Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1257
Pittsburgh schools delay in-person instruction
Students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools will remain in remote instruction Monday, upon their return from winter break. Superintendent Anthony Hamlet announced Friday on the district’s Facebook page that he and the district’s board of directors are still finalizing plans to bring students back to buildings. A small number of...
Ziccarelli asks state Senate to overturn Brewster victory
New Kensington lawyer Nicole Ziccarelli will ask the Republican-controlled state Senate to reject state certification and overturn the re-election of incumbent Democrat Jim Brewster in the 45th District. The district includes parts of Westmoreland and Allegheny counties, and that fact is central to the disputed election results. According to official,...
McConnell, Pelosi homes vandalized after $2,000 relief fails
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Vandals lashed out at the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate over the holiday weekend, blighting their homes with graffiti and in one case a pig’s head as Congress failed to approve an increase in the amount of money being sent to individuals to help cope...
Westmoreland County closes in on 20,000 covid cases, adds 6 deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 473 new cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County during the past 48 hours, as cases continue to dip in the area. The numbers represent 118 new cases reported New Year’s Day and 355 on Saturday. The county’s total cases are at...
State Rep. Mike Reese of Mt. Pleasant Township dead at 42
State Rep. Mike Reese, elected in November to his seventh term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, died Saturday at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg following an apparent brain aneurysm. Reese, 42, of Mt. Pleasant Township, was a 12-year House veteran representing Westmoreland and Somerset county residents in the...
Allegheny County surpasses 55,000 covid cases, draws closer to 1,000 deaths
Allegheny County on Saturday recorded a 48-hour total of 1,601 new coronavirus cases. Officials reported 553 cases on New Year’s Day and 1,048 cases the day after. The county has reported nine days of 1,000 or more new cases. Twenty-two new deaths were reported Saturday, lifting the county’s toll at...
Massachusetts policeman pays for shoplifting suspects’ holiday dinner
SOMERSET, Mass. — A Massachusetts police officer declined to charge two women accused of trying to steal groceries for the children — and instead bought them Christmas dinner. Somerset Officer Matt Lima responded to a report of shoplifting Dec. 20 at Stop & Shop, where two women with two young...
Pennsylvania hits 650,000 coronavirus cases, adds 261 deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 16,967 new coronavirus cases over the past 48 hours, as the Keystone State hurtled over the 650,000-case mark. Officials said 7,714 additional cases were reported New Year’s Day, while 9,253 were reported Saturday. The new data bring the total cases to 657,292. That’s a jump of...
100 years ago, KDKA gave birth to religious radio broadcasts at Calvary Episcopal in Pittsburgh
Before Jerry Falwell, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Joel Osteen, Archbishop Fulton Sheen and famous radio evangelists such as Father Charles Coughlin and Aimee Semple McPherson, there was Edwin Van Etten. It was the Rev. Edwin Van Etten, far from a household name, who helped popularize the live radio sermon....
New Kensington woman takes traditional pierogi further, offering 20 flavorsVideo
New Kensington’s Patti Mazza Bieranowski has been pinching up a pierogi storm since 1984. Her homemade pierogies are sold and gifted to friends and family. More than 20 flavors are offered. including shepherd’s pie, buffalo chicken, kielbie kraut, sweet kraut, loaded baked potato and cottage cheese with chives. Her passion...
White Oak restaurant donating Tuesday eat-in proceeds to servers
Thousands of restaurant servers like Kelly Matey lost a third of their wages and months worth of tips last year because of the state’s ban on indoor dining for almost three months in the spring and then again three more weeks over the busy Christmas and New Year’s holidays. “It...
New stimulus checks likely not enough for those facing financial crisis
A new round of stimulus checks may seem like a boost as covid-19 continues to cause widespread economic struggles — but these checks may be too little, too late for people who have faced significant financial hardship throughout the pandemic. The checks have been hotly debated, with Senate Majority Leader...
