January 12, 2023 2:29 am
Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi and Cindy Fisher, Chairperson of the Cecil Township Board of Supervisors, have announced they are running together as a team for the Washington County Board of Commissioners on the Democratic ticket. Their joint announcement was made today in downtown Washington at Democratic headquarters. During his remarks, Commissioner Maggi highlighted his work to keep Washington County’s tax rate as one of the lowest in southwestern Pennsylvania. “Over my tenure as county commissioner, I have concentrated on controlling the size of county government and, more importantly, its spending,” Maggi said, adding that his focus has always been straightforward: to make sure county government is efficient and does what is in the best interest of taxpayers. Fisher also spoke, saying, “Sharing the ticket is not the only thing that Commissioner Maggi and I share…we share the same belief that our citizens deserve a government that works for them and is transparent in all its transactions. A county government where integrity matters. We both want residents to thrive, businesses to expand, and our veterans to receive the admiration they deserve,” Fisher stated. “We share common values found in our faith, our families, and in the future that Washington County can have by returning to respecting our taxpayers and creating an environment that encourages economic growth as well as opportunities for new family-sustaining jobs.”
January 12, 2023 2:11 am
Washington County Treasurer Tom Flickinger has announced plans to seek the Republican nomination for the office of Washington County Treasurer in the May Primary. Flickinger won the position in 2020, making him the first Republican to hold the office in over twenty years. Flickinger says during his time in office, he has focused on operating efficiencies by investing in new technology like an electronic tax payment option called eNotice, which allows residents to receive their tax bill via email and pay it online. Flickinger says that approximately six-thousand residents are participating in the new system. Flickinger lives in South Strabane Township and is a graduate of Washington & Jefferson College.
January 11, 2023 5:51 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – State and local Republican leaders in New York are calling for the immediate resignation of their new GOP congressman George Santos. Santos is facing multiple investigations by prosecutors over his personal and campaign finances and lies about his resume and family heritage. Santos was swarmed by reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday and flatly rejected the call for him to resign, saying, “I will not.” The chair of the Nassau County Republican Committee said that Santos’ “lies were not mere fibs” and that he had “disgraced” the U.S. House. But the local party has no mechanism to remove Santos from office. Santos was sworn in to the U.S. House last week.
January 11, 2023 5:50 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Republicans have opened their long-promised investigation into President Joe Biden and his family. They are wielding the power of their majority to demand information from the Treasury Department and former Twitter executives as they lay the groundwork for public hearings. The Republican-led Oversight Committee requested financial information from the Treasury Department surrounding financial transactions members of the Biden family made, as well as testimony from multiple former Twitter executives, who were involved in the company’s handling of an October 2020 story from the New York Post about the president’s son. A White House spokesperson called the investigation a “political stunt.”
January 11, 2023 1:15 pm
(WPXI) – Funeral services began at noon Wednesday at Mount Saint Peter Catholic Church in New Kensington for Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntire. The service was followed by a procession down Freeport Road through Brackenridge so as many people as possible had the opportunity to pay tribute to him. The Highlands School District also had a day of remote learning so students had the opportunity to attend the service. McIntire was shot in the line of duty last week while chasing a suspect. Another officer from Tarentum was wounded. He was shot in the leg and is recovering at home. Aaron Lamont Swan Jr. was named the suspect in the shootings. He was shot and killed by police following a pursuit and shootout in the City of Pittsburgh.
January 11, 2023 9:43 am
NEW YORK (AP) – The world’s largest aircraft fleet was grounded for hours by a cascading outage in a government system that delayed or canceled thousands of flights across the U.S. The White House initially said that there was no evidence of a cyber-attack behind the outage that ruined travel plans for millions of passengers. President Joe Biden said Wednesday morning that he’s directed the Department of Transportation to investigate. A order to ground all departing flights by the Federal Aviation Administration was lifted, but there are already 1,000 flight cancellations and more than 7,000 delayed flights. That number is expected to grow as the air travel network comes back to life.
January 11, 2023 4:20 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Mega Millions prize has grown again to an estimated $1.35 billion after there was no winner of the lottery’s latest giant jackpot. The numbers drawn late Tuesday night were: 7, 13, 14, 15, 18 and gold Mega Ball 9. Mega Millions says the prize for the next drawing on Friday night is the second highest in the game’s history. There have been 25 drawings over three months since the last time a player matched all six numbers and claimed the jackpot. The estimated $1.35 billion jackpot prize would only be distributed to a winner who chooses an annuity paid over 29 years. Nearly all jackpot winners take a cash payout, which for Friday night’s drawing is an estimated $707.9 million.
January 11, 2023 4:18 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Storm-ravaged California is scrambling to clean up and repair widespread damage as the lashing rain eases. Forecasts call for thunderstorms Wednesday in the north and then another powerful weather front later this week. Crews are working to reopen major highways that were closed by rockslides, swamped by flooding or smothered with mud. More than 10,000 people who were ordered out of seaside towns on the central coast were allowed to return home Tuesday. Yet thousands of people living near rain-swollen creeks and rivers remain under evacuation orders, including some 4,000 residents of Planada in the San Joaquin Valley, where neighborhoods were under water. Governor Gavin Newsom says at least 17 people have died in the series of storms that began late last week.
January 11, 2023 4:16 am
ROME (AP) – Cardinal George Pell, a onetime financial adviser to Pope Francis who had sex abuse convictions overturned, has died. The 81-year-old Australian died Tuesday after suffering heart complications from hip surgery. Pell was once the third-highest ranked Catholic in the Vatican. He was a divisive figure. He lived to see Vatican rivals charged with financial crimes after he worked to reform the church’s finances. In Australia, he was a lightning rod for disagreements over whether the church had been properly held to account for historic child sex abuse. Even after he was acquitted, Pell’s reputation remained tarnished by the scandal and in particular his handling of other priests who abused children.
January 11, 2023 4:15 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden says he was “surprised’ when he was informed that government records were found by his attorneys at a former office space in Washington. The top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee has requested that the U.S. intelligence community conduct a “damage assessment” of potentially classified documents found among the papers. Speaking to reporters in Mexico City, Biden says his attorneys “did what they should have done” when they immediately called the National Archives about the discovery. Biden says he doesn’t know what’s in the documents,” adding his lawyers have suggested he not inquire what was in them. The Department of Justice is reviewing the matter.
