December 16, 2025 4:55 am
Peters Township is suing the Washington County Coroner’s office as the police department claims its investigators have not been able to review Timothy Warco’s findings after a baby died back in August. According to the Observer-Reporter, Township Solicitor John Smith filed the lawsuit December 1 seeking an injunction that would require the coroner to readily provide autopsy and toxicology reports to the police department without charging a $700 fee that has been his recent practice. The suit states that “The District Attorney, not the Coroner, is charged and entrusted with applying legal principles to deaths in order to determine whether criminal charges should be filed”. Warco previously stated that he needed police reports to help reach a conclusion. Law enforcement officials have said that the coroner is not designated a criminal justice agency and has not right to review crime scene investigative materials from police departments through the Criminal History Records Information Act. The coroner’s solicitor says the office is reviewing the suit while preparing to file preliminary objections before the deadline. In a written statement, Smith said the township is still willing to work with Warco to find a solution to the situation.
December 15, 2025 4:42 am
PITTSUBRGH — Looks like we’ll get a little break from the frigid cold. Tuesday starts with bitterly cold temperatures but ends with highs climbing close to freezing as we begin an extended stretch of milder temperatures. Highs on Wednesday will push into the low 40s with a bigger surge of warm air taking us into the low 50s on Thursday. Rain will come with the warmer temperatures, though. Showers develop late Thursday afternoon and evening a period of steady rain before midnight. Colder air rushes in behind the rain early Friday, ending as a mix of rain and snow.
December 15, 2025 4:59 am
Gasoline prices have jumped four-cents this week in Western Pennsylvania to an average of $3.27 per gallon. That’s according to AAA East Central’s Gas Price Report. Here in Washington this weeks average is $3.22. The holiday season is delivering a gift for drivers as the national average dropped 4 cents since last week to $2.91. Gas prices are the lowest they have been in four years. As a record number of travelers prepare to hit the road starting this weekend, they will be paying less than they were last holiday season when the national average was $3.04 to close out 2024.
December 16, 2025 5:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday blamed Rob Reiner’s outspoken opposition to the president for the actor-director’s killing, delivering the unsubstantiated claim in a shocking post that seemed intent on decrying his opponents even in the face of a tragedy. The statement, even for Trump, was a shocking comment that came as police were still investigating the deaths of the director and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, as an apparent homicide. Trump has a long track record of inflammatory remarks, but his comments in a social media post were a drastic departure from the role presidents typically play in offering a message of consolation or tribute after the death of a public figure. His message drew criticism even from conservatives and his supporters and laid bare Trump’s unwillingness to rise above political grievance in moments of crisis. Trump, in a post on his social media network, said Reiner and his wife were killed “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.” He said Reiner “was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness.” Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who has bucked much of his party’s lockstep agreement with the president, criticized Trump for the comment. “Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered,” Massie wrote in a post on X. “I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid? I challenge anyone to defend it.”
December 15, 2025 5:03 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The killings of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner have left their communities in Hollywood and Democratic politics stunned. Their son, Nick Reiner, has been arrested on suspicion of killing them. Los Angeles police said they would present a case on Tuesday to prosecutors for potential charges. Rob Reiner was a celebrated actor and director known for films like “When Harry Met Sally…” and “The Princess Bride.” Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer and LGBTQ+ rights advocate. The couple was deeply involved in Hollywood and Democratic politics. The communities celebrated their contributions to film and activism while expressing their sadness Monday.
December 16, 2025 5:04 am
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — With the Brown University shooter still on the loose, authorities released a video timeline of a suspect and police fanned out to Providence schools to reassure parents, kids and teachers as investigators push for new evidence that might help them crack the case. Police had previously released videos of the man suspected in Saturday’s attack in an engineering classroom where two students were killed and nine others were wounded. None showed the man’s face, which was either turned away or masked. The FBI has described the suspect as stocky and about 5 feet 8 inches tall.
December 16, 2025 5:45 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States gained a decent 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October as federal workers departed after cutbacks by the Trump administration, the government said in delayed reports. The unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, highest since 2021. Both the October and November job creation numbers, released Tuesday by the Labor Department, came in late because of the 43-day federal government shutdown. Hiring has clearly lost momentum, hobbled by uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the lingering effects of the high interest rates the Federal Reserve engineered in 2022 and 2023 to rein in an outburst of inflation.
December 16, 2025 5:03 am
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s federal police commissioner Krissy Barrett says a mass shooting in which 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach was “a terrorist attack inspired by Islamic State.” The suspects were a father and son, aged 50 and 24, authorities have said. The older man, whom state officials named as Sajid Akram, was shot dead, while his son was being treated at a hospital on Tuesday. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at a news conference Tuesday that they were making their first comments about the suspects’ ideologies because of evidence they had obtained, including “the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized.” 25 people are still being treated in hospitals after Sunday’s massacre, 10 of them in critical condition.
December 15, 2025 12:28 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police say the younger son of Rob Reiner, Nick Reiner, was taken into custody Monday and booked for what investigators believe was the fatal stabbing a day earlier of the director-actor and his wife Michele at their home in Los Angeles. It was not immediately clear what charges Nick Reiner, 32, would face. Police Chief Jim McDonnell said he is being held on $4 million bail. Rob Reiner, known for directing films like “This is Spinal Tap” and “A Few Good Men,” and photographer Michele Singer Reiner were married in 1989. They had three children together. (Photo: AP)
December 15, 2025 12:29 pm
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Authorities are again searching for a person seen on a short video clip in the Brown University shooting that killed two students and injured nine. Officials said late Sunday they released a person of interest detained earlier in the day, finding no reason to keep him in custody. This setback leaves law enforcement without a known suspect. The shooting happened Saturday afternoon during a busy time on campus, causing chaos and a lockdown. The gunman fired over 40 rounds inside a classroom. Brown canceled all remaining classes and exams for the semester. Officials are not recommending another shelter-in-place order despite the renewed search.
