WJPA News

CANONSBURG — (WPXI) – The Canonsburg Police Department came across a young boy, between the ages of three and five, walking through the streets around 8 p.m. on Monday. He was wearing only a diaper and was found walking in the Greenside Ave, Smithfield St. and Vine St. areas. He was safely reunited with his family. However, at this time there is no word as to if any charges will be filed.

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. — Say hello to the newest member of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office! Deputy K-9 Sammi is a 2-year-old Belgium Malinois and is named after Sheriff Sam Romano who implemented the first K-9 program in the history of the department.K-9 OBIE will still be employed until his retirement in November. Both K-9s will remain active and will share responsibilities for the next several months. The sheriff’s department would like to thank the community for its continued support of this program.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – The lawyer for Charlie Gerow, a Republican candidate for governor, says it appears Gerow didn’t hit the motorcyclist who was killed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike last week. Lawyer Joseph P. Green Jr. also says Gerow wasn’t driving impaired. Green says it appears that the motorcycle was lying in the roadway when Gerow hit it, impaling it on his Mercedes. An attendee at the political fundraiser Gerow had been attending in suburban Philadelphia last Wednesday evening said she did not see him drinking and that he seemed sober when he left. The accident shut down the Pennsylvania Turnpike for seven hours and left motorcyclist Logan Carl Abbott dead.

TYRONE, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say injuries have been reported following a house explosion in central Pennsylvania. Emergency dispatchers in Blair County say the blast in Tyrone was reported shortly after 1 p.m. Monday and flames spread to two other houses. Officials said burn patients were transported to Altoona Hospital and to Tyrone Hospital. The extent of injuries wasn’t immediately available. There was no immediate word on a possible cause of the explosion.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Four officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection are giving emotional and angry accounts of the attack. They testified Tuesday that they were beaten as the mob of Donald Trump supporters overwhelmed them, broke through windows and doors and interrupted the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential win. A new House committee is launching its probe with a focus on the law enforcement officers who protected them. Officers testified with emotion that they felt they might well be killed. And they rebuked Republican lawmakers for resisting the investigation and playing down the violence of the mob.

(AP) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reversing course on some masking guidelines. The agency announced new recommendations Tuesday that even vaccinated people should return to wearing masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the coronavirus is surging. Scientists cited new information about the ability of the delta variant to spread among vaccinated people. The CDC also recommended indoor masks for all teachers, staff, students and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status. The new guidance follows recent decisions in Los Angeles and St. Louis to revert to indoor mask mandates amid a spike in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations that have been especially bad in the South.

TOKYO (AP) – Tokyo has reported its highest number of new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, days after the Olympics began. The Japanese capital reported 2,848 new COVID-19 cases, exceeding the earlier record of 2,520 cases on Jan. 7. It brings Tokyo’s total to more than 200,000 since the pandemic began last year. Tokyo is under its fourth state of emergency, which is to continue through the Olympics until just before the Paralympics start in late August. Experts have warned that the more contagious delta variant could cause a surge during the Olympics, which started Friday.

Reigning Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles is out of the team finals after apparently suffering an injury during the vault.  The 24-year-old U.S. star, considered to be the greatest gymnast of all time, huddled with a trainer after landing her vault. She then exited the competition floor with the team doctor.  Biles returned several minutes later with her right leg wrapped. She took off her bar grips, and hugged teammates Grace McCallum, Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles before putting on a jacket and sweatpants.  The Americans will be forced to finish the rest of the competition without her, severely hampering their bid to claim a third straight Olympic title.  Biles arrived in Tokyo as the unquestioned star of the Games but struggled, at least by her high standards, during qualifying.

PHOENIX (AP) – Two top Republicans in the Arizona Senate have issued two new subpoenas for materials from the 2020 election. Senate President Karen Fann and Judiciary Committee Chairman Warren Petersen issued the subpoenas late Monday to Maricopa County and the maker of its voting machines, Dominion Voting Systems Inc. The new subpoenas are the latest front in the Senate’s unprecedented partisan audit of the 2020 election in Arizona’s largest county. The election has been thoroughly reviewed and no problems have been found, but many supporters of former President Donald Trump believe it will turn up evidence supporting Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen from him.

CANTON, Ga. (AP) – A man accused of killing eight people, most of them of Asian descent, at Atlanta-area massage businesses pleaded guilty to four of the murders. He was handed four sentences of life without parole. Robert Aaron Long still faces the death penalty in the four other deaths, which are being prosecuted in a different county. His shooting spree at three different businesses in March ignited outrage and fueled fear among Asian Americans, who were already facing increased hostility at the time. In comments sure to further frustrate those outraged over Long’s apparent targeting of Asian women, a prosecutor said Tuesday that Cherokee County investigators saw no evidence of racial bias. That’s at odds with the hate crime enhancement that Long faces in the four other deaths in Atlanta.

VATICAN CITY (AP) – A trial is slated to begin on Tuesday within the Vatican City’s imposing walls of 10 defendants, including a once-powerful cardinal, for roles in the allegedly criminal management of the Holy See’s portfolio of assets. That wealth included donations by rank-and-file Catholics from the pews. The trial is the largest in the modern history of the Vatican city-state and is being held in a hall converted into a courtroom in the Vatican Museums. The most prominent defendant is Cardinal Angelo Becciu, an Italian prelate who had headed the Holy See’s saint-making office until Pope Francis fired him. Becciu denies wrongdoing. Looming large in the investigation is the Vatican’s disastrous London real estate investment.

INDIAN FALLS, Calif. (AP) – It could be days before officials will be able to assess the damage California’s largest wildfire has done to a small town. Erratic winds and the potential for dry lightning added to the challenges facing crews battling the Dixie Fire, which roared through the remote community of Indian Falls over the weekend. Firefighters reported progress against the nation’s largest wildfire, the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon. It’s 53% contained. More than 85 large wildfires are burning across the country, most of them in Western states.