Laurels & lances of 2020
Laurel: To a life lived in service to others. On the last day of 2020, Pennsylvania lost a bedrock political figure. Dick Thornburgh, a two-term governor of Pennsylvania and U.S. attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, died at the age of 88. He left behind a legacy of work...
Police: North Braddock detective allegedly brandished weapon at New Year’s Eve party
A North Braddock detective faces charges of assault and harassment for allegedly pulling out his gun and pressing it into a man’s side at a New Year’s Eve party early Friday morning, court records show. Craig Gibson, 43, allegedly showed up uninvited, unannounced and intoxicated to a party on Sixth...
GOP torn over Trump’s Electoral College challenge of Biden
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s extraordinary challenge of his election defeat by President-elect Joe Biden is becoming a defining moment for the Republican Party before next week’s joint session of Congress to confirm the Electoral College results. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is urging Republicans not to try to overturn...
1st Alle-Kiski Valley baby of 2021 is a Verona boy
The first baby from the Alle-Kiski Valley born in 2021 is a boy from Verona. Carter Magee made his debut at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital at 12:54 a.m. Friday, weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces and measuring 19.5 inches long. Baby Carter’s parents are Jennifer Celender and Patrick Magee of Verona. Mom...
In a first, Congress overrides Trump veto of defense bill
WASHINGTON — Congress on Friday overrode President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill, a first by lawmakers since he took office nearly four years ago, ensuring that the measure becomes law despite Trump’s rejection. In an extraordinary New Year’s Day session, the Republican-controlled Senate easily turned aside the...
U.S. hits 20 million mark in coronavirus cases
BALTIMORE — The number of confirmed U.S. coronavirus cases has surpassed 20 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That’s nearly twice as many as the No. 2 country, India, and nearly one-quarter of the more than 83 million cases globally. The U.S. continued to surpass other countries in...
It’s a boy! First New Year’s baby born to Greensburg woman
Siearra Pantojas of Greensburg received an early New Year’s Day surprise. A healthy baby boy. Pantojas, 21, was out shopping when she went into labor early on New Year’s Eve. After about five hours of hard labor, she welcomed son Bentlee Cole, the first 2021 baby born at Forbes Hospital...
Federal buildings vandalized in Philadelphia, 6 arrested, devices found
PHILADELPHIA — Six people were arrested after a group vandalized several federal buildings in Philadelphia’s Center City on New Year’s Eve, police said. Officers spotted about 50 people, all dressed in black, at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the historic U.S. Customs House, where windows were smashed, police said. Three...
Study: U.S. covid patients face more mental health issues; Excela Health bracing for uptickVideo
Researchers at the University of Oxford published a study reporting the first large-scale evidence that covid-19 survivors are at increased risk of anxiety or depression. The study looked at electronic health records for 69 million U.S. residents, including more than 62,000 covid-19 cases. In the three months following a positive...
Looking back, looking ahead: 2020 was a trying year, what’s in store for 2021?Video
Americans would have to go back several decades at least to find a year as hellacious as 2020. Perhaps not since 1968, when the United States was fighting a war in Vietnam, when police were clashing with young people protesting that war, and when Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby...
Editorial: Prioritizing problems for 2021
It’s 2021! Everything is going to change, right? Well, let’s not put too much pressure on the healing power of flipping a page on a calendar. The New Year is definitely a time of hope and optimism. Even when things are good, there’s something about New Year’s Day that just...
What turns 100 in 2021? Here are a few century-old items
Everything gets older. It’s just a fact of life. And this year — that would be 2021 — there are a few things that are turning 100. And we’re kind of blown away by how old they are. For instance: Cheez-It On March 31, 1921, the Dayton, Ohio-based...
Harrison fire captain: Hoarding contributes to stubborn house fireVideo
Firefighters spent more than two hours knocking down a fire that broke out Thursday night at a Harrison home because of “very heavy hoarding conditions,” Harrison Hills Fire Captain Jules Beer said. No one was seriously injured in the fire that ripped through the house, according to Beer. Two firefighters...
