April 24, 2024 5:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles, striking a Russian military airfield in Crimea and Russian troops in another occupied area overnight. The strikes come about a month after the U.S. secretly provided the weapons so Ukraine could strike targets up to 190 miles away. One U.S. official says the delivery of the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, was approved by President Joe Biden in February, and then in March the U.S. included a “significant” number of them in a $300 million aid package announced. The official says the U.S. is providing more in the latest aid package.
April 24, 2024 5:08 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests. At the University of Texas at Austin, dozens of local police and state troopers formed a line to prevent students from marching through the campus Wednesday, eventually clashing with the protesters and detaining multiple people. And at the University of Southern California, police removed several tents, then got into a tugging match with protesters before falling back. The actions across the U.S. came after Columbia University averted another confrontation between students and police earlier in the day.
April 24, 2024 5:03 am
Republican York County District Attorney Dave Sunday and Democratic former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale won their parties’ nominations for state attorney general Tuesday evening, with Sunday defeating a single opponent and DePasquale topping a field of five candidates. Sunday has been elected twice as district attorney in York County, where he lives in Spring Garden Township. He also has served as a special assistant U.S. attorney. The five-candidate fray among Democrats was the biggest field among the primary elections for statewide row offices. Incumbent Attorney General Michelle Henry, appointed to the job by Gov. Josh Shapiro in 2023 after he became governor, is not seeking election.
April 24, 2024 5:01 am
Democrats nominated Erin McClelland, a two-time congressional candidate from Harrison, Allegheny County, who has helped run various human services organizations, to challenge Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, and they nominated state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia to challenge Republican state Auditor General Tim DeFoor. Ms. McClelland prevailed despite being heavily outspent by her party-endorsed rival.
April 24, 2024 5:00 am
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — When cases of locally transmitted malaria were found in the United States last year, it was a reminder that climate change is reviving or migrating the threat of some diseases. But across the African continent malaria has never left, killing or sickening millions of people. Cases of resistance to antimalarial drugs and insecticides are increasing. Funding by governments and donors for innovation is slowing. And living conditions play a role, with crowded neighborhoods, stagnant water, poor sanitation and lack of access to treatment and prevention materials. For World Malaria Day on Thursday, here is what you need to know.
April 24, 2024 4:59 am
Palestinian hospital officials say Israeli airstrikes on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip have killed at least five people. Among those killed in the strikes overnight and into Thursday were two children, identified in hospital records as Sham Najjar, 6, and Jamal Nabahan, 8. More than half of the territory’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge in Rafah, where Israel has conducted near-daily raids as it prepares for an offensive in the city. Meanwhile, a top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce with Israel and that it would lay down its weapons if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders.
April 24, 2024 4:57 am
Incumbent Republican Bud Cook held off a challenger in the 50th Legislative District which includes all of Greene County and parts of Washington County. Cook defeated political newcomer Stephanie Waggett with some 63-percent of the vote. Now, the four-term incumbent is taking aim at what he calls “the politically connected and insiders”. One of those, he says, is Republican State Senator Camera Bartolotta who backed Waggett. It’s unclear if Cook will face a Democratic challenger in November.
April 24, 2024 2:44 am
The Freedom Transit began a series of public hearings on Tuesday to seek public opinion on proposed rate changes that could go into effect this summer. The hearing describes how rates will be streamlined and how some riders will see an increase in fares and how others will see a decrease. Currently Freedom Transit has four separate fares ranging from $1.50 to $5.00 depending on destination. The new proposal will look to institute a two tiered price system of $2.00 for Washington County Travel and $4.00 for Allegheny County travel. Effectively, riders that currently pay fares in Zone 1 will see an increase of fifty cents. Riders who pay fares in Zones 2 and 3 will see price decreases of fifty cents and $1.50. Allegheny County riders would see a decrease of $1.00. According to Emma Brzustowicz, Outreach and Marketing Coordinator for Freedom Transit, they have not had a fare increase since 2012. The reasons for the increase are related to inflationary costs that have risen by 35.2% for Freedom Transit since the last rate increase. That fare schedule would also align with what the Mid Mon Valley Transit Authority charges. This was the first of four public hearings scheduled. The other three will be on April 30 from noon to 2:00 PM at the Heritage Public Library in McDonald, also on April 30 from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM at the Frank Sarris Public Library in Canonsburg and once again on May 1 from noon to 7:00 PM at the Freedom Transit Transportation Center in Washington. After the input has been examined, if the rate changes are approved they would go into effect on July 1.
April 24, 2024 2:33 am
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday morning for the four-point-five-million-dollar Char House Renovation Project at 251 Ninth Street in Charleroi Borough. Washington County Commissioners, along with federal, state and local officials were on hand to celebrate the project, which involved the replacement of the building’s electrical, plumbing and sanitary systems; new common area flooring and painting, the renovation of the community room kitchen and public restrooms, along with the kitchens, bathrooms, patio doors and windows of the apartments. In addition, the parking lot was also paved. Char House was built in 1979 on the site of the former Charleroi Ninth Street School. Residents of Char House must be sixty-two-years of age of older or persons with a disability, and their annual income cannot exceed 56-thousand-700-dollars for an individual or sixty-four-thousand-eight-hundred-dollars for two people.
April 23, 2024 3:57 pm
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department is paying a $138.7 million to settle more than 100 claims that it badly mishandled allegations of sexual assault against Larry Nassar in 2015 and 2016. It was a critical time gap that allowed the sports doctor to continue preying on victims before his arrest. Nassar worked at Michigan State University and at USA Gymnastics. He’s serving decades in prison for assaulting female athletes, including Olympians. For more than a year, FBI agents in Indianapolis and Los Angeles had knowledge of allegations against Nassar but apparently took no action. (Photo: AP)
