August 13, 2023 8:10 am
PITTSBURGH — Scattered severe storms moved through Western Pennsylvania Saturday, with the National Weather Service confirming a tornado touched down in Washington County. The NWS reported the tornado via social media just after 8:00 p.m. Saturday. Officials say a radar debris signature west of Green Hills was first confirmation of the tornado with video evidence later from the Morris Township Volunteer Fire Department near Prosperity. Storm damage and downed trees were reported in areas of East Bethlehem Township, while large hail was seen in areas like Claysville. Sunday’s weather will be pleasant, but the enhanced chances of severe weather return Monday afternoon and early evening. The NWS has Washington and Greene Counties in the “slight” risk category for severe storms that day.
August 13, 2023 1:22 am
PLUM BOROUGH, Pa. – (WPXI) -Four people are dead in an explosion in Plum Borough that destroyed three homes and damaged at least a dozen more. One more person is unaccounted for. One house was completely leveled with debris spilling onto the lawn. Officials say three people were hurt in the explosion. One person remains in the hospital in critical condition. Two others who were taken to the hospital in stable condition have since been released. According to officials, the explosion happened at around 10:23 a.m. on Rustic Ridge Drive and Brookside Drive. Crews at the scene saw one house completely leveled and debris pouring onto the lawn and street. Officials said first responders arrived at the scene and reported that people were trapped under debris from what appeared to be one house exploding. Multiple other houses were damaged with windows blown out by the explosion. In total, three structures were destroyed and at least a dozen others were damaged in some way, officials said. 18 different fire companies responded to the scene as well as Allegheny County Emergency Management officials, Allegheny County Fire Marshals, and water tankers from Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. There’s currently no word on what caused the explosion. Plum Borough on Facebook asked the public to stay away from the area and let the response team work. Plum Borough also said Renton Fire station is open if anyone needs refuge, food, water or a place to stay.
August 12, 2023 9:33 am
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A walrus calf found alone and miles from the ocean on Alaska’s North Slope last week and who received cuddles as part of his care after being rescued has died. The nonprofit research facility and public aquarium that was caring for the Pacific walrus calf says he died Friday. The calf was taken in by the center on Aug. 1 after being found by oil field workers a day earlier. The center says he was struggling with a number of health issues, such as nutrient malabsorption, and in the day before his death faced other complications.
August 12, 2023 9:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices in the United States picked up in July yet still suggested that inflationary pressures have eased this year since reaching alarming heights in 2022. The producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers— rose 0.8% last month from July 2022. The latest figure followed a 0.2% year-over-year increase in June, which had been the smallest annual rise since August 2020. On a month-to-month basis, producer prices rose 0.3% from June to July, up from no change from May to June. The producer price figures can provide an early sign of how fast consumer inflation will rise in the coming months.
August 12, 2023 9:26 am
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Bills safety Damar Hamlin is preparing for the next step to resume his career by suiting up in Buffalo’s preseason-opening game against the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday. The game will mark the first time Hamlin appears in a competitive setting since the 25-year-old went into cardiac arrest and needed to be resuscitated on the field in Cincinnati in January. Coach Sean McDermott told The Associated Press that Hamlin is scheduled to play. The third-year safety says he’s taken a step-at-a-time approach with each milestone which began with him being cleared for practice in April. He says it’s too early to express what playing in a game will be like.
August 12, 2023 9:24 am
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Residents of Maui County face a surreal landscape of flattened homes, blackened hulks of burned-out cars and ashy lots where buildings once stood as they take stock of their shattered lives in the aftermath of a wildfire on the Hawaii island that authorities say killed at least 80 people. A new wildfire Friday evening triggered the evacuation of Kaanapali in West Maui, but crews were able to extinguish the fire before 8:30 p.m. Many survivors of the fire say they did not receive a warning giving them enough time to flee. Attorney General Anne Lopez has announced plans to conduct a comprehensive review of decision-making and standing policies impacting the response to the deadly fires.
August 12, 2023 9:22 am
MARSHALL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A person was hospitalized after an overnight crash on I-79. According to PennDOT, the crash happened at around 12:20 a.m. on I-79 southbound near mile marker 74.5. The crash caused a lane restriction, according to PennDOT. Allegheny County 911 said one person was hospitalized following the crash. There’s no word on that person’s condition.
August 12, 2023 4:11 am
PITTSBURGH — The Monongahela Incline was stuck, according to Pittsburgh Regional Transit. PRT toldChannel 11 each car became stuck about 50 feet from their respective stations. There were nine passengers in one car, and three in the other. Cars started moving again just after 6 p.m. without anyone needing to be rescued. Police, fire and paramedics all responded and a rescue team was prepared to get people off the upper car. Crews are working to determine the cause of the outage. The incline will be out of service “until further notice.”
August 12, 2023 3:45 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Five former leaders of the Pennsylvania corrections officers’ union have been charged with theft after investigators say they used union funds to pay for personal expenses and hid the transactions. PennLive reported the criminal charges, made last month in a Harrisburg court, on Thursday. Two former union presidents and three ex-vice presidents are charged. The transactions — which allegedly totaled more than $23,000 among the five men — were made between 2015 and 2019 and included iTunes purchases, wineries and vineyards, and luxury venues in Las Vegas, the Harrisburg-area newspaper reported. The five men used union credit cards to make the personal purchases, submitted vague expense reports and attempted to block any questioning from other leaders, police say. The charges came after the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association’s own audit of questionable credit card purchases. Charged are former union President Jason Bloom for unlawful transactions totaling $8,286.48; former President Roy Pinto for $2,030.50; former Executive Vice President Tim Walsh for $5,834.58; former Western Region Vice President Larry Blackwell for $2,488.02; and former Eastern Region Vice President Robert Storm for $4,422.13. The Associated Press left messages seeking comment Friday with attorneys representing Bloom, Blackwell and Storm. Walsh’s attorney’s office declined to comment. No attorney for Pinto was listed in the online court docket. Bloom was suspended without pay from his position at a state prison, and the other four do not work for the government anymore, according to Maria Bivens, a state Department of Corrections spokesperson. The current union leadership says none of the men are still involved with the union.
August 11, 2023 3:22 pm
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Authorities have released the name of the third person killed in a bus crash on a Pennsylvania interstate near the commonwealth’s capital city. The Dauphin County coroner’s office said Friday that Kadiatou Barry, 21, of Cincinnati, died in the crash that occurred shortly before midnight Sunday north of Harrisburg on Interstate 81, but did not disclose her cause of death. The office had previously announced that 39-year-old Alioune Diop of the Bronx, New York, and 26-year-old Serigne Ndiaye, whose residence is unknown, died of multiple traumatic injuries. State police have said the bus, carrying up to 50 people and heading from New York to Ohio, was traveling south on I-81 during heavy rain. It was in the right lane on a right-hand curve when it left the road, struck an embankment, turned onto its right side and hit a sport utility vehicle that had stopped in traffic in the right lane, police said. Those killed on the bus operated by the Super Lucky Tour Company of Boston were declared dead at the scene, while other passengers suffered injuries that ranged from minor to severe. The occupants of the SUV were taken to a hospital with moderate injuries. Peter Chan, the bus company manager, said in a phone interview Monday that he was “very sorry to hear about the accident” but had no further information because he hadn’t been able to talk to the driver, who was hospitalized after the crash. (Photo: AP)
