March 29, 2025 4:09 am
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations are getting help from private groups that use facial-recognition technology to identify masked protesters. That’s so their names can be turned over to government officials. Other groups have called on supporters at universities to report protesters on their campuses to immigration authorities. After the arrest of a Columbia University grad student, the campaign to identify masked protesters and to turn them in has blurred the line between public law enforcement and private groups. The effort has also stirred anxiety among foreign students worried that activism could jeopardize their legal status.
March 29, 2025 4:06 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces are preparing to launch a fresh military offensive in the coming weeks to maximize the pressure on Ukraine and strengthen the Kremlin’s negotiating position in ceasefire talks. That’s according to Ukrainian government and military analysts. The Ukrainian officials said the move could give Russian President Vladimir Putin every reason to delay discussions about pausing the fighting in favor of seeking more land. The analysts and military commanders said the Kremlin is eyeing a multi-pronged push across the 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) front line as the spring fighting season draws near. Ukrainian leaders have argued repeatedly that Russia has no intention of engaging in meaningful dialogue to end the war.
March 29, 2025 4:03 am
BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s ruling military has said on state television that the confirmed death toll from a devastating earthquake rose to1,644. Saturday’s new total is a sharp rise compared to the 1,002 total announced just hours earlier. It underlines the difficulty of confirming casualties over a widespread region and the likelihood that the numbers will continue to grow from Friday’s quake. Rescue efforts are underway especially in the major stricken cities of Mandalay and Naypyitaw. Teams and equipment have been flown in from other nations. But they are hindered by the airports in those cities being damaged and apparently unfit to land planes.
March 29, 2025 4:00 am
MT. PLEASANT TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Mt. Pleasant Man who has lived on Mount Pleasant Road for more than 20 years says increased traffic recently and it is concerning. Bob Ersick tells our news partners at Channel 11 that increased PennDOT work will make the situation worse. “My biggest concerns are getting in and out of my driveway and taking the value away from my property,” he said. PennDOT has discussed this plan on Route 119 for 15 years because there have been numerous crashes at these intersections, there was one just last week. The hope, PennDOT said, is that these changes will make that stretch of 119 safer. “I realize we can’t save everybody, but I believe everybody’s worth saving,” said Jeremy Hughes, Assistant District Executive of Design with PennDOT. The project would remove the traffic lights at two intersections, install on and off ramps, build a bridge across Route 119, and install a roundabout on Mount Pleasant Road. Ersick’s house and driveway will be right on the roundabout. “I would have not bought this if this was here,” Ersick said. “There’s no way. I don’t know anybody that would.” Ersick has hired an attorney and wants PennDOT to buy his whole property. PennDOT said bids for the project will go out this summer, with some utility work starting late summer or early fall.
March 29, 2025 3:46 am
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A man is accused of beating and robbing another man before taking off in a stolen vehicle in Butler County. According to our news partners at Channel 11, Pennsylvania State Troopers were called to the 300 block of Stewart Road in Washington Township early Friday morning for a reported robbery and assault. That’s where a 42-year-old man was found severely injured. He was taken to Grove City Hospital but later had to be flown to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital. He was last listed in critical condition. Dylan Hinchberger, 31, was identified as a suspect. Police said he forced his way into the victim’s house and took several guns. He then allegedly sat outside the house and waited for the victim to return home. Police say Hinchberger then ambushed the victim. During the attack, Hinchberger allegedly fired a gun in the victim’s house. After the attack, Hinchberger took off in the victim’s vehicle, but police said he crashed it into a tree five miles away and then ran away. He was found at a Quality Inn Hotel in Grove City but troopers said he jumped out of the second-story window and ran into the woods before they got to him. Pennsylvania State Police Aviation tracked Hinchberger and he was eventually found and arrested.
March 29, 2025 3:34 am
HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. —There was a good update for a woman who was missing Friday afternoon. According to our news partners at Channel 11, Pennsylvania State Police said a 77-year-old woman who was reported missing out of Westmoreland County has been found and is safe. Joann Lovell, 77, was initially reported missing out of Redmont Place in Hempfield Township in Westmoreland County on Friday afternoon. Her 2006 Gold Lincoln Town Car was spotted on Route 30 in North Versailles later in the afternoon. Police had thought she may be at risk of harm.
March 29, 2025 3:33 am
A longtime fixture in the Washington community is going to be demolished. John Celani, the executive director of the Brownson House, says deciding to tear down the building was the most difficult decision of his life. He says the youth sports facility has been serving kids for nearly one-hundred years. In fact, he says his ties to the Brownson House go back to when he was five-years-old. He says he grew up there, he wrestled there, played football and basketball there, and when he graduated from college, he went to work there. Celani says he’s been working there for some thirty-six-years, but it’s time to make way for something new and more profitable. He says there is too much wrong with the building to invest in repairing it. Celani says the roof is bad; the facade of the building is breaking down, allowing water to get in between the walls; there were cracks in the walls and the boiler went bad. Celani says it made more sense to apply for grant money for a new building, rather than to repair the old one. He says the demolition will only be the red brick building. The gymnasium will not be torn down and the various teams who use it will continue to do so. Celani says they don’t know yet when demolition will begin. He says the bidding process is currently underway and he has no estimate at this time on how much the demolition will cost. Once it’s finished and they move on to the construction of a new building, Celani says that space will likely be used for a parking lot and the new facility will be built across the street. (Photo: Facebook)
March 28, 2025 5:44 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Another wipeout slammed Wall Street as worries built about a potentially toxic mix of worsening inflation and a U.S. economy slowing because of households afraid to spend due to the global trade war. The S&P 500 dropped 2% Friday for one of its worst days of the last two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 715 points, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.7%. Lululemon Athletica led the market lower after warning that its revenue growth may slow, in part because shoppers are spending less due to concerns about inflation and the economy. Treasury yields fell, even after a worse-than-expected inflation report.
March 28, 2025 10:47 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court for permission to resume deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an 18th century wartime law, while a court fight continues. The emergency appeal to the high court Friday follows a rejection of the Republican administration’s plea to the federal appeals court in Washington. By a 2-1 vote, a panel of appellate judges left in place an order temporarily prohibiting deportations of the migrants under the rarely used Alien Enemies Act. President Donald Trump invoked the law for the first time since World War II to justify the deportation of hundreds of people under a presidential proclamation calling the Tren de Aragua gang an invading force.
March 28, 2025 7:50 am
SCHOENEICHE, Germany (AP) — The U.S. government is on a global egg hunt. It’s seeking exports from countries in Europe and elsewhere to ease a severe shortage that has caused egg prices at grocery stores to hit record highs. European industry groups say Denmark, Germany, Italy and Poland are among the nations the U.S. Department of Agriculture approached. Many officials in Europe say the import tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed or threatened to impose on his nation’s top trading partners wouldn’t preclude their sharing eggs. A bigger obstacle is U.S. food safety regulations that require fresh eggs to be sanitized before they reach shoppers. In the European Union, the standards call for Grade A eggs to be sold unwashed.
