May 2, 2024 2:40 am
Police have filed charges against a Chartiers Township woman who was involved in a deadly “chain reaction” crash on Interstate 79 South in Washington County last August. The crash left a man dead, shut down the interstate and sent multiple victims to the hospital. Authorities say 35-year-old Rachel Ann Phillips faces a felony charge of homicide by vehicle and misdemeanor charges of recklessly endangering another person along with driving under the influence. The accident happened around ten in the morning near the Canonsburg interchange. Authorities say witnesses saw Phillips vehicle swerve from the right lane of northbound 79 and cross over the median into opposing traffic. Killed in the crash was 58-year-old Gary Reinhardt of Lancaster, New York. Two other vehicles were also involved. Phillips was flown to Allegheny General Hospital where a blood test came back positive for cocaine and marijuana.
May 1, 2024 2:15 am
Police from all over the area gathered Wednesday morning at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 47 to honor Pennsylvania State Troopers and all other police officers that were killed in the line of duty. The ceremony, hosted by Pennsylvania State Police Troop B also commemorated the founding of the Pennsylvania State Police on May 2, 1919. According to Troop B Commander, Captain Jeremy Barni, in the 115 year history of the Pennsylvania State Polce, 104 members of the state police have tragically lost their lives. Of that 104 total, 13 have come from Troop B. Guest Speaker, Retired Captain Roger Waters of Troop B offered his thoughts of being a state police trooper and his feelings when he got two phone calls as commander alerting him to the deaths of two of his troopers. Troopers were honored with a rifle firing salute, the playing of taps and a walk off honor of bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace”. Troops were further honored with a helicopter flyover by Aviation Patrol Unit 5 from Latrobe.
May 1, 2024 2:50 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives is advancing legislation long sought by counties seeking help to manage huge influxes of mail-in ballots during elections in the presidential battleground state. The bill passed on party lines Wednesday, 102-99, as Democrats backed it and Republicans opposed it, warning that it would open the door to fraud. Under the bill, county election workers could start processing ballots up to seven days before election day. Nearly every state allows time before Election Day for workers to process mail-in ballots. Currently, Pennsylvania doesn’t let counties begin before Election Day. It faces long odds in the Senate, where the GOP majority insists that Pennsylvania first toughen voter identification requirements.
May 2, 2024 4:51 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police have arrested more than 2,000 people during pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses across the United States in recent weeks. That’s according to a tally by The Associated Press. Demonstrations — and arrests — have occurred in almost every corner of the nation. But in the last 24 hours, they’ve drawn the most attention at the University of California, Los Angeles, where chaotic scenes played out early Thursday as officers in riot gear surged against a crowd of demonstrators. The California Highway Patrol has said at least 200 people were arrested in the crackdown at UCLA.
May 2, 2024 4:54 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with Israeli leaders in his push for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas to impress on them that “the time is now” for an agreement that would free hostages and bring a pause in the nearly seven months of war. The current round of talks appears to be serious, with Hamas considering a new proposal. But the sides remain far apart on the key issue of whether the war should end as part of an emerging deal. In talks with Blinken, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his determination to carry out an offensive on the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering.
May 2, 2024 4:53 am
PHOENIX (AP) — Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is following through on promises to undo a long-dormant law that bans all abortions except those done to save a patient’s life. A signing ceremony was scheduled for Thursday on a bill to repeal the state’s near-total abortion ban. There may be a monthslong period during which nearly all abortions would still be outlawed. The repeal may not take effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session, in June or July. The effort to repeal the ban won final approval on Wednesday at the Arizona Legislature.
May 2, 2024 4:56 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump faces the prospect of additional sanctions in his hush money trial as he returns to court for another contempt hearing followed by testimony from a lawyer who represented two women who have said they had sexual encounters with the former president. Prosecutors are seeking $1,000 fines for each of four comments by Trump that they say violated a judge’s gag order barring him from attacking witnesses, jurors and others closely connected to the case. Such a penalty would be on top of a $9,000 fine that Judge Juan M. Merchan imposed on Tuesday related to nine separate gag order violations that he found.
May 2, 2024 4:57 am
NEW DELHI (AP) — Misinformation about India’s election is surging online as the world’s most populous country votes. Researchers who track disinformation in India say the country is particularly vulnerable to misinformation and hate speech because of its linguistic and cultural diversity as well as weak enforcement of anti-misinformation policies by social media companies. The country has a huge online ecosystem, with the largest number of WhatsApp and YouTube users in the world. Nearly 1 billion people are eligible to vote in the multiphase election that ends next month.
May 2, 2024 6:26 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Duane Eddy, a pioneering guitar hero whose reverberating electric sound on instrumentals such as “Rebel Rouser,” “Forty Miles of Bad Road” and “Cannonball” helped put the twang in early rock ‘n’ roll and influenced George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen and countless other musicians, has died at age 86. With his raucous rhythms, and backing hollers and hand claps, Eddy sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and mastered a distinctive sound based on the premise that a guitar’s bass strings sounded better on tape than the high ones.
May 1, 2024 2:01 am
In just a couple of days – Reggie will be famous – or – almost famous. Reggie is a four and a half-year-old Springer Spaniel owned by Judy and Dennis Krivacek of North Strabane Township and on Sunday night, he’ll be making his television debut on American’s Funniest Home Videos. Dennis Krivacek tells WJPA that Reggie became infatuated with a stair-lift chair in their home and would jump on the seat, waiting for a ride up or down the stairs. Dennis says it was cute and funny at first, as they would send him up or down the stairs for a ride, but after a while, he said it was like, enough is enough, no more rides. That wasn’t good enough for Reggie, who wanted more rides. So, somehow, Reggie learned how to operate the stair-life chair himself and they found him putting the seat down on the device and using his nose to get it moving – so he can enjoy a ride whenever he feels like it. Dennis tells us his wife suggested filming Reggie’s rides and sending it to America’s Funniest Home Videos. Much to their surprise, he says they were contacted and told that Reggie had made it into the final three and was in line to win several thousand dollars, depending on the final outcome. The final show will air at Sunday evening at seven o’clock on WTAE. Dennis tells us they have a big watch party planned so family and friends can enjoy the outcome. Dennis says they already know how it turns out for Reggie, but they are not allowed to reveal the results.. The episode is called, “Doggy Don’t Do Stairs.”
