May 19, 2024 6:37 am
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike has killed 20 people in central Gaza, mostly women and children, and fighting raged across the north. Israel’s leaders are meanwhile airing divisions over who should govern Gaza after the war, now in its eighth month. Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s three-man War Cabinet, has threatened to leave the government if a plan is not formulated by June 8 that includes an international administration for postwar Gaza. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan is expected in Israel on Sunday to discuss an ambitious U.S. plan for Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel and help the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza in exchange for a path to eventual statehood.
May 19, 2024 6:35 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia says it shot down some 60 drones and several missiles over its territory while Ukraine in turn says it destroyed over 30 Russian drones. At least four people were reported killed in an attack on the outskirts of Kharkiv on Sunday as Russia pushed ahead with its renewed offensive in Ukraine’s war-ravaged northeast. Russian officials say air defenses shot down 57 Ukrainian drones over the southern Krasnodar region, while nine long-range ballistic missiles and a drone were destroyed over the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula. A further three drones were shot down over the Belgorod region. Ukraine says its air defenses shot down all 37 Russian drones launched overnight.
May 19, 2024 6:26 am
UNION TOWNSHIP, Pa. —(WPXI)-A church that was hit by a tornado in Washington County a week ago is prepared to go back to worship. Crossroad Ministries was hit by a tornado while 100 people were inside last weekend. Part of the church’s roof was ripped off, but church officials say services will be held in the church auditorium on Sunday. There will be one at 9:30 a.m. and another at 11 a.m.
May 19, 2024 6:24 am
A vehicle pursuit on the border of Peters Township and North Strabane Township ended without incident. A social media post circulated a story that said that the Dollar Bank on McDowell Lane may have been robbed. That post on social media said that a person saw two people running away from the bank and the assumption was that it was robbed. In a Facebook post from Peters Township Police, they stated that they assisted North Strabane Township Police in a vehicle pursuit where actors fled on foot after a vehicle accident. All actors were caught and are now in custody. There is no danger to the public.
May 18, 2024 3:56 am
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump used a day off from his hush money trial Friday to headline a Republican fundraiser in Minnesota, a traditionally Democratic state that he boasts he can carry in November. Trump headlined the state GOP’s annual Lincoln Reagan dinner in St. Paul, which coincides with the party’s state convention. Trump declared his appearance to be “an official expansion” of the electoral map of states that could be competitive in November. No Republican presidential candidate has won Minnesota since Richard Nixon in 1972. But Trump came close to flipping the state in 2016, when he fell 1.5 percentage points short of Democrat Hillary Clinton.
May 18, 2024 3:53 am
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — A decisive vote against the United Auto Workers at two Mercedes factories in Alabama sidetracked the union’s grand plan to sign up workers at nonunion plants mainly in the South. But President Shawn Fain said the UAW will return to Mercedes and will press on with efforts to organize about 150,000 workers at more than a dozen auto factories across the nation. Employees at Mercedes plants near Tuscaloosa voted 56% against the union. The Friday vote count handed the UAW a serious setback a month after the union scored a breakthrough victory at Volkswagen’s 4,300-worker assembly factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
May 18, 2024 3:49 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trucks carrying badly needed aid for the Gaza Strip have rolled across a newly built U.S. pier and into the besieged enclave for the first time. Friday’s shipment is the first in an operation that American military officials anticipate could scale up to 150 truckloads a day. It comes as Israeli restrictions on border crossings and heavy fighting hindered the delivery of food and other supplies seven months into the Israel-Hamas war. But the U.S. and aid groups warn that the floating pier project is not a substitute for land deliveries that could bring in all the food, water and fuel needed in Gaza. Before the war, more than 500 truckloads entered the territory on an average day.
May 18, 2024 3:46 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow’s offensive on Ukraine’s Kharkiv aims to create a buffer zone but that there are no plans to capture the city. Meanwhile, Ukraine says it will allow prisoners to join the army’s depleted ranks. Putin has said in China that Moscow has launched attacks in the Kharkiv region, in response to the Ukrainian shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region. Russian authorities say a massive Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea has caused power cutoffs in the city of Sevastopol and set a refinery ablaze in southern Russia. Friday’s drone raids marked Kyiv’s attempt to strike back during Russia’s offensive in northeastern Ukraine.
May 18, 2024 1:43 am
(WPXI) – The National Weather Service has confirmed three tornado touchdowns in our area. One was reported in Harrison City, Westmoreland County, one in Elrama in Washington County and one on Washington Boulevard near the Highland Park Bridge, near Aspinwall. A funnel cloud was reported in South Strabane Township but forecasters say it did not touch ground. As of Friday evening, there were no reports of any serious injuries but damages were reported throughout the area. Several tornado warnings along with flash flood warnings were issued Friday afternoon as well. It has been a very active weather month for Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania has seen six tornadoes so far this year. In NWS Pittsburgh’s coverage area, which includes parts of Ohio and West Virginia, there have been nine in May.
May 18, 2024 3:34 am
ELRAMA, Pa. — (WPXI)-Residents in Elrama, Washington County are picking up the pieces after the National Weather Service confirmed a tornado blew through their community Friday afternoon. “It was loud, it was fast, and it was gone,” said homeowner Deb Evans. She saw the tornado in the Circle Avenue area around 3 p.m. Friday. “It was very dark and it was circular. You could see the trees circling a little bit,” said Deb Evans. “I was looking for my puppy because he’s small. I thought I was in Kansas, like where’s my dog, I’ve got to find my puppy,” said Deb’s mother-in-law, Dee Evans. Dee was sitting out back when the swirling winds picked up her three patio umbrellas, snapping one in half, collapsing another, and blowing the third away. “I was sitting on my patio and then all of a sudden my umbrellas started lifting and I actually held on to one and it started to pick me up so I let go. My husband saw it fly past the window,” Dee said. Right next door to Dee’s house, an above-ground pool crumpled. Just down the street, massive tree limbs plummeted to the ground, taking power lines down with them. “It got very dark, wind started to pick up, rain sideways, wind blowing, debris flying past the windows, then all of a sudden, the tree fell down, sparks, just littered the whole neighborhood and then it was gone,” Deb Evans said. Lori Shoemaker was not home when the tornado hit, but she found out her porch was damaged and her yard was a mess from a call from her neighbor. “She was like, ‘Your grill is laying in your yard, your chairs are down on the road,’ she said her husband was picking up my chairs, there were garbage cans all over my yard,” Shoemaker said. Residents are a little shaken, but grateful the outcome wasn’t much worse. “Thankfully everyone’s fine. It just took out the trees and the wires and everything but all the people and houses are okay. A few shingles here and there,” Dee Evans said. The National Weather Service still needs to complete an official survey to determine the strength of the tornado.
