October 1, 2022 9:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court begins a new term on Monday at a time of diminished public confidence and justices sparring openly over the institution’s legitimacy. The court seems poised to push American law to the right on issues of race, voting and the environment. Back in June, the conservative majority overturned nearly 50 years of constitutional protections for abortion rights. Now, the court is diving back in with an aggressive agenda that appears likely to split the six conservative justices from the three liberals. Joining the nine-member court is new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s first Black woman.
October 1, 2022 9:23 am
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Dozens of Florida residents left their flooded and splintered homes by boat and by air on Saturday as rescuers continued to search for survivors in the wake of Hurricane Ian, while authorities in South Carolina and North Carolina began taking stock of their losses. The death toll from the storm, one of the strongest hurricanes by wind speed to ever hit the U.S., grew to more than four dozen, with 47 deaths confirmed in Florida, four in North Carolina and three in Cuba. The storm weakened Saturday as it rolled into the mid-Atlantic, but not before it washed out bridges and piers, hurdled massive boats into buildings onshore and sheared roofs off homes, leaving hundreds of thousands without power. The bulk of the deaths confirmed in Florida were from drowning in storm waters, but others from Ian’s tragic aftereffects. An older couple died when they lost power and their oxygen machines shut off, authorities said.
October 1, 2022 9:18 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukrainian forces have encircled Russian troops in the strategic eastern city of Lyman in a counteroffensive that has humiliated the Kremlin. Russian bombardments, meanwhile, are intensifying after Moscow illegally annexed a swath of Ukrainian territory Friday in a sharp escalation of the war. In the northeast, Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of attacking a civilian evacuation convoy, killing 20 people including children. In the south, Ukraine’s nuclear power provider said Saturday that Russian forces blindfolded and detained the head of Europe’s largest nuclear plant. The fighting comes at a pivotal moment in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war. Putin this week heightened his threats of nuclear force and used his most aggressive, anti-Western rhetoric to date.
October 1, 2022 4:14 am
PennDot is informing motorists of short term traffic slow downs on Route 19 and Interstate 70/79 in South Strabane Township. Traffic slowdowns of 15 minutes or less will occur in both directions of Route 19 and Interstate 70/79 between 6:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Sunday October 2 weather permitting for filming work. PennDot is making clear that they are not involved with the work and are making motorists aware as a public service.
October 1, 2022 4:07 am
WASHINGTON, Pa. (WPXI)— A special dedication took place at the Washington High School homecoming game on Friday night.Caleb Jackson was honored by 84 Lumber with a new state-of-the-art digital scoreboard.Jackson was a Washington High alumnus and was a standout football and basketball player. He died in a motorcycle crash in May 2021.After graduating, he worked for 84 Lumber, who helped his memory live on in the gridiron.
October 1, 2022 4:02 am
The Canonsburg couple that are charged with the death of their three month old daughter had their preliminary hearing on Friday. James May, 31 and Shannon McKnight, 23 are facing identical charges of criminal homicide, endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment along with two drug possession charges. The nearly two hour hearing had the district attorney and both defense attorneys disagreeing over whether criminal homicide is an appropriate charge in this case. Public Defender Glenn Alterio questioned Coroner Timothy Warco over his determination that the death of the three month old was homicide and not something else such as accidental death. District Attorney Jason Walsh argued that parents ingesting fentanyl in the same bed as their children is nothing less that reckless. May and McKnight called an ambulance when they found their infant daughter without response on August 11. Their older child was taken to Children’s Hospital where it was determined he had drugs in his system. Testimony in the hearing showed that the parents did not attend their child’s funeral. They were found and taken into custody on August 19 hiding in the rafters of a Canton Township home. District Justice James Saieva held all charges for court. May and McKnight remain in the Washington County Jail without bond.
October 1, 2022 3:49 am
A Washington County man is accused of making and possessing 500 files of child porn. Fifty-six-year-old Dennis Shrader of North Bethlehem Township, a bus driver for the Bentworth School District was arrested after state police searched his house Tuesday. State police say they received multiple tips from a software company called Synchronoss, saying someone was uploading child porn to its account. Synchronoss was able to give the uploaded files to the police for an investigation. Court documents said the account contained files of toddlers and toddlers being abused. Police also found explicit photos of females between the ages of 8 and 15 years old and said the phone number attached to the account belonged to Shrader. After receiving a subpoena, authorities conducted a search of his house. During the search, a laptop was found, which contained the files attached to the Synchronoss tips. Police said Shrader admitted to possessing child pornography and to taking photographs and videos of an underage female. They say Shrader told them he was the only person who used the laptop. Shrader is currently being held at the Washington County Jail and is expected to have a preliminary hearing on Oct. 5.
September 30, 2022 1:53 pm
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – A West Virginia University fraternity has been cleared of hazing allegations but will be sanctioned separately on other violations. The school said Thursday that Pi Kappa Phi and the school agreed to end the fraternity’s interim suspension related to alleged hazing. The chapter will be on deferred suspension through February and lose some privileges through June. Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities Director Jill Gibson says no evidence of hazing was found but the investigation did find recruitment and alcohol violations of the Student Conduct Code. WVU says the fraternity agreed to participate in education, training and harm reduction programs.
September 30, 2022 4:15 am
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – A Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Kabul police chief says a suicide bomber has killed 19 people and wounded 27 at an education center in a Shiite area of the Afghan capital. Khalid Zadran, the spokesman, says the explosion in the Dashti Barchi neighborhood of Kabul took place on Friday morning. The area is populated mostly by members of Afghanistan’s minority Shiite community. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The Islamic State group – the chief rival áof the Taliban since their takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021 – has in the past targeted the Hazara community.
September 30, 2022 4:13 am
HAVANA (AP) – A few hundred Cubans have taken to the streets in Havana demanding the restoration of electricity, protesting more than two days after a blackout hit the entire island following the passage of Hurricane Ian. An Associated Press journalist saw a total of about 400 people gathered in at least two spots Thursday night shouting, “We want light, we want light!” It was the first public outpouring of anger after electricity problems spread from western Cuba. Ian hit Tuesday night and knocked out all of the island’s power grid, leaving its 11 million people in the dark. Authorities have not said what percentage of the population remains without electricity. But the Electric Union says only 10% of Havana’s 2 million people had power Thursday.
