July 23, 2023 7:03 am
WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. (AP) — The family of a 2-year-old girl swept away along with another child by a flash flood that engulfed their vehicle on a Pennsylvania road is expressing gratitude at the discovery of a body believed to be hers. The body was found early Friday evening in the Delaware River about 30 miles from where Matilda Sheils was carried away. The Philadelphia medical examiner’s office plans an autopsy. Meanwhile, the search continues for Matilda’s 9-month-old brother, Conrad. The Charleston, South Carolina family was visiting relatives and friends on July 15 when their vehicle was hit by what authorities called a “wall of water.”
July 22, 2023 7:41 am
(WPXI)HANOVER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A man is thanking people on social media for helping identify the men who he said brutally attacked him inside during a concert. Matt Garland says he was attacked by a group of men on the lawn at the Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa concert at the Pavillion at Star Lake. Garland said he left in an ambulance, beaten unconscious. His tooth had come through his cheek. He said the attack was completely unprovoked after the man standing behind him asked him to sit down. Garland said his teenage son and his son’s girlfriend has just walked to the other side, luckily missing what happened next. “Next thing you know he taps me on the shoulder, I turn around and he punched me in the face,” Garland said. “Before I knew it there were 4-5 of them I was getting hit from all angles, security was nowhere to be found. Basically, people in the ground, good Samaritans, they finally got me out of there. The last guy who came up stomped me in the face and head and that’s when I became unconscious.” Matt took to social media hoping someone could identify the men who he says ran away. The post had more than 300 shares, plus hundreds of comments and private messages all with the same names. “Strangers saw it thought it was wrong and reached out, I got the names and I was able to go to the police,” Garland said.Matt took the names and photos to Hanover Township Police. He is hopeful assault charges are coming and thankful for an outpouring of support.“I do hope that justice finds them. Karma too,” Garland said. “And I want to thank everyone on Facebook.Hanover Township Police said the attack was not reported the night of so now they are using the information provided, in part, by everyone on social media they have begun.
July 22, 2023 3:03 am
(WPXI) Friends and family of a missing Washington County man rallied outside of the courthouse today, in front of the District Attorney’s office demanding investigators look further into his disappearance. Matthew McDonald hasn’t been seen in four months, after he was last seen in California Boro on March 9th. Beth Engle Roth, Matthew’s mother, says her son would have reached out by now and never let their family fear the worst. “He wouldn’t do this to us. He would never ever do this to us. Something has happened to him and there are people who know.” The family argues the district attorney’s office and California Boro Police have not done enough to help find McDonald. District Attorney Jason Walsh tells Channel 11 they have followed every lead, filed multiple search warrants, searched homes and cars, including the home and car of the woman last seen with McDonald. Walsh said they’ve uncovered no evidence of a crime. McDonald’s mother disagrees, saying more leads have come in and they want to see more active searching. Investigators say McDonald did have a warrant out for his arrest, which the family acknowledges. But they do not feel it played a factor in his disappearance.
July 22, 2023 2:50 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Counties in Pennsylvania are preparing to get by without a quarterly state payment for some of the social services they carry out as a budget stalemate between Gov. Josh Shapiro and lawmakers drags into its fourth week. Tens of millions of dollars for county-level services for child welfare, mental health and more could be held up in the coming days, minus some sort of breakthrough. After that, big payments for schools could be stalled. Berks County Commissioner Christian Leinbach says an impasse lasting a few weeks won’t have much effect. But if there’s no budget agreement before fall, Leinbach says “that’s going to create some problems.”
July 22, 2023 2:50 am
Washington County Commissioners unanimously approved a proposal for increased broadband services in East Finley Township, Donegal Township and the Ten Mile Creek areas. Comcast will install 392 miles of Fiberoptic cable throughout the three areas with a total cost of 27.9 million dollars. The plan will give broadband internet to 2,600 homes and businesses in the southern part of Washington County says Owen Pucel, the director of operations for the Washington County Authority. County Commissioner Nick Sherman says the work to get Washington County broadband service is ahead of schedule and ahead of most counties in the state. After a successful pilot program in the past two years, the goal is to get the state of Pennsylvania to match the grants to get more houses broadband service. $9.3 million dollars will be paid by the County through the American Rescue Plan Act Fund, the remainder of the cost will be handled by Comcast. The county commissioners also approved the submission of a letter of intent to the Pennsylvania Capital Projects Fund Program to further extend service throughout the county.
July 22, 2023 2:47 am
Washington County Parks and Recreation’s request for late-season muzzleloader and archery hunting next year was approved by the county commissioners. From January 2nd to January 13th, hunters will be allowed to hunt deer in Mingo Creek Park, to control their population. The last time muzzleloader and archery hunting took place in Mingo Creek Park was late December 2017 through early January 2018. County Commissioner Nick Sherman says the decision to allow hunting after Christmas was to let holiday festivities proceed normally. Up to 75 hunting permits will be issued daily beginning Tuesday December 26th. The first week is reserved for County residents and property owners the first chance at the permits.
July 21, 2023 9:47 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge in Florida has set a trial date for next May for former President Donald Trump in a case charging him with illegally retaining hundreds of classified documents. The May 20, 2024, trial date is a compromise between a request from prosecutors to set the trial for this coming December, and a request from defense lawyers to schedule it after the 2024 presidential election.
July 21, 2023 8:45 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Tony Bennett, the eminent stylist and last of the great saloon singers whose devotion to classic American songs and knack for creating new standards such as “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” graced a decades-long career, has died at 96. His publicist said he died Friday. Bennett often said his lifelong ambition was to create “a hit catalog rather than hit records,” which he accomplished through more than 70 albums. Bennett was praised often by fellow performers, but never more meaningfully than by what Frank Sinatra said in a 1965 Life magazine interview: “For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business.
July 21, 2023 5:09 am
ATMORE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama has executed a man for the 2001 beating death of a woman as the state resumes lethal injections following a pause to review procedures. James Barber was pronounced dead at 1:56 a.m. after receiving a lethal injection at a south Alabama prison Friday. The 64-year-old was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2001 beating death of 75-year-old Dorothy Epps. Prosecutors say Barber confessed to killing Epps with a claw hammer and fleeing with her purse. His was the first execution carried out in the state this year. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced a pause on executions in November after the state halted two lethal injections because of difficulties inserting IVs into the condemned men’s veins.
July 21, 2023 5:07 am
When devastating rains swept through the Northeast, farmers in the region were dealt a devastating blow at the worst possible time. Plants were too early to harvest, but are now too late to replant in the abbreviated growing season. Some of the hardest hit farms were located along rivers in Vermont where farmers who’d spent months nurturing tomato, watermelon and other plants saw their efforts wiped out in a matter of hours. Storms dumped up to two months’ worth of rain in a couple of days in parts of the region, surpassing the amount that fell when Tropical Storm Irene blew through in 2011.
