Deb Erdley stories, Page 24

The lights stayed on. The lines stayed open. And 1999 ended with a whimper rather than a bang. I wrote those words in a news story for the Tribune-Review at the end of my shift as the calendar turned from Dec. 31, 1999, to Jan. 1, 2000. It had been...

A new year could mean additional earnings for thousands of Pennsylvanians as a new federal rule guaranteeing overtime pay goes into effect. The rule that takes effect Wednesday guarantees time-and-a-half payments to nearly all hourly employees who work more than 40 hours per week as well as most salaried workers...

For nearly 40 years, Russ Bell was Mr. Mt. Odin. If you were a golfer and you lived in Greensburg, chances are you knew the good-natured man who guided the expansion of the city golf course from nine to 18 holes and made sure the greens at the course were...

The owners of a shuttered hemp processing facility in Jeannette may resume limited operations under the terms of a Christmas Eve consent agreement with the state that calls for it to pay a $29,000 fine for air quality violations. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection ordered Patriot Shield Pennsylvania to...

A stolen briefcase containing payroll documents from an Excela Health employee this fall left the personal data of 1,800 workers at risk, hospital system officials confirmed. Authorities said they were notified around 6 a.m. Oct. 8 of the theft of a briefcase from an unlocked car parked outside a home...

University of Pittsburgh officials say Chancellor Patrick Gallagher, who is completing his sixth year at the helm of Pitt, is a keeper and they’d like to make good on his desire to continue in office through retirement. Eva Tansky Blum, who chairs the Pitt board of trustees, said Gallagher’s performance...

Local police say they are confident they are prepared for impeachment rallies planned across the region Tuesday evening. Activists calling for the impeachment and removal of President Trump have scheduled five rallies at locations across the region at 5:30 p.m. on the eve of the U.S. House of Representatives’ historic...

Computer hacking and election tampering dominate the conversation about cyber crimes, but a new study by the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts found an even more insidious offense tops the list of criminal convictions for cyber crime: child pornography. Online child pornography accounted for more than three out of...

Sage’s Army, a Westmoreland County addiction prevention and support organization, will hold its first Sober New Year’s Eve Party, Monday, Dec. 31 from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. at St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church Hall on Route 981, near Latrobe. The free event, featuring live music, food and drinks and...

John Sphon, a longtime Excela Health executive, was named CEO of the Westmoreland County hospital and health system Tuesday. Sphon’s appointment followed the announcement five days ago that Moody’s Investors Service had downgraded $63 million in outstanding Excela bonds from A3 to Baa1. In a statement on the downgrade, Moody’s...

With apologies to the snowman that couldn’t make it, it really was beginning to look at lot like Christmas in Ligonier on Sunday. Despite a scarcity of the white stuff, the quaint Westmoreland County mountain community nestled in the Laurel Highlands managed to radiate holiday spirit during its Town-Wide Christmas...

Ever-soaring traffic fines have created a new class of desperadoes in Pennsylvania. Young drivers who fail to pay traffic fines are then slapped with indefinite drivers’ license suspensions, and they risk even higher fines when they get behind the wheel. Make no mistake, this is a large class. A pair...

Another bid to question the whistleblower whose complaint triggered the impeachment inquiry into President Trump fell flat Wednesday. A motion by U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters, to subpoena the whistleblower failed when members of the House Judiciary Committee, voting on party lines, moved to table his motion and adjourn. Reschenthaler,...

Carmen Capozzi was overwhelmed when his 20-year-old son, Sage, died of a heroin overdose in a Hempfield motel room in March 2012. But the Irwin contractor collected himself, took his grief, molded it into an anti-addiction campaign and Sage’s Army was born. For 7½ years, working on a dream and...

A Westmoreland County boarding school announced Tuesday that it will begin offering a full scholarship for one student every year, beginning in the 2020-21 school year. Officials at the Kiski School, an all-boys boarding school with about 190 students in grades 9-12 in Loyalhanna Township, said a new $1.15 million...

College-level esports finally may be getting a little respect. They haven’t signed any deals to replace college football on Saturday afternoon TV. And it’s not exactly Gatorade, but the Robert Morris University esports team has a new corporate partnership deal with Mountain Dew AMP Game Fuel, an energy drink especially...

Pennsylvania should consider abolishing the kind of grand jury report that detailed extensive allegations of child sexual abuse among Catholic clergy, a task force of lawyers, judges and legal scholars said. In the report released last week, the result of a two-year review of the state grand jury system also...

The Tribune-Review sought reaction to the impeachment proceedings against President Trump in the U.S. House of Representatives. Here is some of what people in Western Pennsylvania had to say: Sindy Diaz, 48, of Greensburg, Republican “I believe this sham impeachment is a giant waste of the taxpayers money and time....