April 23, 2024 2:53 am
Tuesday is Primary Election Day in Pennsylvania and here in Washington County, Elections Director Melanie Ostrander is predicting a thirty-five-percent voter turnout. Ostrander says that is a typical turnout for a federal election primary. The election has been tainted with a recent decision by the county’s board of elections, to forbid ballot curing, the fixing of mistakes on absentee and mail-in ballots. Ostrander says they have received 14,147 requests for mail-in ballots, with the majority, over ten-thousand, being from Democrats and the remainder, a little over three-thousand, being from Republicans. Out of those, as of Monday, Ostrander says they have received 11,067 back. Out of that number, 8,409 were Democratic ballots, while the remainder, a little over twenty-six-hundred, were Republican. Pennsylvania leaves a number of election decisions up to county officials. The result has been a lack of uniformity ranging from whether to cure mail-in ballots to the use of drop boxes. Westmoreland, Allegheny, Greene and Fayette counties all allow mail-in ballot curing. Locally, State Representative Bud Book has a Republican challenger in the 50th Legislative District. Stephanie Waggett, is a 44-year-old Carmichaels resident, a registered nurse and a former administrator at the Fayette Energy Facility in Masontown. Cook and Waggett will be vying for Republican votes in the primary election. Cook has represented the 50th Legislative District since the beginning of last year as a result of redistricting. The 50th Legislative District includes all of Greene County and portions of Washington County.
April 23, 2024 2:37 am
A Donora man has died after being struck by a train late Monday night. Authorities say 30-year-old Cody David Kimmel was struck by a train around eleven-thirty near 65 East First Street in Donora. He was taken to Penn Highlands Monongahela Valley Hospital where he died a short time later. The incident is under investigation by the Donora Police Department and the Norfolk Southern Railroad Police. An autopsy is pending.
April 23, 2024 2:21 am
A deal between the city of Washington and the Washington School District – to renovate the Colt Baseball Field at Washington Park is dead. The school board, Monday night, voted to rescind an agreement with the city, on what would have been a two-million-dollar project. The work would have included a turf field for the school’s baseball and softball teams and other youth programs to play on. District Superintendent George Lammay tells WJPA that the district is now looking at other options, options that will not include engaging with the city. Last August, the two sides had informally agreed to the project, a project that Lammay says he saw as a win-win for the city and the school district.. Washington Mayor JoJo Burgess says city officials have been in constant contact and had meetings with the district’s solicitor and the school board president regarding some land issues that needed to be dealt with before any official agreement could be signed. He tells WJPA that the city plans to do everything by the book and legally, so if the district doesn’t want to wait, perhaps it is a good idea that they seek other options.
April 22, 2024 5:20 pm
TRIANGLE, Virginia (AP) — President Joe Biden is marking Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants to provide residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities. He also criticized Republicans who want to gut his policies to address climate change. The Democrat plans to expand his New Deal-style American Climate Corps green jobs training program. Biden spoke at northern Virginia’s Prince William Forest Park on Monday. Biden’s latest environmental announcements come as he’s working to energize young voters for his reelection campaign. Senior administration officials say young Americans are keenly invested in the Biden climate agenda and want to help enact it.
April 22, 2024 5:18 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — Columbia University has canceled in-person classes and police have arrested dozens of students at Yale University as tensions over the war in the Middle East continue to grow on U.S. college campuses. The moves at the Ivy League schools came hours before Monday evening’s start of the Jewish holiday of Passover. A New Haven, Connecticut, police spokesperson said about 45 protesters were arrested at Yale on Monday morning and charged with misdemeanor trespassing. All were being released on promises to appear in court later. Following arrests last week at Columbia, pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up encampments on other campuses around the country, including at the University of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of North Carolina.
April 22, 2024 5:06 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has approved a $95 billion package of foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. allies after months of turmoil on Capitol Hill. Congressional leaders pushed aside opposition from hard-right conservatives to complete the bill in a rare Saturday session. The whole package will go to the Senate, which could pass it as soon as Tuesday. Speaker Mike Johnson has put his job on the line and relied on Democratic support every step of the process. The four bills, to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, Indo-Pacific allies and a measure dealing with TikTok were all overwhelmingly approved. President Joe Biden has promised to sign the package.
April 22, 2024 5:04 am
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A top concern for local election workers throughout the country this year is their own safety. A group formed after the 2020 presidential election is traveling the country helping them prepare for what could lie ahead and making sure they are connected to local law enforcement. The Associated Press was granted rare access to one recent session in northern Michigan. The threats and harassment stem from the false claims made repeatedly by former President Donald Trump since his loss in 2020. He already has been attacking some election officials this year. The drumbeat has contributed to an exodus of local election directors across the country.
April 22, 2024 5:03 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The opening statements in the first criminal trial of a former American president provided a clear roadmap of how prosecutors will try to make the case that Donald Trump broke the law, and how the defense plans to fight the charges on multiple fronts. Lawyers presented dueling narratives Monday as jurors got their first glimpse into the prosecution accusing Trump of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to squelch negative stories about him during his 2016 presidential campaign. Still to come: weeks of what’s likely to be dramatic and embarrassing testimony about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s personal life as he simultaneously campaigns to return to the White House.
April 22, 2024 5:02 am
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The head of Israel’s military intelligence directorate has resigned over Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, the head of Israel’s military intelligence, becomes the first senior Israeli figure to step down over the failures surrounding Hamas’ attack. It could set the stage for more resignations. Haliva said in October that he shouldered the blame for not preventing the attack, which broke through Israel’s vaunted defenses. The Israeli military said in a statement on Monday that the military chief of staff accepted Haliva’s request to resign and thanked him for his service.
April 22, 2024 5:01 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is wrestling with major questions about the growing issue of homelessness as it considers whether cities can ban people from sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking. Monday’s case is considered the most significant on homelessness to come before the high court in decades. In California and other Western states, courts have ruled it’s unconstitutional to fine and arrest people sleeping in homeless encampments if shelter space is lacking. Officials contend that makes it difficult to manage encampments. The case comes from Grants Pass, Oregon, which started fining people $295 for sleeping outside. Advocates argue punishing people who need a place to sleep will make the crisis worse.
