August 22, 2025 4:59 am
BURGETTSTOWN, Pa. — An Ohio man’s life is forever changed after an attack at an area concert venue. “Just frustrated. It didn’t have to happen,” Mike Mollenkopf told Channel 11. Two weeks after the Jason Aldean concert at Star Lake, Mollenkopf is now speaking with a stutter and still hasn’t been back to work. “I’ve had to go to speech therapy. And I’m going to be going to a neurosurgeon,” he said. Mike and his wife, Patricia, spoke to our news partners at Channel 11. He says he and his daughter were thrilled to be going to the concert – until it turned violent. “It was on his second song that he was singing. That’s what I remember when I got hit in the back of the head with a full beer can. I blacked out, and the next thing I remember was being surrounded by the trauma team,” Mollenkopf said. Since that night, he’s been in and out of hospitals and was diagnosed with a severe concussion. He has since developed a stutter. The couple is hoping that by making Mike’s story public, other videos will surface. “I’m hoping that somebody knows or has some kind of video. There were a lot of cameras there. And I’m hoping something was at least caught on video,” he said. He also hopes that whoever threw the beer can finds out about the aftermath. The Hanover Township Police Department and Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh say they are still investigating and no one has been charged.
August 22, 2025 7:51 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI is searching the Maryland home and Washington office of ex-Trump national security adviser John Bolton as part of an investigation into the handling of classified information. That’s according to a person familiar with the matter Friday. The person was not authorized to discuss the investigation by name and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The person says Bolton was not detained and has not been charged with any crimes. FBI Director Kash Patel says cryptically online, “NO ONE is above the law.” Messages left with a spokesperson for Bolton haven’t been returned. Bolton served as President Donald Trump’s third national security adviser for 17 months and clashed with him over Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea.
August 22, 2025 5:05 am
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday opened the door ever so slightly to lowering a key interest rate in the coming months but gave no hint on the timing of a move and suggested the central bank will proceed cautiously as it continues to evaluate the impact of tariffs and other policies on the economy. In a high-profile speech that will be closely watched at the White House and on Wall Street, Powell said that there are risks of both rising unemployment and stubbornly higher inflation. That puts the Fed in a tough spot, because it would typically cut its short-term rate to boost hiring, while keeping it high — or raising it — to fight inflation.
August 22, 2025 4:50 am
No injuries resulted after a car struck a home along Ridge Avenue Thursday afternoon. City of Washington Police are investigating. It happened just after 1 p.m. in the 300-block. According to reports, the porch area of the home was damaged. No other information is currently available.
August 22, 2025 4:42 am
Beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, the district will establish a Department Head for Family and Consumer Science. The role will be funded by reallocating resources from the current Assistant to the Superintendent/Curriculum Director 7-12 position. The move is designed to oversee Family & Consumer Science at the middle school and the high school. In addition to staffing changes, the board accepted a $50,000 donation from Eugene Reichenbecher in memory of Marian Meszaros, a beloved Wylandville Elementary School teacher during the 1960s and 1970s. Meszaros, who passed away, left a lasting impact on countless students and colleagues. The donation will support the ongoing Wylandville Elementary School Project. The district also received a $35,000 grant from the Washington County Community Foundation, provided through the NPL&E Permanent Fund, Bill McDonald Fund, and Vitulla Family Fund. These funds will be invested at Cecil Intermediate School and North Strabane Intermediate School to expand opportunities in coding, robotics, and artificial intelligence education.
August 21, 2025 5:03 am
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is proudly promoting the work of roughly 2,000 National Guard troops in Washington to confront what the Republican president describes as an out-of-control crime wave in the Democratic-run city. Trump and his allies are confident that his decision to dispatch soldiers to a key American city with no clear crisis is a big political winner. Democrats say this is a fight they’re eager to have. One Democratic strategist says it’s “an opportunity for the party to go on offense on an issue that has plagued us for a long time.” Trump’s power grab could be a factor for both sides in elections in Virginia and New Jersey this fall — and next year’s midterms.
August 22, 2025 5:07 am
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is declaring victory after an appeals court threw out the massive civil fraud penalty against him. But the court has upheld other punishments, such as banning Trump and his two eldest sons from serving in corporate leadership for a few years. A five-judge panel ruled Thursday in New York state’s lawsuit accusing the businessman-turned-politician of exaggerating his wealth. The decision in the mid-level Appellate Division altered a verdict that stood to cost Trump more than $515 million and rock his real estate empire. The Republican president says the case and the verdict were political moves by Democrats. New York’s Democratic attorney general says the court affirmed the finding Trump was liable for fraud.
August 22, 2025 5:06 am
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s defense minister warned on Friday that Gaza City could be destroyed unless Hamas accepts Israel’s terms, as the country prepares for an expanded offensive in the area. A day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would authorize the military to seize Gaza City, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that the enclave’s largest city could “turn into Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” areas reduced to rubble earlier in the war. “The gates of hell will soon open on the heads of Hamas’ murderers and rapists in Gaza — until they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war,” Katz wrote in a post on X.
August 21, 2025 5:48 pm
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) — A report of a shooter on Villanova University’s campus that sparked panic among students and drew a heavy police presence was a “cruel hoax,” the school’s president said Thursday. Earlier in the afternoon, students had received a text from the Villanova alert system that told them to lock and barricade doors and move to secure locations. A second alert from Villanova officials warned people to stay away from the law school. Radnor Township police posted on social media at about 5:45 p.m. that police were clearing buildings but said “at this time, there are NO reported victims.” They told people who were sheltering in place to remain where they were until an officer contacted them. But the Rev. Peter M. Donohue said in a statement to the school community that there was no active shooter and that no one had been injured. He praised the law enforcement response and acknowledged that today’s events “have shaken our entire community.” “Today, as we are celebrating Orientation Mass to welcome our newest Villanovans and their families to our community, panic and terror ensued with the news of a possible shooter at the Law School,” Donohue wrote. “Mercifully, no one was injured and we now know it was a cruel hoax.”
August 21, 2025 5:25 pm
RODANTHE, N.C. (AP) — Hurricane Erin is starting to churn up big waves along the northeast coast after pelting North Carolina’s Outer Banks with strong winds and swells that flooded a few places on the barrier islands. The unusually large hurricane slowly began to move away from the East Coast on Thursday. Forecasters say it will slowly weaken over the next few days while turning farther out to sea. The menacing waves closed beaches from the Carolinas to New York City on Thursday. Along the North Carolina shoreline, the storm breached sand dunes on Hatteras Island. But it appears the low-lying islands dodged widespread destruction during its initial brush with Erin on Wednesday. (Photo: AP)
