July 3, 2024 4:44 am
FAYETTE COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – A firefighter was hurt while battling a house fire in Fayette County on Tuesday evening. The fire broke out in a house along Yaugher Hollow Road in North Union Township around 6:30 p.m. The firefighter was taken to a local hospital with a hand or arm injury. No other injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
July 3, 2024 4:49 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) -Six tornadoes touched down throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania during last week’s storms, the National Weather Service confirmed. The NWS confirmed Tuesday that the sixth tornado, categorized as an EF-1, touched down near the Mellon Plan neighborhood of Monroeville. It swept through parts of Wall, Pitcairn and south Monroeville. A large number of trees snapped or uprooted due to the tornado, some of which fell on power lines and caused the poles to snap. There was also some fence damage, and siding removed from homes. The tornado briefly retreated north toward Kelvington Park before dissipating, the NWS said.
July 3, 2024 5:01 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — General Motors will pay nearly $146 million in penalties to the federal government because 5.9 million of its older vehicles don’t comply with emissions and fuel economy standards. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement Wednesday that certain GM vehicles from the 2012 through 2018 model years didn’t comply with federal fuel economy requirements. The fine comes after the Environmental Protection Agency said its testing showed the GM pickup trucks and SUVs emit over 10% more carbon dioxide on average than GM’s initial compliance testing claimed. GM says it complied with all regulations in pollution and mileage certification of its vehicles.
July 3, 2024 4:59 am
(AP) – The U.S. government will pay the vaccine maker Moderna $176 million to accelerate development of a pandemic influenza vaccine. The vaccine could be used to treat bird flu in people as cases in dairy cows continue to mount across the country. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday it is funding the development of a vaccine based on the same mRNA technology that allowed the rapid development and rollout of vaccines to protect against COVID-19. The H5N1 bird flu virus was detected earlier this year in dairy cows and has spread to more than 135 herds in 12 states and has infected three people. Federal officials say the risk to the public remains low.
July 2, 2024 5:41 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Bernie Sanders says he’s not confident President Joe Biden can win the election this fall in the wake of last week’s debate. But like most of the rest of the Democrats in Congress, he says he does not want Biden to step aside. The Vermont senator’s unyielding support for the embattled president highlights the divide between the Democratic Party’s leadership and the private conversations of many donors, strategists and party insiders who want to replace Biden to avoid what many see as certain defeat this November. There is a growing sense among concerned Democrats that the party is trapped by a primary process set up to protect Biden as elected officials remain unwilling to say out loud what some say in private. (Photo: AP)
July 2, 2024 4:08 pm
(AP) – Former President Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case has been postponed until at least Sept. 18. The judge agreed Tuesday to put it off while weighing the possible impact of a new Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity. Trump had been scheduled to face sentencing July 11 on his New York conviction on felony charges of falsifying business records. He denies any wrongdoing. A Supreme Court ruling Monday granted broad immunity protections to presidents, while also restricting prosecutors from citing any official acts as evidence in trying to prove a president’s unofficial actions violated the law.
July 2, 2024 12:43 pm
According to a report in the Pittsburgh Business Times, Washington Crown Center Mall in North Franklin Township is for sale. The report says the owner, New York based Kohan Retail Investment Group, has put the property up for sale. Kohan Retail purchased the property, which totals more than 434-thousand square feet on eighty-four acres, in 2016 for twenty-million-dollars.
July 2, 2024 2:08 am
A legal action was filed against Washington County on Monday for the actions taken by the Washington County Board of Elections to disallow ballot curing in the most recent primary election held last April. Seven voters, The Center for Coalfield Justice and the Washington Branch of the NAACP were represented by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Public Interest Law Center and Dechert, LLP stating the decision made by the board of elections, that is made up of the three county commissioners, disenfranchised 259 county voters by not allowing the county elections department to contact voters who voted by mail and had correctable errors with their ballots. The decision to not allow curing is a reversal of previous protocol that allowed the department to contact voters about their mistakes and address the errors. One of those voters, Bruce Jacobs, says “I wish county officials had respected me, as an American with the fundamental right to vote, and given me a chance to address my error.” The lawsuit, Center for Coalfield Justice et al v. Washington County Board of Elections, has been filed in the Washington County Court of Common Pleas. The plaintiffs argue that the county violated the voters’ procedural due process rights. Lawyers will soon file a preliminary injunction motion to hasten the decision making process to ensure appellate courts have time before voting begins to review the issue.
July 2, 2024 4:55 am
Cecil Township Supervisors met Monday night and were faced with a roomful of residents that are concerned about oil and gas drilling in their township. Despite no specific voting item appearing on the agenda, nearly a dozen residents took a microphone to encourage supervisors to pass an updated ordinance that contains 2500 foot setbacks for well pads. They also want to have the process completed quickly before residents lose interest in the issue. Supervisor Chairman Tom Casciola told residents that they are working on making the ordinance better with expanded setbacks chief among the changes. He said that there is still no consensus on just what the setback distance should be. Casciola announced that on August 19, another public hearing will be held on the Oil and Gas Ordinance amendments. In other township business, supervisors approved the purchase of a new fire department pumper truck. The new truck will cost $977,882 with a $41,500 cash discount. It will be paid for primarily by fire tax funds and American Rescue Plan Act funds. Supervisors also approved $18,749 in expenditures for video surveillance and electronic access control systems for the new Public Works building.
July 1, 2024 2:50 am
(WPXI) – A teenager from Monessen was sentenced to eight to 25 years in prison in the deadly shooting of his best friend in 2022. Terry Newton, now 17, pleaded guilty in April to voluntary manslaughter to shooting and killing Amari Altomore, 16. The shooting happened in Newton’s bedroom. Newton left the home after the shooting and wasn’t able to be located for several weeks, Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole W. Ziccarelli said in a release. The gun was never found. Newton was also sentenced to one year of supervised release following his prison sentence and will have to pay restitution
