September 21, 2022 4:03 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors held their agenda setting meeting on Tuesday and the proposed agenda will be largely procedural where they will be considering several land development items that have been in the works for several months. The most controversial will be a conditional use application for Ashford Place. It is a single structure multifamily development that is proposed to be located along Morganza Road. Also under consideration is another conditional use application by 84 Lumber to build an office park adjacent to the fitness center and training center. A third consideration will be for a final land development application for the Hornickel Wedding Venue located along Burkett Lane. Supervisors will also be setting dates for budget workshops. The legislative meeting will take place on September 27.
September 21, 2022 2:37 am
A Westmoreland County man accused of having several sexual encounters with a minor will face trial for those actions. Thirty-one-year-old Clayton Warmus of Manor asked for a jury trial on charges of statutory sexual assault, indecent sexual assault of a minor less than 16, and others. A fifteen year old victim told police that she had approximately 30 sexual encounters with Warmus in Canton Township and Union Township from August of 2020 through March of 2021. In a plea court hearing Warmus was offered a sentence of 6-12 years in state prison on one of two counts of indecent sexual assault of a person less than 16. He opted to face trial on five felony counts and one misdemeanor. Warmus remains in the Washington County jail. He is scheduled for a December jury trial.
September 21, 2022 2:11 am
One of two men accused of deceitful business practices will stand trial for his role in a series of non-performance of work activities. Alexander Walker, 66 of McDonald attended a plea hearing on Tuesday expecting to have any plea deals postponed because he has been making restitution payments. That plan was dashed when a victim voiced opposition to any further delays in closing the cases against Walker and his son Matthew. Frank Pollack objected to any further continuances in his case because he is looking for closure. Pollack hired the Walkers, doing business as Three Rivers Decks and Porches in 2019. As in several other instances, victims paid a down payment for work contracted and the Walkers started work and never returned to finish keeping all of the money. Pollack told the judge that he does not expect to see any of his money back and would be surprised if Walker would live long enough to pay him back. He wants to see Walker put in jail. The judge told Walker that the court is not a collection agency, the case has been going on for more than two years. She told him to get a loan, go to trial or plead guilty and make payments. The request for continuance was denied. Walker is now scheduled for a jury trial in January 2023. Walker’s son Matthew has his cases working through the courts. He had a pre trial conference earlier this month. He is scheduled for plea court again in November. The Walkers have several other cases that have closed by pleading guilty in Allegheny and Beaver counties.
September 20, 2022 5:41 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – The independent arbiter tasked with inspecting documents seized in an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home says he intends to push briskly though the review process. Raymond Dearie, the veteran Brooklyn-based judge, also appeared skeptical of the Trump team’s reluctance to say whether it believed the records had been declassified. The purpose of Tuesday’s meeting was to sort out next steps in a review process expected to slow by weeks, if not months, the criminal investigation into the retention of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House.
September 20, 2022 5:27 pm
DETROIT (AP) – The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that all new vehicles in the U.S. be required to have blood alcohol monitoring systems that can stop an intoxicated person from driving. The recommendation, if enacted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, could reduce the number of alcohol-related crashes, one of the biggest causes of highway deaths in the U.S. The new push to make roads safer was included in a report released Tuesday about a horrific crash last year in which a drunk driver’s SUV collided head-on with a pickup truck near Fresno, California, killing both adult drivers and seven children.
September 20, 2022 5:17 pm
CHICAGO (AP) – Officials say eight people were rushed to hospitals after being injured when an explosion Tuesday tore through the top floor of a Chicago apartment building. The explosion at the four-story, 36-unit apartment building occurred at about 9 a.m., officials said. The department conducted a search of the building and found no other victims underneath the debris. No cause of the explosion had been determined. The department said that the Chicago police bomb squad and agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded.
September 20, 2022 11:53 am
(WPXI) – Police in Pittsburgh are investigating after two people fell from a balcony in Mount Washington early Tuesday. Officers were called to Satalio’s in the 20 block of Bailey Avenue just before 1:40 a.m. When first responders arrived, they found a man and a woman on the ground outside of the bar with head injuries. The man was taken to a hospital in critical condition, and the woman was taken to a hospital in stable condition.
September 20, 2022 4:13 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine is now deploying captured Russian tanks to solidify its gains in the northeast amid an ongoing counteroffensive. That’s according to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. The institute, citing a Russian claim, said that Ukraine had been using left-behind Russian T-72 tanks as it tries to push into the Russian-occupied region of Luhansk. Earlier this month, Ukraine launched its counteroffensive, pushing into territory around its second-largest city of Kharkiv. Videos and photos showed Ukrainian troops seizing tanks, ammunition and other weaponry left behind by Moscow in an apparently chaotic withdrawal.
September 20, 2022 4:11 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Democrats are voting this week on changes to a 19th century law for certifying presidential elections. The measure is their strongest legislative response yet to the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. A vote to overhaul the Electoral Count Act is expected Wednesday. A bipartisan group of senators is moving forward with a similar bill. The Senate Rules Committee will vote on its version of the legislation next week. Lawmakers in both parties have said they want to change the arcane law before it is challenged again.
September 20, 2022 4:09 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats are pumping an unprecedented amount of money into advertising related to abortion rights. The spending underscores how central the message is to the party in the final weeks before midterm elections. The most intense period of campaigning is only just beginning, and Democrats have already invested more than an estimated $124 million this year in television advertising referencing abortion. That’s twice as much money as the Democrats’ next top issue and almost 20 times more than Democrats spent on abortion-related ads in the 2018 midterms. The spending figures are based on an Associated Press analysis of data provided by the nonpartisan research firm AdImpact.
