July 16, 2022 3:50 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Wolf signed legislation Monday to increase penalties for motorists who have multiple DUI convictions to try to end what critics call Pennsylvania’s “revolving door” for the most serious drunken drivers. The state Senate passed the final version last week after a couple of attempts to get the bill through the Legislature. The new law takes effect in November and increases penalties for some offenders who receive a third or subsequent DUI conviction. It aims to lengthen sentences by requiring someone convicted of a third DUI offense to serve consecutive sentences for separate counts, instead of serving the sentences at the same time. The law also increases the grading of offenses — and the potential length of the sentence — for someone convicted of a fourth DUI if they are caught with drugs or record a high blood alcohol content. The bill was inspired by the death of Deana Eckman. A five-time drunken driver killed the 45-year-old Delaware County woman in 2019 when he drove his pickup truck across a double yellow line and slammed head-on into the car she was riding in, driven by Eckman’s husband, who was seriously injured. The 30-year-old pickup driver pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and other charges and was sentenced to 25 1/2 to 51 years in prison. The driver, David Strowhouer, had been freed from state prison a few months before the crash after serving a concurrent sentence for his fifth DUI conviction.
July 16, 2022 3:50 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. (WPXI) — A Washington man has been federally charged for cyberstalking following a PFA order from his ex-wife. Authorities say 53-year-old Eric Scholl placed a GPS device underneath his ex-wife’s car, tracking her location for months. They say he also hacked into her phone, changing the linked email address to his own. According to 53-year-old Eric Scholl’s ex-wife, the abuse began in March of 2021 when Scholl placed his hands on her neck. And police say Scholl didn’t stop. After the PFA was filed, he turned to the internet, weaponizing her personal information. Authorities say he hacked her cell phone, changed the linked email to his own, posted lewd sexual videos to Reddit as if it was her, and infiltrated her PayPal. Officials say he committed many of these crimes while living in a halfway house in downtown Pittsburgh. According to the criminal complaint, Scholl sent threatening emails, broke into her home, removed her firearm and camera, placed a GPS tracker on her car, and terrorized the woman for nearly 2 years. Scholl was indicted in federal court on a count of cyberstalking and is detained.
July 16, 2022 3:50 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. — Washington City Council continued its battle against blight by approving nine more properties to be demolished. Combined with last month’s list the City of Washington will send 16 properties to the Washington County Redevelopment Authority for tear down. Mayor Scott Putnam says it is important to get these properties torn down for safety reasons. He also pointed out that it will help neighboring home owner’s property values to have these properties gone. Putnam also discussed the high number of rental homes in the city. He stated that the stock of rental properties in the city is nearly double of any other municipality in the county. He pointed to home buyer assist programs through Blueprints, the Redevelopment Authority and local bank’s first time buyer programs as methods to get new buyers into the market and hopefully move out absentee landlords that do not care for their properties. Putnam was also happy with the latest façade improvements made with LSA grants through the city’s façade improvement program. Putnam says $125,000 has been distributed and the business district is seeing results from the grants.
July 15, 2022 3:51 am
NEW YORK (AP) — A four-paragraph anecdote in a regional newspaper ignited a media fire over abortion that engulfed President Joe Biden, the partisan press and some of the nation’s top news organizations. The story about an alleged rape of a 10-year-old Ohio girl who had to travel to Indiana for an abortion touched on a white-hot issue due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion. The speed at which the story moved also raised questions about journalist’s sourcing in stories and how stories can be quickly taken over by political pundits. The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post issued corrections or clarifications to what they had written about the case.
July 15, 2022 3:50 am
VINNYTSIA, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials say Russian missiles that struck a city in central Ukraine killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 100 others, including children, while dozens were missing. Officials say cruise missiles fired from a Russian ship in the Black Sea struck a medical center, stores and residential buildings in Vinnytsia, a city southwest of Kyiv, the capital. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is accusing Russia of intentionally aiming missiles at civilians and repeating his call for Russia to be declared a state sponsor of terrorism. One military analyst thinks Thursday’s attack mirrors previous ones on residential areas that Moscow has launched “to try to pressure Kyiv to make some concessions.”
July 15, 2022 3:49 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has voted to restore abortion access nationwide. It’s Democrats’ first legislative response to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion. But the House bill approved Friday has little chance of becoming law, with the necessary support lacking in the 50-50 Senate. But the vote marks the beginning of a new era in the abortion debate as lawmakers, governors and legislatures grapple with the impact of the Supreme Court decision. The House also passed a separate bill to prohibit punishment for a woman or child who decides to travel to another state to get an abortion.
July 15, 2022 3:47 am
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) – A crucial effort to repair one of the world’s most important diplomatic relationships began with a fist bump. President Joe Biden held a carefully choreographed meeting Friday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the man he had once shunned for human rights abuses. Biden said he raised the issue of the murder of writer Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence has said the crown prince approved. This was Biden’s first meeting with the Saudi crown prince, who is the presumed heir to the throne held by his father, King Salman. Biden vowed as a Democratic presidential candidate to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” for its human rights record
July 15, 2022 3:46 am
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited the northwestern Xinjiang region this week amid concerns over China’s detention of a million or more members of primarily Muslim ethnic native minorities. The official Xinhua News Agency reported that Xi called Xinjiang a “core area and a hub” in China’s program of building ports, railways and power stations connecting it to economies reaching from Central Asia to Eastern Europe. Under Xi, authorities have carried out a sweeping crackdown on Xinjiang’s native Uygur and Kazakh communities following an outburst of separatist violence. Critics have described the crackdown that placed thousands in prison-like indoctrination camps as a form of cultural genocide. The U.S. and others have placed officials responsible under visa bans.
July 15, 2022 3:41 am
ELLSWORTH, Pa. — Multiple crews were called to the scene of a fire overnight in Ellsworth, but were not there very long. According to reports, Ellsworth and Bentleyville Fire Departments were sent to Walnut Street for a possible house fire just after midnight. Crews say no fire was showing from the outside of the home, but a small couch fire was contained quickly inside the structure. Crews were on scene for about 30 minutes to take care of ventilation issues. No one was injured. Cokeburg and Marianna fire crews along with Ambulance and Chair EMS were also initially dispatched to the scene.
July 15, 2022 3:23 am
WESTMORELAND COUNTY, Pa. (WPXI) — Emergency crews responded to an incident involving a plane that left the runway at Rostraver Airport on Thursday afternoon. Westmoreland County 911 confirmed that police, fire and EMS crews were called to the airport at 3:54 p.m. According to Rostraver Central Fire Department, units responded to a twin-engine aircraft that left the runway while landing. Fire crews contained a minor fuel leak from the aircraft. (Photo: Rostraver Central Fire Department Facebook Page)
