June 6, 2025 4:50 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A fast-moving fire erupted in Philadelphia at a transit bus lot filled with dozens of decommissioned vehicles. The Thursday morning blaze did not cause any injuries, but it burned for nearly two hours before it was declared under control. Authorities say 40 Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority buses were engulfed in flames. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation. The city’s Public Health Department inspectors collected samples to assess air quality and the potential for any threat. Citing an abundance of caution, the agency warned nearby residents to stay indoors if possible.
June 5, 2025 12:36 pm
WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA – A Wheeling attorney has been indicted for allegedly fraudulently handling client funds and using client funds to conduct unlawful monetary transactions. Paul J. Harris, 62, of Wheeling, was indicted on June 3rd for mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, and unlawful monetary transactions related to his allegedly fraudulent and unlawful handling of client funds between approximately April 2014 and June 2025. Harris faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each of the mail and wire fraud counts, up to 30 years in federal prison for each of the bank fraud counts, and up to 10 years in federal prison for each of the unlawful monetary transaction counts. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jarod J. Douglas and Jennifer T. Conklin are prosecuting the case on behalf of the government, and the matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.
June 5, 2025 7:41 am
The man accused in a Rostraver murder in April has been transferred to the Westmoreland County Prison, and is set to face a judge next week. Dorian Jeri-Greene appeared for a preliminary hearing in Washington County by video Wednesday morning. He was charged in a Donora incident in February and was arrested in Florida last month on those charges. According to court documents, Jeri-Greene broke into his ex-girlfriend’s home by destroying a door frame. Police said he strangled the woman before running out of the home with a hatchet. In court Wednesday, the victim told the judge she no longer wanted to move forward with the prosecution and refused to testify. So, the district attorney dropped the charges against him in that case. But, Jeri-Greene is still behind bars. Westmoreland County Deputies picked him up from the Washington County Jail and brought him to the Westmoreland County Prison after those charges were dropped. Jeri-Greene is accused of killing Jennah Seibert in her Rostraver home in April. Police said he walked nearly three miles from Monongahela, hid behind a shed on Seibert’s property, and waited for her fiancé, Bryan Murray, to leave for work. Police said he shot Seibert in her bed, stole jewelry, and left. They tracked him to a home in Florida after searching pawn shops across several states, and finding the stolen jewelry at a pawn shop in Tampa. Jeri-Greene is set to face a judge for the murder of Seibert at a hearing set for Monday at 1 p.m.
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 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 10:50 am
(WPXI) – MCKEESPORT, Pa. — A man’s body was found in a McKeesport creek on Wednesday evening. Allegheny County 911 officials tell Channel 11 that emergency crews were sent to near Walnut Street and Long Run Road around 7:30 p.m. Officials on scene later confirmed to us that a body was found over a hillside. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man on Thursday morning as 60-year-old Jeffrey McKenzie. On Wednesday, the Allegheny County Police Department says Versailles Borough police received a report of a missing man around 7:15 p.m. Versailles and McKeesport police started looking for him, then found his body in Long Run Creek. McKenzie’s body was removed from the creek. The recovery was challenging as emergency crews were dealing with a steep hillside with a ledge that led to the creek, which we saw them rappelling down. It’s unclear how he ended up in the creek. Allegheny County detectives are investigating.
June 5, 2025 10:42 am
(WPXI) – MURRYSVILLE, Pa. — An attorney who was involved in a police standoff over the weekend in Westmoreland County has died. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office released a report Thursday morning that Robert C. Klingensmith, 61, died on Wednesday following a self-inflicted injury. Police showed up to arrest Klingensmith at his office on Old William Penn Highway in Murrysville on Saturday. He was charged with allegedly stealing more than $300,000 from a deceased client’s estate from 2021 to 2024. Klingensmith reportedly shot himself during the standoff with police. Viewer video shows the moments that tense standoff ended. He appeared to ignore police commands to get on the ground, and he was tased.
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 5:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is again banning people from countries his administration deems dangerous from coming to America. The travel ban issued Wednesday is a repeat of an order of his first administration that led to widespread confusion at airports. This version includes Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The Republican president’s first travel ban was issued in 2017 and banned travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries. The order was retooled until a version was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
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.”
