June 24, 2024 3:58 am
Pennsylvania State Police and municipal officers from South Strabane Township, North Strabane Township and Chartiers Township arrested 54 intoxicated drivers as part of a DUI enforcement initiative called “Operation Nighthawk” last weekend. The operation was hosted by state police in Washington. In addition to the intoxicated drivers, it resulted in 35 arrests for controlled substances and six arrests for underage drinking. Police conducted 356 stops and issued 255 citations and 227 warnings for traffic offenses. Three drivers had licenses suspended for previous DUI charges, state police said. In addition to the drug and alcohol charges, police arrested six individuals for misdemeanor offenses, four others for felony crimes and served six with warrants. According to state police, more than 50 law enforcement officers participated in Operation Nighthawk, a specialized and unique two-day training and enforcement program that has proven highly successful at reducing drinking and driving.
June 25, 2024 3:56 am
PennDot has announced plans to close Mingo Church Road (Route 1061) between Keeney Road and Route 88 (Finleyville Rd) beginning July 1. They plan to replace the bridge that carries Mingo Church Road over Froman Run. Aside from the bridge replacement, the approaches to the bridge will be widened and repaved. There is a 6.3 mile detour that will be used as follows.
*Route 1061 Mingo Church Rd
*Route 1059 Sugar Run Rd
*Route 1006 Venetia Rd, Rankintown Rd, Washington Ave
*Route 88 Washington Ave, Brownsville Rd, Finleyville Rd
The $600,000 infrastructure improvement is expected to last through early October.
June 25, 2024 3:54 am
According to AAA, gasoline prices are continuing a downward trend. Prices are two cents lower this week in Western Pennsylvania. AAA’s East Central Gas Price Report states that gas is priced at $3.778 per gallon. In Washington County, drivers are paying a little more at $3791 per gallon. The national average is $3.44 and has been steady over the last week. Increasing supplies and demand that although is increasing, is still behind 2023 levels are recognized as the stabilizing effects. Prices are 16 cents less than last month and 13 cents less than a year ago.
June 24, 2024 4:17 am
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (AP) — Eastern Ohio residents will learn more Tuesday about the fiery Norfolk Southern train wreck that derailed their lives when the National Transportation Safety Board holds another hearing in their hometown about the disaster last year. The hearing is expected to disclose new findings from the investigation into the February 2023 derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania line. The agency also will make recommendations for averting future derailments. The agency has already said it believes the crash was caused by an overheated bearing on a railcar and that officials didn’t need to blow open five tank cars of vinyl chloride and burn the toxic chemical to prevent an explosion. Congress has yet to act on rail safety reforms proposed after the derailment.
June 24, 2024 6:57 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will soon confront a perfect storm mostly of its own making: a trio of decisions stemming directly from the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Within days of each other, if not hours, the justices are expected to rule on whether Donald Trump has immunity from criminal charges over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and whether Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol can be prosecuted for obstructing an official proceeding. The court also will decide whether former Trump adviser Steve Bannon can stay out of prison while he appeals his contempt of Congress conviction for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the Capitol attack.
June 24, 2024 5:22 pm
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Civil liberties groups have filed a lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s new law mandating that the Ten Commandments must be displayed in every public school classroom. Plaintiffs in the suit filed Monday include parents of Louisiana public school children, represented by attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Opponents argue that the law is a violation of separation of church and state and that the display will isolate students, especially those who are not Christian. Proponents say the measure is not solely religious and has historical significance. In the language of the law, the Ten Commandments are “foundational documents of our state and national government.” (Photo: AP)
June 24, 2024 4:50 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI)-The Pittsburgh community came together on Sunday to go down the path toward healing and transformation after the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting. People packed into a tent on the grounds of the Tree of Life Synagogue. Members of the congregation, politicians, faith leaders, survivors and their families gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony. The site will now become a new building and stand as a memorial. The new building will house a sanctuary for the Tree of Life congregation, an education center dedicated to combating bigotry and a museum dedicated exclusively to chronicling the long history of antisemitism in America, which will be the first of its kind in the country. Victims families, survivors and leaders joined the stage to break glass — a tradition at Jewish wedding ceremonies to remember the pain of the past and the broken world amid great joy.
June 23, 2024 6:54 am
A new mom reveling in her daughter’s development was among four people shot and killed when a gunman opened fire at an Arkansas grocery store. Callie Weems’ mother, Helen Browning, says her daughter died in the shooting Friday in the city of Fordyce. Browning says Weems had a 10-month-old daughter who was a constant source of entertainment and wonder. In all, 15 people were wounded in the attack, including the alleged gunman. It’s at least the third mass shooting at a grocery store in recent years. A gunman in Buffalo, New York, killed 10 people at a store in 2022. That was about a year after a store shooting in Boulder, Colorado.
June 23, 2024 6:50 am
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s southern region of Dagestan is holding the first of three days of mourning following a rampage by Islamic militants that killed 19 people, most of them police, and attacked houses of worship in apparently coordinated assaults in two cities. Sunday’s violence was the latest that officials blamed on Islamic extremists in the predominantly Muslim region in the North Caucasus. It also was the deadliest in Russia since March, when gunmen gunmen opened fire at a concert in suburban Moscow, killing 145 people. That attack was claimed by an affiliate of the Islamic State group. but no group has taken responsibility for Sunday’s attacks in Dagestan’s cities of Makhachkala and Derbent. All five gunmen were reported killed.
June 24, 2024 5:37 pm
(AP) – A well-known Hawaii lifeguard who was killed in a shark attack on Oahu’s North Shore was a former professional surfer with acting credits to his name. Tamayo Perry died in the attack near Goat Island on Sunday. Perry was most famous as a surfer around in the early 2000s. His specialty was surfing huge Pipeline waves, and he won the Pipeline Master trials in 1999. His other passion was acting. He had several small roles credited to him, including playing a buccaneer in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” in 2011. That same year, he appeared in an episode of the television series “Hawaii Five-0.”
