May 2, 2024 4:57 am
NEW DELHI (AP) — Misinformation about India’s election is surging online as the world’s most populous country votes. Researchers who track disinformation in India say the country is particularly vulnerable to misinformation and hate speech because of its linguistic and cultural diversity as well as weak enforcement of anti-misinformation policies by social media companies. The country has a huge online ecosystem, with the largest number of WhatsApp and YouTube users in the world. Nearly 1 billion people are eligible to vote in the multiphase election that ends next month.
May 2, 2024 6:26 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Duane Eddy, a pioneering guitar hero whose reverberating electric sound on instrumentals such as “Rebel Rouser,” “Forty Miles of Bad Road” and “Cannonball” helped put the twang in early rock ‘n’ roll and influenced George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen and countless other musicians, has died at age 86. With his raucous rhythms, and backing hollers and hand claps, Eddy sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and mastered a distinctive sound based on the premise that a guitar’s bass strings sounded better on tape than the high ones.
May 1, 2024 2:01 am
In just a couple of days – Reggie will be famous – or – almost famous. Reggie is a four and a half-year-old Springer Spaniel owned by Judy and Dennis Krivacek of North Strabane Township and on Sunday night, he’ll be making his television debut on American’s Funniest Home Videos. Dennis Krivacek tells WJPA that Reggie became infatuated with a stair-lift chair in their home and would jump on the seat, waiting for a ride up or down the stairs. Dennis says it was cute and funny at first, as they would send him up or down the stairs for a ride, but after a while, he said it was like, enough is enough, no more rides. That wasn’t good enough for Reggie, who wanted more rides. So, somehow, Reggie learned how to operate the stair-life chair himself and they found him putting the seat down on the device and using his nose to get it moving – so he can enjoy a ride whenever he feels like it. Dennis tells us his wife suggested filming Reggie’s rides and sending it to America’s Funniest Home Videos. Much to their surprise, he says they were contacted and told that Reggie had made it into the final three and was in line to win several thousand dollars, depending on the final outcome. The final show will air at Sunday evening at seven o’clock on WTAE. Dennis tells us they have a big watch party planned so family and friends can enjoy the outcome. Dennis says they already know how it turns out for Reggie, but they are not allowed to reveal the results.. The episode is called, “Doggy Don’t Do Stairs.”
May 1, 2024 4:53 am
North Strabane Supervisors approved a 41 home development that is to border Peters Lake Park. Laurel Communities requested and received approval for a conditional use application for the project on Tuesday night. Before supervisors voted, public comment continued mostly from Allegheny County residents that enjoy the lake that is owned by neighboring Peters Township. The comment was sometimes emotional and when it came time to vote on the measure, it took nearly a minute for anyone to move to vote on the measure. In the end, supervisors approved the application 4-0 with supervisor Harold Close absent. A group formed on Facebook, Friends of Peters Lake, were on hand to express their disappointment with the vote. They challenged supervisors to make sure that they do all that they can to make sure no harm comes to the lake. Terry Bove, developer for Laurel Communities that wants to build The Collective at Peters Lake says that they will do everything in their power to be good stewards of the lake. Supervisors did add 11 conditions to the application. Some of the biggest were traffic sight distance studies at each new intersection with North Spring Valley Road and at the intersection of North Spring Valley Road and Waterdam Road. An operational study for emergency vehicles and school buses is required, as is a water quality study, pre and post construction of all private wells and streams along North Spring Valley Road. Supervisors Emily Holmes and Neil Kelly addressed the group after the meeting, indicating that they empathize with the group and thanked them for their concerns.
April 30, 2024 2:12 am
The Washington County Controller will face trial in June on animal cruelty charges. Forty-three-year-old April Sloane of North Strabane Township faces two felony aggravated cruelty to animals charges related to the torture and death of animals and one misdemeanor neglect of animals charge. Sloane is accused of neglecting her dog and allowing it to live in deplorable conditions causing its death. Police were alerted to the situation by the Washington County Humane Society who they said received a call about the dog. North Strabane Township Police then searched Sloane’s home on December 6th and found the dead dog – stashed away in a plastic bag in her garage. Sloane is free on $150,000 unsecured bond. A case status conference was held on Tuesday, during which time her attorney asked that Washington County Judge John DiSalle recuse himself. DiSalle denied the request, saying there was a lack of evidence to honor the motion. A trial date has been set for June 10th.
May 1, 2024 4:55 am
BROWNSVILLE, Pa. — (WPXI) – Students in the Brownsville Area School District will learn remotely on Wednesday as police investigate a possible threat. A note to parents said the district received a Safe2Say report of a possible threat at the high school. District leaders do not have enough information to determine if the threat is credible, prompting the switch to remote learning. State police and Redstone Township police were notified.
May 1, 2024 4:59 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The pro-Palestinian demonstration that paralyzed Columbia University ended in dramatic fashion. Police carrying riot shields burst into a building late Tuesday that protesters took over the previous night and made dozens of arrests. On the other side of the country, clashes broke out early Wednesday between dueling groups at the University of California, Los Angeles. A university spokesman said New York City officers entered Columbia’s campus after the school requested help. A tent encampment on the school’s grounds was cleared, along with Hamilton Hall. Protesters calling on the Ivy League university to stop doing business with Israel or companies that support the war in Gaza seized the hall about 20 hours earlier.
May 1, 2024 5:04 am
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting with Israeli leaders in his push for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, saying that “the time is now” for an agreement that would free hostages and bring a pause in the nearly seven months of war. He has said that Hamas would bear the blame for any failure to get a deal off the ground. Blinken is on his seventh visit to the region since the war erupted, seeking to secure what’s been an elusive deal between Israel and Hamas that could avert an Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering.
May 1, 2024 5:03 am
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Donald Trump will use a one-day break from his hush money trial to rally voters in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan. The visits on Wednesday come a day after he was held in contempt of court and threatened with jail time for violating a gag order. Judge Juan M. Merchan has said that if Trump continued to violate his orders, he “will impose an incarceratory punishment.” The former president is trying to achieve a balancing act unprecedented in American history by running for a second term as the presumptive Republican nominee while also fighting felony charges in New York.
May 1, 2024 5:52 pm
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Legislature has approved a repeal of a long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions. The vote to undo the 19th century law will send the bill to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. Two Republicans joined with 14 Democrats in the Arizona Senate on Wednesday to give final legislative approval to the repeal, which narrowly won approval a week ago from the Arizona House and is expected to be signed by Hobbs once it arrives at her office. The near-total ban permits abortions only to save the patient’s life and provides no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest.
