November 30, 2023 2:00 am
WJPA and the Observer Reporter Newspaper want to thank everyone and anyone who participated in the 2000 Turkeys Campaign. Thanks to the many generous donors, both private citizens and local businesses and corporations, the campaign was able to reach and surpass our goal of two-hundred-thousand-dollars. The total raised this year was $219,156.76. Each and every dollar raised will go towards helping a local family in need have a full Thanksgiving day meal on their tables. If you were not able to participate yet, but would still like to donate, it’s not to late. You can send a check to: 2000 Turkeys P.O. Box 2000 Washington, Pa. 15301.
November 29, 2023 4:36 pm
DETROIT (AP) — Electric vehicles have proved far less reliable, on average, than gasoline-powered cars, trucks and SUVs, according to the latest survey by Consumer Reports, which found that EVs from the 2021 through 2023 model years encountered nearly 80% more problems than did vehicles propelled by internal combustion engines. Consumer Reports said EV owners most frequently reported troubles with battery and charging systems as well as flaws in how the vehicles’ body panels and interior parts fit together. The magazine noted that EV manufacturers are still learning to construct completely new power systems, and it suggested that as they do, the overall reliability of electric vehicles should improve.
November 29, 2023 4:22 pm
DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers union has announced plans to try to simultaneously organize workers at more than a dozen nonunion auto factories. The drive comes less than two weeks after the union ratified new contracts with Detroit automakers. The UAW said Wednesday that its effort will cover nearly 150,000 workers at factories largely in the South, where the UAW has had little success in recruiting new members. The drive will target U.S. plants run by Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW and Volvo. Also on the union’s list are U.S. factories run by electric vehicle sales leader Tesla, as well as EV startups Rivian and Lucid. (Photo: AP)
November 29, 2023 3:22 pm
Several fire departments were called out around twelve-thirty Wednesday afternoon for a barn fire at 545 Mount Tabor Road in Long Branch. Washington County 911 says the blaze broke out in an empty barn and there were no injuries. There’s been no word yet on what may have caused the fire.
November 29, 2023 1:55 pm
WAYNESBURG, Pa. (AP) — A judge has dismissed all charges against three western Pennsylvania emergency management supervisors accused of obstructing an investigation. The investigation was into an emergency dispatcher accused of failing to send an ambulance to the rural home of a woman who died of internal bleeding about a day later. The (Washington) Observer-Reporter reported that the judge said there wasn’t “a scintilla of evidence” that Gregory Leathers, Robert “Jeff” Rhodes and Richard Policz blocked investigators from accessing information within the Greene County 911 call center. The three were charged with public records and evidence tampering and obstruction in the probe of the July 2020 death of 54-year-old Diania Kronk.
November 29, 2023 10:15 am
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. life expectancy rose last year, but it still isn’t close to what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. It was up by more than a year in 2022, after plunging two straight years at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s now 77 years, 6 months — about what it was two decades ago. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the numbers on Wednesday. Researchers say the rise was mainly due the waning pandemic. The snapshot statistic is considered one of the most important measures of the health of the U.S. population.
November 29, 2023 8:23 am
Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh says he is not able to comment at this time – on a raid at the office of Washington County Coroner Tim Warco. Washington County Detectives and State Police raided the office on Tuesday and confiscated records associated with a recent coroner’s inquest into the fatal shooting, by a police officer, of 38-year-old Eduardo Hoover Jr., of Coraopolis, in April. Walsh had held a press conference earlier and declared the shooting, by Mt. Pleasant Police Officer Tyler Evans, to be a justifiable homicide. Following the coroner’s inquest, however, Warco recommended Evans be charged with involuntary manslaughter, saying he committed an unlawful act in a reckless or grossly negligent manner, in Hoover’s death. Following the release of that report, Walsh said he stood by his earlier decision in May that the shooting was justified and called Warco’s recommendation a “theatrical stunt.” Warco also said that if Walsh refused to take up the case, then the matter should be turned over to the State Attorney General’s Office for investigation. Hoover led police from Smith Township and Mt. Pleasant Township on a high speed chase that ended in Washington before Evans had his cruiser rammed by Hoover. Evans exited his vehicle, drew his weapon and fired into the rear of Hoover’s pick up truck killing him. WJPA has received no response from Warco when asked to comment on the matter.
November 29, 2023 4:20 am
PennDot and the Federal Highway Administration are inviting the public to participate in a Virtual Plans Display of the Dunlap’s Creek Bridge Rehabilitation and Brownsville Avenue Bridge Preservation projects in Brownsville Borough, Fayette County. The Dunlap’s Creek Bridge is the first cast iron metal arch bridge built in the United States in 1839. The restoration project is designed as a sensitive rehabilitation that will remove encumbrances and restore views of the historic bridge to maintain its significance. The Brownsville over Dunlap’s Creek Bridge Preservation Project includes the rehabilitation of the existing structure. The work will eliminate the posted weight limit. PennDot is inviting the public to view the projects virtually. The period to view the plans begins November 28 and lasts until December 12. Plans can be viewed here https://www.penndot.pa.gov/RegionalOffices/district-12/pages/details.aspx?newsid=2481. The project is expected to begin in summer 2024.
November 29, 2023 3:58 am
PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — With her frail husband as a silent witness, Rosalynn Carter was celebrated by her family and closest friends at her funeral in Plains, Georgia, the same tiny town where she and Jimmy Carter were born. The former president attended the intimate gathering at Maranatha Baptist Church. She and her husband spent decades there welcoming guests. Maranatha Pastor Tony Lowden gave tribute to what he called “the life and legacy of the greatest first lady” and said that as a humanitarian, she “served every nation around the world.” Hundreds watched her motorcade through town. Her burial plot is in view of the front porch of the home where the 39th American president still lives. (Photo: AP)
November 29, 2023 3:54 am
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has presided at his weekly audience with the public at the Vatican. But the pontiff said that he’s still unwell and he asked an aide to read his remarks for him a day after canceling an overseas trip. Francis will turn 87 on Dec. 17 and had part of one lung removed as a young man. He stood up briefly at the start of the event in a Vatican auditorium on Wednesday and made the sign of the cross and then sat down. Francis has a lung inflammation causing breathing problems. The Vatican announced on Tuesday to skip a three-day trip to a U.N. climate conference known as COP28 in Dubai.
