January 17, 2024 2:47 am
The Washington County Controller will face trial for animal cruelty. April Sloane, 43 of North Strabane Township appeared for her preliminary hearing on Tuesday. Sloane faces two felony aggravated cruelty to animals charges related to the torture and death of animals and one misdemeanor neglect of animals charge. All charges were waived to court. Sloane was not present in the courtroom, she appeared via a video call provided by her attorney. Sloane is accused of neglecting her dog and allowing it to live in deplorable conditions causing its death. Police were alerted to the situation by the Washington County Humane Society who they said received a call about the dog. North Strabane Township Police searched Sloane’s home on December 6th and found the dead dog stashed away in a plastic bag in her garage. Sloane is free on $150,000 unsecured bond. Her formal arraignment date is pending.
January 17, 2024 2:19 am
South Strabane Fire Chief Jordan Cramer tells WJPA that a fire that broke out around midnight is under investigation, but it is at this time, not believed to be suspicious. Two firefighters were injured but Washington County 911 says no one was transported from the scene. There were two individuals in the home and they were able to safely escape. Officials say seven area fire departments were called in to help battle the blaze due to the freezing temperatures. Crews remained on the scene until after five o’clock Wednesday morning and PennDot and township road crews were brought in to treat roads in the area because of the icy conditions.
January 16, 2024 5:42 pm
(AP) – Major cities on the U.S. East Coast have broken a snow drought of sorts. Meanwhile, other parts of the country are struggling Tuesday with perilously low temperatures that closed schools, cut power and likely contributed to cold exposure deaths. New York City’s Central Park recorded at least an inch of snow for the first time since 2022. The National Weather Service says Philadelphia snapped a similar 715-day streak. More than 90,000 U.S. homes and businesses are without power, most of them in Oregon, Texas and Louisiana, after widespread weekend outages. In Washington, a friendly snowball fight broke out on the National Mall. The group even has a name: the Washington DC Snowball Fight Association. (Photo: AP)
January 16, 2024 5:41 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump left his defamation trial before a lawyer for a New York columnist told jurors in an opening statement that he used “the world’s biggest microphone” five years ago to destroy her reputation after she said he sexually abused her. But before leaving, he showed his displeasure Tuesday with the courts and the current trial in particular. The jury must decide what, if anything, Trump owes columnist E. Jean Carroll. Trump, sitting at the defense table, shook his head in disgust as the judge told prospective jurors that another jury had already decided that the former president had sexually abused Carroll in a luxury department store.
January 16, 2024 5:40 pm
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Donald Trump scored a record victory in the Iowa caucuses. Now New Hampshire voters get their turn to decide just how competitive Republicans nominating fight will be as the former president continues to dominate his party. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis face mounting pressure to improve on their distant finishes in Monday’s caucuses. They have a one-week blitz ahead of next Tuesday’s primary in New Hampshire. Voters pride themselves for their independent streak as longtime hosts of the nation’s first Republican presidential primary. Trump, DeSantis and Haley each have New Hampshire stops scheduled for Tuesday. Trump supporters were already gathering in frigid winter conditions hours ahead of his expected arrival.
January 16, 2024 5:23 pm
DALLAS (AP) — A federal judge has sided with the Biden administration and blocked JetBlue Airways from buying Spirit Airlines. U.S. District Judge William Young said the $3.8 billion deal would reduce competition. The Justice Department sued to block the merger, saying it would drive up fares by eliminating Spirit, the nation’s biggest low-cost airline. JetBlue argued that the deal would help consumers by making JetBlue a stronger competitor against bigger rivals that dominate the U.S. air-travel market. Young presided over a non-jury trial last year and said in the ruling Tuesday that the government had proven that the merger would substantially lessen competition.
January 16, 2024 5:21 am
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Iran says it fired missiles at what it claimed were Israeli “spy headquarters” near the U.S. Consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, and at targets linked to the extremist group Islamic State in northern Syria. Four civilians were killed and six injured late Monday after missiles hit an upscale area near the consulate in Irbil, the seat of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. The strikes come at a time of heightened tensions in the region and fears of a wider spillover of the ongoing war in Gaza. The U.S. State Department condemned the strikes as “reckless.”
January 16, 2024 5:15 am
OHIOVILLE, Pa. — (WPXI) – A devastating fire in Ohioville Borough, Beaver County Monday night gutted a home and claimed a life. “It was coming out the front window, the front door, the side and the rear window, and the rear door in the back where the kitchen is,” said Chief Clarence Dawson with the Ohioville Volunteer Fire Department. According to Dawson, two people were in the Ridgemont Drive home when flames broke out around 5:15 p.m. A woman was able to escape, but her father was not. Firefighters found his body “in the hallway from the living room into the back bedroom,” Dawson said. The man’s name has not been released. It’s still unclear what caused the fire and where in the home it started.
January 16, 2024 5:11 am
DENVER (AP) — Court documents show the shooter who killed five people and endangered the lives of over 40 others at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs plans to plead guilty to new federal charges. A plea agreement made public Tuesday would allow the defendant to avoid the death penalty. The documents show Anderson Aldrich made a deal to plead guilty to 50 hate crime charges and 24 firearm violations. Aldrich previously was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to five state charges of murder and 46 counts of attempted murder — one for each person at Club Q during the November 2022 attack.
January 16, 2024 5:08 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Writer E. Jean Carroll convinced a jury last year that Donald Trump sexually abused her decades ago. Now she’s set to take the stand again to describe how his verbal attacks affected her after she came forward. Carroll is due to testify Wednesday in the second federal civil trial over her claims against Trump. He denies them all. The former president and current Republican front-runner sat in on jury selection Tuesday. The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Carroll has done.
