March 29, 2023 12:35 pm
Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) is investigating a series of phone calls made to 911 centers about schools across the Commonwealth involving threats of an active shooter situation or bomb threat. These phone calls were made to several schools in different counties. All calls have had similar content. All calls are being thoroughly investigated and responded to by law enforcement. These calls have created lock downs and/or evacuations of the schools with a large response from police and emergency services. The PSP has responded to all incidents in our primary coverage areas and has been in contact with municipal law enforcement partners investigating these incidents in their coverage areas. At this time, all claims in these calls have been determined to be false. All schools involved have been cleared or are in the process of being cleared by law enforcement. The investigation is ongoing.
March 29, 2023 7:52 am
DAISYTOWN, Pa. — (WPXI) – The sound of rushing water is the new normal for Daisytown residents. The water isn’t flowing down the creek, but rather deep into a newly opened hole. “I saw the sinkhole and found out that it had collapsed from the mine,” said Barbara Huey who lives in Daisytown. According to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), a section of the old Vesta 4 Mine that hasn’t been used since before 1920 collapsed. The water is now going into the mine shaft and has traveled half a mile underground, shutting down another road where the water is spewing out. Residents like Huey are asking the DEP for transparency on what’s going on. “Our concerns are how deep is it? Are there mine maps? Can they have a meeting, can they tell us to what extent it’s undermined? Has anyone determined how deep the hole is? What’s the time frame if you know on when this is going to be resolved?” Huey questioned. A spokesperson for the DEP says workers are attempting to divert the water away from the hole so they can fill it with cement to close off the opening by the end of the week. Huey, however, is looking down the line. “It’s like you have a big cut on your arm but you only have a little bit of a Band-aid. We still have to make do. We are going to do the little fix because we don’t know what else to do,” Huey said. Her concern is about where the water is going, and if it could it have eroded other mine shafts off the main branch, causing potential for future collapses. All her questions have gone unanswered by the state, she said.
March 29, 2023 4:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the federal budget standoff, the majority of U.S. adults are asking lawmakers to pull off the impossible: Cut the overall size of government, but also devote more money to the most popular and expensive programs. Six in 10 U.S. adults say the government spends too much money, but majorities also favor more funding for things like infrastructure, health care and Social Security. The findings from a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research suggest efforts to shrink the government may be politically risky ahead of the 2024 elections.
March 29, 2023 4:20 am
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — When smoke began billowing out of a migrant detention center in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, Venezuelan migrant Viangly Infante Padrón was terrified because she knew her husband was still inside. The father of her three children had been picked up by immigration agents earlier in the day, part of a recent crackdown that netted 67 other migrants, many of whom were asking for handouts or washing car windows at stoplights in this city across from El Paso, Texas. What she saw in those first minutes has become the center of a question much of Mexico is asking itself: Why didn’t authorities attempt to release the men before smoke filled the room and killed so many?
March 29, 2023 4:19 am
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Police say the Nashville school shooter legally bought seven firearms in recent years and hid the guns from their parents before killing three children and three adults at a Christian school. Police on Tuesday said the shooter did not specifically target their victims during the shooting at The Covenant School on Monday. The victims included three 9-year-olds and the head of the school. Shooter Audrey Hale was a former student at the school. Authorities say Hale was not known to them before the attack. Police say Hale was under a doctor’s care for an undisclosed emotional disorder.
March 29, 2023 4:19 am
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Crews were working Wednesday to remove three remaining barges that got loose on the Ohio River, including one carrying methanol. The Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet says a total of 10 barges got loose early Tuesday on the river near Louisville. Most were recovered, but the U.S Army Corp of Engineers says three were pinned against the McAlpine Locks and Dam and the locks are closed to traffic until the barges are stabilized. Kentucky officials say one barge was carrying 1,400 tons of methanol and was partially submerged. Methanol, also known as wood alcohol, is a colorless liquid that’s flammable and acutely toxic. Louisville Metro Emergency Services told news outlets they’re monitoring air and water, but “there is zero evidence of a tank breach or any leaks.” (Photo: AP)
March 29, 2023 4:16 am
BEIJING (AP) — China has threatened “resolute countermeasures” over a planned meeting between Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and United States House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during an upcoming transit visit in Los Angeles by the head of the self-governing island democracy China claims as its own territory. A spokesperson for the Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not give details at a news conference Wednesday, other than to demand that no U.S. officials meet with her. Tsai is scheduled to transit through New York on March 30 before heading to Guatemala and Belize. She’s expected to stop in Los Angeles on April 5 on her way back to Taiwan. That’s when the meeting with McCarthy is tentatively scheduled.
March 29, 2023 4:10 am
North Strabane Township Supervisors met Tuesday and worked quickly through their agenda. The biggest item presented was the rejection of the township’s 2023 road paving program. The rejection was not because of bad news. The township received a State Local Share Account grant of $400,000 to use on the McDowell Lane portion of the program. According to Township Manager Andrew Walz, because of the parameters placed on the grant, rebidding the McDowell Lane project as a separate contract was necessary. All other portions of the paving project will also be rebid. No additional roads will be included in this year’s plan. Walz also announced that PennDot rejected a request to restrict the use of brake retarders on large trucks on Rt. 519 from the township line in Eighty Four through Boone Avenue. That request was initiated by complaints from township residents. Walz also reminded residents that the April meetings for supervisors will be one week earlier. The non-legislative meeting will be on April 11 and the legislative meeting will take place on April 18.
March 29, 2023 2:45 am
(WPXI) – Authorities on Wednesday, responded to active shooter hoaxes at multiple school districts in several different counties in the Pittsburgh area. Police say there were no injuries and no evidence of any shootings at any of the schools. There was a massive police response at both Central Catholic and Oakland Catholic high schools in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, but Pittsburgh police said both schools have since been cleared and declared safe. Other school districts that received these fake threats include Laurel Highlands, Hopewell and New Castle. Pennsylvania State Police said they are investigating phone calls made to several schools in different counties involving threats of an active shooter situation or bomb threat. They said all calls had similar content and have determined to be false.State Police across the state near Hollidaysburg and Rockview are also reporting the same thing.
March 29, 2023 2:39 am
Officials with the Canon-McMillan School District issued a letter to parents/guardians and the media on Wednesday, regarding the active-shooter swatting calls that have affected numerous school districts throughout the area. The following statement was released: The district has been made aware that local area school districts have received a phone call indicating that there is an active shooter in their schools. We have been in contact with all of our local police departments and have confirmed that these calls are fake. The Canon-McMillan School District has not received any of these hoax calls but if we do receive one of them we will take it seriously, assess the threat and respond accordingly. The Canon-McMillan School District is in constant communication with all of our local police departments and will continue to monitor the situation. As of now we will continue our normal operations with a heightened sense of awareness. For added security there will be an increased police presence in and around our schools. We will inform you if anything changes. The Trinity School District also offered a similar statement to parents and guardians of students in their district.
