November 8, 2024 4:57 am
CANONSBURG, Pa. — (WPXI) – A sewage plant in Canonsburg located right between Interstate 79 and Southpointe started to give off a pungent smell six months ago, concerning the people who work and live around it. Some said they had a hard time breathing, others even called the gas company thinking it was a possible leak. Canonsburg Council president Rich Russo started asking questions about why the odor was so bad. “It was consistent. Day in, day out, so they started looking into it and they started to test the treatment and that’s when they found out it was coming from this one interceptor from North Strabane,” Russo said. Russo says at its worst the smell was detected a quarter mile around the Canonsburg-Houston Joint Sewer Authority plant, which serves 35,000 households in the area. Russo says the DEP issued a decree over 15 years ago to North Strabane saying it had to feed calcium nitrate into its system to eliminate the smell. At some point over the past six months, that stopped. The chairman of the North Strabane Township Authority Board Jason Orsini says it was first brought to our attention when Canonsburg emailed us a copy and none of, us “meaning at the authority, staff, engineer, attorney nobody was even aware of that.” Orsini said the board treated the water once it found out. “The chemical does get added to a pump station and it does help with some hydrogen sulfide odors,” Orsini added. North Strabane says it plans to continue to treat the water. Orsini says there have been odors at the plant in the past that have nothing to do with North Strabane’s sewer line.
November 8, 2024 4:52 am
CANTON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – A man accused of sexually assaulting a child in Washington County is in prison. Charges have been filed against Edward Gibbon Snider Jr., 35, of Canton Township. Court documents say Snider forced a 9-year-old girl to have oral sex with him multiple times over the course of May 2018-March 2019. Snider was charged with three felony counts of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with a child, indecent assault, aggravated assault of a child, and corruption of minors on Wednesday. He was unable to post bail and is expected to appear in court for a hearing later this month.
November 8, 2024 2:51 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican David McCormick won a Senate seat in Pennsylvania on Thursday, defeating Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and padding the GOP’s Senate majority. McCormick, 59, is a two-time Senate challenger and a former hedge fund CEO who served in former President George W. Bush’s administration. McCormick had strong support from Wall Street donors and contacts across the worlds of government, politics and finance. Casey had been seeking his fourth term and is perhaps Pennsylvania’s best-known politician, the son of a former two-term governor and Pennsylvania’s longest-ever serving Democrat in the Senate.
November 8, 2024 2:50 am
Washington County Commissioners released plans for a proposed Public Safety Building at their voting meeting on Thursday. Commissioners approved a purchase and sale agreement to transfer the property containing the Courthouse Square Building, Garage and County Jail to begin the project later this year. They also approved a $12.5 million bond to aid in financing the project. The vote to approve that bond was 2-1 with Commissioner Larry Maggi dissenting without comment. The proposed facility will be a three story, 70,000 square foot building that will house the Sheriff’s office, the county 9-1-1 center and a booking center. The booking center is new to the county and will aid law enforcement with suspects that suffer from mental or physical issues. The project will cost between $30-$35 million dollars and will be funded primarily through American Rescue Plan Act funds. Additional federal and state grants will also be sought. Demolition bids for the Courthouse Square Building will be released in November with actual demolition expected in January. Construction bids will be released in February.
November 7, 2024 9:25 am
A 38-year old woman was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital after being struck by a vehicle in her own driveway Thursday morning in South Strabane Township. It happened just after 8:30 in the driveway of a home in the 500-block of Potomac Drive in the Washington Woods development. South Strabane Township Police say the unidentified woman was pinned beneath the vehicle but was conscious and alert when first responders arrived. Police Chief Drew Hilk says an investigation continues but they believe she was struck by her own driver-less vehicle. Police say they are working to determine if anyone may have video surveillance or may have witnessed the events and are asking anyone with information to contact police. The woman was taken by ambulance to UPMC Washington Hospital and then flown by medical helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital. There is no word on her condition.
November 7, 2024 5:17 am
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba is reeling after a powerful Category 3 hurricane ripped across the island and fierce winds knocked out the country’s power grid. The magnitude of the impact from Hurricane Rafael remained unclear through the early hours of Thursday. Forecasters had warned that Rafael could bring “life-threatening” storm surges, winds and flash floods to Cuba after ravaging parts of the Cayman Islands and Jamaica.
November 7, 2024 5:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Faced with a sweeping rejection by American voters, Kamala Harris has conceded the presidential election to Donald Trump and is encouraging supporters to continue fighting for their vision of the country. The Democratic vice president said the battle would continue “in the voting booth, in the courts and in the public square.” “Sometimes the fight takes a while,” Harris said at Howard University, her alma mater, where she had hoped to make a victory speech after the election. “That doesn’t mean we won’t win.” Harris’ decisive defeat shattered hopes that she could rescue Democrats’ chances after President Joe Biden’s reelection effort stalled and she replaced him at the top of the ticket.
November 7, 2024 5:13 am
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Donald Trump spent his first day as president-elect receiving congratulatory phone calls from his defeated opponent, world leaders and President Joe Biden as he began the process of turning his election victory into a government. Trump was keeping a low profile, staying out of the public eye after addressing supporters in Florida during the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Vice President Kamala Harris called Trump to concede the race and to congratulate him, while Biden invited the man he ousted from the White House four years ago to an Oval Office meeting to prepare to return the keys. A Trump spokesman says the president-elect looks forward to the meeting.
November 7, 2024 5:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve cut its key rate by a quarter-point in response to the steady decline in the once-high inflation that had angered Americans and helped drive Donald Trump’s presidential election victory this week. The rate cut follows a larger half-point reduction in September, and it reflects the Fed’s renewed focus on supporting the job market as well as fighting inflation, which now barely exceeds the central bank’s 2% target. Annual inflation has since fallen from a 9.1% peak in 2022 to a 3 1/2-year low of 2.4%. Asked how Trump’s election might affect the Fed’s policymaking, Chair Jerome Powell said that “in the near term, the election will have no effects on our [interest rate] decisions.”
November 7, 2024 5:10 am
Several large airstrikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs early Thursday morning, including one on a site adjacent to Lebanon’s only international airport. The Israeli military had issued an evacuation notice for the site, saying there were Hezbollah facilities there, without giving details. The Israeli military also announced it’s expanding its ground operation in northern Gaza to include part of Beit Lahiya, where Israel says Hamas militants have regrouped. The town has been heavily bombed since the earliest days of the war. Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem says the Lebanese militant group is open for cease-fire negotiations only once “the enemy stops its aggression.” His speech marked the 40-day mourning period for the former Hezbollah chief, who was assassinated in Beirut.
