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.
January 9, 2025 5:06 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A fast-moving fire has broken out in the Hollywood Hills about a mile from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. About 130,000 people were under evacuation orders from out-of-control Los Angeles wildfires Wednesday. At least five people have been killed. Nearly 2,000 structures have been destroyed in the two fires, and the number is expected to increase. Three major blazes that erupted Tuesday have grown substantially. The fires have blanketed LA with a thick cloud of smoke and ash and ravaged the city from the Pacific Coast to inland Pasadena. One of the fires has become the most destructive in the modern history of the city of LA.
January 9, 2025 2:18 am
Jury deliberations began Friday morning in the trial of Brandon Allen, 31 of Washington for his role in a May 2022 drive by shooting on Ridge Avenue that killed Kristin Barfield while she was sitting on her porch. Prosecutors rested their case after cross examination of Detective Todd Foreman, Retired from the Washington Police Department regarding video evidence and cell phone records. Ballistics testimony wrapped up the prosecution’s case. The defense called only one witness, Amari Miller. The 21 year old Washington man was the fourth person in the car when shots rang out killing Barfield. Miller testified that he was in the front passenger seat when the shots were fired. He identified Juan Worthy as the shooter. He stated that he did see Brandon Allen racking a pistol but he did not see him fire it. That testimony regarding Allen is directly opposite of testimony from Tyriq Moss that identified Allen and Worthy as shooters. .
January 8, 2025 4:14 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department says it will release special counsel Jack Smith’s findings on Donald Trump’s efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election but will keep the rest of the report under wraps for now. The revelation was made in a filing Wednesday to a federal appeals court that was considering a defense request to block the release of the two-volume report while charges remain pending against two Trump co-defendants in a Florida case. That case accuses the Republican former president and current president-elect of illegally hoarding classified documents. It’s unclear when the election interference report might be released. Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and says it would be a “fake report.” (Photo: AP)
