February 26, 2025 2:33 am
A defense attorney and prosecutors were surprised by a revelation that a suspect was released from the Washington County Jail in error. Samuel Valle, 20 of Monessen, was to appear as an incarcerated defendant at a plea court hearing on Wednesday. Valle’s defense attorney found out the day before from relatives that the Washington County Jail released him after a hearing he had in Westmoreland County back in December. Valle faces attempted homicide and aggravated assault and burglary charges among others in two cases in Washington County. Court documents reflect that Valle was free on $10,000 bail in May 2024, but had that bail revoked in July 2024. Valle is accused of being involved in a gunfight in Charleroi in September of 2024. Calls for comment placed to the Washington County Jail were not returned. A bench warrant has been issued for Valle’s arrest.
February 25, 2025 3:25 pm
(WPXI) – A man was hit and killed along Route 28 in Etna after police said he jumped out of a moving car. Allegheny County Police said they were called to the scene at 6:49 a.m. Tuesday for a pedestrian hit near the Etna exit. First responders found the victim, later identified as Connell Nihei, 50, of Pittsburgh, dead when they arrived. Police said preliminary information shows that Nihei jumped from a moving vehicle before he was hit. Everyone involved in the crash remained on scene and is cooperating with the investigation, according to Allegheny County Police. The northbound lanes were shut down between the Etna and Sharpsburg exits for nearly 4 hours. Detectives continue to investigate.
February 25, 2025 10:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence plummeted in February, the biggest monthly decline in more than four years, a business research group said Tuesday. The Conference Board reported that its consumer confidence index sank this month to 98.3 from 105.3 in January. That’s well below economists’ projections for a reading of 103. The seven-point drop was the biggest month-to-month decline since August of 2021. Markets on Wall Street immediately tumbled on the news. The S&P 500 fell 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1.7%. Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity and is closely watched by economists for signs about how the American consumer is feeling.
February 25, 2025 4:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has refused to immediately order the White House to restore The Associated Press’ access to presidential events, saying the news organization had not shown it had suffered irreparable harm in the matter. But he urged the government to reconsider its two-week-old ban. He said that case law “is uniformly unhelpful to the White House.” U.S. District Judge Trevor N. McFadden told attorneys for the Trump administration and the AP that the issue required more exploration before ruling. The AP filed a lawsuit Friday saying that its First Amendment rights were being violated. President Donald Trump said it was punishment for the agency’s decision not to entirely follow his executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”
February 25, 2025 4:54 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he is replacing the top lawyers for the military services because he doesn’t think they are “well-suited” to provide recommendations when lawful orders are given. He spoke at the start of a meeting Monday with Saudi Arabia’s defense minister. Also, he refused to answer a question about why the Trump administration has selected a retired general to be the next Joint Chiefs chairman, when he doesn’t meet the legal qualifications for the job. President Donald Trump fired the chairman, Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., and Hegseth followed that by firing the Navy chief of operations, the Air Force vice chief, and the judge advocate general for the services.
February 25, 2025 4:53 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says his tariffs on Canada and Mexico are starting next month. The comment Monday indicates the end of a monthlong suspension on planned import taxes that could potentially hurt growth and worsen inflation. Trump said Monday at a White House news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron that “the tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule.” While Trump was answering a specific question about the taxes to be charged on America’s two largest trading partners, the U.S. president also stressed that his intended “reciprocal” tariffs were on schedule to begin as soon as April.
February 25, 2025 4:52 am
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — In a dramatic shift in transatlantic relations under President Donald Trump, the United States has split with its European allies by refusing to blame Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in votes on three U.N. resolutions seeking an end to the three-year war. In the U.N. General Assembly, the U.S. joined Russia in voting against a Europe-backed Ukrainian resolution that calls out Moscow’s aggression and demands an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops. The U.S. then abstained from voting on its own competing resolution after Europeans. led by France, succeeded in amending it to make clear Russia was the aggressor. The voting was taking place as Trump was hosting French President Emmanuel Macron in Washington. A third vote took place in the U.N. Security Council.
February 25, 2025 4:51 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new federal lawsuit in Maryland is challenging a Trump administration memo giving the nation’s schools and universities two weeks to eliminate “race-based” practices of any kind or risk losing their federal money. The lawsuit was filed by the American Federation of Teachers union and the American Sociological Association. They groups say the Education Department’s Feb. 14 memo violates the First and Fifth Amendments. They say forcing schools to teach only the views supported by the federal government amounts to a violation of free speech, and the directive is so vague that schools don’t know what practices cross the line.
February 25, 2025 4:51 am
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Thousands of people have gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray for an ailing Pope Francis, expressing sorrow for his suffering, hope for his recovery and gratitude for his efforts to steer the Catholic Church in new directions. The 88-year-old Francis has pneumonia in both lungs and remains in critical condition despite showing a slight improvement after 11 days in the hospital. Still, the mood was mostly grim in the monumental square on Monday evening, with many understanding they may be in Rome for Francis’ final days. Crowds sat under umbrellas on folding chairs or stood by the vast colonnades as they reflected fondly on the pontiff’s legacy.
February 25, 2025 4:49 am
Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that the Trump administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save any money. The Department of Government Efficiency run by Elon Musk published last week an initial list of 1,125 contracts that it terminated in recent weeks across the federal government. Data published on DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” shows that more than one-third of the contract cancellations, 417 in all, are expected to yield no savings. That’s usually because the government has a legal requirement to spend the funds for the goods or services it purchased and in many cases has already done so.
