November 12, 2024 2:49 am
Peters Township Council voted to approve a $42,500 expenditure to hire the Fitch and Associates company to conduct a study on how to best provide emergency medical services in the community. Ambulance services are now provided by Peters Township Ambulance, sponsored by VFW Post 764. Tom McMurray, Director of Peters Township Ambulance says that the organization has provided ambulance service since 1963. McMurray says that the study will analyze all aspects of the operation and make recommendations on how to proceed in the future. He says that staff at the organization is strong right now but staffing nationwide has been a challenge especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. He pointed to decreasing reimbursements for trips as a concern going forward. McMurray is a member of a four-person committee that is recommending the study. He calls it a proactive step by the township to make sure that emergency medical services are there when they are needed. The other members of the committee were Peters Township Fire Chief Mike McLaughlin, Township Manager Paul Lauer and Assistant Township Manager Kyle Thauvette. The study will commence at the beginning of 2025.
November 12, 2024 2:39 am
A preliminary hearing was held for a former Charleroi couple that has been charged in the October, 2023 death of their 14 month old child. All charges against Brooke Whitehead, 32 and Ryan Whitehead 32, have been held for court. Testimony from a pathologist identified blunt force trauma to the head, torso and extremities as the cause of death. The pathologist detailed multiple skull fractures that led to lacerations of the brain and multiple fractures of the legs and arms that occurred over a period of time. Some of those fractures were healed, others were re-fractures of previous injuries. Police testimony detailed two interviews held with Brooke Whitehead. In the first, she said she was the only adult caring for her children that night. In a subsequent interview, police said she provided four other scenarios of how the child received the injuries that ultimately claimed their life. Defense counsel for Ryan Whitehead asked that the felony charge of child endangerment he faces be dropped because he was out of town working when the incident occurred. The request was denied. Brooke Whitehead faces felony charges of homicide, aggravated assault and child endangerment. All of her charges were held for trial. Detectives found the couple living in the Bellefonte, PA area and had to have them extradited back to Washington County. Both are being held in the Washington County Jail without bond.
November 11, 2024 8:59 am
NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has named former New York congressman Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency as he continues to build out his future administration with loyal supporters. Trump says Zeldin, a Republican who mounted a failed bid for governor of New York in 2022, would “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards.” The announcement comes after Trump selected longtime adviser Stephen Miller to be deputy chief of policy and named New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as his choice for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
November 11, 2024 8:57 am
PITTSBURGH – (WPXI) – A Rivers Casino table games dealer is facing charges after she allegedly dealt nearly 200 fraudulent hands of blackjack. Pennsylvania State Police said that between Oct. 26 and Nov. 2, Jamie Smith was overpaying patrons on winning/losing bets, never collected monies from losing bets, removed chips from the float and paid multiple different patrons. Video surveillance showed Smith working for 31 hours and dealing 192 fraudulent hands of the card game, totaling a loss of $21,869, police said. Smith was taken into custody when she arrived for her shift on Nov. 8. She was taken to the Allegheny County Jail.
November 11, 2024 5:16 am
ATLANTA (AP) — A shooting during homecoming weekend at Tuskegee University in Alabama has left one person dead and injured 16 others, a dozen of them by gunfire. Authorities announced an arrest on a weapons charge. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency says Jaquez Myrick was arrested while leaving the scene of the shooting early Sunday and was found with a handgun with a machine gun conversion device. The agency did not accuse him of using the gun in the shooting or provide additional details. The shooting erupted as the historically Black university’s 100th Homecoming Week was winding down. Authorities said an 18-year-old man who died was not a university student but that some of the injured were students. Tuskegee canceled classes Monday.
November 11, 2024 5:14 am
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — New Israeli strikes have killed dozens of people including children in Lebanon and northern Gaza. The strikes happened on Sunday. The world is watching for signs of how the U.S. election might affect the war against Iranian-backed militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has spoken three times with Donald Trump since Tuesday’s election and they “see eye-to-eye regarding the Iranian threat and all of its components.” Israel’s president is set to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday. The deadline is approaching for a U.S. ultimatum for Israel to allow more aid into Gaza or risk possible restrictions on military funding.
November 11, 2024 5:13 am
NEW YORK (AP) — A Manhattan judge is poised to decide whether to uphold Donald Trump’s hush money verdict or dismiss it on presidential immunity grounds. Judge Juan M. Merchan has said he will rule Tuesday on the president-elect’s request to toss his conviction because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave presidents broad protection from prosecution. Trump’s lawyers have been fighting for months to reverse his conviction. Trump’s efforts to erase the verdict have taken on new urgency. He is scheduled to be sentenced at the end of the month with possible punishments ranging from a fine or probation to up to four years in prison.
November 11, 2024 5:12 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has ambitious Day 1 plans for when he moves back into the White House in January. His list includes starting mass deportations of migrants and rolling back Biden administration policies on education. He’s also promising to reshape the federal government by firing potentially thousands of federal workers he believes are secretly working against him. Trump wants to pardon those arrested for their role in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. And he wants to make the federal criminal cases against him go away. When Trump took office in 2017, he had a long Day 1 list, too. But not everything on that list happened right away.
November 11, 2024 5:08 am
A South Strabane Township firefighter who was injured battling a large brush fire in Amwell Township is now back home with his family and recovering. In a release, South Strabane Township Fire Chief Jordan Cramer says they were dispatched to assist in battling the fire Friday afternoon. Cramer says the firefighter was injured by a falling tree. He was knocked unconscious and suffered injuries to the head, neck and face. He was then flown from the scene. Cramer says after undergoing testing and imaging it was determined that, while severe, the firefighter’s injuries are not life-threatening. Cramer is reminding all residents to burn responsibly. Over the past two weeks, several firefighters have been injured due to fires ignited by negligence, carelessness or potentially malicious actions.
November 11, 2024 5:02 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A teenage boy was shot in a Pittsburgh neighborhood. Pittsburgh police say officers responded to the 2300 block of Wilner Drive in the East Hills around 2:45 a.m. Sunday because of a seven-round ShotSpotter alert. While on the way to the area, dispatchers let officers know of a call they received for a man shot. Upon arrival, the officers found a 16-year-old boy shot in the leg. He was taken to a hospital in stable condition. Police say witnesses described a “possible altercation” involving the teen before the shooting. Detectives are investigating, and no arrests have been made at this time.
