Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1119
Rachel Levine answers Sen. Rand Paul’s criticism in CBS interview
In one of her first on-camera interviews with a national news outlet since being confirmed as U.S. assistant secretary of health in late March, Rachel Levine discussed Sen. Rand Paul’s criticism of her during her confirmation hearing. Speaking on “60 Minutes Plus” on CBS’s streaming service Paramount Plus, Levine discussed...
Sharpsburg businesses prepare for extra traffic during Highland Park Bridge ramp closure on Route 28
On Monday, PennDOT crews closed the ramp from northbound Route 28 to the Highland Park Bridge in Sharpsburg to begin a construction project expected to last about three months. As construction workers posted signs warning of closures and detours, Bonnie Demotte scouted spots to put up signs of her own....
High court sides with former athletes in dispute with NCAA
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court decided unanimously Monday that the NCAA can’t enforce rules limiting education-related benefits — such as computers and paid internships — that colleges offer to student-athletes, a ruling that could help push changes in how the student-athletes are compensated. The case doesn’t decide whether students can...
Is it better to get immunity from catching covid-19 — or from vaccines? What science shows
Research shows both coronavirus infection and vaccination offers immunity that can protect people from getting sick again. But by how much and for how long remains unclear — a scientific gap that only time could fill. Regardless of how immunity is acquired, there’s no telling whose bodies will or won’t...
Car bypasses barricade on closed Tarentum Bridge, crashes and catches fire
A car bypassed the barricade Saturday on the Tarentum Bridge’s closed westbound lanes, crashed into construction equipment, then caught on fire. No one was injured, said Brad James, deputy fire chief for Eureka Fire-Rescue-EMS. The fire company received the call about 10:20 p.m. Saturday. The wayward car drove almost two-thirds...
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says bipartisan infrastructure deal is there for takingVideo
WASHINGTON — A senior Republican senator said a $579 billion bipartisan accord on infrastructure is on the table and he challenged President Joe Biden to decide whether he wants to pursue it. South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, who’s in a group of 21 senators from both parties who last week signed...
West Carson Street crash injures 7 people
A two-vehicle crash Sunday on West Carson and Corliss streets in Pittsburgh sent seven people to a local hospital, according to Pittsburgh police. One of the passengers, a child, was in critical condition en route to the hospital, police said. The wreck was reported just before 1:30 p.m., police said....
Child in stable condition after fall from 2nd-floor window in Morningside
Pittsburgh police are investigating the fall of a five-year-old boy Sunday from the second-floor building in the 1400 block of Jancey Street in Morningside. The child fell just before 3 p.m. and was transported to a local hospital. Police said he is in stable condition with a probable broken leg....
Boaters find body in the Allegheny River near 40th Street Bridge
Boaters found a man’s body floating in the Allegheny River near the 40th Street Bridge Sunday just after 1 p.m., according to City of Pittsburgh police. The city’s river rescue team and police were on scene to recover the body, according to an Allegheny County emergency official. The city’s major...
‘It lessens my bills’: $500 payments tested in upstate N.Y.
Annette Steele isn’t destitute or unemployed. But for a year she’ll be receiving $500 per month in no-strings-attached payments as part of an experimental universal basic income program in upstate New York. Places from Compton, California, to Richmond, Virginia, are trying out guaranteed income programs, which gained more attention after...
Las Vegas pushes land swap to balance growth, conservation
CARSON CITY, Nev. — Record-breaking heat and historic drought in the U.S. West are doing little to discourage cities from planning to welcome millions of new residents in the decades ahead. From Phoenix to Boise, officials are preparing for a future both with more people and less water, seeking to...
8 kids in youth van among the 13 lives lost to ClaudetteVideo
ATLANTA — Eight children in a van from a youth home for abused or neglected children were killed in a fiery multi-vehicle crash on a wet interstate that also killed a man and his baby in another vehicle, the most devastating blow from a tropical depression that claimed 13 lives...
