February 23, 2022 3:22 am
HONOLULU (AP) – The U.S. Navy says four people have died in the crash of a contractor’s helicopter on the Hawaii island of Kauai. The Pacific Missile Range Facility says the aircraft crashed on the north side of the installation shortly after 10 a.m. There were no survivors. The names of those killed were not yet available. The helicopter was being flown by Croman Corp. in support of a training operation. The National Transportation Safety Board says in a tweet the agency is investigating the crash of the Sikorsky S-61N helicopter. The missile range facility says an investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of the accident.
February 23, 2022 3:21 am
UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The United States and France are criticizing mercenaries in the Central African Republic from the Russian security company Wagner, accusing them of executing civilians, attacking U.N. peacekeepers and targeting predominantly Muslim communities. Russia never mentioned mercenaries or Wagner in responding Tuesday at a U.N. Security Council meeting, but said that “Russian specialists” are working “successfully” in the African nation at the request of its government. The exchange came at a council session at which outgoing U.N. special representative Mankeur Ndiaye said that “the Central African people are still awaiting the dividends of peace.”
February 23, 2022 3:20 am
TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) – About one hundred migrants from Haiti, Cuba and African nations threw stones and sticks at Mexican National Guard troops and immigration agents in the southern city of Tapachula, near the border with Guatemala. The confrontation Tuesday came amid months of complaints by migrants that processing claims for refuge, asylum or humanitarian visas was taking too long. The National Immigration Institute said in a statement that the migrants involved in Tuesday’s protests had blocked entrances to an immigration office and insisted they be attended to, ahead of people who already had appointments. When officers tried to force them to leave a four-confrontation broke out.
February 23, 2022 3:19 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon has approved the deployment of 700 unarmed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., as the city prepares for trucker convoys that are planning protests against pandemic restrictions beginning next week. The Pentagon says Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved the request from the District of Columbia government and the U.S. Capitol Police. The Pentagon says the troops will be used to assist with traffic control. Four hundred Guard members from the District of Columbia Guard will be joined by 300 Guard members from other states. The convoys follow the recent Canadian truckers’ protest of government pandemic restrictions.
February 23, 2022 3:18 am
MOSCOW (AP) – The East-West faceoff over Ukraine has escalated dramatically, with Russian lawmakers authorizing President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside his country and President Joe Biden and European leaders responding by slapping sanctions on Russian oligarchs and banks. Both leaders signaled that an even bigger confrontation could lie ahead. Putin has yet to unleash the force of the 150,000 troops massed on three sides of Ukraine, while Biden held back on the toughest sanctions that could cause economic turmoil for Russia but said they would go ahead if there is further aggression. The sanctions underscored the urgency felt by Western nations to blunt the conflict.
February 23, 2022 3:15 am
CECIL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Multiple Fire Crews were called to the scene of a garage fire Tuesday night in Hendersonville. The blaze broke out just after 10:00 p.m. on Raven Drive in Cecil Township. According to reports, the garage was not connected to the house. Cecil Township fire crews were joined by North Strabane and South Fayette Fire Departments. Reports say a tractor may have started that fire and oxygen tanks inside the structure played a factor as well. No injuries were reported.
February 23, 2022 3:06 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — Russia is the world’s third largest oil and gas supplier. With the country on the verge of, or having already, invaded Ukraine, the fear is what will happen with the supply in the U.S. Jim Garrity with Pittsburgh AAA said we could see prices we’ve never seen before. “Knowing that the national average could very easily be at $4.00 a gallon and Pennsylvania’s average tends to trend 15 to 20% more expensive, we could potentially see prices that we’ve never seen in Pennsylvania,” he said. Oil is now hitting its highest level since 2014.
February 23, 2022 3:04 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors tabled any action related to the expansion of the Greenwood Village expansion plan. Supervisors held a public hearing over the course of two nights and ordered traffic studies so that they could determine whether to grant the conditional use application that would add 27 units on a five acre parcel. Developers would like to build this expansion to allow residents a second public access to the development. Supervisors tabled the measure in order to consider all testimony from residents from those public hearing nights. Township resident Vincent Ley is questioning the legality of the application put forth by the developer Greenwood Village, LP. He also feels that traffic studies done were not as extensive as they could have been. Supervisors now have 45 days from the closure of the public hearing on February 15 to grant or deny the conditional use application.
February 23, 2022 1:39 am
Washington County Clerk of Courts Brenda Davis is hoping to have her contempt of court hearing, scheduled for Monday, stayed by a court order. Davis’s attorney filed a request Tuesday morning with the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania requesting it review Washington County President Judge John DiSalle’s administrative orders regarding the Clerk of Courts Office. The request is seeking to find out whether the orders issued in 2021 infringe on the consitutional duties of the office. The filing is an application for a Writ of Prohibition and a request for an emergency stay of her contempt hearing. The contempt hearing was stayed once when Davis appealed to the state’s Commonwealth Court. The court, however, rejected her appeals and Judge DiSalle scheduled the hearing for Monday. The hearing stems from an incident just before Thanksgiving when Davis was detained by sheriff’s deputies for allegedly refusing to allow the transfer of juvenile court records from her office to another office.
February 23, 2022 1:00 am
Authorities have arrested two Waynesburg residents in the shooting death of a man and a woman whose bodies were found on Valentine’s Day. According to the court documents, 28-year-old Cortland Rogers and 23-year-old Shawna Smith are facing multiple charges, including criminal homicide, conspiracy to commit homicide and burglary. The charges stem from the murder of 54-year-old Kevin Lamar Williford and 47-year-old Judy Butler Hunter. The two were found by their landlord in their second floor apartment on South Morris Street. According to the report, Rogers told police that Smith killed Williford, while Smith said that Rogers shot both of them. Police say Hunter and Williford had been shot in the head and their bodies were in advanced stages of decomposition, leading them to believe they had been dead for a long period of time. Smith reportedly told police that she and Rogers had gone to the couple’s apartment to confront Williford about missing jewelry and unpaid drug money. The charges were filed against the two while they were already in jail in Greene County. Authorities say they were being held there for allegedly tying up and assaulting a woman at their home at 41 Wood Street.
