October 8, 2023 7:40 am
October 7, 2023 3:00 am
Residents in the city of Washington are facing a huge hike in the cost of their trash collection. At last night’s Washington City Council meeting, board members voted to award a new trash hauling contract to Bigs Sanitation. Council say the five-year contract is for manual collection and residents will not be limited to the number of containers that they can leave out for collection. But, the new contract comes with a sizable increase in costs. City Administrator Donn Henderson says residents will now pay roughly three-hundred-dollars per household, up from about two-hundred and forty-dollars. Henderson says the city received bids from Bigs Sanitation, County Hauling and Waste Management and they bid out several options that included automated pickup and manual pickup with both limited and unlimited containers. The contract was awarded to Bigs Sanitation because the company came in about four-hundred-thousand-dollars cheaper than the others. Council also amended its ordinance governing the business privilege tax abatement. The abatement program once was a city-wide program, it will now be limited to the central business district only. Once again Mayor Scott Putnam put out a call for volunteers to serve on several city boards. The city is looking to fill vacancies on the Zoning Hearing Board, Planning Commission and Civil Service Board. They are also anticipating vacancies on the Washington/East Washington Joint Authority and Washington Business District Authority. Applications are available on line and at City Hall.
October 7, 2023 3:00 am
State Police Washington are investigating a theft of a wallet and access device fraud at the Marshall’s store at Washington Crown Center in Franklin Township back in September. They are also asking for your help to identify the suspect. Police say a woman was shopping when she was distracted and her wallet was taken from her purse. The pictured suspect then used two credit cards from that wallet at the Sam’s Club store in South Strabane Township. Police say the suspect then purchased $4,129.60 worth of pre-paid master cards. Anyone with information is asked to contact State Police Washington at 724-223-5200 or anonymously contact Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.
October 7, 2023 3:00 am
State Police here in Washington County say they are looking for a missing woman and her 9-month old son. According to state police, Anna Kimberly, 38, of Fredericktown, and her son Syrris have been missing since Tuesday, Oct. 3 at around 5:30 p.m. Anna is described as being 5 feet, 1 inch tall and weighing 125 pounds. She has blonde or strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information is asked to call PSP Washington at (724) 223-5200.
October 7, 2023 3:00 am
Washington Hospital was the site of a demonstration on Thursday by union representatives and other organizations concerned about the proposed merger of Washington Health System and UPMC. Melissa Duran is the president of the SEIU at the hospital and is also an EKG technician there. She gathered with representatives form the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, The Allegheny County Schools Health Insurance Consortium and the Washington County Labor Council. Together they are calling on the Pennsylvania Attorney General to scrutinize the merger and pay close attention to what has happened in other communities, not just in the Pittsburgh area but statewide where mergers have taken place. The group pointed out hospital closures that have occured shortly after mergers were complete. They spoke of health care costs rising after mergers as well. The group is concerned about job loss and the diminished health care available to Washington if UPMC were to close Washington Hospital’s doors. WJPA has reached out to representatives from the Washington Health System and UPMC for comment and to date we have received no response.
October 6, 2023 9:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s employers added 336,000 jobs in September, an unexpectedly strong gain that suggests many companies remain confident enough to keep hiring despite high interest rates and a hazy outlook for the economy. Friday’s report from the Labor Department showed that hiring last month jumped from a 227,000 increase in August, which was revised sharply higher. July’s hiring was also healthier than initially estimated, and the economy has now added an average of 266,000 jobs a month in the past three months.
October 6, 2023 4:57 am
A United Nations report says that storms, fires and other extreme weather events led to more than 43 million displacements involving children between 2016 and 2021. The UNICEF report says that in some areas, like the Horn of Africa, the equivalent of nearly half of all children were uprooted during over that period. The report says the threat will worsen as climate change intensifies. In Africa and Asia, the biggest factors forcing families from their homes were floods and storms. In wealthier nations like the U.S. and Canada, wildfires were a major problem. The report says slower disasters like droughts can be hard to track and their impacts are likely underreported.
October 6, 2023 4:56 am
HROZA, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials say at least 51 civilians were killed in a Russian rocket strike on a village store and cafe in the eastern part of the country in one of the deadliest attacks in recent months. Thursday’s attack in the village of Hroza came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was attending a summit of around 50 European leaders in Spain to drum up support from the country’s allies. Zelenskyy denounced the attack in Hroza as a “demonstrably brutal Russian crime” and “a completely deliberate act of terrorism.” He urged Western allies to help strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses, saying that “Russian terror must be stopped.”
October 6, 2023 4:55 am
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Biden administration is going to resume deporting migrants to Venezuela. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, speaking in Mexico City Thursday, cited the new measure as one of the “strict consequences” the Biden administration is pairing with the expansion of legal pathways for asylum seekers. The process is expected to begin shortly, two U.S. officials tell The Associated Press, though they did not provide specific details on when the flights would begin taking off. The resumption of deportation comes not long after the administration increased protected status for Venezuelans who arrive to the U.S., so if someone arrived to the U.S. before July 31 of this year, but not after, they’d be eligible for protections.
October 6, 2023 4:54 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is officially backing Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the pugnacious House Judiciary Committee chairman and longtime Trump defender, to succeed Kevin McCarthy as House speaker. “Congressman Jim Jordan has been a STAR long before making his very successful journey to Washington, D.C., representing Ohio’s 4th Congressional District,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site shortly after midnight Friday. “He will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!” The announcement came hours after Texas Rep. Troy Nehls said Thursday night that Trump had decided to endorse Jordan for the role.
