December 5, 2024 3:59 am
(AP) – Digging crews are resuming work in the effort to locate a woman who authorities fear died after falling into a sinkhole above an abandoned Pennsylvania coal mine. Fewer than a dozen searchers, including state police and excavator operators, returned early Thursday to the spot where 64-year-old Elizabeth Pollard is thought to have plummeted through a freshly opened sinkhole. Authorities say they no longer think they’ll find Pollard alive. She was last seen Monday evening, searching for her lost cat, Pepper. Her car was discovered some 10 hours later, not far from her house in the village of Marguerite, with her 5-year-old granddaughter inside, unharmed.
December 5, 2024 3:56 am
Cecil Township firefighters were dispatched to a porch fire early Wednesday evening. According to 9-1-1 dispatchers a propane tank exploded on the porch of a home on Slatemore Rd. The fire was contained to the exterior area of the home. No injuries were reported.
December 5, 2024 3:47 am
DONEGAL TOWNSHIP, Pa. —(WPXI)- Pennsylvania State Police in Washington County are offering a $5,000 reward for information that solves a cold case from 1996. Sandra Lubbert, 36, worked as a bartender at The Crossings in Leetsdale. She closed the bar at 2 a.m. on July 16, 1996. The next morning, her personal belongings, including her license and paycheck, were found scattered near her car. State police said 18 months later, a skull was found in Donegal Township. Forensics proved it was Luppert’s and more of her remains were found 500 yards from where the skull was found. Any persons with information regarding this incident are asked to contact the PSP Washington Station, at 724-223-5200 or contact PSP Tips Toll Free at 1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477)
December 5, 2024 1:11 am
Washington County Commissioners approved the 2025 operating budget unanimously on Wednesday. The approval was not without questions. Commissioner Larry Maggi stated before his vote that he was concerned about current spending and how that spending may affect spending in future budgets. In a statement Maggi pointed to the demolition of the Courthouse Square building and the construction of a new Public Safety building. He still is concerned about the move to Motorola for the county’s emergency response radio system and the recent purchase of several other buildings in the City of Washington. Commissioner Nick Sherman countered the arguments by stating that the projects are currently funded with ARPA funds and the contracts have a not to exceed price number associated with them. He points to creative budgeting such as the public/private arrangement at the Crossroads Building where tenants pay the county rent for space that the county owns. Improvements to the Washington County Airport will allow bigger jets to land and monies spent there will positively affect the county coffers. The budget is a balanced $132.3 million spending plan that does not include a tax raise. The last tax raise for Washington County took effect in 2017.
December 4, 2024 1:16 pm
(AP) – The U.S. government has closed its investigation into an E. coli outbreak tied to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers after determining there is no longer a safety risk. The outbreak, which was first reported Oct. 22, sickened at least 104 people in 14 states, including 34 who were hospitalized, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. One person in Colorado died and four people developed a potentially life-threatening kidney disease complication. The FDA, which conducted the investigation along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments, linked the outbreak to yellow onions distributed by California-based Taylor Farms and served raw on Quarter Pounders at McDonald’s restaurants in Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming and other states.
December 4, 2024 10:43 am
NEW YORK (AP) — UnitedHealthcare’s CEO has been shot and killed in what police say is a “brazen, targeted attack” outside a Manhattan hotel where the health insurer was holding its investor conference. The shooting rattled the city and set off a massive dragnet hours before the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting. Police say 50-year-old Brian Thompson was shot around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday as he walked alone to the New York Hilton Midtown from a nearby hotel. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch says the shooter appeared to be “lying in wait for several minutes” before approaching Thompson from behind and opening fire. Police have not yet established a motive.
December 4, 2024 5:05 am
BONNE TERRE, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man has been executed for sexually assaulting and killing a 9-year-old girl, then dumping her body in a sinkhole outside of town. Christopher Collings was a friend of the family of the victim, fourth-grader Rowan Ford — so much so that he lived with the family for several months prior to Rowan’s death in November 2007. He sometimes helped Rowan with her homework. She knew him as “Uncle Chris.” Collings was executed with an injection of pentobarbital Tuesday evening at the state prison in Bonne Terre. It was the 23rd execution in the U.S. this year and the fourth in Missouri. Only Alabama with six and Texas with five have performed more executions in 2024.
December 4, 2024 5:03 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Drug Enforcement Administration says he’s withdrawing his name from consideration. Sheriff Chad Chronister, the top law enforcement officer in Hillsborough County, Florida, made the announcement in a post on X Tuesday evening. He called the nomination “the honor of a lifetime” but said he had concluded he must “back away from the opportunity.” He did not explain why. Trump’s pick of Chronister for the job, which was subject to Senate confirmation, had drawn backlash from conservatives, including over immigration and law enforcement actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
December 4, 2024 5:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spent a second day Tuesday on Capitol Hill meeting privately with Republican senators. This comes amid rising questions about his ability to effectively lead the Pentagon. Hegseth told reporters he was planning to sit down with “every senator that wants to meet.” Trump tapped the Fox News co-host, who had served in the Army National Guard, as his Secretary of Defense, typically among the first Cabinet posts to be considered by the U.S. Senate for confirmation. But Hegseth is running into questions amid a sexual assault allegation, which he has denied, and other emerging reports. Just a few detractors in the Senate could sink his confirmation.
December 4, 2024 5:00 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s opposition parties have submitted a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is facing pressure to leave office hours after he ended a short-lived martial law that prompted troops to encircle parliament before lawmakers voted to lift it. Impeaching Yoon would require the support of two-thirds of parliament for the motion and then the backing of at least six Constitutional Court justices. The motion, submitted jointly by the main opposition Democratic Party and five smaller opposition parties, could be put to a vote as early as Friday. Yoon’s senior advisers and secretaries have offered to resign collectively and his Cabinet members, including the defense minister, also are facing calls to step down.
