October 9, 2025 4:49 am
SOMERSET TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Somerset Township father continues to express concerns about target shooting on property near a park. Jared Ritenour says he has called police after hearing what he called hours of gunfire in the woods by his home and next to a playground, ball field, walking track and basketball courts. He tells WPXI “It was like a war zone, and that’s when I called the police,” Ritenour said. “My goodness, it sounded like the beginning of Saving Private Ryan — pow, pow, pow, pow, pow.” Ritenour has been raising concerns on social media and at township meetings, saying the target shooting near the park is dangerous. He says he was laughed at during one of those meetings. He says this is not a Second Amendment issue. “I own guns! I own a lot of guns!” he said. “I just don’t shoot them next to a park.” The property owner, Ronnie Fordyce, defended his rights, saying they’ve been target shooting on the land for nearly four years. He says the group shoots into 300 acres of woods, not toward the park, and that they’re following the law. Fordyce pointed out that state law bans hunting near schools or playgrounds but does not prohibit target shooting.
October 9, 2025 4:54 am
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania authorities say two state police officers and a suspect have been shot while officers were responding to a call. Pennsylvania State Police say the troopers were taken to hospitals after Wednesday’s shooting. Police say they will provide an update on their conditions later along with information about the incident and suspects. Gov. Josh Shapiro says he and his wife Lori are praying for the officers and asked others to join them. State police say there is no threat to the public but “the scene remains very active.” The shooting happened in southern Franklin County, which is northwest of Baltimore.
October 9, 2025 5:30 am
Washington & Jefferson College celebrated the beginning of a new chapter for its baseball program with the ceremonial kickoff of the James David Ross Family Training Center, a $2.5 million investment dedicated to supporting student-athlete development. The Ross family is fully funding the project, continuing their long history of support for the college, including the Ross Memorial Park in 2004 and the James David Ross Family Recreation Center in 2017. The new 25,000-square-foot indoor facility will be built next to the W&J Facilities Services building, providing year-round training space for student-athletes. At the ceremony, W&J officials and the Ross family took part in the symbolic first dig, with helmets on shovels before placing them on their heads and turning over a mound of dirt to signify the launch of the project. David Ross, a 1978 alumnus, trustee since 2004, and W&J Athletic Hall of Fame inductee, shared remarks about the project’s importance. “The indoor training center is needed because the weather is not always so great here and often limits practice opportunities for student-athletes. When players have nowhere to train during cold months, they lose motivation and sometimes stop playing,” Ross said. The facility will be managed by campus officials and reserved for student-athletes, though community access may be allowed during special events. Named in honor of Ross’s father, the James David Ross Family Training Center will serve as a lasting tribute to his family’s commitment to W&J athletics. Construction is anticipated to begin within weeks, with completion expected by Spring 2026.
October 9, 2025 5:03 am
(AP) – The state of Illinois is urging a judge to order the National Guard to stand down in the Chicago area. The state calls the deployment a constitutional crisis and suggests that President Donald Trump’s administration gave no heed to the pending legal challenge. Federal Judge April Perry is hearing arguments Thursday. Members of the National Guard arrived Monday, and some are stationed at a Chicago-area immigration building. A Department of Justice lawyer says the Chicago area was rife with “tragic lawlessness.” He noted an incident last weekend in which a Border Patrol vehicle was boxed in and a woman was shot by an agent.
October 9, 2025 5:05 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators are laboring to find a way to reopen the government but found themselves struggling to overcome a fundamental lack of trust between the two parties. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has floated an “off ramp” to the government funding impasse. He suggests that he could pledge to hold a later vote on expiring health care subsidies if Democrats would first support a stopgap spending bill to reopen the government. But Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer seemed to dismiss the idea.
October 9, 2025 5:04 am
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the “first phase” of his peace plan to pause fighting and release at least some hostages and prisoners. “This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace,” Trump wrote late Wednesday. The war began with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, many of them civilians. Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead.
October 9, 2025 5:09 am
TORONTO (AP) — A Canadian government official familiar with the matter says Prime Minister Mark Carney raised the prospect of reviving the contentious Keystone XL pipeline project during his White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump this week. A Canadian company pulled the plug on it four years ago after the Canadian government failed to persuade then-President Joe Biden to reverse his cancellation of its permit on the day he took office. It was to transport crude from the oil sand fields of western Canada to Steele City, Nebraska. President Donald Trump previously revived the long-delayed project during his first term after it had stalled under the Obama administration. The Canadian government official says Trump was receptive to the idea.
October 9, 2025 5:07 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities have charged a 29-year-old man with igniting the January fire that destroyed Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood. Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli says Jonathan Rinderknecht was arrested in Florida on Tuesday. He faces charges including malicious destruction by means of a fire in the New Year’s Day fire that burned down much of the Pacific Palisades a week later. Rinderknecht appeared briefly in court Wednesday. His public defender did not respond to requests for comment. The Palisades Fire killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 homes and buildings in the wealthy coastal neighborhood of LA.
October 8, 2025 10:36 am
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Former FBI Director James Comey has pleaded not guilty to lying to Congress five years ago. Comey is set to make his first court appearance Wednesday in a Justice Department criminal case accusing him of lying to Congress five years ago. The Comey case has amplified concerns President Donald Trump’s Justice Department is being weaponized in pursuit of the Republican president’s political enemies. Comey is expected to plead not guilty. That will kick-start a process of legal wrangling in which defense lawyers will almost certainly move to get the indictment dismissed before trial, possibly by arguing the case amounts to a selective or vindictive prosecution.
October 7, 2025 2:38 am
The second day of testimony in the trial of Joshua George, accused of violently shaking his infant son and delivering him to his grandparents for baby sitting has concluded. Morning testimony was a continuation of cross examination of the infant’s grandmother Cheska Rotellini, supplemented by video of her interviews with police. Defense attorneys tried to show Rotellini’s qualities as a baby sitter as deficient and unqualified to care for a child. They pointed to several instances of bruising and a battered lip on the infant that was in her care in the month leading up to his death. Afternoon testimony featured expert witness testimony from independent forensic pathologist Dr. Jennifer Hammers. She described her report provided to prosecutors on the cause and manner of death of the infant. She classified the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head. The manner was homicide. Defense attorneys concentrated on timelines of when someone several months old could develop bruising and brain swelling associated with a skull fracture. Hammers testimony said that especially in the case of infants, those symptoms can be immediate or delayed by several hours. She did say the force needed to fracture the infant’s skull would have needed to be significant.
