December 29, 2023 2:42 am
Washington County Republican Commissioner Nick Sherman and Commissioner-Elect Electra Janis announced on Thursday that Washington-based attorney Gary Sweat will be the county’s new solicitor in 2024. Sweat, who is the managing partner of Sweat Law Offices will assume his duties in the new year. Sherman noted that Sweat’s background will allow him to navigate the county’s legal, business and government worlds and they are excited that he is bringing his considerable legal expertise to Washington County. As solicitor, Sherman says Sweat will provide legal counsel and opinions related to county government’s operational and administrative matters.
December 28, 2023 5:22 pm
MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) — The house where four University of Idaho students were killed last year has been demolished. Jodi Walker is the university’s executive director of communications. She says she hopes the demolition on Thursday will bring closure and healing to the community. Prosecutors told the university they don’t anticipate needing the house for further purposes. Earlier this month, the defense team for a man accused of killing the students accessed the home to gather photos, measurements and other documentation. Bryan Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder in connection with the November 2022 deaths at the rental house near the university campus in Moscow, Idaho.
December 28, 2023 5:20 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Powerful surf is rolling onto beaches on the West Coast and Hawaii as a big swell generated by the stormy Pacific Ocean pushes toward shorelines. Forecasters are urging people to stay off rocks and jetties Thursday, and to not turn their backs to the ocean because of the danger of “sneaker waves.” A high surf warning for parts of Northern California says waves will range from 28 to 33 feet and up to 40 feet at some locations. With high astronomical tides contributing to the problem, some low-lying coastal areas are experiencing localized flooding.
December 28, 2023 5:18 pm
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A hard-hit Israeli kibbutz has announced the death of Judith Weinstein — an American-Canadian-Israeli woman who had been thought to be held hostage in Gaza. Her death was announced Thursday, six days after her husband, Gad Haggai, was also declared dead. The 70-year-old Weinstein and 73-year-old Haggai were taking an early morning walk in Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants burst across the border into Israel, killing about 1,200 people and kidnapping 240 others. Weinstein and her husband had been thought to be among the hostages still in captivity in Gaza. The kibbutz says it learned that Weinstein was killed on Oct. 7 and her body is being held in Gaza.
December 28, 2023 5:58 am
State Police have arrested a Canonsburg man in connection with the theft of thousands of dollars from the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. According to police, 41 year old Yancy Yeater was a Player Services Manager at the casino and took $20,000 in $100-dollar bills from the main bank in the Cashiers cage during his shift early on the morning of December 4. According to investigators, surveillance video shows Yeater cleaning the inside of the main bank cabinet where cash is bundled and stored. Police say he concealed two bands under a cleaning rag and removed them. Police say he then took them into the restroom and then left the property. Yeater was taken into custody when he arrived for his shift on December 23. He is to face a preliminary hearing January 4.
December 28, 2023 5:22 am
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Nikki Haley was asked Wednesday by a New Hampshire voter about the reason for the Civil War, and she didn’t mention slavery in her response. That led the voter to say he was “astonished” by her omission. Asked during a town hall in Berlin, New Hampshire, what she believed had caused the war, Haley talked about the role of government, replying that it was about “the freedoms of what people could and couldn’t do” and turning the question back to the man who had asked it. Haley, who served six years as South Carolina’s governor, has been competing for a distant second place to Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
December 28, 2023 5:17 am
EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — Starting in March, Texas will give police even broader power to arrest migrants while also allowing local judges to order them out of the U.S. under a new law signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. But more than two years into a smaller-scale Texas operation to arrests migrants through misdemeanor criminal trespassing charges, there is little indication the state’s “arrest and jail” efforts reduced border crossings. The initiative has revealed limits of using arrests to deter border-crossers and raises questions about the legal apparatus Texas will use to begin prosecuting migrants on charges of illegal entry.
December 28, 2023 5:14 am
BETHEL PARK, Pa. — (WPXI) – The Bethel Park Police Department is mourning the death of retired chief Timothy C. O’Connor. Chief O’Connor, 66, abruptly resigned from his position back in November. Community leaders told Channel 11 at the time it wasn’t clear why he resigned. O’Connor was hired in 2015 after 35 years of working as a patrol officer for Pittsburgh Police. According to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office, He died just after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Municipality of Bethel Park issued the following statement: “The Municipality of Bethel Park expresses its deepest condolences to the family, friends and past coworkers of former Police Chief Timothy O’Connor. Chief O’Connor was a dedicated law enforcement professional who served the Bethel Park community for many years until he recently transitioned from his position. We’re asking that the privacy of his family be respected during this difficult time.”
December 28, 2023 5:07 am
Three Washington County Veterans whose remains were unclaimed were buried Wednesday at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies. Aubrey Higginbotham, a Tuskegee Airman in World War II, his brother Louis who served in the army during World War II and Joseph Calhoun, a marine that served during the Viet Nam war were given their proper burial. Myles Glotfelty, a retired U.S. Army veteran from Lone PIne was friends with Calhoun and took on the responsibility to properly honor the three heroes with the assistance of former Marine and Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi. Glotfelty started the process of properly burying the veterans in March. He pointed to the Soldier’s Creed that states to “never leave a fallen comrade” as his motivation to finish his mission. Commissioner Larry Maggi lent his expertise to break through red tape to efficiently have the soldiers’ remains released by the Washington County Coroner for proper burial. A twenty one gun salute and the playing of taps sent the heroes to their final resting place.
December 28, 2023 4:53 am
Court documents unsealed this week say that a Pennsylvania man who was sentenced in secret for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot cooperated with authorities investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and an unrelated case. The documents provide insight into the unusual secrecy regarding Samuel Lazar (pictured bottom left), who was released from federal custody in September after completing his sentence in his Capitol riot case. His case remained under seal even after his release, so there was no public record of a conviction or sentence. More than 1,200 people have been charged with Jan. 6-related crimes, and hundreds have pleaded guilty. It’s rare for records of a guilty plea and sentence to be sealed.
