May 24, 2023 4:15 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court will take its first crack at whether a governor can force power plant owners to pay for their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, or whether he first needed approval from a Legislature that opposed the plan. Hanging in the balance is Pennsylvania’s effort to become the first major fossil fuel-producing state to adopt carbon pricing. On Wednesday, the state’s highest court will hear arguments on whether a lower court was right to halt Pennsylvania’s participation in a multistate consortium that imposes a price and declining cap on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. The way the justices react could give hints as to how they might ultimately rule.
May 24, 2023 4:13 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – You can now add electricity to what feels like a growing list of consumer goods rising in price, thanks to inflation. Starting June 1, the average cost of a kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity, which is how your electric bill is calculated, is going up. By how much? That depends on your provider. Duquesne Light customers will see a 1.8% increase in the cost of a kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity; but, if you’re a West Penn Power customer, the hike is 20.7% per kilowatt hour. Our news partners at Channel 11 crunched the numbers and found that the average electric usage in Allegheny County is about 1,168 kilowatt hours per month. Once the hike takes effect next Thursday, if you have Duquesne Light, the average bill will rise by roughly $2.30 a month, or $28 a year. If you have West Penn Power, the average bill will go up by $19.87 a month, which comes out to more than $238 a year.
May 24, 2023 4:10 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – A student is dead and another is in custody following a shooting outside of Oliver Citywide Academy in Pittsburgh Wednesday morning. A ShotSpotter alert was received around 7:25 a.m. for 11 rounds total in the area of the school, located at 2323 Brighton Road in the city’s Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood. Responding officers found the victim, identified as Derrick Harris, 15, with gunshot wounds and immediately began rendering aid, according to Cmdr. Richard Ford of Pittsburgh police. Harris was transported to a local hospital in critical condition but later died. Another officer saw the potential suspect running from the scene with a gun and took him into custody. The suspect was later identified as Jamier Perry, 15. He has been charged with criminal homicide, possession of firearm by minor and firearms not to be carried without a license. He’s currently being housed in the Allegheny County Jail.
May 24, 2023 4:07 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors were greeted with a lengthy agenda Tuesday night and they quickly moved through it. On the agenda was the approval of the 2023 paving program. The contract for $467,705.36 was awarded to A. Liberoni, Inc. The contract had to be rebid because the township received a statewide LSA grant to offset costs for the paving of McDowell Lane and that needed to be removed from the original bid proposal. Supervisors also approved the hiring of three part time police officers and two part time firefighters. Supervisors also scheduled several public hearings. On June 20 a hearing will be held to accept comment about Garden Street being a no left turn street onto Rt. 980. On June 27, Supervisors will take comment on the conditional use application for the Oak Grove Conservation subdivision. Finally, July 18 will have a public hearing on the amendments to the zoning ordinance governing communications facilities. All three meetings will begin at 6:00 PM.
May 24, 2023 2:17 am
Washington County Election officials began counting write-in votes on Tuesday from the May 16th Primary Election, and although all votes are unofficial until certified, the write-in results did not change the outcome of election night results. Democrat JoJo Burgess will be the new Mayor of Washington, ousting incumbent Democratic Mayor, Scott Putnam. Burgess led the ticket on election night, but Putnam had said he waged a write-in campaign on the Republican ticket, so there was still a chance, at that point, that he could see his name on the ballot in November – should he receive one-hundred write-in votes. That didn’t happen. Putnam received eighty write-in votes on the Republican ticket, Jo Jo had just over twenty, and the remainder were various other names. There was no Republican candidate for mayor. WJPA News spoke with Burgess after the write-ins were tallied and he tells us it’s an overwhelming feeling, especially knowing that he will be the city’s first black mayor.
May 24, 2023 2:01 am
The president of Washington & Jefferson College is planning to retire at the end of next year. In an email to alumni and friends of the school, Dr. John Knapp announced that he will be retiring at the end of his contract on June 30, 2024. Knapp, who has been with the college for the past seven years, said he and his wife plan to return to their home in Georgia to devote more time to personal interests and to spend more time with their children and grandchildren. Knapp says a search for a new president will get underway in early fall. (Photo: Courtesy of W&J)
May 23, 2023 12:36 pm
(WPXI) – Larry Scirotto is the city of Pittsburgh’s new police chief. In a unanimous vote, city council approved Mayor Ed Gainey’s nominee Tuesday morning. Scirotto says the bureau’s primary mission now is to get more manpower back in patrol and out on the streets. “We’re working toward preventing the next shooting and being visible, being available, being accessible so we have that community calming effect,” said Scirotto. Scirotto, a Monessen native, is a former assistant chief in the Pittsburgh Police Bureau. He was selected over former Pittsburgh Police Commander Jason Lando, who’s the police chief in Frederick, Maryland, and Ryan Lee, the former chief in Boise, Idaho, who sources said was the mayor’s top choice.
May 23, 2023 8:51 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man police believe intentionally crashed a U-Haul truck into a security barrier at a park across from the White House has been identified as a 19-year-old suburban St. Louis resident. A Secret Service spokesman says the box truck’s driver smashed into the barrier near the north side of Lafayette Square late Monday. No one was injured. Secret Service and Metropolitan Police Department officers searched the truck. Video posted by WUSA-TV shows a police officer picking up and inventorying several pieces of evidence from the truck, including a Nazi flag. The Secret Service says investigators believe the crash may have been intentional. U-Haul is based in Phoenix.
May 23, 2023 4:20 am
NEW YORK (AP) — An advice columnist who won a $5 million sexual abuse and defamation award against former President Donald Trump has filed an amendment to a second lawsuit against him, asking for another $10 million for remarks he made after the verdict. The amended lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court Monday by lawyers for E. Jean Carroll. Carroll defamation claims against Trump have proceeded in two separate lawsuits, one decided in a trial that just concluded, and another that previously dealt only with derogatory remarks that Trump made in 2019 while he was still president. That lawsuit, which has been tied up in still-unresolved legal appeals, is the one to which Carroll has added her new claims.
May 23, 2023 4:19 am
DENVER (AP) — The parents of a 22-year-old Colorado man killed by a sheriff’s deputy while suffering a mental health crisis will get $19 million from state and local agencies and changes to how officers are trained under a settlement. The shooting of Christian Glass after his SUV became stuck in a mountain town last year drew national attention and prompted calls to change how authorities respond to people with mental health problems. Under the deal announced Tuesday, the county where the shooting took place will establish a crisis response team and its sheriff’s office will train all deputies in crisis intervention.
