May 9, 2024 4:52 am
Cecil Township Supervisors heard another three hours of public comment from a standing room only crowd on Wednesday on updates to their oil and gas ordinance. The first meeting held in April brought some of the suggestions made by residents to life. Supervisors worked hard studying ordinances from many areas looking to find something that added restrictions but also held up to court challenges from the fracking industry. The ordinance that they are currently patterning their ordinance around comes from Murrysville, PA. Supervisor Cindy Fisher stated that their ordinance has had court challenges and survived. Supervisors are working with engineers to develop a map that uses increasingly restrictive criteria to determine the best places available for future drilling. Supervisors also hired an engineer to study the noise and vibration aspects of the ordinance. The engineer stated that fracking operations were in compliance with the current ordinance but used loopholes to get around low frequency noise and vibrations not typically heard in the normal range of hearing. He offered suggestions to tighten up those loopholes. Public comment centered on having supervisors implement stricter air, water and noise protections. Over two dozen residents spoke and the vast majority spoke of well pad set back limits of 2500 feet or more from any adjacent structures. An attorney speaking on behalf of the Traditions of America development suggested that supervisors look less to current surface operations like well pads and consider sub surface operations that will accomplish the same goal. In other words, instead of granting new well pad applications, have existing operations drill under areas from existing pads to gain the natural gas desired. Questions of conflict of interest arose. Supervisor Darlene Barni admitted to the group that she has gas leases on land she owns. Residents did not fault her for taking advantage of the opportunity that those leases provide. They demanded that she recuse herself from any vote taken regarding oil and gas regulation. Supervisor Chairman Tom Casciola said that the question would be forwarded to an ethics commission. Another public hearing is scheduled for June 5.
May 9, 2024 2:51 am
(WPXI) – A confirmed tornado touched down in Allegheny County during Wednesday’s early morning storms. The tornado hit near the Marriott at Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay Township. The National Weather Service said most of the damage was along Aten Road. The tornado was rated an EF1 and had 105 miles per hour winds that snapped at least fifteen to twenty trees as the tornado traveled .2 miles southeast. A nearby building lost a metal roof;, with a portion of it falling on the interstate.. This is the third confirmed tornado that hit the Pittsburgh area during Wednesday’s morning storm system. A tornado that was at least an EF2 hit Hancock County in West Virginia and an EF1 tornado touched down in Ligonier Township in Westmoreland County. Washington County 911 tells WJPA there were no weather-related damages or injuries in the county. (Photo: Hancock County, W.Va.)
May 8, 2024 5:27 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani has agreed to plead guilty to bank and tax fraud in a sports betting case. Prosecutors alleged Ippei Mizuhara stole nearly $17 million from the Japanese baseball player to pay off debts. Mizuhara’s scheduled arraignment Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles was postponed earlier Tuesday. The scandal shocked baseball fans from the U.S. to Japan when the news broke in March. Mizuhara was initially charged with one count of bank fraud. Authorities say there was no evidence that Ohtani was involved in or aware of Mizuhara’s gambling, and the player is cooperating with investigators.
May 8, 2024 5:26 pm
PAVILION TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — At least eight tornadoes have touched down in Ohio and three have been confirmed in Michigan as severe storms barreled through the central U.S., killing one man in Tennessee when a tree toppled onto a vehicle he was in. The National Weather Service says confirmed tornadoes touched down Tuesday in Ohio, including five in Warren County in the state’s southwest region. Weather service meteorologist in Michigan Nathan Jeruzal says Wednesday that the tornadoes there touched down one each in Kalamazoo, Cass and Branch counties — all in the southwestern part of the state. Tornadoes were first reported after dark Tuesday in parts of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, while portions of Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri were also under a tornado watch. (Photo: AP)
May 8, 2024 5:24 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are welcoming a police crackdown that cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University and led to the arrests of 33 protesters. But one of the students arrested in Washington, Moataz Salim, says authorities merely “destroyed a beautiful community space that was all about love.” Police broke up the gathering Wednesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson said it should not have required “threatening to haul D.C.’s mayor before Congress” for police to end the protest. Mayor Muriel Bowser says city officials acted because the situation was becoming more volatile. She was to testify to a House panel about her handling of the protest but the hearing was canceled after the crackdown.
May 8, 2024 5:08 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Stormy Daniels will return to the witness stand in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, as the defense tries to undermine the credibility of the porn actor’s salacious testimony about an alleged sexual encounter and the money she got to keep quiet. Defense attorneys will get another chance on Thursday to question Daniels, whose account is central to the prosecutors’ case accusing Trump of scheming to illegally influence the 2016 presidential campaign by burying unflattering stories. Trump looked on in the courtroom as Daniels for hours on Tuesday described an unexpected sexual encounter she says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign. Trump denies they ever had sex.
May 8, 2024 5:00 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military says it has reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza. The key terminal for the entry of humanitarian aid was closed over the weekend after a Hamas rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers nearby. An Israeli tank brigade seized the nearby Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt early Tuesday, and it remained closed. But that limited incursion does not appear to be the start of the full-scale invasion of the crowded southern city that Israel has repeatedly promised. The looming operation threatens to widen a rift between Israel and its main backer, the United States. Israel has linked the decision over launching a full-scale offensive to ongoing talks over a cease-fire and hostage release.
May 8, 2024 4:59 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S. That’s according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. The shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs, according to the official, with the focus of U.S. concern being the larger explosives and how they could be used in a dense urban setting. More than 1 million civilians are sheltering in Rafah after evacuating other parts of Gaza amid Israel’s war on Hamas, which came after the militant group’s deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
May 8, 2024 4:52 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican lawmakers are advancing a $3 billion tax cut, their newly unveiled counterproposal to a budget proposal from Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro as each side offers a competing vision for how to use a massive cash surplus. The legislation cutting taxes on income and electric service passed the Republican-controlled Senate on a 36-14 vote Tuesday. Republicans said it would be the largest tax cut in the state’s history. In the coming weeks, budget negotiations could revolve around Shapiro’s bid to boost spending by $3 billion, versus the Republican counterproposal to cut taxes by $3 billion. Democrats warn that the Senate GOP’s tax bill won’t pass in the Democratic-controlled House.
May 8, 2024 4:49 am
NEW YORK — (WPXI) Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was mentioned Tuesday during Stormy Daniels’ testimony in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial, NBC News reports. Daniels testified under oath about the sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006 and the alleged $130,000 deal to keep it a secret, made just days before the 2016 election. NBC News reports that in court, Trump’s bodyguard reached out to Daniels the day after their alleged encounter to meet him at a hotel bar. Daniels testified that when she arrived, Trump was with Roethlisberger. This is not the first time Roethlisberger has been connected to Daniels. NBC Sports reports that in her 2018 book, Daniels wrote that the day after her alleged encounter with Trump, he asked Roethlisberger to walk her to her hotel room. Daniels wrote that Roethlisberger requested a “good night kiss” and stayed outside her room for several minutes before leaving.
