Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1279
GOP leaders ask Congress to reject Pa.’s electors for Joe Biden
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. This article is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan reporting project covering local election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — More than 60 Republicans, including the top...
Ramada auction draws crowd as longtime Hempfield hotel is set for demolition
Jeff Pollick got to the Ramada by Wyndham Greensburg Hotel and Conference Center just in time Saturday. The owner of Wooden Door Winery walked into the Hempfield hotel moments before the draft system he was hoping to get went up for auction. After a short bidding war, he won it...
Pandemic, partisan attacks exposed gaps in Pa.’s new mail-in voting law
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. This article is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan reporting project covering local election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — Before any threat of a deadly, fast-spreading...
Westmoreland County posts record covid-19 cases for 3rd-straight day. This time 437.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported a record 437 new cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County. It is the third-straight day the county reported at least 400 cases and the third-consecutive day it broke its own record. On Thursday, 400 cases were posted, followed by 412 on...
Pennsylvania sets daily record of 12,884 new covid-19 cases, cruises past 400,000 total
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 12,884 new coronavirus cases, hurdling the Keystone State’s total past 400,000 cases. The new data bring the total cases to 411,484; a nearly 60,000-case jump from this time last week (351,667). Officials said 31,219 of total cases are considered probable. Health officials define a probable case...
Allegheny County reports record 1,197 new coronavirus cases; 5 deaths
Allegheny County on Saturday recorded 1,197 new coronavirus cases as the community continues to rack up covid-19 infections during the holiday season. The report is a 169-case jump from Thursday’s previous record of 1,028 and the second day the county has surpassed 1,000 cases. Officials reported 911 cases Friday. Five...
3 escape after blaze spreads to 3 Hazelwood homes
Three Hazelwood residents escaped uninjured early Saturday after a neighboring home caught fire, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesman Maurice Matthews. Firefighters were called to Cust Street about 2:15 a.m., according to authorities. The flames spread to two adjacent homes, forcing the residents out. The house where the flames originated...
Coronavirus safe: Online sales of fishing licenses double, 2021 licenses now available
Buoyed by a 20% increase in fishing license purchases this year over 2019, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is offering fishing licenses for 2021, which are also valid for this month. Although fishing licenses are still available through local bait and sporting goods stores, the commission is promoting the...
‘It’s scary,’: Nurses fear covid surge will overwhelm Western Pa. hospitals
As soon as nurses arrive for work at UPMC Altoona, they’re in constant motion. In the hospital’s medical intensive care unit, which became the covid unit in March, the hallways are crowded with machinery, including IV pumps, dialysis machines and other equipment, said Paula Stellabotte, an ICU nurse. Stellabotte said...
Man shot in Stowe Township
A man was hospitalized after being shot in the lower extremity in Stowe Township on Friday night, Allegheny County Police said. Police said they were notified of the shooting in the 400 block of Pleasant Ridge Road at 6:40 p.m. A vehicle being driven in the area also was reportedly...
Officials confirm: Body of missing Jefferson Hills teen found in Mon River
The body of a missing 15-year-old Jefferson Hills boy was found Friday afternoon in the middle of the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh near the Elizabeth Bridge. Jeno Moretti’s body was recovered at 4:50 p.m. by divers from the Charles County, Md., rescue team, Elizabeth Borough Police Chief Bill Sombo...
As pandemic wears on, more people are food insecure
As the covid-19 crisis continues to worsen, many more people are looking for help putting food on the table. That’s the message Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank president and CEO Lisa Scales gave during a Governing in Crisis virtual discussion this week. Scales told the Trib reservations for drive-up food...
Jail Oversight Board to investigate why high-ranking medical administrators keep quitting
When Janet Bunts was hired in August to be the new health services administrator at the Allegheny County Jail, she came to the position with 26 years in corrections. She only lasted three months before she quit in November. There’s a reason no one stays, Bunts said: “A lack of...
Christmas tree sales going well in Western Pa., but growers see scarcity of trees in futureVideo
John Fazio and family drove all the way from Swissvale to a tree farm east of New Alexandria this week so he and his son, John, could trudge up a hillside, where he got to lie down in 4 inches of snow and wield a bow saw to cut down...
Pa. health officials bring quarantine guidance in line with shortened CDC timeframe
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Friday updated guidance for residents who might have been exposed to covid-19, retooling the quarantine timeframe to fall in line with new measures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC earlier this week indicated that those potentially exposed to the virus...
Jupiter and Saturn to form ‘Christmas Star’ in sky this month
Two giant worlds are about to collide. Sort of. Jupiter and Saturn are meeting up this month. It’s something they do every 20 years, only this year the neighboring planets will appear closer to each other on the dome of our sky than at any point since the Middle Ages....
AHN donors may have been exposed to data breach, officials say
Donors to Allegheny Health Network might have had their personal information exposed during a ransomware attack earlier this year on an IT company used by hundreds of hospitals, universities and other nonprofits, officials said Friday. Blackbaud, a global tech company, provides cloud computing services to a slew of institutions including...
Supreme Court sets date for state response in Mike Kelly election suit. Is it a day late?Video
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito late Thursday set a deadline for Pennsylvania officials to respond to a request to throw out the state’s mail-in voting results — or possibly the entire election. But the date set — Dec. 9 — is the day after the “safe harbor” deadline, the...
Gilpin tree farm offers personal touch to help make Christmas a little brighterVideo
A rural family-owned and operated Christmas tree farm in Gilpin has served the Alle-Kiski Valley for more than 80 years. Habe’s Nursery co-owners and husband-and-wife team John and Janie Sterosky work overtime during December, making hundreds of homemade pine custom wreaths, grave blankets and kissing balls. “We make our own...
House votes to decriminalize marijuana at federal level
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House on Friday approved a bill to decriminalize and tax marijuana at the federal level, reversing what supporters called a failed policy of criminalization of pot use and taking steps to address racial disparities in enforcement of federal drug laws. Opponents, mostly Republicans, called the bill...
WOW Outlets property for sale in Hempfield for $2.5 million
After about 30 years under the ownership of the Maskowitz family, WOW Outlets in Hempfield is for sale. The building, which houses World of Values and Central Westmoreland Habitat for Humanity, among others, has been on the market for about a year, said owner Barry Maskowitz. He noted that the...
Pa. posts new high for daily covid cases, nears 400K total cases
Pennsylvania reported the most new covid-19 cases in a single day Friday. The state’s 11,763 new cases eclipse Thursday’s 11,406 case count, which was the previous high. In the past two days, there have been 23,169 cases reported. From the start of the pandemic in March, it took the state...
Preliminary Pittsburgh Public Schools budget won’t hike taxes; $32 million deficit projected
Pittsburgh Public Schools doesn’t intend to increase taxes to support its 2021 budget. But the $668.5 million spending plan includes a $32 million deficit that needs to be addressed, Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said in a statement. “We recognize the need to take steps to increase our revenue to the extent...
Westmoreland County sets record (again) for new covid-19 cases
Westmoreland County set another high for new covid-19 cases Friday, marking a second straight day a record was set. There were 412 new cases reported Friday, following Thursday’s 400 case count. In the past two days, the county has recorded more covid cases (812) than it did in its first...
Allegheny County reports most new covid-19 deaths in a single day
Allegheny County saw a new high Friday for covid-19 deaths. There were 26 deaths reported, according to the county Health Department. This comes a day after a previous high (20) for coronavirus-related deaths were reported Thursday. Ages of new deaths are 50 and older, with two people in their 50s,...
