October 4, 2024 2:39 am
Washington City Council took the last step to repeal a tax that has been around since 1984. Council approved the repeal of the tax that raised revenue to defray costs related to the pension plans of the city. The tax amount levied was .02%. That repeal in combination with an earlier pension refinance issue will save approximately $500,000 in pension payments this year. Earlier in the week an audit of fiscal year 2023 showed a revenue decrease of approximately $500,000. Mayor JoJo Burgess was asked if that shortfall would shine a different light on the sale of the City Garage, he flatly stated “No.” He went on to say that council was not going to let news like that sway them into a quick decision that would not be beneficial to the city’s residents. He did say that they are willing to sell the garage, but not under the terms presented earlier by the county. Burgess thanked Finance Director Ken Westcott and his team for their hard work in repealing that tax. In city business, council did approve a motion to bid the revitalization plans for an empty lot at 70 N. Main Street. The revitalization is a partnership with the Washington Business District Authority to create space for food trucks to operate.
October 4, 2024 2:01 am
Washington County Commissioners voted 2-1 to appoint Snehal Patel of Peters Township to the board of the Washington County Housing Authority. During the nomination, Commissioner Larry Maggi, who cast the dissenting vote, asked the two other commissioners if they knew Patel. Commissioner Chairman Nick Sherman said he did and characterized him as a “good guy.” After the meeting, Maggi pointed to Patel’s 2014 guilty plea for possession of controlled substances and possession with intent to deliver controlled substances after a 2012 raid on his Cigarette City store in Washington. When contacted, Sherman stated he had no comment on the matter due to the inability to verify the report. Patel is replacing David Gatling, Sr., President of the Washington Branch NAACP. In county business PennDot will reimburse the county $5.65 million to replace two county bridges. The county will also enter into a master grant agreement with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to receive $2.2 million in funding for housing and supporting services for homeless individuals and families.
October 4, 2024 10:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama is planning to hit key swing states to boost Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for the White House, starting next Thursday in Pittsburgh. The Harris campaign says Obama will travel around the country over the final 27 days ahead of the election. The former president and Harris have a friendship that goes back 20 years, from when they first met while he was running for Senate.
October 4, 2024 4:47 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Republican challenger David McCormick have held the first debate in their race for a swing-state seat. Casey tried to drive home the message that McCormick is a carpetbagging ex-hedge fund CEO. McCormick painted Casey as a weak career politician. Each candidate also repeatedly accused the other of lying. One thing the candidates agreed on was opposing the sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel. Meanwhile they disagreed on preserving the Senate filibuster. Casey supports ending it so senators vote on big issues. McCormick said the filibuster protects moderation.
October 4, 2024 4:56 am
DETROIT (AP) — The union representing 45,000 striking U.S. dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports has reached a deal to suspend a three-day strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract. The International Longshoremen’s Association is to resume working immediately. The temporary end to the strike came after the union and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents ports and shipping companies, reached a tentative agreement on wages. That’s according to a joint statement from the union and ports. A person briefed on the agreement said the ports sweetened their wage offer from about 50% over six years to 62%. The person didn’t want to be identified because the agreement is tentative.
October 4, 2024 4:54 am
DETROIT (AP) — Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are trying to get the upper hand with working-class voters in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign. Harris is visiting the union stronghold of Flint, Michigan, on Friday. Organized labor has been a bedrock of Democratic support, but Harris has been unable to secure endorsements from some unions that backed Joe Biden four years ago. Trump is eager to make inroads with unions in the election. He’s heading to Georgia, where he’ll appear with Gov. Brian Kemp, and North Carolina on Friday.
October 4, 2024 4:53 am
PENSACOLA, N.C. (AP) — The search for victims of Hurricane Helene is dragging into its second week. With at least 215 dead, lack of phone service and electricity continues to hinder efforts to contact the unaccounted for. That means search crews must trudge through the mountains to learn whether residents listed as missing are safe. Exhausted rescue crews and volunteers continue to work long days — navigating past washed out roads, downed power lines and mudslides. Sheriff Quentin Miller of Buncombe County, North Carolina, has a message for those still waiting: “We’re coming to get you. We’re coming to pick up our people.”
October 4, 2024 4:51 am
BEIRUT (AP) — Israel has carried out a series of massive airstrikes overnight in the southern suburbs of Beirut. It had warned people to evacuate communities in southern Lebanon that are outside a United Nations-declared buffer zone. The blasts rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs, sending huge plumes of smoke and flames into the night sky and shaking buildings kilometers away. On Friday morning, Lebanese state media reported that an Israeli airstrike cut a main highway linking Lebanon with Syria. Also, Israeli forces carried out a strike Thursday in Tulkarem, a militant stronghold in the West Bank. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 18 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a refugee camp there.
October 3, 2024 5:46 pm
(AP) – Month-old twin boys are the youngest known victims of Hurricane Helene. The twins died alongside their mother when a large tree fell through the roof of their home in Thomson, Georgia, last week. The woman’s father, Obie Williams, said one of his sons went to check on the mother and her babies after the storm and found all three dead. Williams is devastated that he will never have the chance to meet his grandsons in person. The death toll from Helene reached 200 on Thursday. Other young victims include a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy from nearby Washington County, Georgia. Meanwhile, searchers are combing the remote mountains of North Carolina to locate the missing and those needing supplies nearly a week after Hurricane Helene barreled through the Southeast. The death toll has surpassed 200 and could rise higher still. Rescue crews and volunteers are just now trying to get to the hardest-to-reach places and finding mudslides, downed trees and washed out roads at every turn. Some are using canoes, horses and all-terrain vehicles to get past. Helene is now the deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina. President Joe Biden is touring the disaster zones in Georgia and Florida.
October 2, 2024 2:16 am
Washington City Police are alerting motorists that an ongoing road construction project will hamper daily travel on East Maiden Street in Washington. Police say the work is continuing till further notice, Monday through Friday, from eight a.m. until five p.m. on East Maiden Street from South Main Street to Dunn Avenue. Police say there will be long delays and are urging motorists to find alternate routes if possible.
