July 2, 2023 3:07 am
(WPXI) The Tots Spot Daycare in South Fayette Township is closed indefinitely, their summer camp abruptly shut down as well, after two employees were charged with felony aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy. The charges come after a grandparent brought audio evidence of abuse to the township police department. Police charged The Tots Spot Director, Kelli Verdu, and employee, Heather Habovick, saying they were caught on audio targeting a girl who is under four years old. The girl’s grandmother told police she became concerned after finding pinch marks on the child’s arm, and the girl said they referred to her as “big fat baby”. The grandparent hid an audio recording device in the child’s bookbag, which the grandparent told police captured eight hours of evidence. Police released some of those details in the criminal complaint .The audio reportedly captured Heather telling the girl twice she was going to strangle her and after the little girl is heard screaming and crying. Habovick also reportedly said to take the girl outside alone and then telling her if she lets go she will fall backward. There’s a thud and the girl cries out. Verdu was arraigned Friday morning and released on bond. Habovick has not yet been arraigned.
July 1, 2023 2:50 am
Thanks to a partnership with the Rotary club of Washington, the City of Washington, the Pennsylvania Resources Council and Range Resources, glass recycling will once again be available to city residents. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Friday to officially open a glass recycling bin at Washington Park. The bin, which will be available for residents to deposit their glass bottles, jars and jugs, is located off of Log Cabin Drive and will be accessible Monday through Friday from seven a.m. until three p.m. and on the first and third Saturdays of the month from nine a.m. until noon. The glass that is collected will be hauled to Michael Brothers in Baldwin, where it will be crushed and then sent to a Mt. Pleasant facility to be sorted by color and then pulverized. After that, it will be sent to a manufacturer to be made into new bottles. Officials say the bin is strictly for glass bottles, jugs and jars and will not accept cut glass, bakeware, light bulbs, mirrors, porcelain, ceramics, stemware or TVs.
July 1, 2023 2:44 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Some of Pennsylvania’s school districts may have to spend down their reserves or take out loans to open for the fall semester, because billions of dollars in state aid is being held up in a partisan stalemate. State payments that help finance schools normally start going out by the end of July. But this year a stalemate between Gov. Josh Shapiro and a politically divided Legislature appears sure to stretch well into August or beyond. Lawmakers are not scheduled to return to the Capitol until mid-September, but Senate leadership has said they may return earlier to wrap up.
June 30, 2023 12:55 pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Oscar winner Alan Arkin has died at age 89. The popular character actor was nominated three times for Academy Awards and finally won in 2007 as the foul-mouthed grandfather in the surprise hit “Little Miss Sunshine.” Four decades earlier, he was nominated for “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming” and “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.” He also directed the film version of Jules Feiffer’s 1971 dark comedy “Little Murders” and Neil Simon’s 1972 play about bickering old vaudeville partners, “The Sunshine Boys.” His sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony confirmed their father’s death through the actor’s publicist on Friday. They called Arkin a “uniquely talented force of nature. (Photo: AP)
June 30, 2023 10:47 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A sharply divided Supreme Court has ruled that the Biden administration overstepped its authority in trying to cancel or reduce student loans for millions of Americans. Conservative justices were in the majority in Friday’s 6-3 decision that effectively killed the $400 billion plan that President Joe Biden announced last year. Borrowers are on the hook for repayments that are supposed to resume by late summer. The court held that the administration needs Congress’ endorsement before undertaking so costly a program and rejected arguments that a bipartisan 2003 law dealing with student loans provided the authority Biden claimed.
June 30, 2023 10:34 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has ruled a Christian graphic artist who wants to design wedding websites can refuse to work with same-sex couples. The decision is a defeat for gay rights. The court ruled 6-3 on Friday for designer Lorie Smith despite a Colorado law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and other characteristics. Smith argued the law violates her free speech rights. Smith’s opponents warned a win for her would allow a range of businesses to discriminate against customers. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court’s six conservative justices that the First Amendment envisions a United States where people are “free to think and speak as they wish.”
June 30, 2023 5:13 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has sent shockwaves through higher education with a landmark decision that struck down affirmative action and left colleges across the nation searching for new ways to promote student diversity. Leaders of scores of universities said Thursday they were disappointed by what they see as a blow to diversity. Yet many also voiced optimism that they would find new ways to admit more Black and Hispanic students, despite evidence that eliminating the practice often leads to steep enrollment decreases among them. President Joe Biden asked the Education Department to explore policies that could help colleges build diverse student bodies.
June 30, 2023 5:12 am
PHOENIX (AP) — Heat waves like the one that engulfed parts of parts of the South and Midwest and killed more than a dozen people are becoming more common. Experts say the extreme weather events, which claim more lives than hurricanes and tornados, will likely increase in the future. A heat dome that killed 13 people in Texas and another in Louisiana pushed eastward Thursday and is expected to be centered over the mid-South by the weekend. Heat index levels of up to 112 degrees are forecast in parts of Florida over the next few days and extreme heat is expected in Arizona by Saturday. Climate scientists say extreme heat deaths will increase without more action to combat climate change.
June 30, 2023 5:10 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the deputy commander of the Russian group of forces fighting in Ukraine, has been detained days after mercenaries staged a revolt inside Russia. That’s according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press about sensitive U.S. and Ukrainian intelligence assessments. It’s not clear whether Surovikin faces any charges or where he is being held. But his detention comes days after Wagner Group mercenaries took the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don and were heading toward Moscow in what appears to have been an aborted insurrection.
June 30, 2023 5:09 am
COLUMBIA FALLS, Maine (AP) — In the United States, many people view bigger as better. But some residents of a tiny community in Maine are balking at measuring patriotism by the size of a flagpole. Situated at the nation’s eastern tip, Maine’s Down East region is the place where the sunlight first kisses U.S. soil each day. It’s where the vast wilderness and ocean meet. It’s also the place where a patriotic family has proposed the world’s tallest flagpole — one that’d be taller than the Empire State Building, with a huge American flag on top. The proposal was supposed to unite people around the flag and create jobs. Instead, it’s laying bare community and cultural flashpoints.