Part of East Carson Street to be closed for Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to Pittsburgh
Two blocks of East Carson Street in Pittsburgh’s South Side will be closed Monday afternoon for a visit from Vice President Kamala Harris. City police said the street between Sarah and South 28th streets, including the intersection of Hot Metal Street, will be closed between noon and 4:30 p.m. Other...
Boy shot at Mt. Washington home after answering knock at door
A boy was shot early Sunday at a Mt. Washington home after Pittsburgh police said he answered a knock at the door. Officers were called to Natchez Street just before 5 a.m. and found the boy. They used a tourniquet on his wounds and he was taken by ambulance to...
Man hospitalized after shooting in Fineview
A man was hospitalized in critical condition Saturday night after Pittsburgh police said he was shot in Fineview. Officers responded to Belleau Drive in the Allegheny Dwellings housing development at 8:20 p.m. after a Shotspotter alert and 911 call. The man had gunshot wounds to the face and chest. He...
Natrona Heights couple ‘crippled’ over daughter’s unsolved homicide as it hits 14th anniversary
When John and Karen Godfrey walk into their living room, they are greeted by photos of their beloved daughter, Kelly Nicole Godfrey Smith. The photos line their hallway and are prominently displayed throughout the home. But those pictures haven’t been updated in 14 years. There haven’t been many updates in...
What Western Pa. doctors are saying about controversial Alzheimer’s drug
Whether the first U.S. drug intended to thwart Alzheimer’s disease signals a major milestone or “dangerous hope” depends on which Western Pennsylvania doctor you ask. One thing many in the medical community seem to agree on: They didn’t expect the drug to win over federal regulators, at least not yet....
She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at 53. But this Unity woman is not giving up.
The neurologist’s diagnosis sent Sara Belt’s family members into shock. Alzheimer’s disease? At just 53 years old? “I went numb,” her husband, Don Belt, said of that summer day three years ago at the Westmoreland County specialist’s office. The 74-year-old venture capitalist and former corporate marketing executive recalls feeling helpless...
Norwin grad realizes ‘lifelong dream’ by making Paralympic goalball teamVideo
A 2013 Norwin High School graduate will play for the U.S. goalball team in the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in August. “It’s been a lifelong dream to be playing in the Paralympics. It’s exhilarating,” said Calahan Young, the North Huntingdon native now living in Fort Wayne, Ind., the training site...
New Pitt Lab to combat digital disinformation
The University of Pittsburgh is staking a claim in the battle against false narratives and conspiracy theories that spread online with the speed of light. Pitt officials said they hope to tap a new venture — the Pitt Disinformation Lab in the Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security —...
Officials say cause of deadly Pride parade was accidental
WILTON MANORS, Fla. — The driver who slammed into spectators at the start of a Pride parade in South Florida, killing one person and seriously injuring another, did so accidentally, local officials and the leader of one of the groups involved in the parade said Sunday. Saturday’s crash at the...
Driver rams cyclists in Arizona race, critically injuring 6
SHOW LOW, Ariz. — A driver in a pickup truck plowed into bicyclists during a community road race in Arizona on Saturday, critically injuring several riders before police chased the driver and shot him outside a nearby hardware store, authorities said. Six people were taken to a hospital in critical...
Officer Brian Shaw scholarship awarded to police cadet from Kennedy Township
The Officer Brian Shaw Memorial Scholarship was awarded to a new cadet who graduated from the Allegheny County Police Academy on Friday. Shaw, of Lower Burrell, was a New Kensington police officer who was shot and killed after a traffic stop and foot chase in 2017. He was 25 years...
‘Protected them to death’: Elder-care covid rules under fire
Barbara and Christine Colucci long to remove their masks and kiss their 102-year-old mother, who has dementia and is in a nursing home in Rochester, New York. They would love to have more than two people in her room at a time so that relatives can be there too. “We...
Key Pennsylvania state senator backs Arizona-style election audit
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 Pennsylvania state senator in charge of a key election committee is backing an audit of the November presidential...
