December 28, 2023 5:18 pm
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A hard-hit Israeli kibbutz has announced the death of Judith Weinstein — an American-Canadian-Israeli woman who had been thought to be held hostage in Gaza. Her death was announced Thursday, six days after her husband, Gad Haggai, was also declared dead. The 70-year-old Weinstein and 73-year-old Haggai were taking an early morning walk in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants burst across the border into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping 240 others. Weinstein and her husband had been thought to be among the hostages still in captivity in Gaza. The kibbutz says it learned that Weinstein was killed on Oct. 7 and her body is being held in Gaza.
December 28, 2023 5:58 am
State Police have arrested a Canonsburg man in connection with the theft of thousands of dollars from the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. According to police, 41 year old Yancy Yeater was a Player Services Manager at the casino and took $20,000 in $100-dollar bills from the main bank in the Cashiers cage during his shift early on the morning of December 4. According to investigators, surveillance video shows Yeater cleaning the inside of the main bank cabinet where cash is bundled and stored. Police say he concealed two bands under a cleaning rag and removed them. Police say he then took them into the restroom and then left the property. Yeater was taken into custody when he arrived for his shift on December 23. He is to face a preliminary hearing January 4.
December 28, 2023 5:22 am
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Nikki Haley was asked Wednesday by a New Hampshire voter about the reason for the Civil War, and she didn’t mention slavery in her response. That led the voter to say he was “astonished” by her omission. Asked during a town hall in Berlin, New Hampshire, what she believed had caused the war, Haley talked about the role of government, replying that it was about “the freedoms of what people could and couldn’t do” and turning the question back to the man who had asked it. Haley, who served six years as South Carolina’s governor, has been competing for a distant second place to Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
December 28, 2023 5:17 am
EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — Starting in March, Texas will give police even broader power to arrest migrants while also allowing local judges to order them out of the U.S. under a new law signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. But more than two years into a smaller-scale Texas operation to arrests migrants through misdemeanor criminal trespassing charges, there is little indication the state’s “arrest and jail” efforts reduced border crossings. The initiative has revealed limits of using arrests to deter border-crossers and raises questions about the legal apparatus Texas will use to begin prosecuting migrants on charges of illegal entry.
December 28, 2023 5:14 am
BETHEL PARK, Pa. — (WPXI) – The Bethel Park Police Department is mourning the death of retired chief Timothy C. O’Connor. Chief O’Connor, 66, abruptly resigned from his position back in November. Community leaders told Channel 11 at the time it wasn’t clear why he resigned. O’Connor was hired in 2015 after 35 years of working as a patrol officer for Pittsburgh Police. According to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office, He died just after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Municipality of Bethel Park issued the following statement: “The Municipality of Bethel Park expresses its deepest condolences to the family, friends and past coworkers of former Police Chief Timothy O’Connor. Chief O’Connor was a dedicated law enforcement professional who served the Bethel Park community for many years until he recently transitioned from his position. We’re asking that the privacy of his family be respected during this difficult time.”
December 28, 2023 5:07 am
Three Washington County Veterans whose remains were unclaimed were buried Wednesday at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies. Aubrey Higginbotham, a Tuskegee Airman in World War II, his brother Louis who served in the army during World War II and Joseph Calhoun, a marine that served during the Viet Nam war were given their proper burial. Myles Glotfelty, a retired U.S. Army veteran from Lone PIne was friends with Calhoun and took on the responsibility to properly honor the three heroes with the assistance of former Marine and Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi. Glotfelty started the process of properly burying the veterans in March. He pointed to the Soldier’s Creed that states to “never leave a fallen comrade” as his motivation to finish his mission. Commissioner Larry Maggi lent his expertise to break through red tape to efficiently have the soldiers’ remains released by the Washington County Coroner for proper burial. A twenty one gun salute and the playing of taps sent the heroes to their final resting place.
December 28, 2023 4:53 am
Court documents unsealed this week say that a Pennsylvania man who was sentenced in secret for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot cooperated with authorities investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and an unrelated case. The documents provide insight into the unusual secrecy regarding Samuel Lazar (pictured bottom left), who was released from federal custody in September after completing his sentence in his Capitol riot case. His case remained under seal even after his release, so there was no public record of a conviction or sentence. More than 1,200 people have been charged with Jan. 6-related crimes, and hundreds have pleaded guilty. It’s rare for records of a guilty plea and sentence to be sealed.
December 28, 2023 2:55 am
A new police chief for the city of Washington has been named to replace retiring chief Dan Rush. Mayor-elect JoJo Burgess announced on Wednesday that Lieutenant Steve Devenney will take over on January 2nd. Burgess says that Devenney’s knowledge of the department and the city will serve him well. Devenney began working for the city in 2005, moving up in the ranks to his current position of lieutenant. Devenney will be sworn in along with Burgess at the city’s reorganization meeting on January 2nd at noon. (Photo: City Of Washington Police Department)
December 27, 2023 1:32 pm
(WPXI) – Pennsylvania State Police removed 58 animals from a house in Butler County last week. According to state police, troopers served a search warrant in relation to an animal neglect case at a house in Eau Claire Borough on Dec. 21st. State police found 58 animals in the house, including dogs, cats, snakes, a ferret, a bearded dragon and a goat. Butler CYS also became involved in the investigation because there were children living in the house, state police said.
December 27, 2023 9:31 am
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s Supreme Court is keeping former President Donald Trump on the state’s primary election ballot. The court said Wednesday it will not hear an appeal of a lower court’s ruling from groups seeking to keep Trump from appearing on the ballot. Wednesday’s ruling follows a Dec. 19 decision by a divided Colorado Supreme Court, which said Trump is ineligible to be president after his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. That ruling was the first time in history that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment has been used to disqualify a presidential candidate. Michigan’s high court says it is “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court.”
