January 22, 2025 4:37 am
(AP) – The winter storm spreading snow, sleet and freezing rain across the southern United States has broken records, treating the region to unaccustomed perils and seasonal joy. From Texas through the Deep South, down into Florida and to North Carolina’s Outer Banks, the snow and ice made for dangerous driving and inventive sledding on Wednesday. At least three cold-weather deaths have been reported. The Arctic air also plunged much of the Midwest and the eastern U.S. into a deep freeze, grounding hundreds of flights. But while the United States shivers, the world as a whole is breaking heat records. It’s been the warmest winter yet in data tracked since 1940.
January 22, 2025 4:44 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Evacuations have been ordered for remote communities near a new wind-driven wildfire in mountains north of Los Angeles. The Hughes Fire broke out late Wednesday morning and quickly burned through hundreds of acres of trees and brush, sending up a huge plume of dark smoke near the Lake Castaic area. The fire comes as parched Southern California could get some badly needed rain this weekend. But even a small amount of precipitation could create new challenges like toxic ash runoff. Meanwhile, red flag warnings for critical fire danger are in effect through Thursday.
January 21, 2025 5:07 am
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Officials in Turkey say that a fire has raged through a 12-story hotel at a popular ski resort in the northwestern part of the country during a school holiday, killing at least 76 people. They said at least two of died when they jumped from the building to escape the flames. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya says at least 51 people also were injured in the fire at the Grand Kartal hotel in Kartalkaya, in Bolu province’s Koroglu mountains, some 300 kilometers east of Istanbul. The fire occurred near the start of a two-week winter break for schools, when hotels in the region are packed.
January 22, 2025 2:21 am
Warming Centers across Washington County will be open and operating for the next few days as a Polar Vortex descends on our area. The Salvation Army in Washington says it will open its warming center Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. Officials say they will provide hot and cold drinks, snacks and a place to come in out of the cold. Entrance will be in the rear of the building by the gymnasium entrance. The warming center is open to anyone who needs shelter from the cold. Here is a list of all available warming centers,
Click Here.January 21, 2025 4:47 am
PITTSBURGH — A Cold Weather Advisory remains in place until early Wednesday afternoon. The worst of the wind chills will be Tuesday morning with many areas feeling like 8 to 15 degrees below zero. It will feel as cold as -25 degrees below zero in the mountains. Scattered snow showers will be in the area after lunch making untreated surfaces slick. While the wind eases Tuesday night, actual air temperatures could drop to double digits below zero to start Wednesday morning in parts of the area. This bitter cold air should begin to lift out of the area by the end of the week. Make sure to be prepared for the cold weather. Use caution when traveling, make sure to have extra layers and a blanket with you, limit time outdoors, and keep pets inside. Don’t forget to protect pipes as they could freeze in this extended cold stretch.
January 21, 2025 6:12 pm
(AP) – The residents who question whether Norfolk Southern’s $600 million settlement offers enough compensation for the East Palestine train crash don’t plan to let a judge’s order requiring an $850,000 bond derail their appeal. Instead, they’ve asked an appeals court to reject the judge’s requirement that they put up that huge sum. The class-action attorneys who negotiated the deal say the appeal will add administrative costs for the firm distributing settlement money to those who lived or worked in the area of the February 2023 derailment. Nearly $300 million of the settlement has been on hold because of the appeal though a judge approved the deal in September.
January 21, 2025 6:08 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s three statewide row officers have been sworn in to four-year terms, marking the first time that all three offices were filled by Republicans at the same time who were elected. Treasurer Stacy Garrity and Auditor General Tim DeFoor were sworn in to a second four-year term on Tuesday. Attorney General-elect Dave Sunday was sworn in to his first four-year term. They took their oaths in ceremonies in the Forum Auditorium, across the street from the state Capitol. The offices are often viewed as springboards to running for higher office. The row officers each have built-in watchdog duties that could affect how Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro governs.
January 21, 2025 5:08 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump’s action Monday paves the way for the release from prison of people found guilty of violent attacks on police, as well as leaders of far-right extremist groups convicted of failed plots to keep the Republican in power after he lost the 2020 election to former President Joe Biden. The pardons are a culmination of Trump’s yearslong campaign to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack that left more than 100 police officers injured.
January 21, 2025 3:51 pm
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order Monday to keep TikTok operating for 75 days, a relief to the social media platform’s users even as national security questions persist. TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance was supposed to find a U.S. buyer or be banned on Jan. 19. Trump’s order could now give ByteDance more time to find a buyer. Former President Joe Biden declined to enforce the bipartisan measure that he signed into law, while Trump has pledged to keep TikTok open after crediting it for helping his 2025 election victory. Trump’s legal authority to preserve TikTok is unclear under the terms of the law recently upheld unanimously by the U.S. Supreme Court. (Photo: AP)
January 21, 2025 5:00 am
A search for a man involved in a one-vehicle crash early Tuesday morning has been called off. Washington County 9-1-1 dispatchers say a woman called and reported that she was talking to her boyfriend when he was involved in a crash. Dispatchers say the unidentified man was traveling from Bridgeville and they were able to locate a pickup truck on its side in the 3000 block of Reissing Road in Cecil Township around 2:30 a.m. The man had fled on foot when first responders arrived and dispatchers say he continued to run from them as they searched for him. The search was called off just after 4 a.m. No other information is available at this time
