January 30, 2020 4:03 am
Monessen Residents attending the Wednesday night City Council meeting hoping for a more civilized atmosphere had their hopes dashed. Over 100 people crammed into council chambers to see just how Mayor Matthew Shorraw and City Council would govern going forward. To say the least residents were treated to a circus. Before the meeting even started, the Mayor and two council members were served subpoenas by a constable. Once the meeting started, an argument ensued regarding the Mayor’s wanting to ratify the appointments made during the reorganization meeting. No list of appointments was available and the motion was tabled due to lack of information. During Councilman Anthony Orzechowski’s report, he asked City Administrator John Harhai to resign over his use of volunteers in his office where those volunteers could have accessed sensitive information on residents. Orzechowski pointed to privacy laws that could have been violated and opened the city to lawsuits. Councilman Gil Coles came under fire for asking for bills to be paid with no list of bills that he wanted to be paid. And finally the Mayor had to table three of his agenda items due to his lack of due diligence study. Shorraw wanted to change vendors on a police department computer upgrade to a firm that does not have federally mandated credentials. Shorraw wanted to appoint a member to a Sewer Authority Board position that had been filled at the end of 2019. Had that motion been approved, that decision would have been challenged in court. The solicitor stated that there was no way that the City would win the case. Finally, after a night where council members detailed the fact that the city has no money and could be on the verge of Act 47 management from the state, Shorraw wanted to farm out payroll services for the city at the cost of $300 dollars per week. Councilman Orzechowski fought against this move because of the funding issue and that it could cause a grievance to be filed by the union workers in the city. All three of these motions were tabled and Shorraw stated that remedies would be available at the next council meeting on February 11.
January 30, 2020 2:48 am
(WPXI) – Mark Hall, who was missing in Pittsburgh, was found dead on Tuesday, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. The ME’s office said Hall, 47, was found unresponsive inside of a vehicle inside the Hot Metal Parking Garage on Sidney Street in the South Side around one-thirty. He was last seen Jan. 23rd in the West End, according to a post on the Pittsburgh Police Facebook page. Hall was the officer in charge for the Houston Borough Police Department. The Medical Examiner will perform an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of his death.
January 29, 2020 1:22 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has signed into law a major rewrite of the rules of trade with Canada and Mexico. Trump says it replaces what he calls the “nightmare” of a Clinton-area agreement that governed trade among the three countries. Trump says that agreement encouraged factories to leave the United States and relocate south of the border to take advantage of low-wage Mexican labor. He says the new deal with Canada and Mexico will keep jobs, wealth and growth in America. Experts say the impact will be modest, given that Canada and Mexico already represent the top two export markets for U.S. goods.
January 29, 2020 12:18 pm
(WPXI) – Two more people have died from flu-related complications in Allegheny County, which brings the total to five deaths this flu season. Both people were in their 30s and had underlying medical conditions, according to the Allegheny County Health Department. There have been 7,227 flu cases in the county this season, compared to this time last year when there was only 664. So far, 67 people have been hospitalized.
January 29, 2020 9:39 am
MIAMI (AP) – The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has issued an Amber Alert for a father and baby who’ve been missing since three women were found shot to death. Miami-Dade police say officers had been searching for 49-year-old Ernesto Caballeiro since three women were found shot and killed in a home on 187th Avenue.áWednesday morning’s alert says 1-week-old Andrew Caballeiro was missing. The father is related to at least one of the women but has not been named as a suspect. He’s believed to be traveling in a white van with decals saying “Nesty School Services” and “Caution: Transporting Children.”
January 29, 2020 9:37 am
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) – A plane evacuating 201 Americans from the Chinese city at the center of the virus outbreak has arrived in Southern California. The aircraft landed Wednesday morning at March Air Reserve Base east of Los Angeles after a refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska.áAll passengers underwent two health screenings in China and were screened twice in Anchorage before being allowed to continue on the trip. The passengers will undergo additional screenings on Wednesday in California and be placed in temporary housing. Officials have not said how long they will stay there. After the plane landed, a ground crew wearing white clothing approached the airport and three buses pulled up nearby.
January 29, 2020 4:14 am
HAVANA (AP) – A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake has struck in the Caribbean Sea between Jamaica and eastern Cuba. It shook a vast area from Mexico to Florida and beyond Tuesday, but there have been no reports of casualties or heavy damage.áThe quake was centered 139 kilometers (86 miles) northwest of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and 140 kilometers (87 miles) west-southwest of Niquero, Cuba. It hit at 2:10 p.m. (1910 GMT) and the epicenter was a relatively shallow 10 kilometers (6 miles) beneath the surface. The quake was felt strongly in Santiago, the largest far-eastern Cuban city. It also prompted some evacuations in South Florida.
January 29, 2020 4:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon has raised to 50 the number of U.S. service members who suffered traumatic brain injuries in Iran’s missile strike earlier this month on an Iraqi air base, It’s the third time the number of injuries has been increased. The new casualty total belies President Donald Trump’s initial claim that no Americans were harmed. Days later, the military said 11 service members had been injured and then increased the total to 34. A Pentagon spokesman says 31 of the 50 service members have returned to duty.
January 29, 2020 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has told senators privately he does not yet have the votes to block new witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. That’s according to a Republican familiar with a closed-door meeting of GOP senators and granted anonymity to discuss it. McConnell convened the meeting shortly after Trump’s legal team made its closing arguments. At this point, the GOP leader faces a handful of potential defections. But there are still several days before any potential witness vote would be taken. A decision to call more witnesses would need 51 votes to pass.
January 29, 2020 4:07 am
DUNBAR, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say a head-on crash in Fayette County claimed the lives of two men. State police say a driver sideswiped a cement truck on Route 201 in Dunbar Township at about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, then crashed head-on into a car. Trooper Robert Broadwater said both drivers, 68-year-old John Snyder of Scottdale and 24-year-old Tiler Guth of Vanderbilt, were pronounced dead at the scene. The cement truck driver was uninjured. Police said a preliminary investigation indicates that Snyder was “fleeing from the first crash” at high speed. Broadwater noted that the crash that involved the cement truck was minor. (Photo: WPXI)
