December 11, 2024 2:55 am
Representatives from PennDot were on hand Tuesday to preview plans for bridge and culvert replacement plans at the junction of South Main Street and Park Avenue/Rt. 18 over Catfish Creek. According to Jeremy Hughes, Assistant District Executive for Design at PennDot, the replacement is planned to take place in two phases. Phase one of the project that involves Park Avenue will last 3 weeks. The portion of the culvert that will be replaced will be precast and dropped into place. In phase two, over South Main Street, the portion of the culvert to be replaced will need to be cast in place. That process will take 20 weeks because of utility work and the drawn out procedure of casting the culvert on location as opposed to trucking it in. Utilities in the area prevent a crane from being used to deploy a precast culvert. The Park Avenue detour will use state roads and be approximately 3 miles. The South Main Street detour will use state roads and be 10.5 miles. The project cost is $2 million. Bids for the project will be opened in July. Construction will begin in the spring of 2026. Residents may see the plans for the project and make comments by going to https://www.pa.gov/agencies/penndot/projects-near-you/district-12-projects/route-2001-route-18-over-catfish-creek.html
December 11, 2024 2:53 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors held their agenda meeting and the most important consideration will be the adoption of the 2025 budget. The balanced budget does not contain a tax increase and comes in at $22,932,084. In other business, supervisors began the evening with a public hearing concerning the definition of a personal warehouse. The township and CC Realty Advisors have been working for several months on a definition of the use as it would occur in a commercial zone. Supervisors and the applicant agree that they are close to a final definition. The only request from CC Realty Advisors is to allow parking in front of the garage door sections of each unit and a slight adjustment in parking ratio. Supervisors could vote on the definition at their meeting next week. If the definition was approved, the actual change to the ordinance could be voted on in January.
December 11, 2024 2:51 am
Holiday shoppers will be happy to know that power has been restored at Tanger Outlets in South Strabane Township. Tanger Director of Marketing Megan Hindes tells WJPA News that power was restored by Tuesday night. She says the initial power outage occurred Monday morning and crews worked diligently along with the South Strabane Township Fire Department to safely bring all of the suites back online. As for the exact cause of the outage, Hindes directed us to West Penn Power. We have not heard back from them. Hindes says some store were able to operate Tuesday but admits they faced some unspecified challenges and delays in getting service restored to all of the stores.
December 10, 2024 5:42 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Prosecutors are trying to preserve President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money conviction as he returns to office, and they’re suggesting various ways forward. One novel notion is based on how some courts handle criminal cases when defendants die. In court papers made public on Tuesday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office proposed an array of options for keeping the historic conviction on the books. The proposals included freezing the case until he’s out of office, or agreeing that any future sentence wouldn’t include jail time. Another idea: closing the case with a notation that acknowledges his conviction but says that he was never sentenced and that his appeal wasn’t resolved because of presidential immunity. There’s no immediate response from Trump’s lawyers.
December 10, 2024 5:41 pm
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO struggled with deputies and shouted while arriving for a court appearance in Pennsylvania a day after he was arrested at a McDonald’s and charged with murder. Luigi Nicholas Mangione emerged from a patrol car, spun toward reporters and shouted something partly unintelligible while deputies pushed him inside Tuesday. At the brief hearing, the defense lawyer informed the court that Mangione would not waive extradition to New York but instead wants a hearing on the issue. Mangione was denied bail. Brian Thompson, who led the United States’ largest medical insurance company, was killed last Wednesday as he walked alone to a Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. (Photo: AP)
December 10, 2024 7:38 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The grinding war pitting Ukraine against its Russian invaders has escalated ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration. President Joe Biden is rushing out billions more in military aid before U.S. support for Kyiv’s defenses is thrown into question under the new administration. Russia, Ukraine and their global allies are scrambling to put their side in the best possible position for any changes that Trump may bring to American policy in the nearly 3-year-old war. The president-elect insisted in recent days that Russia and Ukraine immediately reach a ceasefire, and said Ukraine should likely prepare to receive less U.S. military aid. A Ukrainian military commander says his forces will keep fighting but when the aid runs out, they’ll be destroyed.
December 10, 2024 7:36 am
Emergency crews were busy Tuesday morning as they were called out to crashes in both the City of Washington and North Strabane Township. The first occurred in the 600-block of South Main Street in Washington. Washington County 9-1-1 dispatchers say a vehicle went into a utility pole. The driver was evaluated at the scene but was not transported . The pole was sheared off and wires came down across the roadway. West Penn Power crews were called in to make repairs. Meanwhile, crews responded to a one-vehicle, rollover crash along Route 519 near Wilson Road and International Paper just before 7 a.m. Dispatchers tell WJPA News that the female driver was transported to UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh. There was no word on her identity or condition.
December 10, 2024 5:15 am
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare has made it clear he isn’t going to make things easy on authorities. Luigi Nicholas Mangione was shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court Tuesday. Once inside he objected to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance weren’t expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson. Little new information has come out about possible motivation, though writings found in Mangione’s possession hinted at a vague hatred of corporate greed.
December 10, 2024 5:11 am
A federal judge in Texas has rejected the auction sale of Alex Jones’ Infowars to The Onion satirical news outlet, criticizing the bidding process as flawed as well as the amount of money that families of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting stood to receive. The decision late Tuesday night is a victory for Jones, whose conspiracy theory platform was put up for sale as part of his bankruptcy case in the wake of the nearly $1.5 billion that courts have ordered him to pay over falsely calling one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history a hoax. Families of the Sandy Hook victims had backed The Onion’s bid.
December 10, 2024 4:57 am
WEST BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – Brittany Crile, 36, and her husband, Joseph Crile, 46, were killed after their car missed a turn onto Clarksville Road and rolled 150 feet down a steep hillside late Saturday night. The two were coming home from a holiday party and were less than a mile away. Sunday morning, someone driving by spotted the car and called 911. When first responders got there, they found Brittany Crile near the car. She had been thrown from the car and did not survive. The woman who owns the car said she couldn’t get a hold of her son, Joseph Crile and her Ford App sent a notification that all of the tires were deflated. State Police pieced it together and searched for Joe Crile all day Sunday. Trooper Rocco Gagliardi with Pennsylvania State Police said investigators searched multiple properties including an abandoned home 400 feet from the scene of the crash. That’s where Joe Crile was found dead. Trooper Gagliardi says there are still so many unanswered questions. “Did something else happen at that crash site and then he gets into an abandoned house? Is he looking for assistance or medical aid or did something else happen that we’re not aware of,” Gagliardi said. State Police say the coroner will be able to determine exactly how Joe Crile died. Until then, the crash will remain under investigation.
