July 22, 2026 4:44 am
You will want to watch your speed if you travel Waterdam Road in North Strabane and Peters Township. North Strabane Director of Public Safety Mark Grimm says a joint effort that has been going on for more than two weeks. North Strabane Township, Peters Township and State Police are all involved. According to Grimm, the crackdown has led to 196 warnings, 93 tickets and 3 arrests with excessive speed being the primary offense. One of those arrests involved a driver going 85 miles per hour. According to police, the road sees more than 7200 vehicles a day. Resident complaints and an excessive number of accidents prompted the department to apply for and receive a grant to cover the cost of the enforcement. Grimm said that speed enforcement will continue. He said that VASCAR speed lines have been painted on Waterdam Road for future enforcement. (Photo: North Strabane Township Police Department Facebook Page)
July 23, 2026 4:47 am
Funeral services have been set for former Congressman Tim Murphy, who died of an apparent heart attack over the weekend. Murphy represented the area in Congress for 15 years, and was a state senator before that. Viewing is scheduled for 2-8 p.m. on Friday at Beinhauer Funeral Home in McMurray. A Mass of Remembrance will take place Saturday at 10 a.m. at St. Thomas More Church, located at 126 Fort Couch Road. Mourners are asked to meet at the church. Instead of sending flowers, the public is asked to consider donating to the Band of Parents in support of pediatric cancer research, specifically Neuroblastoma.
July 22, 2026 4:56 am
CAIRO (AP) — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels says they have attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, and the U.S. military said it conducted a 12th night of strikes against Iran as the two countries vie for control of vital shipping lanes. The Houthi attack in the Red Sea announced Thursday threatened to open a new front in a war that has roiled the global economy, sending prices for fuel and other goods surging across the world. Saudi state media reported that a tanker named the Encelia was set ablaze by an attack while sailing overnight in the Red Sea, citing an unidentified source from the General Authority of Transport.
July 22, 2026 5:01 am
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AP) — President Donald Trump is honoring the lives of four U.S. service members who were killed in the Middle East and returned to their families at an air force base in Delaware. Trump saluted Wednesday as four transfer cases carrying the service members’ remains were escorted off an airplane during the dignified transfer. Earlier in the day, he called the ritual over the loss of life as “one of the hardest things to do as a president.” The service members were identified as 25-year-old Tyler James Feehan of Hawaii, 19-year-old Isabella Gonzales of Texas, 28-year-old Angel S. Rampersad of New York, and 30-year-old Michael Emmanuel Swinton of North Carolina.
July 23, 2026 4:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump appeared to add a condition to the newly signed agreement with Saudi Arabia for a civilian nuclear program, saying the deal would require the kingdom to normalize its relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords. Trump made the comments Thursday in a social media post. When the deal was announced Wednesday, neither the U.S. Energy Department nor the Saudi government made any mention of it being contingent on the kingdom’s relations with Israel. Trump’s assertion is almost certain to make finalizing the deal complicated. The accords expanded the number of Arab and Muslim-majority nations with diplomatic ties with Israel.
July 23, 2026 4:57 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House adopted a Republican-only $95 billion budget proposal, a long-shot effort to fund the Iran war and other White House priorities. Speaker Mike Johnson worked Wednesday to push it over objections from Democrats and some GOP holdouts as a priority before the midterm elections. The package includes $73 billion for the Pentagon and other national security needs, $12 billion for farmers struggling under President Donald Trump’s tariffs and $10 billion for voting law changes that are a Trump priority. Democrats argued the money should be spent at home, particularly on efforts to lower costs for Americans. It next goes to the Senate.
July 22, 2026 5:46 pm
(AP) – Tropical Storm Bertha has made landfall on the southern tip of Louisiana. The storm moving slowly along the Gulf Coast on Wednesday is packing strong winds that extend as much as 100 miles from its center. Damaging wind and storm surge are the main threats for the Deep South states. The National Hurricane Center says a tropical storm warning includes New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain. Storm surge up to 3 feet is possible, as well as heavy rain. Bertha is expected to weaken as moves toward Texas. The storm earlier forced beach closures in the Florida Panhandle and along the tips of Alabama and Mississippi.
July 22, 2026 5:42 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has forged a new agreement with Saudi Arabia that could potentially provide the kingdom with uranium enrichment capability for its civilian nuclear program. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Saudi Minister of Energy Abdulaziz bin Salman on Wednesday signed the nuclear cooperation agreement, known as a 123 agreement, alongside what the Trump administration described as a “bilateral safeguards agreement.” The U.S. administration released scant details of the deal. But the framework of the agreement paves the way for the building of a uranium enrichment facility in Saudi Arabia after a joint U.S.-Saudi study. That’s according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly.
July 22, 2026 4:56 am
Former Pennsylvania House Representative Jesse White is reportedly being held in federal custody after being charged with having child pornography in his possession. Court documents say White, who served as a state representative for Pennsylvania’s former 46th district, which covered parts of Allegheny, Beaver and Washington Counties from 2008 to 2014, is being held in custody because he has been listed as a danger to the public and as a flight risk. He reportedly waived his right to preliminary hearing. FBI agents say their investigation began after receiving a cyber-tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The FBI reportedly executed a search warrant at White’s home in Mechanicsburg, where computers and hard drives were seized. Court papers say one of the laptops contained files containing child pornography images depicting minors between the ages of seven and fifteen. He allegedly told agents he used Telegram and the Tor Browser to access the content.
July 21, 2026 2:17 am
The former director of the Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League is due to be sentenced in October in Washington County Court after pleading guilty to charges related to the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the organization over the past few years. Fifty-seven-year-old William Spencer of Canton Township was charged with embezzling nearly a quarter-of-a-million dollars in league assets to personal accounts. spencer was director of the Washington/Greene Youth Football League — now known as the Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League (WPYFL) — from 2013 until he resigned in March 2025. During that time, Spencer diverted league funds to his accounts to fund credit cards, bolster a retirement account, and make various purchases at Amazon, restaurants, and other retailers. The Office of Attorney General’s Financial Crimes Section charged Spencer with felony and misdemeanor counts of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property, and two misdemeanor counts of misapplication of entrusted property. In total, Spencer is accused of fraudulently writing 187 checks payable to himself from WPYFL’s accounts, totaling about $230,000, from January 4, 2020, through February 18, 2025. Additionally, Spencer made direct payments totaling over $3,000 from WPYFL’s accounts to accounts in his and/or his wife’s name, without the knowledge or consent of WPYFL.
