Regional News category, Page 101
Police, faith leaders to join community at Western Pa. events for 4th annual Faith & Blue Weekend
The Rev. Markel Hutchins was born a decade after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. But the work that Hutchins does now as chairman and CEO of the Atlanta-based MovementForward Inc. is deeply informed by the spirit of King and other civil-rights activists who came before him. In 2020, Hutchins...
AHN, Johns Hopkins end cancer center partnership
After nearly a decade, Allegheny Health Network and Johns Hopkins are ending their cancer center collaboration. The affiliation between the Pittsburgh-based health care system and the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins was established in 2014 and ended earlier this year. AHN will continue to partner with Johns...
Columbia Gas tests hydrogen blends in natural gas appliances
Near Beaver Valley Mall in Center, a micro-village is undergoing an experiment. They call it Safety Town. Small cabin-like structures surround a tiny house that’s been outfitted with the usual natural gas appliances you’d find in any home — a stove, water heater, washer and dryer and fireplace. There, Columbia...
Defense attorneys: Washington County DA seeking death penalty for political reasons
Defense attorneys in a Washington County homicide case are moving to disqualify the appointed district attorney amid allegations that he is misusing the death penalty for political gain as he faces a heated election in November. Jason Walsh, who was appointed to fill the position when District Attorney Gene Vittone...
The Kiski School will welcome girls after 136 years of all-boys boarding school education
For the first time in its 136-year history, The Kiski School — an all-boys private boarding school in Saltsburg — will welcome girls in fall 2024. Head of School Christopher Brueningsen said the decision was an emotional one, but he believes it is the right one when looking toward growth...
Pittsburgh morning radio staple John Garry Lindemulder, of ‘O’Brien & Garry,’ dead at 91
John Garry Lindemulder was popularly known as John Garry to listeners of the “O’Brien & Garry” morning radio show on 1250 WTAE-AM and its sister station, 96.1 WHTX-FM. He also was known as a legend in the world of radio. Garry began his radio career in Flint, Mich., and went...
State police locates Punxsutawney man wanted after Indiana County shooting
State police have apprehended a Punxsutawney man wanted in connection with a shooting last week in Indiana County. Storm Michael Armagost, 27, is charged with possession of a firearm without a license, reckless endangerment of another person, assault and harassment. Troopers responded to the shooting at an apartment on South...
5 takeaways from the House speakership saga
The U.S. House voted Tuesday to boot California Republican Kevin McCarthy from his role as House speaker, marking the first time in history that had been done. The effort was led by U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who garnered enough Republicans to join forces with all House Democrats to oust...
Mining company employee killed in Somerset County mine accident
HOLLSOPPLE — A mining company employee was crushed to death in an accident involving a shuttle car in a Somerset County mine, authorities said. LCT Energy said in a statement that the man became trapped between the car and an interior wall of the company’s Maple Springs mine on Monday...
A Gathering of Chefs: Chef Martin Thomas leads kitchen team a final time
Martin Thomas always makes room at the table because to him, enjoying a meal together feeds both the body and the soul. “Meals spent together are just so important,” said Thomas, executive chef at Chartiers Country Club in Robinson. “Being able to prepare food for others is what a chef...
Morning Roundup: Kittanning man found guilty of sexual assault; West Mifflin man missing
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Wednesday, Oct. 4: Kittanning man found guilty of sexual assault A Kittanning man has been convicted of multiple sexual offenses and domestic violence crimes against three young women between the ages of 16 and 20. A jury on Tuesday...
‘He saved my life’: Hillandale Farms founder donates $25M to Pitt after back surgeries
The pain in Orland Bethel’s lower back and hips became excruciating. In 2014, he was diagnosed with spinal stenosis — a narrowing and squeezing of the nerves and spinal cord. The 87-year-old Greensburg resident consulted with six orthopaedic surgeons. They told him they would need to “cut a chunk of...
Those in solitary confinement unit at Fayette prison face ‘cruel and unusual punishment,’ lawsuit says
Five people who have spent years in solitary confinement at a Fayette County state prison are suing the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections and prison administrators, alleging that people housed there are subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, also includes claims for due process violations...
