June 7, 2023 1:48 am
Prosecution and defense attorneys have rested their cases in the jury trial of Michaela Hildreth, 27 of Ninevah, Greene County. She is accused of shooting the estranged wife of her boyfriend in Chartiers Township on July 20, 2022. Prosecutors put the victim Amy Mruk on the stand for her account the incident that found her being shot after instigating several arguments with her estranged husband John Mruk and Hildreth as well. Amy Mruk said that while she was walking back to a convenience store to meet the others, Hildreth drove up with John Mruk in an SUV. Amy Mruk admitted to assaulting Hildreth and after being pulled away she tried to return to the SUV with her hands in the air and that is when Hildreth shot her. The defense put Hildreth on the stand in her own defense. Her recollection is that Amy Mruk beat her head on the steering wheel causing profuse bleeding. This caused Hildreth to fear for her life and the life of the others in her SUV. When Amy Mruk approached her vehicle again she shot her. Hildreth’s testimony did not exactly line up with previous witness testimony. She blamed the chaos of the situation for the difference in recollections. Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday. Jury deliberations will begin immediately after.
June 6, 2023 3:51 pm
One person is dead following a shooting in Uniontown on Tuesday. State police have identified the victim as 38-year-old Anthony Jones and also said they have identified a person of interest and he should be considered armed and dangerous. The shooting occurred around eleven-thirty a.m. in an area around Clark Street on the east side of the city. Police say they found Jones lying in the street when they arrived and rushed him to a local hospital where he died.
June 6, 2023 12:47 pm
(AP) – The most disruptive year in golf is coming to an end. The PGA Tour and European tour have agreed to a merger with Saudi Arabia’s golf interests. They’re creating a commercial operation designed to unify professional golf around the world. As part of the agreement, all sides are immediately dropping litigation involving LIV Golf. Still to be determined is how players who defected to LIV can return next year and what LIV Golf will look like going forward. The agreement combines the tours’ commercial business and rights with those of the Public Investment Fund. That includes LIV Golf.
June 6, 2023 5:16 am
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Officials are investigating whether Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis was behind a flight that picked up asylum-seekers on the Texas border and flew them — apparently without their knowledge — to California’s capital, even as faith-based groups scrambled to find housing and food for them. California Attorney General Rob Bonta says about 20 adults, mainly from Venezuela, were flown by private jet to Sacramento on Monday. Sixteen other migrants arrived Friday. They are the latest apparent instances of a Republican-led state transporting migrants to one controlled by Democrats. DeSantis and other Florida officials haven’t confirmed their involvement but last year they flew 49 Venezuelan migrants to Massachusetts from a Texas shelter.
June 6, 2023 5:15 am
ON OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — World War II veterans, officials and visitors are commemorating D-Day on Normandy beaches to honor those who fought for freedom in the largest naval, air and land operation in history. Many reenactors came at dawn Tuesday on Omaha Beach to mark the 79th anniversary of the assault that led to the liberation of France and Western Europe from Nazi control. A ceremony was to be held at the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, which is home to the graves of 9,386 United States soldiers. Most of them lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. An international ceremony is scheduled to take place later at the nearby British Normandy Memorial in the presence of officials from the nine main Allied nations.
June 6, 2023 5:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The pilot of the business jet that flew over Washington and crashed in Virginia appeared to be slumped over and unresponsive, the fighter jet pilots reported, according to three US officials briefed on the matter. The officials were not authorized to discuss details of the military operation and spoke on condition of anonymity. Authorities say four people were killed in the crash in a remote part of Virginia Sunday. The identities of the four people weren’t immediately released. Federal investigators say it will take a few days to solve the mystery of why the plane veered off course and slammed into a mountain.
June 6, 2023 5:13 am
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine on Tuesday accused Russian forces of blowing up a major dam and hydroelectric power station in a part of southern Ukraine that Russia controls, sending water gushing from the breached facility and threatening possible massive flooding and what officials called an “ecological disaster.” Ukrainian authorities ordered hundreds of thousands of residents downriver to evacuate. Russian officials countered that the Kakhovka dam was damaged by Ukrainian military strikes in the contested area. Ukrainian authorities have previously warned that the failure of the Kakhovka dam could unleash 18 million cubic meters (4.8 billion gallons) of water and flood Kherson and dozens of other areas downriver.
June 6, 2023 5:10 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Monday overwhelmingly approved a bill to increase the state’s property tax and rent subsidy for seniors and people with disabilities, plus raise the income eligibility cap to expand the program. The bill passed 194-9 and goes on to the state Senate. The legislation aims to follow through on one of Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposals, increasing the maximum rebate for seniors from $650 to $1,000, plus bumping the income cap to $45,000 for renters and homeowners.
June 6, 2023 5:07 am
Washington City Council held a public hearing for a conditional use application presented by CMR Enterprises. The group is looking to build Holden House of Hope, two recovery homes otherwise called ¾ houses on two properties on College Avenue, across the street from Washington and Jefferson College. Attorney Clark Mitchell, a possible neighbor to the project, stated to council that he is not against the mission of a ¾ house. He states that legally there are no definitions in city code that would allow such an arrangement to exist. He asks council to deny the request by the nature of the law. Laura Dieterle of the Washington Drug and Alcohol Commission spoke in favor of the project indicating that no medical services or treatment programs would be employed at the homes. The homes are strictly structured living facilities that have rules that residents would need to abide by in order to remain. Several proponents of the project stated that the homes would be better monitored than some of the dormitories at the college. Kiandra Foster from the University of Pittsburgh Program Evaluation and Research Unit indicated that she presented studies that debunk claims that programs such as this increase crime, devalue neighboring properties and have a negative impact on neighbors to the homes. Council will vote on the measure at Thursday’s voting meeting.
June 6, 2023 2:49 am
The Dairy Queen on Wylie Avenue in Washington is expected to reopen on Friday. Crews have been making repairs to a wall that was knocked down after an SUV plowed through it Monday afternoon. Authorities say an 84-year-old woman told them she mistakenly hit the gas pedal instead of the brake and rammed into the back of the building near the drive-thru. The impact sent her vehicle about three-quarters of the way into the structure. She suffered only minor injuries and refused treatment. The accident happened around four o’clock and there were people in the building at the time but no one was hurt. WJPA spoke with Colby Braughler, the owner’s son, who told us they are making repairs and waiting on the health inspector to okay their reopening which he hopes to be sometime Friday. Washington Police are investigating the crash.
