Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1256
Pennsylvania reports 7,800 more covid cases, 122 deaths over 2 days
The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest report, released Monday, shows another 7,805 more cases of covid-19 over the past two days. While still a high number of cases, the latest figures were nearly 10% less than were reported a week ago (8,663). Officials said the case counts are atypically low...
Westmoreland County reaches 20K covid-19 case mark
Westmoreland County reached a grim milestone on Monday, with the announcement it has now surpassed 20,000 cases of the coronavirus. With 359 more covid-19 cases over the past two days, health officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Westmoreland County has now amassed a total of 20,165 cases in...
Vaccination campaign picks up speed around the world
The campaign to vanquish the coronavirus is picking up speed, with Britain beginning to dispense the second vaccine in its arsenal Monday. But authorities in France and elsewhere in Europe are coming under fire for slow rollouts and delays. In the U.S., meanwhile, government officials reported that vaccinations have accelerated...
Feds involved in Pittsburgh explosion investigation, firework suspected in Hill District blast
Federal authorities are involved in the investigation into separate explosions Sunday night in two Pittsburgh neighborhoods, authorities said. Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will assist in investigating an explosion caused by an improvised bomb in Lawrenceville and a...
Troopers accuse Unity man of screwing doors shut to keep woman from fleeing after fight
A Unity man is accused of screwing doors shut at his home to keep a woman he allegedly assaulted on New Year’s Day from leaving, state police reported. Irvin Scott Achhammer, 27, is accused of pushing a woman into a banister and hitting her with a cigarette lighter during an...
Allegheny County reports 850 more covid cases, 5 deaths in 2 days
Allegheny County health officials reported another 852 cases of coronavirus Monday. Of those new cases, 607 were confirmed through 2,361 PCR tests (from Dec. 28 through Sunday), with 245 cases listed as probable. Even in the wake of news that the latest new cases are a 43% increase from last...
Restaurants, gyms, casinos reopen as latest covid-19 restrictions expireVideo
Restaurants, bars, gyms and casinos reopened Monday morning at a still-limited capacity when Pennsylvania’s most recent set of covid-19 restrictions expired at 8 a.m. The restrictions, started Dec. 12, barred restaurants from allowing indoor dining and shut down gyms and casinos in the face of a post-Thanksgiving surge in virus...
Pittsburgh police investigating explosions in Lawrenceville, Hill District
Pittsburgh police were investigating explosions Sunday night in the city’s Lawrenceville and Hill District neighborhoods. Police and firefighters went to the 3600 block of Penn Avenue in Lawrenceville in response to reports that an improvised explosive device was thrown from a moving vehicle just after 9 p.m. A parked vehicle...
Don’t draw military into U.S. election, ex-defense chiefs say
All 10 living former U.S. defense secretaries called for a peaceful transition of power this month and warned that any effort to involve the military in resolving election disputes “would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.” Three days before Congress meets to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, the...
Police: Wilkinsburg man charged after shots were fired at Harrison housing complex
A Wilkinsburg man is charged with attempted homicide and other crimes after police said he tried to shoot another man and narrowly avoided shooting a 3-year-old girl at Harrison’s Sheldon Park public housing complex last week. Harrison police said after the shooting, Antonio Williams, 20, buckled the girl into a...
Police looking for leads in North Braddock shooting
Police are investigating after a 17-year-old was shot Sunday afternoon in North Braddock. The shooting was reported shortly before 2:30 p.m. near the intersection of Baldridge and Jones avenues. Police said first responders found the victim to have multiple, non-life threatening injuries. He was taken to a local hospital and...
Nancy Pelosi narrowly reelected speaker, faces difficult 2021Video
WASHINGTON — Nancy Pelosi was narrowly reelected Sunday as speaker, giving her the reins of Democrats’ slender House majority as President-elect Joe Biden sets a challenging course of producing legislation to tackle the pandemic, revive the economy and address other party priorities. The California Democrat, who has led her party...
Woman sues Gateway School District, claiming interracial marriage cost her athletic director job
An athletic director at a small college claims she was passed over for a similar job with the Gateway School District because she is married to a Black man, according to a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed Jan. 1 by Pittsburgh attorney Todd Hollis, claims that Korie Morton-Rozier experienced “race...
Trump, on tape, presses Georgia official to ‘find’ Trump votesVideo
ATLANTA — President Donald Trump pressured Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state’s presidential election, repeatedly citing disproven claims of fraud and raising the prospect of “criminal offense” if officials did not change the vote count, according to a recording...
Impact of Pennsylvania casino closures remains to be seen, though industry was surging this fiscal year
After more than a decade of continued growth for Pennsylvania’s gaming industry that has pumped billions of tax dollars into state coffers and local communities, the casino industry — and that cash flow — were largely upended in 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic. But the industry was on the rebound...
Biden’s strategy for a predecessor who won’t go away: Ignore him
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden faces historic challenges when he enters the White House on Jan. 20: a raging pandemic, persistently high unemployment, simmering tensions with China and Russia — and a predecessor who won’t go away. Aware of the chaos and distraction Donald Trump has proved he can muster, the...
U.S. coronavirus death toll hits 350,000; surge feared
BALTIMORE — The covid-19 death toll in the United States has surpassed 350,000 as experts anticipate another surge in coronavirus cases and deaths stemming from holiday gatherings over Christmas and New Year’s. Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University shows the U.S. passed the threshold early Sunday morning. More than 20...
Independent chefs say pandemic has aided businessVideo
What’s for dinner? During covid times, that question became challenging for many as restrictions, lockdowns and mandated restaurant closures occurred more than once. Meet three Pittsburgh-area chefs — not affiliated with restaurants — providing home-cooked meals delivered to your door. JSMenusPGH Jake Stewart works out of a kitchen in Springdale...
Pandemic plagued schools in 1st semester, likely to continue after holidays
While the end of a tumultuous first semester is in sight, school districts plagued with uncertainty and ever-changing situations brought on by the coronavirus pandemic are far from in the clear as record-breaking cases are continually reported, leaving no set plans going into the spring months. As the first semester...
Errors in covid data reveal unreliable tracking system for nursing homes
For three or four hours a day, Shelly Kennedy sees nothing but spreadsheets. She has two computer screens at her desk at Presbyterian SeniorCare Network. On one monitor is a spreadsheet tracking covid-19 cases, deaths, personal protective equipment — the list goes on — for each of the network’s facilities,...
More than 1,200 species and counting, free pocket field guide developed for Buffalo Creek watershed
The Buffalo Creek watershed might not be a national park, but it has enough wildlife and varieties of plants — more than 1,200 species — to warrant a pocket field guide developed by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. Audubon, government agencies and other nonprofits have been working for years...
Editorial: Why is vaccine distribution slowed?
The federal government planned for 20 million coronavirus vaccinations by the end of 2020. That has proved to be a bit of an overestimation. The actual totals of about 3 million “certainly are not at the numbers we wanted to be at the end of December,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said...
More GOP lawmakers enlist in Trump effort to undo Biden win
WASHINGTON — A growing number of Republican lawmakers are joining President Donald Trump’s extraordinary effort to overturn the election, pledging to reject the results when Congress meets next week to count the Electoral College votes and certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Saturday announced a...
PWSA truck falls in hole in Lawrenceville
Mintwood Street in Lawrenceville was closed for a few hours after a Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority truck fell into a hole Saturday afternoon. PWSA workers were working on a nearby project earlier in the day. A private contractor was working on a sewer line for a private property in...
Police: Woman in critical condition after she was shot in neck in Wilkinsburg
Police are investigating a shooting that occurred on the 1200 block of Morrow Street in Wilkinsburg. Wilkinsburg Police got the call just before 3 p.m. First responders found a woman who had been shot in her neck. She was transported to a hospital where she was listed in critical condition....
