January 18, 2023 4:13 am
SYDNEY (AP) – A Qantas flight traveling from New Zealand to Sydney has landed safely on a single engine after it issued a mayday call over the Pacific Ocean. Flight 144 with 145 passengers aboard landed at Sydney Airport on Wednesday after a 3.5-hour flight from Auckland. Qantas says the Boeing 737 experienced an issue with one of its two engines about an hour from Sydney. Qantas said the pilot shut down the engine, but did not specify the problem. The mayday was downgraded to a PAN-PAN, meaning possible assistance was needed, before the flight landed. Sydney Airport says emergency crews were put on standby as a precaution, including firefighters, ambulances, and police. Some passengers told reporters they heard a bang and a slight shudder.
January 18, 2023 4:12 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A shooter stood over a 16-year-old mother clutching her 10-month-old baby and pumped bullets into their heads in a brazen attack in a central California farming community that left six dead at a home linked to drugs and guns. That’s according to the Tulare County sheriff during a news conference Tuesday. Law enforcement is seeking at least two suspects and there is a $10,000 reward for information leading to their arrests. Deputies responded around 3:30 a.m. Monday to reports of multiple shots fired at the residence in unincorporated Goshen, just east of Visalia. Goshen is a rural community in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley.
January 18, 2023 4:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The White House is brushing aside criticism of its fragmented disclosures about the discovery of classified documents and official records at President Joe Biden’s home and former office. Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House counsel’s office, told reporters Tuesday the White House may withhold information to protect the Justice Department’s investigation and was releasing information as it deemed it “appropriate.” Responding to questions about the piecemeal disclosures, Sams said the White House has been trying to be mindful of the “risk” in sharing information “that’s not complete.”
January 18, 2023 4:08 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – The chief of Ukraine’s National Police says a helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb has killed 17 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister and two children. Ihor Klymenko says Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and Yurii Lubkovych, State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, were among those killed Wednesday. There was no immediate word on whether the crash was an accident or due to the almost 11-month war with Russia. Nine of those killed were reportedly aboard the emergency services helicopter that crashed in Brovary, an eastern suburb of the Ukrainian capital. A total of 22 people were injured, including 10 children.
January 18, 2023 4:07 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Two decades after a teacher’s aide was suspended for wearing a cross necklace at school, Pennsylvania lawmakers are looking to remove a provision in state law that bars educators from wearing religious garb while in the classroom. The Senate approved the legislation by a 49-0 vote on Wednesday. The measure now goes to the House. The bill would uphold a 2003 Pennsylvania federal court decision in which an Indiana County teacher was reinstated and provided backpay after she had been suspended for refusing to remove her cross necklace. Under the current language in the public school code in state law, an educator wearing religious garb must be suspended for one year and will be fired after multiple offenses. Administrators who don’t enforce the law could be fined and could lose their job. The cosponsors — Sen. Kristin Phillips-Hill, R-York, and Sen. Judy Schwank, D-Berks — said Pennsylvania is the last state to strike such language, and that it applies to expression of all faiths.
January 18, 2023 4:03 am
An investigation continues into the death of a one-month old in Amwell Township. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner reports that Jameson Metz of Washington was found unresponsive Sunday at a home along Laurie Lane and transported to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. The infant died the next day. A cause and manner of death have not been released. State Police are investigating. Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh confirmed to WJPA News that the incident was under investigation.
January 18, 2023 3:57 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors met at their agenda meeting on Tuesday night. During department reports, North Strabane Township Municipal Authority (NSTMA) Manager Mark Wolinsky informed supervisors of a sewage rate increase that will be in effect from the beginning of 2023. The rate increase will be a $1.96 per 1000 gallons of water used. That increase is a combination of two increases, the first is a $1.56 per 1000 gallons levied by the Canonsburg Houston Joint Authority and the second 40 cent increase is levied by the NSTMA. The average household that uses 4000 gallons of water per month will see an increase of just under $100 per year. Supervisors also held a public hearing to consider a conditional use application filed by R. Williams Paving, LLC to build a storage facility for trucks at the corner of Linden Road and Route 19. The item will be considered at the next legislative meeting. Supervisors also promoted two individuals in the fire department. Richard Yosi was sworn in as Assistant Fire Chief and John Storey was sworn in as Deputy Fire Chief. The township will hold their legislative meeting on January 25.
January 18, 2023 2:49 am
A Washington man pleaded guilty to a November 2021 city robbery on Wednesday. Arthur Harris, 61 will spend the next 6 to 12 years in a state correctional facility for robbing the Family Dollar store on Highland Avenue. Harris is accused of walking into the store with his hand in a sweatshirt pocket pretending to be a gun. He demanded the store clerk to give him money. He escaped with $141. In addition to the 6-12 year sentence, Harris will have to make restitution of that $141 to Family Dollar.
January 18, 2023 2:41 am
(WPXI) – A student has been charged for allegedly assaulting a school employee in Fairfield Township, Westmoreland County. State Police in Greensburg say Anthony Jenkins, 15, of Bolivar, was placed in the Westmoreland County Jail, unable to post $200,000 bond, after he assaulted a 32-year-old male employee from Charleroi, with an extension cord. Troopers were called to the Outside In School along Fort Palmer Road Monday evening for a report of an assault in progress. Troopers said Jenkins “struck, bit, elbowed, punched and head-butted” a youth supervisor before striking him with an extension cord/power strip, and wrapping it around his neck, strangling him with it. He is facing multiple charges, including aggravated assault, simple assault, strangulation, disorderly conduct, possessing an instrument of crime, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and harassment. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for later this month. The Outside In School is a private, non-profit facility in Westmoreland County that provides residential treatment programs for males. According to their website, they also offer outpatient services, like substance abuse programs and family therapy.
January 18, 2023 2:22 am
A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, theft of government property and aiding and abetting during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 Presidential election. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 11, 2023 for 29-year-old Jorden Robert Mink of Oakdale. Authorities say Mink used a baseball bat to shatter a window in the Capitol Building, entered the building through that broken window, and started removing property – including chairs. He handed the property to individuals in the crowd on the exterior of the building. Mink was also seen striking an adjacent window repeatedly with a baseball bat, in an apparent attempt to shatter it. In video surveillance, Mink is seen engaging in assaultive conduct, spitting at officers guarding one of the doors and then throwing several objects at them – including a traffic cone, a large rectangular-shaped object (possibly a step or drawer), and a stick. Mink was arrested on January 19, 2021, in McKees Rocks, PA. He faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison for the felony charge and up to one year in prison for the misdemeanor, plus possible financial penalties.
