January 10, 2025 5:05 am
DALLAS (AP) — Another blast of winter storms is closing schools, snarling flights and putting millions of residents on alert across parts of the Deep South and south-central U.S. The National Weather Service says heavy snowfall and icy conditions are likely Friday in Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Schools have been closed in many places expecting nasty weather as far east as South Carolina. The storm started dumping a mix of sleet and heavy snow Thursday in north Texas and Oklahoma, where schools canceled classes for more than 1 million students. Closures also kept students home in Kansas City and Arkansas.
January 10, 2025 5:04 am
NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has been formally sentenced in his New York hush money case, but the judge has declined to impose any punishment. The sentence pronounced Friday by Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan cements Trump’s conviction while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine. It caps a norm-smashing case that saw the Republican convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a payment to bury affair allegations that threatened to cloud his 2016 presidential run. Yet it didn’t hurt him with voters. Trump denies wrongdoing and has vowed to appeal.
January 10, 2025 5:03 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Officials say the two biggest wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area this week have burned at least 10,000 homes, buildings and other structures. Officials have urged more people to heed evacuation orders Thursday after a new blaze ignited. The fast-moving Kenneth Fire started in the late afternoon in the San Fernando Valley near the West Hills neighborhood and has moved into Ventura County. Only hours earlier, officials expressed encouragement after firefighters aided by calmer winds saw the first signs of successfully beating back the fires. At least 10 people have died.
January 10, 2025 2:24 am
Washington City Council approved their measure to implement the 2025 fee for solid waste collection and alter the fee collection calendar. The fee for this year will be $300 until June 1. A late fee of $50 will be assessed from June 2 through October 31. On November 1 through December 31 the charge will be $350 plus fines and penalties. Council also had a first reading of two ordinances that expect to be passed next month. Those ordinances will address fees and collection timelines for the Business Privilege Tax and Mercantile Tax. According to Mayor JoJo Burgess, council has worked with their solicitor to determine practices to more aggressively collect taxes not being paid by businesses in the city and assess fines for non-compliance. A 2025 tax hike in the city has angered council and they are determined to make sure that residents are not saddled with taxes that should be paid by business owners. In other city business council hired two new police officers and two new fire fighters. They also re-allocated $152,000 in LSA funding to be used for the “President’s Pathway Project.” It is a pathway that will lead students from Washington And Jefferson into the city so they may take advantage of the restaurants and shops.
January 10, 2025 2:20 am
Washington County Commissioners unanimously approved a new person to serve as Chairman of the Local Share Account Committee. Mark Hrutkay of South Strabane was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Jeff Kotula earlier this week. Hrutkay is the former Director of Human Resources at CONSOL Energy. According to Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman, Hrutkay has also worked with the Republican Party in Washington County, he is a philanthropist and he and his wife have established a veternary service facility in South Strabane. Hrutkay has never served on the LSA Committee. Kotula served as chairman of the LSA Committee since 2008. Given Kotula’s lengthy term as chairman we asked if term limits on appointed positions to the committee could be a possibility. Sherman said that term limits would be a good thing to have but no plans are under consideration at this time.
January 10, 2025 2:15 am
(WPXI) – An elected state constable is behind bars and facing drug charges out of Fayette County. Michael Scott Mucy, 58, is a state constable for Redstone Township. Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele said he was charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. Police say that the drug was methamphetamine. Charges were filed on Wednesday. Court dockets say Mucy was unable to post bail. He will appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 28th.
January 9, 2025 5:55 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a collision between free speech and national security, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over the fate of TikTok, a digital age cultural phenomenon that roughly half the U.S. population uses for entertainment and information. The case is being heard Friday. TikTok says it plans to shut down the social media platform in the U.S. by Jan. 19 unless the Supreme Court strikes down or otherwise delays the effective date of a law aimed at forcing TikTok’s sale by its Chinese parent company. Enforcement of the law would be left to the incoming Trump administration. President-elect Donald Trump has dropped his support for a TikTok ban. The court’s decision could come within days.
January 9, 2025 2:25 pm
Police have identified the three people found dead in a home in Butler City on Tuesday. Officers said they were called to 109 College Street in Butler City for reports of a dead person. They found that person and two other people dead from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. Two other people were taken to a hospital from the scene. The three victims were identified as Thomas Reges, 62, from Butler, Wendy Schettig, 48, of Butler, and Jimmy Anderson, 69, from Virginia. Firefighters said they detected extremely high levels of Carbon Monoxide in the house. Police have learned another person was at the house a few days before the three people were found dead. That person was also taken to a hospital. That person was unaware of what made them sick and was released in good condition. The CO detectors were disabled in the house. They believe that could have been done by the residents. There is not a gas leak issue, police said. The house is currently inhabited. All residents in the area are considered safe.
January 9, 2025 12:21 pm
(AP) – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is being honored with the pageantry of a funeral in the nation’s capital before a second service in his tiny Georgia hometown that launched a Depression-era farm boy to the world stage. The dual funerals Thursday conclude six days of national funeral rites for the 39th president who died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. President Joe Biden eulogized Carter in Washington. Carter’s other living successors attended along with other dignitaries. His afternoon funeral in Plains, Georgia, is a small affair limited to family, friends and members of Maranatha Baptist Church. Carter will be buried alongside his late wife, Rosalynn Carter, in the same town where they were born, lived most of their lives and died.
January 9, 2025 5:08 am
DALLAS (AP) — Schools and cities from Texas to Georgia are shutting down in anticipation of freezing rain and snow forecast for much of the Southern U.S. The severe weather is expected across a stretch from New Mexico to Alabama starting Wednesday night and early Thursday. The National Weather Service says the heaviest snowfall is likely in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas. Classes have been canceled for more than 1 million students in northern Texas, and other closures are reported in Arkansas and Kansas. Virginia’s capital, Richmond, remains under a weather-related water-boil advisory.
