WJPA News

North Strabane Township Police are asking for your help in identifying a robbery suspect. Police were dispatched to the Coen Market on Hill Church Houston Road at 8:40 Sunday night. They were sent for an armed robbery with the suspect wielding a knife at the clerk. The male suspect made off with several hundred dollars and Newport cigarettes. If you have any information that may lead to the arrest of the suspect, please contact North Strabane Township Police at tips@nstpd.com or call them at 724-746-4090. (PHOTO: North Strabane Township Police Department)

A Washington Woman was killed in a motorcycle crash Sunday night in Donegal Township. The Washington County Coroner’s office says 23 year old Alyssa Hutchison was pronounced dead at UPMC Washington Hospital just before 9 p.m.  Officials say she was traveling eastbound on State Route 40 when she was struck by another vehicle just after 7:30 p.m.  A cause and manner of death death are pending investigation. Washington County 9-1-1 says the driver of the car was also transported from the scene by ambulance but there is no word on their identity or condition. Donegal Township Police are investigating.

A man is facing multiple counts of aggravated animal cruelty after State Police were called to a home along Beacon Avenue in Canton Township Sunday morning. State Police say neighbors reported hearing dogs crying from inside a trash can. Troopers say four pit bull-style puppies were found in plastic grocery bags inside the trash can. One of the puppies was deceased. The other three had suffered severe injuries. Police say neighbors performed life-saving measures on those puppies until troopers arrived. The three injured puppies were transported for veterinary care and are awaiting surgery to address serious leg injuries. The ongoing investigation is being assisted by the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation Animal Cruelty Officer and the Washington County Humane Officer.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump attended the NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets as the guest of an unidentified suite holder at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. Trump arrived about midway through the first quarter and was greeted by a small crowd of supporters wearing Steelers jerseys toting a banner that read “Trump Nation.” The former president’s visit capped a weekend in pivotal Pennsylvania for Trump’s campaign with the election a little over two weeks away. He received endorsements from a pair of former Steelers in wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell. Brown and Bell greeted Trump when his plane landed outside Pittsburgh and attended a Trump-backed voter registration drive in the afternoon.

‘Tis the season – for 2000 Turkeys.  Believe it or not – Thanksgiving is just around the corner and that means we need your help making sure area families have a traditional Thanksgiving meal. WJPA’s annual 2000 Turkeys fundraiser is now underway. Committee members say there are even more families and individuals in need this year as compared to last and they need all the help they can get.  They say it would be wonderful if a group or organization were to make this their fundraiser this year.  Laurel Ziemba of Range Resources says “when you prioritize how you feed your family, Thanksgiving dinner is a luxury that a lot of families can’t afford.”  She says “that’s where 2000 Turkey’s will be able to supplement their income this holiday season to ensure they have a nice dinner for their family”.  If you would like to donate, you can send a check to; 2000 Turkeys P.O. Box 2000 Washington, Pa. 15301.

Hurricane Helene Relief Drives are underway across our area.  Businesses, groups, organizations and churches are organizing donation drives to help the victims of Hurricane Helene.  Helene struck Florida on September 26^th and then continued its path of destruction inland and into North Carolina and surrounding areas.  For a list of donation sites and needs, click here.

Elon Musk is pledging to give away $1 million a day to voters for signing his political action committee’s petition backing the Constitution. The giveaway by the Donald Trump supporter is raising questions and alarms among some election experts who say it’s a violation of the law to link a cash handout to signing a petition that also requires a person to be registered to vote. Musk promised on Saturday that he’d give away that daily amount until the Nov. 5 election for people signing his PAC’s petition supporting the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech, and the Second Amendment, with its right “to keep and bear arms.”

FEASTERVILLE-TREVOSE, Pa. (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has manned the fry station at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania before staging an impromptu news conference, answering questions from reporters through the drive-thru window. After an employee showed Trump how to dunk baskets of fries in the oil, the former president took his turn Sunday and even helped fill some takeout bags after a bit. Trump’s assessment? “It requires great expertise, actually, to do it right and to do it fast.” The visit came as he dug into his claim — one that’s spreading without offering evidence — that Democratic nominee Kamala Harris never worked at the fast-food chain while in college.

One of the late golf legend Arnold Palmer’s daughters calls Donald Trump’s references to her father’s genitalia “a poor choice of approaches” to honoring his memory. Peg Palmer Wears told The Associated Press on Sunday that she wasn’t upset by the remarks. Trump opened his rally Saturday in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, which is Palmer’s hometown, with a detailed, 12-minute story about Palmer that included praise of the the golfer’s genitalia. Wears said that she had only had passing encounters with Trump but that her father and Trump, an avid golfer, had primarily shared a kinship over the sport they both enjoyed. Arnold Palmer died in 2016 at age 87.

RUTHERFORDTON, N.C. (AP) — The presidential campaign in North Carolina is playing out in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane and a tumultuous governor’s race. Both sides are ramping up their activity here again after Hurricane Helene. And Donald Trump’s endorsed GOP candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, has seen his campaign collapse amid multiple controversies, potentially splintering GOP unity. Trump, the Republican nominee, has three North Carolina stops Monday, including a visit to see storm damage in Asheville. With 15 days until Election Day, North Carolina is critical to the Electoral College math for both Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

BEIRUT (AP) — Israel’s military says it is now taking aim at the Lebanon-based Hezbollah’s financial arm and plans to attack a “large number of targets” in Beirut and elsewhere. Explosions have begun in Beirut’s southern suburbs, about an hour after the announcement Sunday. A senior Israeli intelligence official says the strikes target al-Qard al-Hassan. The registered nonprofit is sanctioned by both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia and provides financial services. It is also used by ordinary Lebanese. Israel says it is a Hezbollah unit and is used to pay operatives of the Iran-backed militant group.