August 17, 2024 4:47 am
CAIRO (AP) — The threat of polio is rising fast in Gaza, prompting aid groups to call for an urgent pause in the war so they can ramp up vaccinations and head off a full-blown outbreak. One case has been confirmed and others are suspected. Polio had been eradicated in Gaza 25 years ago, but vaccinations plunged after the war began 10 months ago. Now, the territory is a breeding ground for the virus. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are crowded into tent camps lacking clean water or proper disposal of sewage. Health authorities are preparing to vaccinate 640,000 children in the coming weeks.
August 17, 2024 4:45 am
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s Health Ministry says an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon has killed at least 10 Syrian nationals. The strike early Saturday in Wadi al-Kfour in the Nabatieh province is among the deadliest in Lebanon since the Hezbollah militant group and Israeli military started trading strikes on Oct. 8, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel and sparked the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah maintains that it will stop it attacks once a ceasefire is reached in the Gaza Strip. Among the dead are a woman and her two children. Five others were wounded, of whom two are in critical condition, the ministry said. An Israeli military spokesperson said the strike in the southern province targeted a weapons depot belonging to Hezbollah.
August 17, 2024 4:41 am
PITTSBURGH — More mosquito samples in several Pittsburgh neighborhoods and Allegheny County communities have tested positive for West Nile Virus. The Allegheny County Health Department said crews will spray several communities next week. The first human case of West Nile Virus in Allegheny County this year was reported earlier this month. The person who tested positive lives in the area of Baldwin Borough. In addition to being the first reported case in Allegheny County in 2024, it was also the first case in Pennsylvania this year. According to the Health Department, There have been two human cases of West Nile Virus within Allegheny County as of Aug. 16. The pesticide is used to lower mosquito and minimize the risk of human transmission. The pesticide is classified by the EPA as low-risk and is not harmful to humans or pets.
August 17, 2024 4:36 am
WASHINGTON — The Secret Service will use bulletproof glass to protect former President Donald Trump during outdoor campaign events, NBC News reports. NBC News reports that ballistic glass is already available to sitting presidents and vice presidents. The glass is transported using military aircraft when the president travels.The addition of ballistic glass is one of several security measures being used to protect Trump after the assassination attempt on him in Butler on July 13.
August 17, 2024 4:33 am
OHIO TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Two men arrested this week for separate crime sprees in Washington and Allegheny Counties, Emmanuel Houghton and Tyler Stewart, are now charged with the murder of 18-year-old Jordan Geiger. Geiger was found in a crashed car with a single gunshot wound under his arm near the intersection of Gass Road and Ben Avon Heights Road in Ohio Township on Aug. 2. Allegheny County Police say Geiger met up with Houghton and Stewart on August 2 in the Giant Eagle parking lot off Ben Avon Heights Road to sell Houghton a tan Glock handgun. Investigators say Houghton and Stewart both arrived in stolen cars before Stewart got out of his and into Houghton’s and they approached Geiger’s car together. Stewart told police that Geiger handed Houghton the gun, Houghton told him, “You’re burnt,” and then a fight ensued. Police paperwork reveals Stewart told investigators he heard Houghton fire one shot before driving off. Houghton is the same man who eventually surrendered to police in Monongahela, Washington County on Wednesday night after a lengthy standoff. Stewart was caught on camera leading Pittsburgh police and Allegheny County Sheriff’s deputies on a chase before crashing into a car on Banksville Road in Pittsburgh’s Banksville neighborhood Wednesday night. Police say he was driving a stolen Jeep Cherokee. Houghton is at the Washington County Jail and Stewart is at the Allegheny County Jail. Both were already being held without bail for their prior charges.
August 16, 2024 4:51 pm
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris has announced a sweeping set of economic proposals meant to cut taxes and lower the cost of groceries, housing and other essentials for many Americans. She’s aiming to address the financial concerns that are at the top of the minds of voters and that Republican Donald Trump is attempting to blame on her. During a speech Friday in the battleground state of North Carolina, Harris said that “building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.” She endorsed a proposal for a federal ban on price gouging by food producers and grocers, and proposed $25,000 in down payment assistance for certain first-time home-buyers. (Photo: AP)
August 16, 2024 4:10 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Peter Marshall, who played straight man to the stars for 16 years as host of “The Hollywood Squares,” has died at 98. The West Virginia-born Marshall was a singer and actor who appeared in films and on Broadway before landing the job in 1966 on “Hollywood Squares,” which he would host for more than 5,000 episodes through 1981. The questions Marshall would ask celebrity guests, most famously show regular and center square Paul Lynde, served as set-ups for joke answers before the real ones came. Major starring roles eluded him in Hollywood, but he would find them in musical theater. (Photo: AP)
August 16, 2024 1:58 pm
The Smith Township Police Department is investigating the death of a Midway man Friday morning. Washington County Coroner Tim Warco says 40-year-old Stephen Pasquale was operating an all-terrain vehicle along the Panhandle Trail in Smith Township, just before nine o’clock, when he lost control of the vehicle and was ejected. Warco says the ATV rolled on top of him. He was found by a passerby who called 911. Warco says he was not wearing a helmet and the vehicle did not have safety belts. An autopsy is pending.
August 16, 2024 12:55 pm
Widely scattered power outages within the city of Washington Friday morning have been confirmed, and a cause given. It was all thanks to a squirrel. West Penn officials say a squirrel managed to get past their animal guards that surround a sub-station in the city and came into contact with an energized piece of equipment – shutting down the electricity for about twenty-nine-hundred customers. Officials say the outage happened around eight-thirty and power was restored a short time later.
August 16, 2024 12:18 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Jack Russell, the lead singer of the bluesy ’80s metal band Great White whose hits included “Once Bitten Twice Shy” and “Rock Me” and was fronting the band the night 100 people died in a 2003 nightclub fire in Rhode Island, has died. He was 63. Russell was leading his band during a show at The Station nightclub in Rhode Island when the band’s pyrotechnics sparked a fast-moving blaze that caused a bottleneck as fans tried to flee. The fire killed 100 people, including the band’s guitarist and injured more than 200 others. A statement posted Thursday on his Instagram page said Russell’s “unshakable contribution to rock and roll where his legacy will forever thrive.” (Photo: AP)
