February 7, 2025 2:30 am
The City of Washington has begun a search for a new City Administrator. Council approved the retirement of Donn Henderson during their meeting Thursday night. Henderson says he’s looking forward to spending more time with his family. He has served as Administrator since May of 2022. His retirement will be official on April 12. He tells WJPA News that he will assist in the search for his replacement.
February 7, 2025 2:08 am
The Local Share Account grant awards have been adopted and 67 projects will be dividing $10 million dollars in funds generated by taxes levied on Pennsylvania casinos, specifically the Hollywood Casino at the Meadows. Commissioners unanimously approved the measure at their voting meeting Thursday. Commissioner Nick Sherman is happy to see the funding cover all areas of need in economic development, infrastructure and non-profits. He is particularly pleased at the way the grants are spread out to all corners of the county. Commissioners also approved a measure to begin a county airport hangar expansion. Advertisements to bid on a 14 unit T-Hangar to house aircraft at the airport will now be released. Commissioners also approved a contract with TranSystems to design the hangar. This included with runway width expansion and lengthening will prove effective in economic development for the county according to Sherman. The majority of the construction costs for these projects is funded federally from Federal Aviation Administration grants.
February 7, 2025 4:46 am
ROSTRAVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — (WPXI) – A man is charged with shooting and killing his girlfriend inside their home in Rostraver Township. Just before 11 p.m. Wednesday, detectives responded to a reported shooting in the 900 block of Route 136 after a child living in the home called 911. When officers arrived, Robert Chaplin, 34, was outside of the home in the driveway. The victim, Estela Rivera Vasquez, 35, was found shot in the chest and lying on the basement floor. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead an hour later. Police found several shell casings and a black gun on the basement floor near Vasquez. The Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office said Chaplin and Vasquez lived together. The three children living inside the home are safe and being cared for by relatives. Chaplin is charged with criminal homicide and was denied bail.
February 6, 2025 5:55 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal employees by offering them financial incentives. The decision Thursday comes hours before the midnight deadline for workers to apply for the program. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston sided with several labor unions that had requested a temporary restraining order against the plan orchestrated by Trump adviser Elon Musk. The Republican president is trying to downsize and reshape the federal workforce. The judge didn’t express an opinion on the legality of the program. He scheduled a hearing for Monday and directed administration officials to extend the deadline to apply for the program until after the hearing.
February 6, 2025 4:50 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are working overtime to meet President Donald Trump’s demand for a big budget package. Speaker Mike Johnson had GOP lawmakers working into the night ahead of a self-imposed Friday deadline to finish up the details. They’re eyeing some $3 trillion in tax breaks, massive government program cuts and a possible extension of the nation’s debt limit. This all comes after a lengthy White House meeting Thursday where Trump’s message was simple: Get it done. The House has blown past its earlier deadline and is now racing Senate Republicans, who are preparing their own package. Senate Republicans are heading late Friday to meet with Trump at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
February 7, 2025 4:58 am
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court has called on its member states to stand up against sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump. It said the move was an attempt to “harm its independent and impartial judicial work.” The White House issued the executive order on Thursday in response to what it called “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.” It was referring to the arrest warrant the ICC issued last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza. The Hague-based court said it “condemns” the move.
February 7, 2025 4:56 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has confirmed Russell Vought, President Donald Trump’s nominee for White House budget director. He is planning to use one of the most powerful positions in federal government to zealously expand the president’s power. The Thursday night vote was planned after Democrats had exhausted their only remaining tool to stonewall a nomination — holding the Senate floor throughout the previous night and day with a series of speeches where they warned Vought was Trump’s “most dangerous nominee.” Vought’s return to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which he also helmed during Trump’s first term, would put him in a role that holds key power in implementing the president’s goals.
February 6, 2025 4:53 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal government payments for subscriptions to media outlets have become the latest target of President Donald Trump’s spending hawks. A day after his press secretary cited some $8 million in spending for Politico subscriptions, Trump dubbed it a “scandal” and online sleuths started looking for evidence of payments to other organizations like the New York Times and Associated Press. Said one Trump aide online: “The U.S. government must stop paying for media subscriptions.” But it’s actually a long-running tradition, depended upon by governments around the world to help them keep up with what is going on. And, the AP noted, has been a staple of Democratic and Republican administrations.
February 6, 2025 4:07 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to push out federal employees by offering them financial incentives. The decision Thursday comes hours before the midnight deadline for workers to apply for the program. U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston sided with several labor unions that had requested a temporary restraining order against the plan orchestrated by Trump adviser Elon Musk. The Republican president is trying to downsize and reshape the federal workforce. The judge didn’t express an opinion on the legality of the program. He scheduled a hearing for Monday and directed administration officials to extend the deadline to apply for the program until after the hearing.
February 6, 2025 9:20 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says his relationship with religion “changed” after a pair of failed assassination attempts last year as he advocated at the National Prayer Breakfast at the Capitol for Americans to “bring God back” into their lives. Trump on Thursday joined a more than 70-year-old Washington tradition that brings together a bipartisan group of lawmakers for fellowship. The nondenominational Christian also will speak at a separate prayer breakfast sponsored by a private group. Trump made waves at the final prayer breakfast during his first term. That year the gathering came the day after the Senate acquitted Trump in his first impeachment trial. The Republican president in his remarks then threw not-so-subtle barbs at some members of Congress.