Edgewood’s Bhavini Patel announces Democratic challenge to U.S. Rep. Summer Lee
After a roughly contested primary in 2022, Western Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District could be in for another competitive spring race. Bhavini Patel, 29, a Democrat from Edgewood, said Monday that she plans to challenge freshman U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, in next year’s primary. Less than two years ago, Lee...
President of Trulieve Cannabis retires
The president of Trulieve Cannabis Corp. has stepped down, effective Oct. 1. Steve White will continue to serve as a strategic adviser for the cannabis company until his anticipated retirement at the end of this year. Mr. White co-founded Harvest Health & Recreation in 2011 and served as its CEO...
Viatris to sell several business segments for almost $7 billion
Pharmaceuticals giant Viatris Inc. said Monday it has agreed to sell several business segments in a planned divestiture. The Cecil-based company will sell substantially all of its Over-the-Counter (OTC) business, Women’s Healthcare business, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients business in India. The company is also selling commercialization rights that were acquired when...
Pa. court says state-owned universities violated pact by cutting faculty without discussion beforehand
Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court has issued a split opinion in a case with implications for faculty cuts imposed at 10 state-owned universities since 2021 and any future professor layoffs. In an opinion that partly affirmed an arbitrator’s earlier decision, the court said Friday that the State System of Higher Education failed...
State’s sheriffs on board with renewed effort to stop guns at airport checkpoints with possible loss of carry permits
Airline passengers who enter a security checkpoint with a gun in their carry-on luggage are being put on notice — again — by federal authorities and county sheriffs. For the second time in two years, authorities said they will seek to revoke permits to carry a firearm. “It is simple:...
Plan ahead when ‘packing’ to avoid steep fines, potential loss of gun carry permit
A renewed statewide initiative aimed at getting airline passengers to stop bringing guns to airport checkpoints by asking county sheriffs to revoke concealed carry permits will add to the stiff fine gun owners already face when caught. Depending on circumstances, the federal penalty for bringing weapons to a security checkpoint...
Who approves concealed-carry permits in Pennsylvania? And what does that entail?
More than 1.6 million Pennsylvania residents are licensed to carry a gun concealed on their body or vehicle, according to state police. But who approved those licenses? And what goes into the determination process? Citizens who are 21 or older can apply for a concealed-carry permit at their county sheriff’s...
Self-driving vehicle testing in Pittsburgh area shifting gears to focus on trucking industry
Not long ago, cars topped with a futuristic apparatus could regularly be seen cruising along Pittsburgh’s streets, testing technology that allowed the vehicles to get around without a person steering the wheel. But such car sightings have become rare as the autonomous vehicle sector has refocused from the hype of...
Does the 2010s stink bug invasion hold any spotted lanternfly lessons?
Tracy Leskey remembers when the brown marmorated stink bug became “explosively invasive” in the early 2010s. “We had significant crop losses, some homeowners had thousands trying to overwinter in their houses,” said Leskey, a research entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Appalachian Fruit Research Station in West Virginia. Leskey...
Sewickley Bridge to close tonight from 8 until about midnight
The Sewickley Bridge will shut down in both directions for about 4 hours tonight while repairs are made, PennDOT announced at about 4:45 p.m. this afternoon. The bridge will closed 8 p.m. to about midnight. All bridge traffic will be detoured: From Sewickley • Motorists will take Route 65 southbound;...
Pitt trustees OK $100 million in campus renovations
University of Pittsburgh trustees on Friday elected a new chairman, received their first full report from Chancellor Joan Gabel on university progress and approved $100 million in campus building renovation projects. Board members meeting in the William Pitt Union in Oakland also encountered protests. They ranged from a boisterous but...
Coroner identifies 1 of 2 people killed in I-79 tractor-trailer crash
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office on Friday afternoon identified one of the two people killed in Thursday’s tractor-trailer crash on Interstate 79 as Butler County resident Frank L. Tupper, Jr. Tupper, 54, of Butler City, died at 12:50 a.m. Thursday at the scene of the crash, I-79’s northbound lanes...
