July 26, 2024 5:02 am
FAYETTE COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – More than 1,600 felony charges have been filed against a woman accused of stealing or misusing more than $600,000 of an elderly dementia patient’s money. Lisa Costolo, 58, is charged in the crime, according to Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele. “They use a scale for dementia from one to 15. One is the most severe. She was a four. She wasn’t able to care for herself and she was not cognizant of what was going on,” Aubele said, explaining the victim’s condition. According to the Pennsylvania State Police, the victim and Costolo were friends and neighbors, and the victim signed over power of attorney to Costolo in 2015. In 2020, police say Costolo told a care home she could no longer afford the monthly payments and needed to apply for Medicaid. The Medicaid evaluation led the staff at Uniontown Health and Rehab to call police. A 2021 forensic audit of the victim’s accounts from 2015 to 2020 revealed Costolo allegedly made $254,000 in ATM withdrawals, paper check withdrawals of $307,000, and $130,000 in debit card transactions, totaling $691,000. “The defendant and her family were essentially using this money as a paycheck, buying very lavish things, basically living off her income, to the point where they couldn’t afford to pay for this care home, and it was because of the Medicaid evaluation that the funds were discovered,” Aubele said. Costolo was arraigned Thursday and released on $200,000 unsecured bail.
July 26, 2024 4:56 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. — (WPXI) – Former President Donald Trump will return to Pennsylvania for the first time since a gunman tried to assassinate him at a campaign rally in Butler. NBC affiliate WGAL reports Trump will hold a rally in Harrisburg on July 31 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. The rally is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. with doors opening at 2 p.m. Anyone wishing to attend must reserve tickets. Trump was last in the Keystone State for his July 13 rally when Thomas Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, opened fire on the former president from a rooftop. Three attendees were shot and two of them survived. Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief, died shielding his family from the gunfire.
July 26, 2024 2:14 am
Republican State Lawmaker Bud Cook, who represents Washington and Greene counties, along with Democratic State Representative Jessica Benham from Allegheny County, participated in a “Save the Pharmacies” tour on Wednesday at Curtis Pharmacy in Carmichaels, in Greene County, to illustrate how her legislation will help smaller pharmacies compete and make medication more affordable for the patients they serve. “I’ve spoken with independent pharmacy owners in big cities, small towns, and everywhere in between,” said Benham. “And the story is always the same, that the pharmaceutical industry is currently set up to allow large corporations to dominate the market and drive up the cost of prescription drugs. “Given the lack of oversight on pharmacy benefit managers, I’m not surprised more than 140 Pennsylvania pharmacies have closed this year. I know the new reforms Governor Shapiro signed into law last week will help more community pharmacies stay in business, and I’m so proud we were able to come together in a bipartisan fashion to get this done.” “Convenient access to affordable prescription drugs is absolutely vital to the health and well-being of our citizens, and we cannot achieve that mission without independent pharmacies like those represented here today,” Cook said. “By reforming the way Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) operates, we can better protect these independent pharmacies and ensure they remain open to meet the needs of our communities.” “There is bipartisan support at both the state and federal level for PBM reform – that speaks to the significance of the issue,” said Curtis Pharmacy owner Erich Cushey. “We’ve had many local pharmacies close, and the chains are pushing us out. This new law is a great start, and we appreciate the governor and both sides of the aisle in passing the bill, but there will be more work to be done.”
July 25, 2024 9:37 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s economy accelerated last quarter at a strong 2.8% annual pace, with consumers and businesses helping drive growth despite the pressure of continually high interest rates. The gross domestic product picked up in the April-June quarter after growing at a 1.4% pace in the January-March period. Economists had expected a weaker 1.9% annual pace of growth. The GDP report also showed that inflation continues to ease, though still remaining above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The latest figures should reinforce confidence that the U.S. economy is on the verge of achieving a rare “soft landing,” whereby high interest rates, engineered by the Fed, tame inflation without tipping the economy into a recession.
July 25, 2024 6:58 am
A two vehicle crash involving a garbage truck and a sedan has resulted in three people being sent to area hospitals. Washington County 9-1-1 says the crash occurred just before 5 a.m. in the two-thousand block of N. Main Street in Chartiers Township. The driver of the sedan was entrapped and was extricated around 6:10 a.m. The driver of the garbage truck was also injured and taken to the hospital. There is no word on their identities or conditions. 9-1-1 dispatchers say a firefighter suffered a fractured finger and was transported to UPMC Washington. Another firefighter was treated at the scene for blood pressure and dehydration issues. Chartiers Township Police are investigating.
July 25, 2024 5:17 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is beginning to vet about a dozen possible candidates to be her running mate as she approaches one of most consequential decisions of her new presidential candidacy. That’s according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. Harris launched her campaign Sunday after President Joe Biden bowed to pressure from his own party to step aside. That leaves her with a historically compressed timeline to make a selection before next month’s Democratic National Convention. Her party could make her its nominee as soon as Aug. 1 in a virtual vote, and could formalize the nomination of her running mate soon after.
July 25, 2024 5:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has voted to form a task force to investigate the security failures surrounding the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. The 416-0 vote Wednesday underscores the bipartisan outrage over the shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Trump came within inches of losing his life. One rallygoer was killed and two others severely injured. Lawmakers have responded quickly with hearings and widespread calls for accountability. The bill is sponsored by Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, whose hometown was the site of the shooting. Kelly was at the rally with members of his family.
July 25, 2024 5:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The gunman in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump is believed to have done a Google search one week before the shooting of “How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?” That word comes from FBI Director Christopher Wray during testimony Wednesday before Congress. He’s revealing new details about a suspect who seems to have taken a keen interest in public figures but had otherwise not left behind clear clues of an ideological motive. The online search was recovered from a laptop tied to 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks. It’s a reference to Lee Harvey Oswald, the shooter who killed President John F. Kennedy from a sniper’s perch in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.
July 25, 2024 5:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Police deployed tear spray and demonstrators were taken into custody as thousands of protesters against the war in Gaza converged on Washington to condemn Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit. Demonstrators filled several blocks as they weaved through the streets of the nation’s capital carrying Palestinian flags and signs with messages such as “arrest Netanyahu” and “end all U.S. aid to Israel.” Outside Washington’s Union Station, protesters removed American flags and hoisted Palestinian ones in their place to massive cheers in the crowd.
July 25, 2024 5:07 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to make a long-awaited White House visit to meet with President Joe Biden and likely Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at an important moment for all three politicians. Netanyahu’s White House visit on Thursday comes at a time of growing pressure on all three leaders to find an endgame to the nine-month war and to engineer the return of dozens of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Biden, who is not seeking reelection, is aiming to get Israel and Hamas to seal his proposal to release remaining hostages in Gaza over three phases as a legacy-affirming achievement. White House officials say that the negotiations are in the closing stages, but there are still issues that need to be resolved.
