Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1061
As scooter use increases, Pittsburgh officials remind people about ‘common sense’
Pittsburgh City Councilman Bruce Kraus has a simple message for people using electric scooters in the city: “You have to use common sense, for God’s sake. Please help us help you.” “You can not ride them through the Liberty Tunnels. You can’t go on the Liberty Bridge with them,” Kraus...
Man pleads guilty in plot to bomb Pittsburgh church in the name of ISISVideo
The Syrian man accused of plotting to bomb a North Side church in 2019 talked about potentially planting a second explosive device, timing its detonation to coincide with when first responders would begin to arrive, federal prosecutors said Thursday. That information came to light Thursday, as Mustafa Mousab Alowemer, 23,...
Saturday night’s all right for ‘Light Up Night’ in Pittsburgh
Light Up Night returns for its 60th year in Pittsburgh, but with a new date. Traditionally held the Friday before Thanksgiving, the celebration this year will be held on the Saturday before the holiday. The date will be Nov. 20, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership announced Thursday. What is being called...
Can kids be harmed wearing masks to protect against covid?
Can kids be harmed wearing masks to protect against covid? No, there is no scientific evidence showing masks cause harm to kids’ health despite baseless claims suggesting otherwise. The claims are circulating on social media and elsewhere just as virus outbreaks are hitting many reopened U.S. schools — particularly those...
Police: Man killed in brawl outside Philly cheesesteak spot
PHILADELPHIA — A New York man was killed Thursday after he was beaten with a trash can lid and pummeled during a brawl outside a famous Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurant, police said. The violence at Pat’s King of Steaks may involve spectators who earlier attended a soccer game, police said. The...
Allegheny Township to get a Taco Bell
Taco Bell is coming to Allegheny Township. Township officials approved land development for the fast-food restaurant last month. The eatery will be a standalone establishment, not a combo KFC/Taco Bell, Township Manager Greg Primm said. “It’s always good to see new businesses coming in, especially giving people more options for...
Leechburg-Clairton football game to be moved, fans barred amid fallout from hayride shooting
Leechburg’s varsity football team will host Clairton on Friday instead of traveling to the Mon Valley school as originally scheduled, and no fans will be allowed in the stadium, the districts said. “It’s directly related to the unresolved crime in the community, the Haunted Hills Hayride shooting,” Clairton Superintendent Ginny...
Unity’s Victory Brinker comes up short in ‘America’s Got Talent’ final voteVideo
She may not have come away with the Vegas contract and the $1 million prize, but Victory Brinker is a winner by any standard. When the votes were counted on the Wednesday’s season finale of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” the 9-year-old opera singer from Unity came up short. Magician Dustin...
As covid-19 vaccine mandates rise, religious exemptions grow
An estimated 2,600 Los Angeles Police Department employees are citing religious objections to try to get out of the required covid-19 vaccination. In Washington state, thousands of state workers are seeking similar exemptions. And in Arkansas, a hospital has been swamped with so many such requests from employees that it...
North Huntingdon OKs new trash hauling contract; boosts rates $25 a quarter
A hike in residential garbage collection rates in North Huntingdon next year that is part of a new deal was almost inevitable, given the “below-market rates” charged by the current hauler, township officials said. The four-year contract commissioners approved Wednesday with Waste Management Inc. will boost residential rates to $77.25...
Nursing home industry leaders clash with advocates for workers, patient care
Nursing home leaders and advocates for patients and care workers clashed Wednesday, with one side asking state officials to put the brakes on plans to increase staffing levels at Pennsylvania’s 700 skilled care nursing homes and the other saying reforms can’t come soon enough. Industry representatives told lawmakers at a...
Breakthrough covid cases jump in Allegheny County
Breakthrough covid-19 cases in Allegheny County have risen in recent months, according to data from the Allegheny County Health Department. Breakthrough infections accounted for 23% of cases in August, Allegheny County Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen said Wednesday as she shared the first county-specific breakthrough data. The instances of breakthrough...
Salem man pleads guilty to blackmailing local teens for sex photos
A Salem man pleaded guilty to charges he blackmailed local teens to send naked pictures to him. Dylan James Krupitzer, 20, was charged last year after police said he contacted a 16-year-old girl in 2019 through a social media account and demanded she send him pornographic pictures of herself. Police...
Here’s how Pittsburgh is spending $95 million in American Rescue Plan funds
It took Pittsburgh council less than three months to effectively spend all but $30 million of the $167.5 million it received in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds this year, Councilwoman Deb Gross told her colleagues Tuesday. The city should have slowed the process and held off on transferring the...
Man wanted in Wilkinsburg killing arrested in New Kensington
A 19-year-old man wanted since July in connection with the May 23 drug-related killing of a teen in Wilkinsburg was arrested Wednesday in New Kensington, police said. Daeshuan Eric Smith of Penn Hills is charged with homicide, conspiracy and firearms violations in connection with the killing of Darin Hobdy, 17,...
Feds seize 2 shipments of fake covid vaccination cards in Pittsburgh
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seized two shipments of fake covid-19 vaccination cards in Pittsburgh. Officers intercepted the first parcel of 20 fake vaccine cards on Aug. 24 after determining the cards “presented a low-quality appearance and that they were being important by a consignee who is not...
Pa. Senate GOP moves to collect private voter information in controversial review of 2020 election
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — The state Senate committee undertaking a controversial review of last year’s presidential election results on Wednesday authorized subpoenas for...
Popeyes restaurant proposed for New Kensington’s Giant Eagle plaza
A restaurant that caused a nationwide sensation with its chicken sandwich could be coming to New Kensington soon. A Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant would be built in front of the Giant Eagle store along Tarentum Bridge Road, according to documents submitted to the city. The restaurant would be located between...
Fans barred from Penn Hills-Woodland Hills football game after hayride shooting
Fans won’t be allowed and security will be increased at the Woodland Hills-Penn Hills high school football game Friday amid concerns about “unresolved feelings and emotions” after one 15-year-old was killed and another was critically wounded at a North Versailles haunted hayride on Saturday. “We believe restricting those allowed onsite...
Greensburg Art Center show, activities honor member lost to covid-19
The Greensburg Art Center lost a piece of its heart and soul with the death in November of longtime member Cathy Rosensteel. The Greensburg artist is being remembered this week with a retrospective exhibition and activities at the center, 230 Todd School Road, Hempfield. “We miss her as a person,...
Pittsburgh schools superintendent Hamlet’s resignation is official with $400K payout
The Pittsburgh Public Schools board on Tuesday formally accepted Superintendent Anthony Hamlet’s resignation, effective Oct. 1. The board approved measures to accept the resignation and Hamlet’s severance package of nearly $400,000 which includes one year’s salary plus the value of his benefits. Hamlet tendered his resignation Sept. 8 after the...
Proposed chicken ordinance moving forward in Vandergrift
Vandergrift officials are moving forward with plans to adopt an ordinance regulating the ownership of backyard chickens. A three-person committee established last month to work out details of a proposed ordinance offered some of its recommendations at a council meeting last week. While council members had discussed the possibility of...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom beats back GOP-led recall
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday emphatically defeated a recall aimed at kicking him out of office early, a contest the Democrat framed as part of a national battle for his party’s values in the face of the coronavirus pandemic and continued threats from “Trumpism.” Newsom bolted...
24th floor fire spurs evacuation of Downtown Pittsburgh hotel; no one injuredVideo
A fire broke out Tuesday night on the 24th floor of a Downtown Pittsburgh hotel, spurring a temporary evacuation of guests while firefighters knocked down the blaze. No one was injured, though multiple floors of the Westin Convention Center were exposed to possible smoke damage, public safety officials said. The...
Allegheny County nixes proposed mask-wearing mandate to thwart spread of covid
An Allegheny County proposal to mandate mask-wearing at large outdoor events and most indoor gatherings failed to advance Tuesday night. The bill was pitched as an effort to thwart the ongoing spread of covid-19 while local cases and hospitalizations are on the rise and vaccination rates remain below targets. County...
