October 29, 2019 5:11 am
Traffic at certain Peters Township intersections is becoming a problem. Peters Township Council amended its Transportation Capital Improvement Program. That program allows the township to collect impact fees from residential and commercial developments to address future improvements to intersections that will be impacted by the increased traffic. Township Manager Paul Lauer identified the 3 most important projects on the township’s radar. The construction of Rolling Hills Drive is the first project that will see a contribution from the fund. The next project will be the Bebout Rd./ Thompsonville Rd./ E. McMurray Rd. intersection. That project will begin in 2023. The third project is a roundabout that will be built at Valleybrook and Bebout Rd. That will begin in 2024. The final two projects are largely funded by PennDot, but township obligations will be paid for through this program. Council will have a busy November. In addition to the regular council meetings, council will also conduct two public hearings, one for a budget workshop for 2020 and the other for an update on the new Rolling Hills Park. Those meetings will be scheduled for November 11, 18, and 25.
October 29, 2019 4:22 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Crews fought Tuesday to drown, slash and smother wildfires that have incinerated dozens of homes in Northern and Southern California before returning windstorms can blow them back into furious life. In California’s wine country, firefighters worked to reinforce fire lines in western Sonoma County while rushing to shore up the eastern side that could be the new focus as winds switched direction. “We’re playing both offense and defense right now on two different sides of the fire,” said Jonathan Cox of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Bulldozers carved firebreaks, hand crews attacked hot spots with hoses and shovels, and aircraft painted hillsides with fire retardant. The fire that began last week near the town of Geyserville had destroyed 57 homes and damaged another dozen, with 90,000 homes and other buildings considered threatened. About 156,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders. The blaze was 15% contained. Evacuation orders were downgraded to warnings for some 30,000 people in the west but new warnings were issued to people in the east, with Calistoga in Napa County and Middletown in Lake County – a community badly damaged by a 2015 wildfire. Winds were expected to hit 20 to 30 mph (48 kph) Tuesday, with gusts of up to 50 mph (80 kph) by afternoon. The winds will peak by midnight before easing, forecasters said.
October 29, 2019 4:18 am
A new survey confirms what many parents already know: Teens and tweens are watching a lot of online video, often more than traditional TV. The report from Common Sense Media finds that the number of young Americans who view online videos every day has more than doubled. They’re watching for nearly an hour a day, twice as long as they were four years ago. Often, they’re seeing videos on services such as YouTube that are supposedly off limits to children younger than 13. Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization that tracks young people’s tech habits and offers guidance for parents. The survey, released Tuesday, included responses from nearly 1,700 U.S. teens, ages 8 to 18.
October 29, 2019 4:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats have released text of a resolution that authorizes the next phase of the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. The eight-page resolution released Tuesday calls for open hearings and requires the House Intelligence Committee to submit a report outlining its findings and recommendations. House Rules Committee Chairman James McGovern of Massachusetts says the resolution will “provide a clear path forward” as the House begins a public phase of the impeachment inquiry. (Photo: CNN)
October 29, 2019 4:14 am
NORTH VERSAILLES, Pa. (AP) – Police have one man in custody and are seeking another in a shooting death on a western Pennsylvania highway that preceded a crash that sent 10 people, five of them children, to hospitals. Allegheny County police say a white Nissan was pursuing a westbound black Chrysler on Route 30 at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, and shots fired into the car killed 32-year-old Richard Littlejohn Jr. The vehicles collided and went into the eastbound lanes, where a Jeep was hit head-on. The injured included four children 2 or younger and a 10-year-old boy; there was no immediate word on their conditions. Police say a 22-year-old man was injured and is in custody while a 23-year-old man is being sought. Both face criminal homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangering and firearms charges.
October 29, 2019 4:13 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A victims’ rights constitutional amendment question and a pair of vacancies on an appeals court are the only contested statewide elections in Pennsylvania this year. But a legal challenge is ongoing regarding the Marsy’s Law amendment, which would enshrine victims’ rights in the state constitution. It’s unclear what will happen to the proposal if it’s approved on Nov. 5. In the contest for two Superior Court openings, Republicans have nominated Christylee Peck, a common pleas court judge in Cumberland County, and Megan McCarthy King, a prosecutor in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester County. The Democratic nominees are Philadelphia Judge Dan McCaffery and Amanda Green-Hawkins, a Pittsburgh lawyer. Voters will also have to sort through what are thousands of local and county government races.
October 29, 2019 4:12 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Legislation to allow Sunday hunting with a landowner’s written permission three days a year in Pennsylvania is getting some minor changes ahead of a final vote in the state House. Representatives voted overwhelmingly Monday to waive trespassing violations for unarmed people who enter posted property solely to retrieve a hunting dog, to let local police help the Game Commission enforce trespassing rules and to push back the law’s effective date by three months. Leaders say a final vote to send it back to the Senate is likely to occur Tuesday. The bill would allow Sunday hunting one day during rifle deer season, one during statewide archery deer season and a third day the Game Commission would select. It also would make it easier for wardens to enforce the anti-trespassing law.
October 29, 2019 4:08 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – A Port Authority bus, with a passenger on board, was swallowed by a massive sinkhole Monday downtown. The bus fell into the giant sinkhole at 10th Street and Penn Avenue just before 8 a.m. Police have closed Penn Avenue from 9th to 11th streets. Tenth Street is closed from Liberty Avenue to Fort Duquesne Boulevard. The underpass at the Convention Center is also closed. City officials said that 10th street will likely be closed for 6-8 weeks. The woman driving the bus and a second woman who was a passenger both managed to get off the bus and through the front door, Port Authority officials said. The passenger was treated by paramedics and was taken to a Pittsburgh hospital for neck pain then released, officials said. The driver was not hurt.
October 28, 2019 5:35 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House will vote on a resolution setting procedures for the impeachment inquiry as Democrats try to counter the Trump administration’s stonewalling of the probe. Pelosi told colleagues Monday in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that the vote will “eliminate any doubt” about whether the Trump administration must comply with the investigation.
October 28, 2019 4:59 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – Robert Evans, the producer of “Chinatown” who helped shepherd countless seminal films including “The Godfather” and “Harold and Maude” to the screen as chief of Paramount Pictures, has died. He was 89. A representative for Evans confirmed that Evans died on Saturday. No other details were immediately available. During Evans’ tenure running Paramount, he resurrected the studio with films including “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Serpico” and “The Godfather,” parts one and two. Evans continued the drama off screen by marrying some of the industry’s most glamorous women. He was married seven times. His wives included actresses Ali MacGraw and Catherine Oxenberg and former Miss America Phyllis George. Evans penned the 1994 memoir “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” which was turned into a documentary in 2002.