March 17, 2023 4:11 am
A Washington man already serving a sentence in state prison received an additional sentence on Thursday. Evan Hryniewich, 31 pleaded guilty to one count of felony escape. Hryniewich is already incarcerated in SCI Chester for pleading guilty to a robbery of a Marathon gas station in October of 2021. He was given a furlough from jail to tend to a personal matter in April of 2022. Hryniewich never returned to jail as scheduled and was later arrested. His sentence for the robbery is 22 to 44 months. Hryniewich will receive a sentence of 2 years probation to be served once he is released from jail.
March 17, 2023 4:10 am
Washington County Commissioners were met with a large push back from emergency responders throughout the county regarding the replacement of the current 9-1-1 radio communications system. Commissioners approved a measure to have a study conducted to see if current VHF technology can be used in a new radio communications system. The system being studied is a system proposed by TAIT/MRA Inc./ PMC Wireless. The system would cost approximately $22.5 million and would be paid through American Rescue Plan funds. MRA Inc. is the current vendor that supplies radio communications for the county and they would be conducting the study. First Responders from all over the county asked commissioners to table the motion for further consideration. They were upset that the proposal up for vote was not the recommendation from the First Responder Public Safety Advisory Board and the Land/Mobile Radio Subcommittee. The preferred option was supplied by Motorola and worked on a 80 megahertz broadcast system. Commissioners stated that budgetary issues came into play. Motorola could not guarantee that the system would be completely installed by 2026 so that it could be funded totally by ARPA funds. Their proposal was also $7 million more than the proposed budget. Fire Chief Chris Richer from the City of Washington Fire Department spoke of having a fire in January with entrapment and having no radio support from the county 9-1-1 system. Fire Chief Jordan Cramer of South Strabane Township related how his communications on Interstates 70 and 79 cannot be completed with emergency vehicles only a half mile away. Commissioners approved the study by a 2-1 vote. Commissioner Nick Sherman registered the dissenting vote. According to Commissioner Chairwoman Diana Irey-Vaughn, if the TAIT/MRA Inc. study comes back and says VHF does not work, it is back to square one. If the proposal is feasible, it will be approved and sent on to the U. S. Department of the Treasury for their approval for implementation.
March 17, 2023 2:50 am
Fayette County’s District Attorney has issued a temporary injunction to close Sails Inn in Uniontown after two men were shot and killed there last week. Police say 32-year-old Darrell Gregg and 28-year-old Tommy Stargell Jr. were shot and killed at the bar last week after an argument. District Attorney Richard Bower issued the injunction on Wednesday. Bower has referred to Sails Inn as a “nuisance bar” in the past and mentioned that there have been 74 incidents involving police at the bar before the double homicide. The owners had to padlock the bar and give a key to Uniontown police. The bar could be permanently closed depending on the outcome of a hearing that will be held on Monday at 2:30 p.m.
March 16, 2023 8:45 am
Fewer Americans applied for jobless claims last week as the labor market continues to thrive despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy and tamp down inflation. The Labor Department said Thursday that applications for jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending March 11 fell by 20,000 to 192,000 from 212,000 the previous week. The four-week moving average of claims, which flattens out some of week-to-week volatility, fell by 750 to 196,500, remaining below the 200,000 threshold for the eighth straight week. Applications for unemployment benefits are seen as a barometer for layoffs in the U.S.
March 16, 2023 8:43 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Pentagon has released footage of what it said was a Russian aircraft pouring fuel on a U.S. Air Force surveillance drone and clipping the drone’s propeller in international airspace over the Black Sea. The Pentagon said Thursday that the 42-second video shows a Russian Su-27 approaching the back of the MQ-9 drone and releasing fuel as it passes. According to the U.S. military, on a second approach, either the same jet or another Russian fighter that had been shadowing the MQ-9 struck the drone’s propeller, damaging one blade. Russia says its warplanes didn’t strike the drone and claimed the unmanned aerial vehicle went down after making a sharp maneuver.
March 16, 2023 8:41 am
TOPOCK, Ariz. (AP) — BNSF Railway says a freight train carrying corn syrup, not hazardous material, derailed in western Arizona, near the state’s border with California and Nevada. BNSF spokesperson Lena Kent says in a statement that “preliminarily reports indicate there are no hazardous materials involved” in the Wednesday evening derailment. A Mohave County sheriff’s official had earlier said the train was carrying hazardous materials when it derailed near the town of Topock and that there were no apparent spills or leaks. The derailment occurred in a rural, non-residential area about 20 miles north of Lake Havasu City. No injuries were reported. The derailment comes amid heightened attention to rail safety nationwide following a fiery derailment last month in Ohio.
March 16, 2023 4:25 am
NEW YORK (AP) — New data suggests U.S. deaths of pregnant women dropped significantly in 2022. It comes after a year when the maternal death rate was the highest in nearly six decades. According to a final tally released Thursday, more than 1,200 U.S. women died in 2021 during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth. That was the highest maternal death rate since 1964. Government health officials are still compiling data for 2022, but it appears last year the rate dropped back down to pre-pandemic levels. But that’s not great either: The rate before COVID-19 was the highest it had been in decades. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks the data.
March 16, 2023 4:24 am
AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — A conservative judge in Texas has raised questions about an effort to overturn the decades-old approval of a leading abortion drug, in a case that could threaten the country’s most common method to end pregnancies. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk heard hours of arguments Wednesday on a Christian conservative group’s request to revoke or suspend the U.S. approval of mifepristone. Such a step would be an unprecedented challenge to the FDA. The judge said he would rule “as soon as possible,” without giving any clear indication of how he might rule. Mifepristone, when combined with a second pill, was approved in 2000 and the standard method for medication abortion in the U.S.
March 16, 2023 4:23 am
GENEVA (AP) — Swiss bank Credit Suisse says it will move to shore up its finances, borrowing up to $54 billion from the central bank after its shares plunged, dragging down other major European lenders in the wake of bank failures in the United States. Globally connected Credit Suisse’s shares lost more than a quarter of their value at one point Wednesday. The stock price hit a record low after the bank’s biggest shareholder — the Saudi National Bank — told news outlets that it would not invest more money into the Swiss lender. Credit Suisse was beset by problems long before the U.S. banks collapsed.
March 16, 2023 4:11 am
Tuesday was the first day that challenges to petitions to appear on the ballot for the May primary election could be filed. On Tuesday three challenges were filed in Washington County Republican races for commissioner and prothonotary. Commissioner candidate Ashley Duff had her petition challenged regarding employment information. The challenge states that her position as “Home Economist” is misleading and does not qualify as an occupation under Pennsylvania Law. A second candidate for commissioner had his petition challenged due to the lack of required signature totals. Kevin Redford obtained 415 signatures, 244 of them were being challenged leaving him with 171 valid signatures, short of the necessary 250. In a third county race, incumbent prothonotary Laura Hough challenged her opponent, Kevin Hill on his employment description. The plaintiffs in the Redford and Hill challenges were represented by attorney and Washington County Republican Party Chairman Sean Logue. According to County Elections Director Melanie Ostrander, common pleas judges are to have challenge hearings scheduled by March 17.
