January 18, 2024 4:59 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress has sent President Joe Biden a short-term spending bill that would avert a looming partial government shutdown and fund federal agencies into March. The House approved the measure by a vote of 314-108, with opposition coming mostly from the more conservative members of the Republican conference. Nevertheless, about half of Republicans joined with Democrats in passing the third stopgap spending measure in recent months. The action came a few hours after the Senate had voted overwhelmingly to pass the bill by a vote of 77-18. The bill extends current spending levels and buys time for the two chambers to work out their differences over full-year spending bills.
January 18, 2024 10:53 am
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — The Justice Department says police officials who responded to the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, “demonstrated no urgency” in setting up a command post and failed to treat the killings as an active shooter situation. A Justice Department report released Thursday identifies “cascading failures” in law enforcement’s handling of one of the deadliest massacres at a school in American history. The report, the most comprehensive federal accounting of the haphazard police response to the May 24, 2022, shooting at Robb Elementary School, identifies a vast array of problems from failed communication and leadership to inadequate technology and training that federal officials say contributed to the crisis lasting far longer than it should have.
January 18, 2024 9:16 am
The reorganized Washington County Board of Commissioners have formally announced that Daryl Price will serve as the new County Chief of Staff. Commissioner’s Chairman Nick Sherman says “the transition team Commissioner Janis and I put together was so impressed with Daryl’s work serving as Chair that we asked him to stay on and serve in this critical role”. Sherman called Price a “talented individual with knowledge and experience in many areas”. Democratic Commissioner Larry Maggi said “I have known Daryl both personally and professionally for many years, I look forward to working with him”. Price is a Washington and Jefferson College Graduate with a degree in Business Administration. He is a member of the County Redevelopment Authority and a former North Strabane Township Supervisor.
January 18, 2024 8:28 am
Washington Police have arrested a man in connection with a fire on the porch of a home in the 600-block of Broad Street. Police Chief Steve Devenney tells WJPA News that fire crews were called to the home just before 10:30 p.m. Upon arrival they found an item on the porch on fire and quickly extinguished it. Chief Devenney says an individual at the scene was then taken into custody and arrested. At this time, police are not releasing any other information including the man’s name. He is last reported held in the Washington County Jail.
January 18, 2024 5:10 am
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — (WPXI) – A Peters Township man is accused of stabbing another man inside an Uber. The incident happened on Jan. 12, according to court documents. The Uber driver told police his two passengers got into a fight. One passenger, identified as Christopher Cavanagh, pulled out a knife. The driver stopped the vehicle and ran to safety. Police found the victim along Georgetown Road in Cecil Township with multiple stab wounds to his chest. Cavanagh was nearby when police arrived and was arrested. The victim was taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital. Cavanagh is facing multiple charges, including aggravated assault.
January 18, 2024 5:10 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says it had tested a purported underwater nuclear attack drone in response to a combined naval exercise between South Korea and the United States and Japan this week, as it continues to blame its rivals for raising tensions in the region. The alleged drone test came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared he would scrap his country’s long-standing goal of a peaceful unification with South Korea and that his country would rewrite its constitution to define South Korea as its most hostile foreign adversary. North Korea first tested the drone last year and says it’s designed to strike enemy vessels and ports. South Korea’s military insists the North has exaggerated the capabilities of the drone.
January 18, 2024 5:06 am
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities says a power line fell on a car in Portland, Oregon, killing three people and injuring a baby during an ice storm that turned roads and mountain highways treacherous in the Pacific Northwest. In a statement, the fire department said a large branch fell on the power line, causing it to crash down onto the car. Authorities say they believe the victims were electrocuted after they got out of the vehicle. Swaths of southwest Washington and northwest Oregon were under warnings earlier Wednesday for as much as an inch of ice. The National Weather Service said freezing rain could possibly return to the region Thursday and Friday.
January 18, 2024 5:06 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — Rifts are emerging among top Israeli officials over the handling of the war against the Hamas militant group in Gaza. A member of Israel’s War Cabinet has cast doubt over the strategy for releasing hostages, while the country’s prime minister rejected the United States’ calls to scale back its offensive. One of the four members of Israel’s War Cabinet, former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, said late Thursday that only a cease-fire deal can win the release of dozens of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. He also said dismissed claims that hostages could be freed by other means as “illusions.” It was Eisenkot’s first public statements on the issue, and the latest sign of a growing rift among political and military leaders over the direction of Israel’s offensive.
January 18, 2024 5:04 am
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is cramming campaigning and court into a single day. That led him to be more than two hours late for a rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, after he spent the day in court in New York. Trump held a press conference in Manhattan complaining the judge presiding over his defamation trial was biased. Trump has long built his Republican primary campaign around his legal woes. He claims he’s being persecuted by Democrats and says he has done nothing wrong. But Wednesday’s epic day showed the way his many legal woes will bleed into his campaign appearances.
January 18, 2024 5:03 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has launched another wave of missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites in Yemen, marking the fourth time in days it has directly targeted the group. The strikes were launched from the Red Sea and hit 14 missiles that U.S. Central Command deemed an “imminent threat.” They follow the official announcement Wednesday that the U.S. has put the Houthis back on its list of specially designated global terrorists. Despite a large-scale operation carried out by U.S. and British warships and warplanes Friday that hit more than 60 targets across Yemen, the Houthis have continued their harassment campaign of commercial and military ships.
