February 16, 2023 4:58 am
BURGETTSTOWN, Pa. – (WPXI) – Concerns are up after someone who was not a student found their way inside a local school and stayed there for hours. “We heard that there was an intruder and he was there for two hours,” said Lindsay Leininger, a parent. A letter from the Burgettstown superintendent sent a letter to parents on Tuesday, the day after a school board meeting and nearly a month after the incident. It says a Burgettstown student brought a student from a different district to school and that that person hid in the bathroom. Some parents are saying when it comes to the safety and security of their kids in school, they feel the Burgettstown school district is not doing enough. “School should have been put on lockdown as soon as they heard there was an intruder. Doesn’t matter the age, sex, size – it doesn’t matter,” said one parent during Monday night’s school board meeting. “It was an intruder it should have been handled differently.” The superintendent said the intruder took off running and was chased by a school police officer, but got away. He was caught by local police shortly after and was charged with trespassing. He also said he did not feel there was a threat so he did not think a lockdown or communication with parents was necessary. Parents want more communication in the future.
February 16, 2023 4:10 am
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) – Police say the man who shot eight students at Michigan State University, killing three, was found with two handguns and a note containing a possible motive for the attack. They described Anthony McRae as a loner whose father said he had no friends. Investigators are trying to determine if mental health played a role in the Monday shootings. The 43-year-old McRae was on foot when he killed himself miles from campus. One of the five wounded students is in stable condition while the others remain in critical condition with signs of improvement. Classes at Michigan State remain suspended through the weekend.
February 16, 2023 4:09 am
EL PASO, Texas (AP) – Police in El Paso, Texas, say a one person has been killed and three others have been wounded in a shooting at a shopping mall. El Paso police said hours after Wednesday’s shooting that two people had been taken into custody. Police said that Cielo Vista Mall was still considered a crime scene, and that it would remain locked down until authorities had completed their investigation. Police stressed that there was no further danger to the public. The shooting happened in a busy shopping area and across a large parking lot from a Walmart where 23 people were killed in a racist attack in 2019.
February 16, 2023 4:07 am
ATLANTA (AP) – A special grand jury that investigated efforts by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn his election loss in Georgia is expressing concerns that “one or more witnesses” called to testify may have lied under oath. The panel recommends that the district attorney “seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.” But the report does not name the people who are alleged to have lied. In addition to the section on perjury, the report’s introduction and conclusion were released Thursday. But any recommendations on potential criminal charges for specific people will remain under wraps for now.
February 16, 2023 4:05 am
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) – A devastating earthquake that toppled buildings across parts of Turkey and neighboring Syria has revived a longstanding debate locally and in neighboring Cyprus about a large nuclear power station being built on Turkey’s southern Mediterranean coastline. The plant’s site in Akkuyu, located some 210 miles (338 kilometers) to the west of the closest epicenter of the Feb. 6 tremors, is being designed to endure powerful tremors and did not sustain any damage or experience powerful ground shaking from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and aftershocks. But the size of the quake – the deadliest in Turkey’s modern history – sharpened existing concerns about the facility being built on the edge of a major fault line.
February 16, 2023 2:58 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Nearly a year after Bruce Willis’ family announced that he would step away from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, his family says his “condition has progressed.” In a statement posted Thursday, the 67-year-old actor’s family said Willis has a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia. Last March, Willis’ family said his aphasia had affected his cognitive abilities. The condition causes loss of the ability to understand or express speech. The statement was posted on the website for The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration and signed by Willis’ wife, Emma Heming Willis, his ex-wife Demi Moore, and his five children, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel and Evelyn.
February 16, 2023 2:29 am
WJPA Radio anonymously received a copy of an email sent by the National Correctional Employees Union addressed to Washington County Correctional Facility Warden Jeffery Fewell and to Washington County Commissioners. In the email, an alleged breech of security protocols was committed by Warden Fewell on December 27 of last year. Fewell is accused of escorting a visitor to meet with an inmate that is monitored as a high security inmate without subjecting the visitor to security measures required by facility policy. The inmate in question is accused of homicide. Some of the allegedly ignored security measures included no search of the visitor, no removal of excess clothing such as jackets and not having the visitor empty their pockets to a locked cabinet to prevent the spread of contraband. After a more than 90 minute Prison Board meeting on Wednesday, Warden Fewell declined comment about the email. Washington County Chairperson Diana Irey-Vaughn stated that they are unable to comment on personnel matters or security issues in county facilities.
February 15, 2023 5:28 pm
(WPXI) – A woman and her daughter were found shot to death in Swissvale Wednesday morning. According to Allegheny County police, Swissvale police were requested to help medics get into a barricaded apartment in the 7800 block of Sailor Place at around 10:13 a.m. First responders found a woman and female child dead at the scene from gunshot wounds. According to police, the preliminary investigation shows that this was a double homicide. In a press briefing, police said medics were originally called to the scene for a man with chest pains. They went to one of the apartments in the building but no one answered. They found out the call came from a different apartment which they couldn’t get in to. Police later said that the victims were mother and daughter. Police are looking to talk with 35-year-old Kareef Antonio Easington who they said had a relationship with the woman who was killed. Police said they don’t know if Easington is the one who called 911. Anyone with information concerning this incident is asked to call the County Police Tip Line 1-833-ALL-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.
February 15, 2023 4:25 am
FALMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Rare and in some cases never before publicly seen video of the 1986 dive through the wreckage of the Titanic is being released by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The more than 80 minutes of footage on the institution’s YouTube channel on Wednesday chronicles some of the remarkable achievements of the dive led by Robert Ballard. The expedition marked the first time human eyes had seen the giant ocean liner since it struck an iceberg and sank in the frigid North Atlantic on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City in April 1912. About 1,500 people died.
February 15, 2023 4:23 am
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – A white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket has been sentenced to life in prison without parole Wednesday after listening to the relatives of his victims express the pain and rage caused by his racist attack. Wendesday’s sentencing hearing for Payton Gendron was disrupted briefly when he was charged by a man in the audience, who was quickly restrained. Gendron pleaded guilty to charges including murder and domestic terrorism motivated by hate. That last crime carried an automatic life sentence. He still faces federal charges that could result in a death sentence if prosecutors choose to seek it.
