February 7, 2025 4:46 am
ROSTRAVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – A man is charged with shooting and killing his girlfriend inside their home in Rostraver Township. Just before 11 p.m. Wednesday, detectives responded to a reported shooting in the 900 block of Route 136 after a child living in the home called 911. When officers arrived, Robert Chaplin, 34, was outside of the home in the driveway. The victim, Estela Rivera Vasquez, 35, was found shot in the chest and lying on the basement floor. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead an hour later. Police found several shell casings and a black gun on the basement floor near Vasquez. The Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office said Chaplin and Vasquez lived together. The three children living inside the home are safe and being cared for by relatives. Chaplin is charged with criminal homicide and was denied bail.
February 7, 2025 2:30 am
The City of Washington has begun a search for a new City Administrator. Council approved the retirement of Donn Henderson during their meeting Thursday night. Henderson says he’s looking forward to spending more time with his family. He has served as Administrator since May of 2022. His retirement will be official on April 12. He tells WJPA News that he will assist in the search for his replacement.
February 7, 2025 2:08 am
The Local Share Account grant awards have been adopted and 67 projects will be dividing $10 million dollars in funds generated by taxes levied on Pennsylvania casinos, specifically the Hollywood Casino at the Meadows. Commissioners unanimously approved the measure at their voting meeting Thursday. Commissioner Nick Sherman is happy to see the funding cover all areas of need in economic development, infrastructure and non-profits. He is particularly pleased at the way the grants are spread out to all corners of the county. Commissioners also approved a measure to begin a county airport hangar expansion. Advertisements to bid on a 14 unit T-Hangar to house aircraft at the airport will now be released. Commissioners also approved a contract with TranSystems to design the hangar. This included with runway width expansion and lengthening will prove effective in economic development for the county according to Sherman. The majority of the construction costs for these projects is funded federally from Federal Aviation Administration grants.
February 6, 2025 5:47 pm
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Thunderstorms caused flash flooding in portions of West Virginia and spawned a tornado in Kentucky, while a wintry mix coated trees and roads and even dropped “thunder ice” in several states. The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado tore apart roofs and scattered debris in south-central Kentucky. A long line of thunderstorms kept West Virginia residents awake overnight with hours of thunder and heavy rains. Several mid-Atlantic states were coated in ice before warmer temperatures moved in. In portions of Indiana, southern Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, residents and storm spotters reported seeing “thunder ice” — freezing rain accompanied by flashes of lightning in the unstable air.
February 6, 2025 4:07 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal employees by offering them financial incentives. The decision Thursday comes hours before the midnight deadline for workers to apply for the program. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston sided with several labor unions that had requested a temporary restraining order against the plan orchestrated by Trump adviser Elon Musk. The Republican president is trying to downsize and reshape the federal workforce. The judge didn’t express an opinion on the legality of the program. He scheduled a hearing for Monday and directed administration officials to extend the deadline to apply for the program until after the hearing.
February 6, 2025 9:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says his relationship with religion “changed” after a pair of failed assassination attempts last year as he advocated at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol for Americans to “bring God back” into their lives. Trump on Thursday joined a more than 70-year-old Washington tradition that brings together a bipartisan group of lawmakers for fellowship. The nondenominational Christian also will speak at a separate prayer breakfast sponsored by a private group. Trump made waves at the final prayer breakfast during his first term. That year the gathering came the day after the Senate acquitted Trump in his first impeachment trial. The Republican president in his remarks then threw not-so-subtle barbs at some members of Congress.
February 6, 2025 5:55 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal employees by offering them financial incentives. The decision Thursday comes hours before the midnight deadline for workers to apply for the program. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston sided with several labor unions that had requested a temporary restraining order against the plan orchestrated by Trump adviser Elon Musk. The Republican president is trying to downsize and reshape the federal workforce. The judge didn’t express an opinion on the legality of the program. He scheduled a hearing for Monday and directed administration officials to extend the deadline to apply for the program until after the hearing.
February 6, 2025 4:56 am
President Donald Trump is ready to take his fight against transgender athletes to the International Olympic Committee. Trump wants the IOC to “change everything having to do with the Olympics and having to do with this absolutely ridiculous subject” ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Trump made the remarks while signing an executive order designed to keep men out of women’s sports. The order empowers both the office of the Secretary of State and the Department of Homeland Security to take steps to attempt to prevent international transgender female athletes from competing in the United States.
February 6, 2025 4:55 am
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Stunned Palestinians rejected President Donald Trump’s proposal to expel them from the Gaza Strip so that the U.S. could take over the territory and rebuild it for others. Many saw the comments as an effort to erase them from their homeland, a continuation of the expulsion and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from what is now Israel during the 1948 war. Palestinians displaced during the Israel-Hamas war have shown a powerful determination to return to their homes, with hundreds of thousands during the current ceasefire flooding back to neighborhoods devastated by Israeli bombardment and offensives. Trump’s top diplomat on Wednesday walked back the president’s proposal, saying he only wants to temporarily relocate Palestinians from Gaza.
February 6, 2025 4:54 am
Dairy cattle in Nevada have been infected with a new type of bird flu that’s different from the version that has spread in herds since last year. U.S. Agriculture Department officials announced the finding Wednesday. It indicates that distinct strains of the H5N1 bird fluvirus have spilled over from wild birds into cattle at least twice. Experts said it raises news questions about wider spread and the difficulty of controlling infections in animals and the people who work closely with them. The new virus version found in cattle has been linked to severe infections in the U.S. and Canada.
