September 5, 2024 6:42 am
Cecil Township Supervisors held a fourth public hearing and revealed a brand new proposal for its oil and gas ordinance revision. This version differs radically from what had been proposed previously. Setbacks for drilling operations will be 2500 feet for protected structures, 5000 feet from schools. Gone are the zoning maps and overlay districts for possible drilling sites and finally, a waiver option to drill within the 2500 foot setback will be introduced. According to Supervisor Chairman Tom Casciola, the waiver will allow a property owner to permit drilling on their property within the 2500 foot setback as long as that property owner gets a waiver from all other property owners that would be inside that 2500 foot radius. Remaining from previous versions are sound and vibration regulations, stricter than what exist in the current ordinance. A special voting session took place just after the hearing to approve those changes and direct the solicitor to draft an ordinance to reflect those changes and to set a new public hearing date. The vote on both measures passed 3-2. Supervisors Tom Casciola, Frank Egizio and Cindy Fisher voted in favor. Supervisors Darlene Barni and Bill Ciaffoni voted against the changes. When asked for her reason for voting against the measure, Barni said “three words, illegal, exclusionary and it’s against the state law.” It is to be noted that Barni does have a business relationship with Range Resources, the dominant drilling company in Cecil Township. A new hearing date and possible vote will occur on November 4.
September 5, 2024 5:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers posted fewer job openings in July than they had the previous month, a sign that hiring could further cool in the coming months. There were 7.7 million open jobs in July, down from 7.9 million in June and the fewest since January 2021. Openings have fallen steadily this year. Layoffs rose from 1.56 million to 1.76 million, the most since March 2023, though that level of job cuts is roughly consistent with pre-pandemic levels, when the unemployment rate was historically low. Layoffs have been unusually low since the economy’s rapid recovery from the pandemic recession, with many employers intent on holding onto their workers. Overall, Wednesday’s report painted a mixed picture of the job market.
September 5, 2024 4:59 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal election interference case against Donald Trump has inched forward. A judge permitted prosecutors to file court documents later this month that could detail unflattering allegations about the former president as the Republican nominee enters the final weeks of his White House run. The order came hours after a court hearing, the first in the case in nearly a year, in which U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan sparred with a Trump lawyer who accused the government of trying to rush ahead with an “illegitimate” indictment in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. Chutkan made clear she would not let the upcoming election affect how she proceeds, turning aside defense efforts to delay the process while also acknowledging that the case is nowhere close to a trial date.
September 5, 2024 4:57 am
Palestinian health officials say Israeli strikes in the occupied West Bank killed five people, including the son of a prominent jailed militant. Israel has been carrying out large-scale raids in the territory over the past week that it says are aimed at dismantling militant groups and preventing attacks. The Palestinians fear a widening of the war in Gaza. The strikes overnight in the northern West Bank town of Tubas killed five people, including Mohammed Zubeidi, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday. His father, Zakaria Zubeidi, was a well-known militant commander during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s and took part in a rare jail break in 2021 before being arrested and returned to prison days later.
September 5, 2024 4:57 am
WINDER, Ga. (AP) — The teen charged with opening fire at a Georgia high school denied threatening to carry out a school shooting when authorities interviewed him last year about a menacing post on the social media site Discord. That’s according to a sheriff’s report obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum told AP her investigators did all they could, but there was insufficient evidence to justify an arrest. The 14-year-old suspect was charged as an adult in the shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School outside Atlanta. Four people were killed and nine wounded. The suspect is accused of using an assault-style rifle to kill two students and two teachers in the hallway outside his algebra classroom.
September 5, 2024 2:14 am
The Corning Ware/Anchor Hocking Plant in Charleroi will be shutting down by the end of the year. Employees there say they were given the news by their chief executive officer. The closure will affect about 325 jobs. The CEO reportedly told employees that 150 positions would be moved to their plant in Ohio. Charleroi Borough Council President Kristen Hopkins-Calcek tells WJPA that this is a very sad day for the community. This is the second business in Charleroi to close. Quality Pasta Company near the plant shut down as well, leaving some one-hundred people without jobs.
September 4, 2024 12:44 pm
WINDER, Ga. (AP) — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says a shooter at a high school outside of Atlanta killed four people and injured at least nine. Students scrambled for shelter in the football stadium as officers swarmed the campus and parents raced to find out if their children were safe. Helicopter video from WSB-TV showed dozens of law enforcement and emergency vehicles surrounding the school about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta. Prior to Wednesday’s shooting, there had been 29 mass killings in the U.S. so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. (Photo: AP)
September 4, 2024 5:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump is betting that Americans crave trillions of dollars in tax cuts — and that growth will be so fantastic that it’s not worth worrying about budget deficits. Vice President Kamala Harris believes that big corporations and the ultra wealthy should pay more in taxes — and wants to use those revenues to help spur the construction of 3 million homes and offer tax breaks for parents. The two presidential nominees are using the week before their debate to sharpen their economic messages about who could do more for the middle class.
September 4, 2024 5:04 am
HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks are tumbling after Wall Street had its worst day since early August, as a week full of economic updates got off to a weak start. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei lost over 4%. U.S. futures were lower. Rising oil supply was driving down prices, as Libya moved closer to resolving a conflict over control of the country’s oil revenue that meant its oil production may soon increase. The S&P 500’s heaviest weight, Nvidia, fell 9.5% and led to a decline in global semiconductor-related stocks on Wednesday. The S&P 500 slumped 2.1% Tuesday after a report showed U.S. manufacturing shrank again in August, weighed down by high interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.5%. The Nasdaq composite fell 3.3%.
September 4, 2024 5:03 am
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has rejected Donald Trump’s request to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, thwarting the former president’s latest bid to overturn his felony conviction and delay his sentencing. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled Tuesday that Trump had not satisfied the burden of proof required for a federal court to take control of the case from the state court where it was tried. Hellerstein’s ruling came hours after Manhattan prosecutors raised objections to Trump’s effort to delay post-trial decisions in the case while he sought to have the federal court step in. Trump’s lawyers filed a notice late Tuesday appealing the decision to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
