Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1231
Trump parts with impeachment lawyers a week before trial
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump has parted ways with his lead impeachment lawyers just over a week before his Senate trial is set to begin, two people familiar with the situation said Saturday. Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, both South Carolina lawyers, are no longer with Trump’s defense team....
For GameStop day traders, the moment they’ve dreamed about
WASHINGTON — They’ve endured a financial crisis. Two deep recessions. Mounds of student debt. Stagnant pay. Costly health care. Dim job prospects. They’ve seen the uber-rich grow richer while a pandemic threw tens of millions of people out of work and left many more isolated and vulnerable at home. Now,...
Don ‘Pappy’ Boulton was a 2nd dad to players he coached, devoted to family and wife
The covid-19 pandemic separated Donald “Pappy” Boulton from his wife for nearly a year, breaking his heart before claiming his life. An Oakmont native, Boulton, 85, will be remembered across the Alle-Kiski Valley primarily as a football coach who led and motivated young men on the gridiron. In college, he...
Penn Hills man sentenced for Allegheny Township child’s zombie-like appearance
A Penn Hills man will serve up to 23 months in jail for his role in injuries sustained by a 2-year-old girl who police said still “looked like a zombie” days after a December 2017 incident in an Allegheny Township home. James Michael Bucci, 35, pleaded guilty Thursday to a...
Sophie, Grammy-nominated Scottish musician, dies at age 34
LONDON — Sophie, the Grammy-nominated Scottish disc jockey, producer and recording artist who had worked with the likes of Madonna and Charli XCX, has died following an accident in the Greek capital of Athens. She was 34. In a statement, U.K. label Transgressive said the musician, whose full name was...
St. Clair Hospital brings covid-19 vaccine to ‘thrilled’ seniors at low-income apartments
Most of the nearly 100 residents at St. Thomas More Manor, an eight-story apartment tower for low-income seniors in Bethel Park, have been eager to get vaccinated for covid-19. But like many people across Western Pennsylvania — and particularly, elderly people without access to cars and computers — they weren’t...
Charity work, horse competitions await retiring Hempfield pastorVideo
Members of the Westminster Presbyterian congregation made a special trip to the Hempfield church on Saturday, to present gifts and best wishes for their pastor’s pending retirement. In keeping with pandemic health precautions, some greeted the Rev. Donna Havrisko from their cars while others came inside the church social hall...
Ghost kitchens creep across Western Pa., offering revenue boosts for struggling restaurants
For those who believe, ghosts come in a wide variety of forms: floating orbs of light, haunting voices or, as in the opinion of famed fictional ghostbuster Raymond Stantz, “a full-torso, free-floating apparition.” As it turns out, so do “ghost kitchens”: food-world phantoms that put emphasis on flavor rather than...
Covid mutes Groundhog Day celebration; no throngs this year, but a virtual forecast set
A few days before the annual pilgrimage that thousands make to the small Jefferson County town on Feb. 2 to celebrate the appearance of that famous weather prognosticator, Punxsutawney Phil, Donna Grabany is experiencing something unusual. There is room at her inn, lots of room in fact, for anyone wanting...
Westmoreland County posts 85 covid-19 cases, 7 new deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 85 new cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County, as hospitalizations and case counts decline in the area. The county’s total cases are at 24,661, which is an increase of nearly 700 cases from last week’s 23,962. The week before had an...
Pennsylvania reports 5,100 more coronavirus cases, 140 deaths
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story contained incorrect information about the Federal Pharmacy Partnership. Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 5,191 new coronavirus cases, as hospitalizations and case counts continue to trend downward in the Keystone State. The new data bring the total cases to 839,239. That’s a jump of...
Man hit, killed by train on Pittsburgh’s South Side
A 19-year-old man was struck and killed by a train on Pittsburgh’s South Side Saturday morning. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner identified the man as Lucas Philip Traverse, of Chalfont. According to city police, the incident on South Fourth Street at Color Park was reported just before 10:45 a.m. Officers...
Allegheny County reports 326 new covid cases, 2 deaths
Allegheny County on Saturday recorded 326 new coronavirus cases, as recent daily numbers continue to stay below the 500-case mark. Reports haven’t reached 500 cases in nearly two weeks. The county now seems far beyond the time when it routinely reported case counts near the 1,000 mark. It had reported...
Hundreds of Pa. senior-living facilities haven’t received vaccine as widened eligibility, low supply slow rollout
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan 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 — After a sluggish start, the vast majority of nursing homes in Pennsylvania have hosted at least one covid-19 vaccine...
GoFundMe effort launched to help keep Nesbit’s Lanes in Plum in business
Kirk Klasnick watched with pride as his son, Ken, bowled strikes in a Sportsmen’s Bowling League game at Nesbit’s Lanes on Friday night. The Gilpin family has made the trek to the Plum bowling alley for many years. “I have three generations here,” said Kirk Klasnick, 57. “My dad (Bob),...
Route 28 reopens after 2 died in head-on crash near Pittsburgh’s North SideVideo
Two people were killed and another person was critically hurt in a head-on crash involving a wrong way driver Saturday morning on Route 28 near Pittsburgh’s North Side. The southbound lanes fully reopened around 12:30 p.m., after having been closed for more than five hours between the 31st Street Bridge...
Western Pa. dentists: Delaying dental care during pandemic can lead to problemsVideo
Dentists in Western Pennsylvania are worried about the pandemic’s impact on people’s dental health, saying there’s no good reason for delaying check-ups, cleanings or more serious procedures. “It’s troubling to hear that patients have that perception and are feeling that anxiety,” said Andrew Matta, co-founder and chief medical officer of...
Blame game begins over Pennsylvania’s slow vaccine rollout
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Republicans are faulting the administration of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf for Pennsylvania’s slow covid-19 vaccine rollout even as Wolf himself says insufficient supply is the real culprit, setting up a fresh political fight over who’s to blame for the frustrations of eligible residents trying to get inoculated....
Biden warns of growing cost of delay on $1.9T econ aid plan
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden warned Friday of a steep and growing “cost of inaction” on his $1.9 trillion covid relief plan as the White House searched for “creative” ways to win public support for a package that is getting a cold shoulder from Senate Republicans. In the age of...
ATI union reports ‘no progress’ on contract talks amid sagging morale
Allegheny Technologies Inc. has resumed negotiations with the United Steelworkers, but union leaders reported Friday having made “no progress” a month before their existing contract is set to expire. Todd Barbiaux, president of United Steelworkers Local 1196, which represents union employees at ATI’s Brackenridge facility in Harrison, said lingering uncertainty...
Angela Reese, wife of Mike Reese, to run for late husband’s state House seat
Angela Reese said she hopes to carry on her late husband’s legacy by running for his former seat in the state House. Mike Reese, 42, a Republican, died of an apparent brain aneurysm Jan. 2. He was reelected in November to a seventh term representing the 59th Legislative District after...
Workers escaped deadly leak by going through nitrogen fog
GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Workers at a northeast Georgia poultry plant said they escaped through a fog of vaporizing liquid nitrogen that killed six of their coworkers, as an investigation continued Friday into the cause of the leak at Foundation Food Group. The Hall County Sheriff’s Office identified the victims on...
Pandemic forces fire departments to continue creative fundraising in 2021
For fire departments, fundraising took many different forms in 2020 as they adapted to a changing environment in the era of the coronavirus pandemic. There are the ones that found a following for raffles on the department’s Facebook page. Some events that typically bring in a ton of cash —...
Philadelphia’s problematic vaccine rollout raises larger questions
PHILADELPHIA — When Philadelphia began getting its first batches of covid-19 vaccines, it looked to partner with someone who could get a mass vaccination site up and running quickly. City Hall officials might have looked across the skyline to the world-renowned health providers at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University...
Army: Sick soldiers drank compound found in antifreeze
FORT BLISS, Texas — An investigation into what sickened 11 soldiers who ingested an unauthorized substance shows they drank an industrial compound found in antifreeze believing it was alcohol following a 10-day field training exercise at Fort Bliss in Texas, U.S. Army officials said Friday. Lt. Col. Allie Payne, public...
