July 31, 2026 5:06 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Analysts are expecting major oil companies to report large profits while fighting between Iran and the U.S. impeded petroleum shipments. Prices for Brent crude soared above $100 a barrel for much of the spring. Constrained supplies meant consumers around the world paid more for fuel and confronted shortages. But higher prices resulted in elevated profits for some of the biggest publicly traded oil companies. American oil and gas giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron are set to announce their earnings from April through June on Friday. They are among the companies positioned to benefit because they own refineries as well as extract oil and gas. Democrats in Congress have proposed taxing oil producers for war-related windfalls.
July 31, 2026 4:59 am
Anthropic says its AI models hacked into three organizations during testing. This comes just days after OpenAI said its AI models went rogue and hacked into another company. Anthropic, based in San Francisco, posted on its website that it discovered the incidents after reviewing over 141,000 evaluation runs. The company says it launched the large-scale cybersecurity review in response to the OpenAI incident. The models involved were Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Mythos 5 and an internal research test model. Anthropic says it reached out to the affected organizations, with two confirming they were unaware of the activity beforehand. The incidents highlight the vulnerabilities in AI security and controls, and raise questions over how AI can used safely.
July 30, 2026 5:03 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon said it will be increasing this year’s capital spending on technology, mostly artificial intelligence, by an additional 10% after the tech and e-commerce giant delivered strong profits and net sales during for fiscal second quarter, helped by surging growth in its prominent cloud computing unit. The e-commerce and technology company said Thursday that sales in its cloud computing unit called AWS were up 37% during the April-June period, faster than the 28% clip in the previous quarter and marking the fastest growth rate in 18 quarters. Amazon reported net income of $62.65 billion or $5.75 per share, in the three-month period ended June 30.
July 30, 2026 12:44 pm
Two Delta Air Lines planes were involved in a near miss at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday evening. The FAA says it has launched an investigation into the incident involving a flight arriving from Pittsburgh, and a flight departing for Rochester. The Pittsburgh flight, which was scheduled to land in Atlanta, had been diverted to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for several hours due to bad weather. In air traffic control recordings, the pilot of the Pittsburgh flight said he saw the departing flight on the runway and was going to circle around. At the same time, the departing flight took off from a parallel runway. Initially, both planes were told to turn right, and anti-collision alarms went off in both aircraft almost immediately. The controller was able to get both planes to fly away from each other but they were at one point about 1,800 feet and 600 feet in altitude from each other. Authorities say the Pittsburgh flight landed safely and there were no reported injuries.
July 30, 2026 8:51 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy expanded at a sluggish 1.5% pace from April through June as rising imports weighed on growth. But consumer spending rose. And the Federal Reserve’s favored measure of inflation grew more slowly last month, but remained above the central bank’s 2% target.
July 30, 2026 8:50 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week but layoffs remain in the historically healthy range of the past few years. U.S. filings for jobless aid in the week ending July 25 rose by 9,000 to 197,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet forecast 207,000 new applications. Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered representative of layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the U.S. job market. The total number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits for the previous week ending July 18 was 1.78 million.
July 29, 2026 4:55 am
BURGETTSTOWN, Pa. — A 19-year-old remains in critical condition and is on a ventilator after she was run over by a pickup truck at a field party in Burgettstown over the weekend. Ayla Reynolds was flown to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital early Saturday morning after she was struck at a party in the woods along Creek Road, according to her grandmother, Rebecca. According to our news partners at WPXI, doctors are working to save Reynolds’ leg, but her grandmother said they now believe it will likely need to be amputated below the knee. Rebecca said Reynolds was one of three people struck when a pickup truck lost control while driving people up a steep hill to the party. She identified the driver as Reynolds’ ex-boyfriend. According to Rebecca, Reynolds was pulled underneath the truck and suffered the most serious injuries. Friends and the driver placed her in the truck and rushed her to Weirton Medical Center because they feared it would take too long for an ambulance to reach the remote location. She was later flown to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh. Rebecca said Reynolds suffered multiple spinal fractures, a broken pelvis, spleen injuries, internal bleeding and severe injuries to her leg. She said the other two people who were struck suffered minor injuries.
July 29, 2026 2:18 am
Uniontown, PA— PennDOT announced on Wednesday that daytime single-lane restrictions will be in place in both directions of Interstate 70 between the Bentleyville Interchange (Exit 32) and Route 481 Interchange (Exit 35) in Fallowfield Township, Washington County beginning Monday, August 3rd through Thursday, August 27th. Single-lane restrictions will occur on Eastbound I-70 Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and on Westbound I-70 Sunday through Thursday from 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Crews from Armstrong Drilling, Inc. will drill geotechnical test borings for the I-70 Belle Vernon Bridge to Bentleyville project, which is currently in design. All work depends on weather and operations.
July 29, 2026 2:25 am
Uniontown, PA – PennDOT has announced upcoming bridge preservation projects in Greene and Washington counties. In Greene County, Route 1003 (Porter Street) over I-79 in Franklin Township will be affected. Route 1003 (Porter Street) is scheduled to close between Caldwell Road and North Porter Street beginning Wednesday, August 5, at 7:00 AM through early September. Posted detour: Apple Hill Road, Route 19, Route 221 and Porter Street. In Washington County, Route 19 (Washington Road) over Route 519 in North Strabane Township will be worked on. Route 19 (Washington Road) will have nightly single-lane restrictions in place from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM, Monday, August 3, through Friday, August 7. Also, Route 2056 (Barrett Hill Road) over I-79 in Amwell Township. Route 2056 (Barrett Hill Road) is scheduled to close between Moninger Road and Barrett Hill Road beginning Thursday, August 6, at 7:00 AM through early September. Posted detour is Moninger Road, Mankey Road, Route 19, Weaver Run Road, Lone Pine Road, Baker Hill Road. Crews from Triton Construction, Inc. will conduct bridge preservation activities, including latex overlays, epoxy overlays, expansion dam replacement, concrete repairs to extend the life of eight structures. A $4.1 million infrastructure investment project in Washington and Greene counties.
July 30, 2026 4:59 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Todd Blanche’s nomination to become attorney general has stalled as lawmakers scrapped a planned committee vote. Key Republicans have demanded more assurances about the settlement of President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The Senate Judiciary Committee had been scheduled to vote Thursday to advance Blanche’s nomination to the floor. But Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis have threatened to withhold their support without more answers from the Justice Department about the controversial settlement. A spokeswoman for the committee said in a statement Wednesday night that the vote would be postponed.
