May 16, 2023 4:10 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Party nominees for four open seats on Pennsylvania’s statewide appellate courts will be settled in the primary election. Tuesday’s top-of-the-ticket race is for a state Supreme Court seat. On the Democratic ticket are Dan McCaffery of Philadelphia and Deborah Kunselman of Beaver County. Both of them currently sit on the statewide Superior Court, which handles appeals from county courts in criminal and civil cases. On the Republican ticket are Carolyn Carluccio, a Montgomery County judge; and Patricia McCullough, a judge on the statewide Commonwealth Court, which handles cases involving government agencies or state laws. Two seats are open on the Superior Court, and one is open on the Commonwealth Court.
May 16, 2023 4:06 am
The Peters Township School Board met Monday evening and adopted their preliminary general budget for the 2023-2024 school year. The budget announced is for $80,252,395. That is an increase of $3,457,989 over last year. Brad Rau, Business Manager for the school district says that there will be a .3 mill or 2% tax increase this year. What that means in numbers is that Peters Township Residents will be paying $30 more per year for each $100,000 of assessed value. Rau stated that the increase in the budget is due to mandated expenditures such as salaries and benefits. He also pointed to inflationary issues as a cause for the budget increase. Inflated costs for fuel, supplies, and utilities were also built into this year’s spending plan. No change in the budget numbers is expected. The budget will be adopted at the June meeting.
May 16, 2023 4:05 am
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission (SPC) held a public meeting Monday to inform county residents on the updates made to the “SmartMoves For A Changing Region” Long Term Plan for infrastructure and what projects are occurring through 2026. Domenic D’Andrea is the Transportation Planning Director and he states that $660 million worth of projects have been identified to be improved through 2050 with another $1.3 billion worth of projects identified as line items that will allow quick action if necessary. Angela Saunders, Transportation Planning Manager for PennDot described two projects that are in early engineering development. The first is an adaptive signaling project that will learn traffic patterns and coordinate stop lights on Route 19. The project will run 11.6 miles from the diverging diamond interchange in South Strabane Township, through North Strabane and Peters Townships to the Allegheny County line. The second project under development is the area of Interstate 70 near Claysville that has seen several rollover crashes from tractor trailers. Plans call for the elimination of a curve and the straightening of I-70 and the replacement of two sister bridges in the vicinity. According to D’Andrea, these projects are on the short term plan that runs through 2026. The long term plan runs through 2050. Plans for traffic, transportation, economic development and broadband expansion are included in the plan. To view the plan in its entirety and make comment visit the website at www.spcregion.org
May 16, 2023 2:53 am
The Trial of a Washington man charged in connection with a drive by shooting at East Wylie and Allison Avenues in the City of Washington in July of 2022 is underway. Russell Porter, 27 is being tried on two counts each of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. Most of the witness testimony was dedicated to establishing relationships that Porter had with Katie Deems who he had been visiting just before the incident occurred and was identified as the owner of the car that contained Porter during the shooting. His relationship with Nasstylejah “Styles” Wilkerson who is claimed to have had an agitated interaction with Porter before the shooting in front of Deems’ house, and Bailey Batch, the driver of the car that Porter allegedly shot at that contained Wilkerson. Batch testified that Porter and Wilkerson did not like each other. She also testified that she saw Wilkerson lean out the window of a white SUV and fire into her car. Testimony was sketchy as to which window Batch saw Porter fire from. She was also asked why she did not mention Wilkerson during the first interview with police. The jury will be back at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday to continue hearing police testimony about their investigation.
May 16, 2023 2:40 am
CONSOL Energy has issued a statement regarding an accident early Tuesday morning at their Enlow Fork Mine in Morris Township in Washington County. In an email, CONSOL says there was an underground accident involving supply cars and a mantrip carrier. They say no individuals, at any time, were trapped underground. Officials say three individuals received immediate assistance by CONSOL’s safety personnel and were quickly brought out of the mine for further treatment and evaluation. Two of the individuals received further evaluation for minor injuries at a nearby hospital and were subsequently released. The third individual was flown by medical helicopter to another local hospital to be treated and evaluated for non-life-threatening injuries. CONSOL says it is conducting a full-scale internal review of the event and is working with all appropriate agencies in order to determine the exact cause of the accident. (Photo: WPXI)
May 15, 2023 4:37 pm
FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) — Police say at least three people are dead and multiple others wounded after a shooting in Farmington, New Mexico where schools were put on lockdown. Farmington police say in an online statement that one suspect “was confronted and killed on scene” Monday. It says two officers were shot, including one with the city police and one New Mexico State Police officer. Both were reported to be in stable condition at San Juan Regional Medical Center. Police say “the suspect’s identity is unknown and there are no other known threats at this time.”
May 15, 2023 4:27 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — A special prosecutor has ended his four-year investigation into possible FBI misconduct in its probe of ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The report Monday from special counsel John Durham offers withering criticism of the bureau but a meager court record that fell far short of the former president’s prediction he would uncover the “crime of the century.” It represents the long-awaited culmination of an investigation that Trump and allies had claimed would expose massive wrongdoing by law enforcement and intelligence officials. Instead, Durham’s investigation delivered underwhelming results, with prosecutors securing a guilty plea from a little-known FBI employee but losing the only two criminal cases they took to trial.
May 15, 2023 2:52 pm
Police in Allegheny County are investigating a suspicious death in Mt. Lebanon. Authorities say they were called to the 200 block of Academy Avenue Saturday afternoon for the discovery of a dead man by a family member. He was later identified as 86-year-old Regis Bonner. The cause and manner of death will be determined by the medical examiner’s office. Police say they found a door to the home was unlocked and they found trauma to Bonner’s body, along with circumstances that prompted them to request assistance from the Allegheny County Homicide Unit. Anyone with information is asked to call 1-833-All-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.
May 15, 2023 8:54 am
State police in Washington are investigating the theft of scrap metal in Canton Township. At around 9:25 p.m. on Saturday, state police received several calls about one or two people cutting steel bars in the area of Caldwell Avenue near the Interstate 70 overpass. When troopers arrived, the suspects fled on foot through a passage under I-70. Troopers found a 1979 Chevrolet truck with the license plate ZHH2924 parked in the underpass with keys in the ignition, and leather gloves and cutting tools in the bed of the truck. Troopers also found a Stihl saw and cut steel bars in the area. Anyone with information is asked to call 724-223-5200.
May 15, 2023 4:44 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – The City of Pittsburgh is preparing for asylum seekers to come on Greyhound buses. There’s very limited information on who they are and where they’re coming from, only that they could arrive sometime this weekend. They’re preparing to give people a safe place here at the convention center. Pittsburgh police are monitoring the Greyhound bus station and the convention center in preparation for a group of asylum seekers. “We’ve been working with a variety of agencies to put together a little bit of a Welcoming committee so anyone who does come here will have an opportunity to get some rest while they wait for a bus,” said Maria Montano, press secretary for the mayor’s office. Montano confirmed to our news partners at Channel 11 that a group of approximately 1200 is expected to arrive in Pittsburgh sometime this weekend. These are not asylum seekers being directly brought from the border, which got national attention as the pandemic-era immigration policy called Title 42 ended Thursday. Gainey’s administration says the group of asylum seekers expected here is coming from a detention facility, but they don’t know which one. The group will be welcomed into the convention center staffed by volunteers from multiple non-profits. Those who arrive will be given phones to use, food, and drinks. “We are really proud of Pittsburgh, it is the mayor’s vision to make Pittsburgh the most welcoming city in America, doesn’t matter where you come from or who you are, you are welcome here in the city,” said Montano.
