July 12, 2024 4:48 am
A motion to approve the sale of the Crossroads parking garage passed during Washington city’s monthly council meeting Thursday night. The step clears the next hurdle in the possible sale of the structure to the County. The city is looking to off-load the 17 year old garage as a cost saving measure. The garage has been losing money since it opened in 2007. The county commissioners would like to purchase the property for county employees to use since they will be forced out of Courthouse Square once plans to build a new public safety complex are complete. The motion passed pursuant to negotiations and a review by the city solicitor. The Washington School District will also need to sign off on the deal since they have a minority stake in the garage. Details of the sale have not been finalized.
July 12, 2024 4:45 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania lawmakers have passed a budget deal that took nearly two weeks into the new fiscal year to reach. The $47.6 billion plan approved Thursday represents a 6% increase. Most of the new money is going toward public schools and human services to boost pay for direct care workers. The votes in the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House came within hours of rank-and-file lawmakers getting their first look at hundreds of pages of budget-related legislation. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro signed the main spending bill late Thursday night. The plan doesn’t increase sales or income tax rates and requires $3 billion in surplus cash to balance. Shapiro had initially sought a 7% increase.
July 12, 2024 4:49 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania lawmakers have approving legislation aimed at helping the nation’s No. 2 natural gas-producing state attract carbon capture projects and enable federally-funded hydrogen hubs. The Republican-penned bill passed Thursday authorizes the Department of Environmental Protection to write regulations to oversee underground wells that store carbon dioxide. It’s a critical component of carbon capture technology that supporters envision as a way to slow climate change. The bill passed the House and Senate and was sent to Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk. Skeptics say carbon capture has been oversold as a climate change solution and merely will spawn pipelines and extend the life of a fossil fuel industry that burns oil, coal and natural gas.
July 11, 2024 2:37 pm
Day two of testimony in the murder trial of North Strabane Township physical therapist Scott Edmonds continued much the same way as day one. The prosecution called 4 expert witnesses and a police officer to testify. Blood evidence, fingerprint and toxicology experts began the day. The afternoon began with a North Strabane Township police detective testifying to his findings and preliminary interview with Scott Edmonds when he arrived at the scene. The prosecution ended the day with the testimony of a forensic pathologist that reviewed autopsy results and other forensic evidence indicating that suicide was highly unlikely and that from the path traveled by the fatal bullet from the back of Weis-Edmonds head to where the bullet lodged in the front of her head, homicide was the true manner of death. Testimony will continue at 9:30 AM on Friday.
July 12, 2024 4:56 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden faced a test Thursday that he had avoided so far this year — a solo news conference with questions from the White House press corps. He made at least two notable flubs, referring at an event beforehand to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “President Putin” and then calling Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump” when asked about her by a reporter. But he also gave detailed responses about his work to preserve NATO and his plans for a second term. And he insisted he’s not leaving the race even as a growing number of Democratic lawmakers ask him to step aside.
July 12, 2024 4:53 am
Republicans have nominated Donald Trump for the presidency twice before. But the third time will be different. The Republican National Convention that begins Monday in Milwaukee marks the first time Trump comes into a summer convention with the GOP in crisp lockstep behind him and Democrats reeling. In 2016 and 2020, he was the underdog, and he faced persistent skeptics even among Republicans. Some of those dissidents remain. But they won’t be inside the arena in Milwaukee. Delegates will hear from Trump and ratify the GOP platform that he approved. They’ll be introduced to Trump’s vice presidential running mate. And, of course, they’ll hear plenty of speakers mock President Joe Biden as a failure.
July 12, 2024 4:57 am
SHIJAIYAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinians have returned to breathtaking scenes of destruction in Gaza City after Israeli troops withdrew, ending a two-week offensive there. Civil defense workers said Thursday they had so far found the bodies of 60 people in the rubble. Nearly every building in the Shijaiyah neighborhood is flattened for block after block. Most are reduced to giant piles of concrete and twisted rebar. Families who fled Israel’s assault ventured back to salvage whatever they could. One resident, Sharif Abu Shanab, found his family’s four-story building collapsed. “I can’t enter it. I can’t take anything out of it, not even a can of tuna. We have nothing, no food or drink.” Israel says it was pursuing militants who regrouped in the district.
July 12, 2024 2:28 am
(AP) – Shelley Duvall, the intrepid, Texas-born movie star whose wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman and who co-starred in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” has died. She was 75. Duvall died Thursday in her sleep at her home in Blanco, Texas, her longtime partner, Dan Gilroy, announced. The cause was complications of diabetes, said her friend, the publicist Gary Springer. “My dear, sweet, wonderful life, partner, and friend left us last night,” Gilroy said in a statement. “Too much suffering lately, now she’s free. Fly away beautiful Shelley.” Duvall was attending junior college in Texas when Altman’s crew members, preparing to film “Brewster McCloud,” encountered her as at a party in Houston in 1970. They introduced her to the director, who cast her “Brewster McCloud” and made her his protege. Duvall would go on to appear in Altman films including “Thieves Like Us,” “Nashville, “Popeye,” “Three Women” and “McCabe & Ms. Miller.” (Photo: AP)
July 11, 2024 7:49 am
Freedom Transit has landed a $15 million federal grant for its new bus storage and maintenence facility. Wednesday’s announcement is part of approximately $1.5 billion in funding to support 117 projects that will improve public transportation in 47 states. Freedom Transit says the new facility will enhance their ability “to efficiently maintain its buses, strengthen service reliability, and meet safety standards.” They will also convert part of its fleet to Compressed Natural Gas to support its green bus fleet in the future. Back in 2022, Freedom Transit purchased 12 acres of property off of Berry Road in South Strabane Township for $3.2 million. It will serve as the site of the more than $50 million facility. At 88,000 square feet, it will include indoor storage for 80 vehicles, six maintenence bays, a mechanical bus wash, fueling stations and office space for dispatch, operations and staff training. Demolition of the current buildings on that site is planned for this fall with construction of the new facility to begin next year with completion expected in 2026.
July 11, 2024 4:56 am
The Canon-McMillan School Board held a special voting session on Wednesday with the purpose to appoint a new district superintendent. The board unanimously appointed Dr. Greg Taranto as the new superintendent. Taranto served as the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and instruction K-6 before assuming his new role. Taranto is a 25 year veteran of the school district, coming in as a student teacher and then being offered a full time job later that summer. Taranto called the appointment “surreal” but expressed his gratitude to the board and to several members of the audience that filled the board room for the meeting. Taranto brings with him several awards from his career, chief among them is his being named Pennsylvania Principal of the Year in 2012. A published scholar, Taranto is also the author of 30 educational articles. He is also an adjunct professor at Penn West University. Taranto will be sworn in Thursday to officially begin work in his post. He has been awarded a 5 year contract that runs through June 30, 2029.
