Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1091
Officials identify Mt. Lebanon mother and son killed in suspected double murder-suicide
Officials have released the names for two of three people killed early Thursday near Mt. Lebanon in a suspected murder-suicide. Ana Tratras, 59, was shot to death inside the Gilkeson Road home she shared with her husband about 2:40 a.m., according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. Police have...
Sewickley Academy interim head of school says low enrollment influenced leadership changes
Interim head of school at Sewickley Academy Ashley Birtwell is pushing back on the idea the Sewickley Parents Organization is influencing the school’s decisions. Five administrators and a fifth-grade teacher were let go on July 21. One of the administrators who was terminated, former director of admissions and financial aid...
Explainer: Will Pa. evictions spike despite rental help?
HARRISBURG — A federal freeze on most evictions enacted last year is scheduled to expire Saturday, after President Joe Biden’s administration extended the original date by a month. The moratorium, put in place by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September, was the only tool keeping millions...
Trump urged Justice officials to declare election ‘corrupt’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump urged senior Justice Department officials to declare the 2020 election results “corrupt” in a December phone call, according to handwritten notes from one of the participants in the conversation. The notes of the Dec. 27 call, released Friday by the House Oversight Committee, underscore the...
CDC team: ‘War has changed’ as delta variant dangers emerge
New evidence showing the delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox and may be more dangerous than other versions has prompted U.S. health officials to consider changing advice on how the nation fights the coronavirus, internal documents show. Recommending masks for everyone and requiring vaccines for doctors and other health...
The Café at the Frick Pittsburgh museum reopens after more than a year
The Café at the Frick reopened Thursday — and with a new look. After being closed since March 2020 because of the pandemic, the Point Breeze eatery at The Frick Pittsburgh has been transformed into what spokesman Greg Langel describes as “a café that will serve carryout lunch offerings such...
Latrobe adds extra day, downtown activities to banana split celebration
This year’s planned banana-themed festivities in Latrobe have grown to include a second day of activities. The Downtown Latrobe Banana Split Celebration will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 20. The day will include live entertainment, activities for kids and, of course, helpings of the frozen...
Expanded child tax credit providing boost to families on the edge of poverty
For single mother Tara Tomlinson, the expanded child tax credit that arrived in her bank account earlier this month provided a lifeline that arrived not a moment too soon. Emerging from a pandemic-induced crush on finances and other resources, Tomlinson said things were tightening at an alarming rate. “I was...
Allegheny County DA Zappala suing state AG Shapiro over opioid settlement
District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. is suing the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office to stop the recently announced opioid settlement agreement reached between it and three pharmaceutical companies. In the 24-page complaint filed Thursday in Commonwealth Court, the District Attorney’s Office contends Attorney General Josh Shapiro is improperly seeking to...
5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: July 30-Aug. 1
We have reached the final weekend of July. Here are some suggestions for how to spend it in and around Pittsburgh. Open doors Doors Open Pittsburgh offers a self-guided tour of the Strip District from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Guests are invited to go behind the scenes inside...
States race to use covid-19 vaccines before they expire
Hundreds of thousands of covid-19 vaccine doses have been saved from the trash after U.S. regulators extended their expiration date for a second time, part of a nationwide effort to salvage expiring shots to battle the nation’s summer surge in infections. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday sent a...
EF1 tornado hit along Fayette-Westmoreland border, weather service confirms
A tornado touched down Thursday along the border of Fayette and Westmoreland counties, according to the National Weather Service in Moon. The tornado was EF1 and had wind speeds between 100 and 105 mph, according to meteorologist Jason Frazier. The National Weather Service said that the tornado touched down from...
Judge sets $250,000 cash bond for Arona man charged with witness intimidation
A judge on Thursday set a $250,000 straight cash bond for an Arona man awaiting trial on charges that he attempted to prevent his girlfriend from testifying against him last month in the Westmoreland County Courthouse. Shawn Grbach, 42, has been in jail without bond since his arrest June 14....
Health officials to release new covid-19 data
NEW YORK — U.S. health officials are expected to release new data about the spread of covid-19 on Friday that led to their decision to recommend that vaccinated people wear masks in some situations, a reversal of previous guidance. The report, to be released by the Centers for Disease Control...
Pittsburgh man who tried robbing South Side bank in wheelchair gets nearly 4 years in prison
A Pittsburgh man will spend more than four years behind bars for posing as a customer using a wheelchair at a South Side bank and handing a note to the teller threatening to kill everyone inside with a bomb he claimed was strapped to his chest, federal prosecutors said Thursday....
Pittsburgh man guilty of helping 3 brothers flee botched gun shop burglaries
A Pittsburgh man has pleaded guilty to aiding three brothers in back-to-back botched attempts to steal firearms from gun shops in Pittsburgh’s western and southern suburbs, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen Kaufman said Thursday. Haliston Este, 28, was convicted of one count of conspiracy before U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer...
Thousands of Pa. households still waiting for rental relief as eviction ban nears its end
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 — Almost every day for the past month, as the end of a federal freeze on evictions edges closer, Brian...
Market Street Pizza, born out of the pandemic in Leechburg, closes its doors
Downtown Leechburg is losing another restaurant. Market Street Pizza, at 132 Market St., is scheduled to close July 30. Thistle Events president Joe Hesketh announced the news on social media Wednesday, posting the decision to close was decided with “conflicting emotions.” Market Street Pizza is part of a restaurant portfolio...
Pa. health officials: Nearly all covid hospitalizations, deaths among unvaccinated
Nearly all of the covid-related hospitalizations and deaths in Pennsylvania are among the unvaccinated, state health officials said Thursday. Of those hospitalized across the state, 97% are unvaccinated, said Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam. Of deaths happening now, she said, 99% are of unvaccinated people. “At this stage, these...
Congress passes bill to fund Capitol security, Afghan visas
WASHINGTON — Congress overwhelmingly passed emergency legislation Thursday that would bolster security at the Capitol, repay outstanding debts from the violent Jan. 6 insurrection and increase the number of visas for allies who worked alongside Americans in the Afghanistan war. The $2.1 billion bill now goes to President Joe Biden...
Lawyer files new appeal for Franklin Regional school attacker Alex Hribal
A new lawyer for a former Franklin Regional High School student serving a 60-year prison term for a 2014 knife attack that injured 21 people contends not enough evidence was presented on his behalf during his sentencing hearing. Alex Hribal, 23, formerly of Murrysville, was 16 when he was charged...
Biden urging state, local governments to offer the unvaccinated $100Video
WASHINGTON — The nation’s millions of federal workers will be required to verify they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus or else face mandatory masking, weekly testing, distancing and other new rules, the Biden administration announced Thursday. The newly strict guidelines are aimed at boosting sluggish vaccination rates among the huge...
Troopers charge Arona man with rape of a child
A 34-year-old Arona man on Thursday was ordered held in the Westmoreland County Prison after state troopers arrested him on rape charges. Michael A. Wiser was arraigned on charges of deviate sexual intercourse and rape of a child. According to state police, the mother of a young girl reported an...
Gardening goats return to Frick Park to munch on weedsVideo
The goats are back. Just after 10 a.m. Monday, 14 goats and their guardian, a donkey named Hobo, in a procession entered their temporary home and project site at the Frick Environmental Center in Pittsburgh. The goats were led to the Clayton Hill trail area of Frick Park to resume...
Pittsburgh Public Schools board approves mask mandate
Students in Pittsburgh Public Schools will have to continue wearing masks during the upcoming academic year, according to the district’s health and safety plan. The plan — which requires masks indoors and keeps many covid-19 mitigation measures in place for the 2021-22 school year — was passed during Wednesday’s school...
