Wednesday would send the case to the Republican-majority Senate for a trial that would be likely to acquit the president.
December 17, 2019 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Democratic-controlled House has passed a $1.4 trillion government-wide spending package, handing President Donald Trump a victory on his U.S.-Mexico border fence. It also gives Democrats spending increases across a swath of domestic programs. The 2,371-page legislation calls for $1.4 trillion in federal spending to head off a government shutdown that would otherwise take place this weekend. Democrats and Republicans have been fighting for months over spending priorities. The compromise bill gives both sides some of what they want as well as some of what they don’t want. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the two-bill package.
December 17, 2019 4:14 am
ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) – Forecasters have found at least 17 tornado paths from an outbreak of deadly weather in the South. National Weather Service teams surveyed the damage Tuesday, one day after the storm outbreak. The agency says it has confirmed multiple twisters in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The storms killed four people, including one person who died after heavy rains caused flooding in Kentucky. A husband and wife died in Alabama, and a woman was killed when a tornado hit her home in Louisiana. The Storm Prediction Center logged more than three dozen reports of storm damage from east Texas to Georgia.
December 17, 2019 4:12 am
(AP) – A new analysis shows accidental overdoses contribute to 90% of all U.S. opioid-related deaths. áThe report out Tuesday also shows opioid-related suicides account for far fewer of these deaths than previously thought. Researchers think rising use of heroin and highly potent fentanyl has likely contributed to the accidental death rate. It surged nine-fold between 2000 and 2017 at a faster pace than opioid suicides. In 2017, ásuicides accounted for about 4% of the 47,500 opioid-related deaths. A slightly larger portion were from undetermined causes. The results are from an analysis of national death certificate data.
December 17, 2019 4:08 am
Peters Township residents can ring in the new year on a positive note. Peters Township Council unanimously approved a $33 million dollar budget for 2020 with no tax increase. The property tax rate in Peters Township will remain at 1.622 mills. That is the same rate as in 2018 and 2019. However, total consensus could not be found on how to spend the money. Council members Gary Stiegel and Monica Merrell objected to the operating budget and capital improvement budgets. Stiegel questioned the priorities of his colleagues citing an expenditure of over $300,000 for the design of an aquatics facility in the new Rolling Hills Park over the design of a new fire station on the eastern side of the township where housing growth continues to expand. Despite his dissent, the budgets did pass 5-2. Large projects featured in the budget are phase one construction of Rolling Hills Park and the construction of Rolling Hills Drive and the realignment of E. McMurray Road with Rolling Hills Drive.
