January 7, 2025 3:12 am
Washington City Council held their agenda meeting and they will begin the year quite busy. Council will look to update its ordinance on fees for trash collection. The annual fee for trash collection in 2025 will be $300. A $50 late fee will be added for anyone paying after June 1. Fines and penalties will be assessed to any delinquent account beginning on November 1. Council is poised to hire two firemen and two police officers. They will also make a change in title to one of the council positions. The title of Chief Fiscal Officer will replace Councilman Ken Westcott’s title of Financial Director. According to Westcott revisions roughly 10 years ago in the class 3 city code made this alteration. Council will make that change on Thursday.
January 6, 2025 2:55 am
West Penn Power has delayed a planned outage in the Scenery Hill, Coal Center, Eighty Four and Cokeburg areas indefinitely. Spokesman Todd Meyers says the outage, which had been planned for Monday, and then pushed back until Tuesday, has been postponed to a date yet to be determined. Meyers says it was pushed back because of the weather and the possibility that some students would have remote instruction.
January 6, 2025 4:55 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Democratic state representative’s health problems could complicate the vote for speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Lawmakers are expected to kick off a new two-year session on Tuesday by picking the House speaker and voting on chamber rules. Democrats say Rep. Matthew Gergely of Allegheny County had a medical emergency over the holidays requiring hospitalization. It’s not clear if he’ll be in Harrisburg for the start of the session. The House has a 102-101 Democratic majority. Republicans control the state Senate with a 28-22 majority, but one of those GOP seats is vacant due to a recent resignation.
January 7, 2025 5:46 pm
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man convicted of injuring an officer with a homemade explosive at a 2023 campus protest over transgender rights at the University of Pittsburgh has been sentenced to five years in prison. Brian DiPippa’s wife, Krystal Martinez-DiPippa, will serve three years of probation for her role in the incident. The DiPippas were part of a group protesting an April 2023 panel sponsored by the Pitt College Republicans that featured speakers opposed to transgender rights. A campus police sergeant told the court that she suffered burns to her legs, hearing loss and back injuries that required surgery.
January 7, 2025 4:57 am
TOKYO (AP) — Nippon Steel Chief Executive Eiji Hashimoto says the top Japanese steelmaker is standing firm on its proposed $15 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel. He told reporters Tuesday in Tokyo there is no reason or need to give up. President Joe Biden has blocked the move. Hashimoto says it’s the best for both nations and poses no security risks. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel have filed lawsuits challenging the decision. In blocking the transaction Friday, Biden said U.S. companies producing steel need to fight for America’s interests. Proponents of the takeover say Japan is a U.S. ally, as well as a top investor in American companies. While Biden is leaving office soon, incoming President Donald Trump also opposes the acquisition.
January 6, 2025 5:02 am
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Much of the U.S. is being blasted by ice, snow and wind, as the polar vortex that dipped south over the weekend is keeping an area stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the coast of Maine in its frigid grip. By Monday, the wintry weather had made many roads treacherous, forced school closures, and caused widespread power outages and flight cancellations. Road conditions began deteriorating Sunday in several Midwestern states, with forecasts calling for harsh conditions to spread eastward in the coming days. In Indiana, the National Guard was activated to help stranded motorists. The storm is expected to bring bitter cold to the entire Eastern Seaboard.
January 7, 2025 5:02 am
NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump was thwarted Monday in his bid to indefinitely postpone this week’s sentencing in his hush money case while he appeals a ruling that upheld the verdict. Judge Juan M. Merchan ordered Friday’s sentencing to proceed as scheduled, rejecting arguments from Trump’s lawyers who said it should be halted while they ask a state appeals court to reverse his decision to let the conviction stand. The Republican was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
January 7, 2025 5:05 am
McDonald’s is ending some of its diversity practices, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed affirmative action in college admissions. McDonald’s is the latest company to shift its tactics in the wake of the 2023 ruling and a conservative backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Walmart, John Deere, and other corporations have also rolled back their DEI initiatives. McDonald’s said Monday it will retire specific goals for achieving diversity at senior leadership levels and end a program that encourages its suppliers to develop diversity training. The company’s diversity team will be renamed the Global Inclusion Team. The Chicago burger giant says it remains committed to inclusion and believes a diverse workforce is a competitive advantage.
January 7, 2025 5:00 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says its latest weapons test was a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to strike targets in the Pacific as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further expand his collection of nuclear-capable weapons to counter rivals. The report Tuesday came a day after South Korea’s military detected the launch. North Korea demonstrated multiple weapons systems last year that can target its neighbors and the United States, including solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles, and there are concerns that its military capabilities could advance further through technology transfers from Russia, as the two countries align over the war in Ukraine. Kim reiterated that his nuclear push was aimed at countering threats posed by hostile forces but didn’t directly mention the U.S.
January 7, 2025 2:27 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The singer-songwriter and social activist best known as one-third of the folk-music group Peter, Paul and Mary, has died at age 86. Peter Yarrow died Tuesday at his home in New York. That’s according to publicist Ken Sunshine. Peter, Paul and Mary rose to overnight fame in 1962 when they blended their voices in stunning harmonies as they sang out against war and social injustice. Among their many hits were Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” Pete Seeger’s “If I Had a Hammer” and Yarrow’s own “Puff the Magic Dragon.” After a 1970 breakup they reunited eight years later, continuing their partnership until Mary Travers’ death in 2009. (Photo: AP)
