July 12, 2024 2:28 am
(AP) – Shelley Duvall, the intrepid, Texas-born movie star whose wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman and who co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” has died. She was 75. Duvall died Thursday in her sleep at her home in Blanco, Texas, her longtime partner, Dan Gilroy, announced. The cause was complications of diabetes, said her friend, the publicist Gary Springer. “My dear, sweet, wonderful life, partner, and friend left us last night,” Gilroy said in a statement. “Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away beautiful Shelley.” Duvall was attending junior college in Texas when Altman’s crew members, preparing to film “Brewster McCloud,” encountered her as at a party in Houston in 1970. They introduced her to the director, who cast her “Brewster McCloud” and made her his protege. Duvall would go on to appear in Altman films including “Thieves Like Us,” “Nashville, “Popeye,” “Three Women” and “McCabe & Ms. Miller.” (Photo: AP)
July 11, 2024 7:49 am
Freedom Transit has landed a $15 million federal grant for its new bus storage and maintenence facility. Wednesday’s announcement is part of approximately $1.5 billion in funding to support 117 projects that will improve public transportation in 47 states. Freedom Transit says the new facility will enhance their ability “to efficiently maintain its buses, strengthen service reliability, and meet safety standards.” They will also convert part of its fleet to Compressed Natural Gas to support its green bus fleet in the future. Back in 2022, Freedom Transit purchased 12 acres of property off of Berry Road in South Strabane Township for $3.2 million. It will serve as the site of the more than $50 million facility. At 88,000 square feet, it will include indoor storage for 80 vehicles, six maintenence bays, a mechanical bus wash, fueling stations and office space for dispatch, operations and staff training. Demolition of the current buildings on that site is planned for this fall with construction of the new facility to begin next year with completion expected in 2026.
July 11, 2024 4:56 am
The Canon-McMillan School Board held a special voting session on Wednesday with the purpose to appoint a new district superintendent. The board unanimously appointed Dr. Greg Taranto as the new superintendent. Taranto served as the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and instruction K-6 before assuming his new role. Taranto is a 25 year veteran of the school district, coming in as a student teacher and then being offered a full time job later that summer. Taranto called the appointment “surreal” but expressed his gratitude to the board and to several members of the audience that filled the board room for the meeting. Taranto brings with him several awards from his career, chief among them is his being named Pennsylvania Principal of the Year in 2012. A published scholar, Taranto is also the author of 30 educational articles. He is also an adjunct professor at Penn West University. Taranto will be sworn in Thursday to officially begin work in his post. He has been awarded a 5 year contract that runs through June 30, 2029.
July 11, 2024 2:22 am
Washington County Controller April Sloane posted bond and was released from the Allegheny County Jail Wednesday afternoon. After a thirty minute hearing, Washington County Judge John DiSalle revoked Sloane’s $150,000 unsecured bond. Prosecutors argued that she was living with a cat and that was a clear violation of her probation terms that stated that she could not harbor any animal. Her defense attorney argued that she did not care for the cat so therefore harboring was not in question. Sloane was remanded into custody after a new bail was set at $150,000 straight cash. Sloane was initially taken to the Washington County Jail and then transferred to Pittsburgh. Her trial is expected to be held sometime in September. Sloane is facing animal cruelty and animal neglect charges after police – on a tip from the Humane Society, found a dead dog sealed in plastic in her garage in December of 2023. Washington County Commission Chairman Nick Sherman says Sloane will still be in charge of her office. Sherman, however, did say that he was pleased that the appropriate action was taken to revoke Sloane’s bond since her failure to follow the conditions of her probation for harboring a cat is both abhorrent and shocking.
July 10, 2024 2:18 am
A North Strabane Township physical therapist that has been in jail for 10 years had his trial begin Washington County court Wednesday. Scott Edmonds is on trial for homicide and tampering with evidence charges. He is accused of shooting his wife Louise Weis-Edmonds in their North Strabane Township home in March of 2014. Testimony Wednesday primarily laid the groundwork for the case seeing 8 witnesses called to the stand to interpret photographic and ballistics evidence. That testimony came from North Strabane Township Police and Pennsylvania State Police. The call to 9-1-1 was played during testimony. Evidence gathered at the scene included an anger management pamphlet that led police to discover that Edmonds had been involved in a previous domestic incident with his wife. The case has been bogged down in the courts due to Edmonds’ constant dismissal of defense attorneys and efforts to represent himself. Testimony will continue Thursday morning.
July 10, 2024 2:42 am
(WPXI) – First Lady Jill Biden will be traveling to Pittsburgh this weekend. The First Lady will be in town on Saturday, July 13. She is scheduled to deliver remarks at an Italian Sons and Daughters of America dinner. Former President Donald Trump is also scheduled to be in the Pittsburgh area on Saturday. He will be holding a rally in Butler County.
July 11, 2024 5:39 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania lawmakers are grinding through votes to finalize a budget deal that took nearly two weeks into the new fiscal year to reach. The $47.6 billion plan under consideration Thursday represents a 6% increase. Most of the new money is going toward public schools, services for adults with intellectual disabilities and nursing home care for the poor. Hundreds of pages of budget-related legislation are just becoming public and could reach Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk by late Thursday. The plan doesn’t increase sales or income tax rates. It will require some of the state’s surplus cash to balance. Shapiro had initially sought a 7% increase.
July 11, 2024 5:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s ability to run for reelection faces crucial tests Thursday. He will be fielding questions at a highly anticipated press conference that many Democrats will be watching for signs he’s up for another four-year term. And he sent his campaign team to meet privately with skeptical senators on Capitol Hill, even as more House Democrats called for him to exit the race. The Biden campaign is laying out what it sees as its path to keeping the White House in a new memo, saying that winning the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan is the “clearest pathway” to victory. It says there’s no indication another Democrat would do better against Republican Donald Trump.
July 11, 2024 5:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — As he prepares to accept the Republican nomination for the third time, Donald Trump has promised to expand his coalition — and, in particular, to win over more of the nonwhite voters who largely rejected him during the 2020 election. But an AP analysis of two consecutive polls from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research conducted in June shows that about 7 in 10 Black Americans have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Trump, as do about half of Hispanic Americans. While both groups do see Trump a little more favorably than when he left office in 2021, their opinion is still more negative than positive.
July 11, 2024 5:10 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities in Western states are warning of the rising risk of wildfires as hot conditions and low humidity dry out the landscape amid a protracted heat wave baking much of the U.S. California’s top fire official says so far this year the state has responded to more than 3,500 wildfires that have scorched nearly 325 square miles of vegetation. Blazes are also burning in Oregon, where the governor issued an emergency authorization allowing additional firefighting resources to be deployed. More than 142 million people around the U.S. were under heat alerts Wednesday, especially across the West, where dozens of locations tied or broke heat records.
