October 18, 2019 12:42 pm
A bond revocation hearing that was scheduled for Thursday for a South Strabane Township man charged with child luring has been continued until next week. Sixty-six-year-old Jan Ondra is charged with attempting to lure a ten-year-old girl into his van in Clarksville in June. He was released on twenty-five-thousand-dollars bond. The Washington County District Attorney’s Office has asked the court to revoke his bond after three children who were leaving a dance class at North Strabane Town Center in late September, told authorities that Ondra offered them candy. Judge Gary Gilman agreed to reschedule Ondra’s hearing to next Friday at two-thirty, after his attorney said he has learned of surveillance video at a business in that area that may contradict the children’s claims.
October 18, 2019 6:49 am
On November 5, 2009, a gunman opened fired at Fort Hood, Texas killing 13 people including a Washington County woman. Ten years later, November 2, 2019 has been proclaimed ‘Lt. Col. Juanita Warman day’ in Washington County. County Commissioners on Thursday issued the proclamation with members of Warman’s family present. An official ceremony is planned for November 2 to officially name a portion of Route 50 in Avella in her honor. Warman attended school in Avella and was a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. She was a psychiatric nurse practitioner who specialized in the care of those recovering from post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury. She was stationed at Fort Hood awaiting deployment to Iraq. Officials say she died shielding another soldier who was sitting nearby when the shooting broke out. Her daughter, Melissa Papst tells WJPA news the proclamation “means a lot” and that “she loves that people are remembering her and how she lived and the sacrifices she made.” The ceremony next month will be held at the Avella Volunteer Fire Department.
October 18, 2019 4:25 am
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – The world’s first female spacewalking team is making history high above Earth. NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir exited the International Space Station on Friday, the first time in a half-century of spacewalking that a woman floated out without a male crewmate. Their job is to fix a broken part of the station’s solar power network. America’s first female spacewalker from 35 years ago, Kathy Sullivan, is delighted. She says it’s good to finally have enough women in the astronaut corps and trained for spacewalking for this to happen. NASA originally wanted to conduct an all-female spacewalk last spring, but did not have enough medium-size suits ready to go.
October 18, 2019 4:22 am
UNDATED (AP) – Johnson & Johnson is recalling a single lot of its baby powder as a precaution after government testing found trace amounts of asbestos in one bottle bought online. The recall comes as J&J fights thousands of lawsuits in which plaintiffs claim its iconic baby powder was contaminated with asbestos and that it caused ovarian cancer or another rare cancer. At multiple trials, J&J experts have testified asbestos hasn’t been detected in the talc in its baby powder in many tests over 40 years. On Friday, J&J said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found minuscule amounts of asbestos in one bottle. The company is investigating whether the bottle is counterfeit and how the contamination occurred. The recalled lot contained 33,000 bottles. J&J shares dropped 4% to $130.86.
October 18, 2019 4:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The shifting White House explanations for President Donald Trump’s decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine are drawing alarm from Republicans. Republican Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida tells reporters that he and others are concerned about remarks from the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney. At a Thursday news conference, Mulvaney essentially acknowledged a quid pro quo with Ukraine that Trump has long denied. The comments undermined the White House defense in the impeachment probe. House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy says Mulvaney clarified later that there was no quid pro quo. But Rooney says Mulvaney’s comments cannot simply undone by a follow-up statement. In remarks at the White House, Trump stood by Mulvaney.
October 18, 2019 4:17 am
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – President Donald Trump says Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is offering assurances that the cease-fire he agreed to has not already broken down. Trump says on Twitter on Friday that Erdogan told him that “there was minor sniper and mortar fire that was quickly eliminated” and that he “very much wants the cease-fire, or pause, to work. An Associated Press journalist and activists in the region witnessed Turkish shelling and other activity in and around Ras al-Ayn on Friday morning. Trump also says he has “just been notified that some European Nations are now willing, for the first time, to take the (Islamic State group) Fighters that came from their nations” as he has demanded. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about which countries he’d heard from and exactly what they had agreed to.
October 18, 2019 4:15 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – Premiums for health insurers’ individual policies in Pennsylvania for 2020 will reflect an aggregate statewide increase of 4%, with an increase of 10% in the small group market. The Pennsylvania Department of Insurance said Thursday that the new plans will be available when open enrollment starts Nov. 1. Premiums for individual health insurance policies dropped in the current year, after increases the two years before that averaged over 30% in Pennsylvania. Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration says more insurers are entering the market, and the number of counties with only one insurer offering coverage in the individual market will decrease to six. Consumers must sign up by Dec. 15 for coverage to take effect Jan. 1.
October 18, 2019 4:14 am
KUTZTOWN, Pa. (AP) – The system overseeing more than a dozen Pennsylvania universities has unanimously voted to ask the state for up to $100 million over the next five years to further consolidate. The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors approved the motion at a meeting Thursday. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the money will help the system develop the infrastructure for more shared services among its schools in order to reap both savings and new revenue. The unanimous vote comes one day after the leaders tabled a proposal when a disagreement arose over a suggestion by board chair Cynthia Shapira to raise the amount to $300 million. The next step is for chancellor Daniel Greenstein to consider the appropriate amount to ask for each fiscal year and consult with board leaders.
October 18, 2019 4:12 am
GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania diocese has announced a nearly $4.4 million payout to 57 victims of sexual abuse by its clergy and seminarians. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg made the announcement Thursday about the payment through the out-of-court compensation program. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that most dioceses in the state set up similar compensation funds in the wake of a 2018 grand jury report that detailed a seven-decade history of allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy and subsequent cover-ups by bishops. The Greensburg diocese says it paid $4,350,000, averaging out to about $75,000 for each claimant. It was unclear how people applied to the program or how many people were denied. The diocese includes Westmoreland, Armstrong, Fayette and Indiana counties. The diocese says six other claims have remained unresolved since they unveil
October 18, 2019 3:18 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – A Pennsylvania doctor who authorities say traded opioid prescriptions for sex and sexually explicit photos and texts has been convicted. A federal jury late Thursday found Dr. Milad Shaker guilty of illegally dispensing opioids to a patient over a nearly three-year period. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the conviction Friday. Authorities say Shaker, of Greensburg, would meet the patient at hotels in Pennsylvania and engage in sex in exchange for hydrocodone and other opioid medications. Shaker testified during the six-day trial that “opioids are like candy” and that 10 or 20 “will not hurt you.” The 50-year-old Shaker has been released until his sentencing, which is scheduled for Feb. 20. He must stop practicing medicine. Pennsylvania has been among the states hardest hit by a national opioid crisis.
