June 5, 2025 5:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is directing his administration to investigate Joe Biden’s actions as president, alleging aides masked his predecessor’s “cognitive decline” and raising questions about his use of the autopen to sign pardons and other documents. The order Wednesday marks a significant escalation in Trump’s targeting of political adversaries, and it could lay the groundwork for claiming that a range of Biden’s actions were invalid despite the president’s pardon power being enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. Biden responded, “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency,” adding, “Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”
June 5, 2025 5:04 am
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Pennsylvania officials are warning the public about the dangers of illegal explosive devices ahead of the Fourth of July holiday. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives Philadelphia Division encourages members of the public to report the manufacture and sale of illegal explosives to protect their communities. Since 2020, Pennsylvania has accounted for nearly 20 percent of all ATF illegal explosive device investigations nationwide, the division says. It is illegal under federal law to manufacture, store, distribute, receive or transport explosive materials without a federal explosives license or permit, the division says. Violators can face up to 10 years in federal prison. They are sold in a non-commercial location, such as out of a vehicle or residence. The person with the device has no evidence of a receipt or commercial packaging, or they cannot tell you where they originally purchased it. The device is often 1-6 inches long and up to an inch or more in diameter. The casing resembles a roll of coins with a fuse. Some outer shells are made of cardboard tubes. The outer covering is red, silver, or brown in color. The device looks oddly shaped and wrapped in brown paper that may be filled with an explosive material.
June 5, 2025 4:52 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A bill to reduce how much Pennsylvania school districts have to pay for cyber charter students is advancing in the state Legislature. The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to establish an $8,000 per student limit. It passed with mostly Democratic support. Republican opponents say the measure would imperil the online learning programs. Cyber charters wouldn’t be able to maintain cash balances above 12% of their spending and wouldn’t be able to provide payments or gifts to parents as incentives to enroll their children. About 65,000 Pennsylvania students currently attend the state’s 14 public cyber charter schools.
June 5, 2025 4:50 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, saying the agency, under President Donald Trump, illegally cut off funding through a program designed to distribute more than $1 billion to states. The money was to buy food from farms for schools, child care centers and food banks. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court. It comes three months after the USDA advised states it was ending the pandemic-era assistance program. The loss to Pennsylvania is $13 million under a three-year contract. Purchases include commodities such as cheese, eggs, meat, fruits and vegetables. The department, under then-President Joe Biden, announced a second round of funding through the program last year.
June 5, 2025 1:40 am
After four years as the Main Street Manager with the Washington Business District Authority, Shana Brown has announced that she is leaving to take a new job at Washington and Jefferson College. Brown made the announcement on WJPA Thursday morning. Brown says it was not an easy decision. She is taking a job as a ‘giving officer’ with the college and is to start by the end of the month. When asked what she takes the most pride in during her tenure with the Authority, Brown joked that it’s always about “Sheep” referring to the ‘running of the wools’ event here in downtown. On a serious note, Brown pointed to the more than thirty businesses that have located in the city during her tenure. Bradley Martin will take over as the new manager. The 32 year old Trinity graduate has worked with the CityWide Development Corporation for the past three years where he worked closely with Brown. Martin says he wants to continue the momentum that Brown has generated and build on that moving forward. (PHOTO: Washington Business District Authority website)
June 4, 2025 1:34 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal authorities say a Washington man provided chemicals to make explosives that were used to bomb a California fertility clinic in May. Authorities arrested 32-year-old Daniel Park on Tuesday night in New York upon his return from Poland. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli say Park shipped 180 pounds of ammonium nitrate to Guy Edward Bartkus, who bombed the clinic. The chemical compound is an explosive precursor that can be used to make homemade bombs, Essayli said. Park also traveled to Southern California in late January to stay with Bartkus for about two weeks, Essayli said. Bartkus was killed in the explosion.
June 4, 2025 1:31 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin told him “very strongly” in a phone call Wednesday that he will respond to Ukraine’s weekend drone attack on Russian airfields. The president said in a social media post that “It was a good conversation, but not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace.” The call that lasted for an hour and 15 minutes was Trump’s first known with Putin since May 19. Trump said he and Putin also discussed Iran’s nuclear program.
June 4, 2025 11:08 am
(WPXI) – The Environmental Protection Agency under President Donald Trump is aiming to undo or revise more than 30 major environmental regulations, many of them written or updated by the Biden administration. These include rules for cleaner vehicles, power plant emissions, and limits on tiny airborne particles known to harm human health. The Associated Press set out to examine what might happen if all the rules were eliminated. The AP also drew from studies published in the journals Science and Nature Communications and emissions estimates from the independent and nonpartisan Rhodium Group in order to calculate the possible annual death toll. The estimate of global deaths includes estimates of heat deaths from added carbon emissions, using a peer-reviewed formula developed by Daniel Bressler, a former White House climate economist during the Biden administration. It estimates one person will die for every 10,217 tons of carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere. The Rhodium Group estimates that the Trump administration’s rollbacks would lead to 2.8 billion additional tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2035 translating to, on average, more than 25,000 deaths each year.
June 4, 2025 10:53 am
The Congressional Budget Office estimates an increase of 10.9 million people without health insurance under President Donald Trump’s big bill, including 1.4 million who are in the country without legal status in state-funded programs. The budget office says the package would reduce federal outlays, or spending, by $1.3 trillion over that period. Meanwhile, Trump has promised to hike nearly all of his tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum to a punishing 50% on Wednesday, a move that would hammer businesses from automakers to home builders, and likely push up prices for consumers.
June 4, 2025 7:40 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik has resigned, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced. According to a release, Pope Leo XIV accepted his resignation at 6 a.m. Wednesday. Zubik reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in September. “I am both grateful and thrilled with this appointment. Bishop Eckman knows the diocese. And we know him as an exceptional pastor, and outstanding administrator – truly an exemplary priest,” Zubik wrote in a letter to diocesan clergy and staff Wednesday morning. At the same time, Auxiliary Bishop Mark A. Eckman was appointed as the 13th bishop. Eckman has served the diocese as an Auxiliary Bishop since 2022. He will be installed on Monday, July 14, during a special Mass at Saint Paul Cathedral in Oakland. “With a grateful and humble heart, I accept this appointment and ask for the prayers of all the faithful,” Eckman said in a release. “Together, we will continue the mission of Jesus Christ with hope.”
