March 21, 2025 2:22 am
(AP) – A man who had voluntarily agreed to be taken to a psychiatric hospital by Philadelphia police grabbed an officer’s gun outside of the facility and wounded him before being fatally shot by another officer. The city police commissioner says the wounded officer’s bulletproof vest spared him from serious injury. The shooting occurred shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday at Friends Hospital. Commissioner Kevin Bethel says the two city officers had encountered the man earlier Thursday after he was seen walking in traffic, and he agreed to go to the hospital for a mental health evaluation. The man was driven to the hospital in a police van but was not handcuffed because he had agreed to go voluntarily.
March 21, 2025 2:04 am
Last week at the Washington County Real Estate Expo, Washington County Commissioners highlighted the construction of a new Public Safety Building as a project to watch in 2025. Commissioners unanimously approved a contract to take that first step in construction. Adamo Demolition Co. from Detroit, Michigan was awarded a $1,555,700 contract to demolish the Courthouse Square building. According to Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman, this company will use robotic technologies to demolish the building. Those technologies allowed a taxpayer savings of more than half of the $4 million budgeted for demolition. Sherman said that several local companies did bid the project, but those bids ran from $3.8 million to $4.2 million. Currently a radio antenna is being moved from Courthouse Square to the Crossroads Building and cabling is also being run. Once that project is finished, Sherman says that demolition could begin within a month.
March 20, 2025 9:21 am
MONESSEN, Pa. — A family safely escaped a house fire in Monessen early Thursday morning. Emergency crews were called to the 1500 block of Jones Street just before 3 a.m. Fire officials said the fire started on the porch and then quickly spread throughout the house. Initial reports indicated that two houses were on fire, but only because firefighters could barely see through the smoke when they arrived. The Monessen fire chief told Channel 11 that wind was a massive issue for crews. Everyone, including a young girl, and her parents and grandfather, made it out safely. The Red Cross has been called in to help the family. The State Police fire marshal is investigating
March 20, 2025 4:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Social Security Administration’s plan to require in-person identity checks for millions of new and existing recipients has drawn ire from lawmakers, advocacy groups and program recipients who are concerned that the government is placing barriers in front of people seeking to access their benefits. The agency announced Tuesday, that beginning March 31st, those who cannot properly verify their identity through an online service will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process. To complicate matters, Social Security field offices across the country will also be closing.
March 20, 2025 4:56 am
CHAMPAGNE, France (AP) — The number 200 is top of mind across wine country in France, Italy and Spain, Europe’s top producers of wine. That’s because last week, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened a tariff of 200% on European wines, Champagne and other spirits if the European Union didn’t back down from imposing retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. products. Europe’s wine industry is the latest to find itself in the crosshairs of a possible trade spat with the U.S. For now, many producers are hoping that Trump’s threat doesn’t come to fruition.
March 20, 2025 4:54 am
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Lawyers for Joshua Roshua Riibe, a senior at St. Cloud University in Minnesota who is believed to be the last person to see missing University of Pittsburgh student Sudiksha Konanki in the Dominican Republic, say he has left the Caribbean country. Following a trial exceeding five hours, Judge Edwin Rijo ruled that Riibe, classified as a witness in a disappearance case, should have full rights under Dominican law and unrestricted freedom of movement.It was not immediately clear where Riibe traveled after leaving the Dominican Republic.
March 20, 2025 4:52 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged Wednesday and signaled that it still expects to cut rates twice this year, though more policymakers forecast fewer cuts. The Fed also now expects the economy to grow more slowly this year and next than it did three months ago, according to a set of quarterly economic projections also released Wednesday. It also expects the unemployment rate to tick higher, to 4.4%. Policymakers also expect inflation will pick up slightly by the end of this year, to 2.7% from its current level of 2.5%. Bother are above the central bank’s 2% target.
March 20, 2025 4:50 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the Education Department. The Republican president announced his plan Thursday. Trump has derided the Education Department as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, completing its dismantling is most likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979. And the White House says the department would not close completely right now. It is to retain certain critical functions, like managing federal student loans and Pell grants.
March 20, 2025 4:43 am
SOUTH FAYETTE TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – The treasurer of a local youth football organization is facing charges after police say she stole nearly $65,000. In October 2024, the president of the South Fayette Township Youth Football Association reported suspicions to the police. The president said Treasurer Jaella Starr Richard, 41, of Bridgeville, provided an Excel spreadsheet showing the association’s finances in June 2024 but told the board she was still working on updating it at every meeting after that. A statement from the organization’s Key Bank account showed only $745 remained but the president said Richard last reported over $60,000 in the account. Officers went through the bank statements from the account for November 2023 through October 2024. Court documents said those statements showed several Venmo transactions had been made to Richard’s husband, payments had been made to Amazon and checks had been written to an apparent relative. In total, police said $64,742.75 was taken from the football association’s account. The 70 Venmo payments made to Richard’s husband totaled $56,450 and another $1,855.82 was sent to Amazon. Authorities believe the money was used to make mortgage, credit card and utility payments and pay for entertainment, like Netflix, and food. Richard faces six different felony charges including dealing in the proceeds of illegal activity, theft by unlawful taking and unlawful use of a computer.
March 20, 2025 2:40 am
Washington School District Superintendent George Lammay tells WJPA News that there was never a threat made against the high school Thursday afternoon, but police did contact him to make him aware of a possible threat at the post office, which is across the street from the school. Lammay says he issued a call to parents and guardians notifying them of the situation and there was no official lock-down. He tells us that the school is essentially on lock-down every day, as they keep all doors locked and secured. There’s been no word from police on the situation at the post office, but Lammay says he was notified that the event was over.
