March 13, 2024 10:45 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app TikTok if its China-based owner doesn’t sell. Lawmakers are acting on concerns that the company’s current ownership structure is a U.S. national security threat. The bill passed Wednesday by a vote of 352-65. It now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are unclear. TikTok has more than 150 million American users and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd. The lawmakers contend ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok’s consumers in the U.S. TikTok denies it could be used as a Chinese government tool.
March 13, 2024 10:23 am
One person has been flown to a Pittsburgh hospital after a crash involving a motorcycle and a pickup truck Wednesday morning in North Strabane. According to Washington County 9-1-1, it happened just before 7:30 a.m. along Morganza Road at Southpointe Boulevard. Dispatchers tell WJPA News that a man on the motorcycle was flown to Allegheny General Hospital. At this time, his identity and condition are unknown. The driver of the truck was not injured. The roadway was closed down for some time to allow for an investigation into the crash.
March 13, 2024 10:18 am
ATLANTA (AP) — The judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case has dismissed some of the charges against former President Donald Trump, but others remain. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee wrote Wednesday in an order that six of the charges in the indictment must be quashed, including three against Trump. But the order leave intact many other charges in the indictment and the judge wrote that prosecutors could seek a new indictment on the charges he dismissed. The six charges in question have to do with soliciting elected officials to violate their oaths of office. That includes two charges related to the phone call Trump made to fellow Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021.
March 13, 2024 7:00 am
(WPXI) – Seven people,including a Washington County man, are facing charges for trespassing in the old Century III Mall in West Mifflin. West Mifflin police say the trespassers accessed the dilapidated building through a boarded-up door on Tuesday night. They were all taken into custody and transported to the Allegheny County Jail. 23 year old Jared Chambers of Canonsburg was among those charged with criminal trespass and criminal mischief. Officials say the property has become a public nuisance and a magnet for trespassers, and last week, the owners asked the court for 30 days to continue demolition plans for the property. A fire broke out in the blighted property last April and several people have been charged with trespassing there. In June, a teenager fell through the roof while filming a video.
March 13, 2024 5:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The release of a transcript of President Joe Biden’s interview with prosecutors investigating his handling of classified documents is not likely to alter preconceived notions about Biden. But it does offer a rare window into the profound and mundane realities of day-to-day life for the president. In conversations with investigators, Biden makes offhand remarks about working in his pajamas as vice president, laments over his oh-so messy garage at his house in Delaware and talks of juggling international crises while other matters intrude. Taken together, the comments illustrate the idiosyncrasies of a presidency and showcase a hallmark of Biden’s political career: storytelling.
March 13, 2024 5:01 am
(AP) – President Vladimir Putin says that Russia is ready to use nuclear weapons if there is a threat to Russian statehood, sovereignty, or independence. Speaking in an interview with Russian state television released early Wednesday, Putin said he hoped that the U.S. would avoid any escalation that could trigger a nuclear war, but emphasized that Russia’s nuclear forces are ready for it. Asked if he has ever considered using battlefield nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Putin responded that there has been no need for that. He also voiced confidence that Moscow will achieve its goals in Ukraine and held the door open for talks, emphasizing that any deal would require firm guarantees from the West.
March 13, 2024 5:00 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have clinched their parties’ presidential nominations with decisive victories in a slate of low-profile primaries, setting up a general election rematch that many voters do not want. The outcome of contests Tuesday in Georgia, Mississippi, Washington state and Hawaii was never in doubt. Neither Biden, a Democrat, nor Trump, a Republican, faced major opposition. But the magnitude of their wins gave each man the delegate majority he needed to claim his party’s nomination at the summertime national conventions. There is no longer any doubt that the fall election will feature a rematch between two flawed and unpopular presidents. It will almost certainly deepen the nation’s searing political and cultural divides.
March 13, 2024 4:57 am
CRESCENT, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a massive explosion killed two people and destroyed a house in the Pittsburgh area near the Ohio River. Allegheny County emergency dispatchers say the blast in Crescent Township in the northwest Pittsburgh suburbs was reported shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday. Aerial images from the scene show smoking ruins with the structure reduced to rubble and some large pieces lodged in trees above. The Crescent Township fire chief says a man and woman were found dead at the scene. The Allegheny County medical examiner’s office has identified the victims as 89 year old David Mitchell Jr. and 87 year old Helen Mitchell. The cause of the explosion is under investigation.
March 13, 2024 2:42 am
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh announced Tuesday that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has denied the appeals of the sentences of two Pagan gang members. Matthew Vasquez, 35 of Monessen (pictured) and Joseph Olinsky, 50 of Somerset were convicted in February 2020 of the beating of Troy Harris. Harris was a member of a rival motorcycle gang and Vasquez and Olinsky attacked Harris in the Charleroi Slovak Club in April of 2019. Both men were sentenced to 20-40 years in prison on charges of aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy and simple assault. They were acquitted of more serious charges of attempted homicide and conspiracy.
March 13, 2024 2:25 am
The chair of the Local Share Account Committee, Jeff Kotula, says that, at the request of the Washington County Board of Commissioners, the Washington County Local Share Account Review Committee will convene virtually on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 9:00 a.m. to review the City Mission’s recent application to the Washington County Local Share Account program for a 50-bed Women’s Homeless Shelter. He says the committee will honor the commissioners’ recommendation to limit its review solely to the City Mission’s application. The public will be welcome to view the proceedings. The committee has also invited Diana Irey Vaughan, President & CEO of the City Mission, to attend the meeting and address the committee’s questions over the project’s readiness, availability of additional dollars to complete the shelter, and the alignment of the application with the county’s comprehensive plan. The committee has requested Ms. Irey Vaughan bring any necessary financial information or other documentation to support and clarify their application. Kotula says the LSA Review Committee reviewed 94 projects during this funding cycle and recommended 50 projects to the Washington County Board of Commissioners at a public meeting on February 6, 2024. Commissioners Sherman, Janis, and Maggi unanimously approved all 50 of the committee’s recommendations at their public meeting on February 15, 2024. The City Mission project was one of 44 projects not recommended by the committee nor approved by the commissioners at their respective public meetings. The commissioners have been disagreeing on the City Mission’s grant. Democratic Commissioner Larry Maggi said that the LSA Committee issued a list on January 30th, of recommended projects to be funded in 2024. Number 38 on the list was the homeless shelter with recommended funding of $500,000, but on February 6th, he says a new list was issued and the shelter project was removed. Maggi further stated that phone calls from the commissioner’s office were made to the LSA Committee indicating that the City Mission project be removed.
