Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1320
Pennsylvania adds 1,425 coronavirus cases, 48 hospitalizations
Pennsylvania reported more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases for the 16th straight day Wednesday. The Pennsylvania Department of Health added 1,425 cases on Wednesday, bringing the total to 186,297. For comparison, in the past 16 days, there have been 22,090 new covid-19 cases, while in the 16 days prior to...
Westmoreland County reports 89 new coronavirus cases, 24 new hospitalizations
Westmoreland County added 89 new coronavirus cases and 24 hospitalizations on Wednesday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Those new cases bring the county’s total of covid-19 cases to 3,703 with a seven-day average of 93 new cases per day. The 89 cases — 67 confirmed and 22 probable...
Cook man, 73, charged with killing wife, keeping her corpse in home for a week
A 73-year-old Cook man remains in jail without bond after state police accused him of spending a week inside his home with the corpse of his wife, who was shot twice in the back. Troopers discovered the body on Tuesday, when a relative requested a welfare check for Sandra Montjar,...
Allegheny County adds 119 coronavirus cases, 10 deaths
Allegheny County added 119 new coronavirus cases and 10 deaths Wednesday. The new covid-19 cases bring the total to 14,396 cases, according to the Allegheny County Health Department. Of the 119 new cases, 91 are confirmed and 28 probable, with 24 of the probables coming from positive antigen tests. The...
Pope Francis endorses same-sex civil unions in new documentary film
ROME — Pope Francis endorsed same-sex civil unions for the first time as pope while being interviewed for the feature-length documentary “Francesco,” which premiered Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival. The papal thumbs-up came midway through the film that delves into issues Francis cares about most, including the environment, poverty,...
Forest Hills man claims Allegheny County denied him job over medical marijuana
A Forest Hills man claims in a lawsuit that he was rejected for a job as a corrections officer at the Allegheny County Jail because he is prescribed medical marijuana. Andrew Reed filed the complaint against the county under the Americans with Disabilities Act in federal court, alleging that the...
Brighton Rehab sued by 15 families, residents for ‘reckless’ response to covid outbreak
The families of 10 residents who died and five residents still living at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center sued the nursing home’s leaders on Wednesday for what they deem a “reckless” handling of the covid-19 outbreak, which has killed at least 73 residents of the Beaver County facility. “They show...
Barack Obama to hold his first in-person event for Biden in Philadelphia
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama is returning to Philadelphia on Wednesday for his first in-person 2020 campaign event for Joe Biden. In 2016, the man known as one of the Democratic Party’s strongest orators delivered Hillary Clinton’s closing argument in the same place — at a rally for...
Trump tends to his electoral map, Biden prepping for debate
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is hopping from one must-win stop on the electoral map to the next in the leadup to a final presidential debate that may be his last, best chance to alter the trajectory of the 2020 campaign. Democrat Joe Biden has been taking the opposite approach,...
State rejects Westmoreland plan to eliminate Penn Township district court
The state Supreme Court has rejected a Westmoreland County plan to shutter a district magistrate office in Penn Township, officials said. County court leaders this summer pitched a redistricting plan to the state’s high court that called for elimination of two magistrates, one that temporarily closed this spring in Mt....
Police: 3 people in stable condition following shooting in Brighton Heights
Three people were taken to the hospital in stable condition after a shooting in Brighton Heights Tuesday night, Pittsburgh Police said. Officers responded to the area of Fleming Avenue and Kalorama Way around 10:50 p.m. after receiving multiple Shotspotter alerts, according to police spokesman Maurice Matthews. While investigating the scene,...
Increase in covid-19 cases prompts closure of Hempfield Area High School
Hempfield Area High School is closed through Friday, following an increase in covid-19 cases at the school. Superintendent Tammy Wolicki announced the closure in a letter posted Tuesday on the district website. She said the decision was triggered when another high school student’s positive case was reported to the district...
Trump tweets clip of ’60 Minutes’ host Lesley Stahl without mask at White House, threatens to air interview early
NEW YORK — He’s tick, tick ticked. President Donald Trump posted video of “60 Minutes” anchor Lesley Stahl appearing maskless after interviewing him Tuesday — then threatened to scoop CBS by airing their recent interview ahead of schedule. “Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes not wearing a mask in the White...
U.S. spacecraft swoops onto asteroid to snap up sample
NEW YORK — A NASA spacecraft on Tuesday conducted the U.S. space agency’s first sample collection from an asteroid as part of seven-year-long voyage. The event, which lasted around 4 1/2 hours, saw Osiris-Rex approaching Bennu at tortoise speed, about 0.19 miles per hour, and then touching down on the...
Westmoreland GOP rally short on candidatesVideo
Tuesday’s Westmoreland County Republican Committee rally in Hempfield was short on candidates but strong on local party support. More than 50 GOP faithful attended the evening event, spilling from the main room of All Saints Brewing Co. onto the patio. Committee Chairman Bill Bretz, who expressed confidence in county support...
Suspect in custody in double shooting in Jeannette
A juvenile male suspect was in custody following a shooting Tuesday evening in Jeannette that sent two people to AHN Forbes Hospital, according to city police. A 19-year-old man was one of the two people wounded in the shooting outside a South Third Street home. His mother, who declined to...
Pittsburgh writers reflect on Tree of Life massacre in new book
In January 2019, members of New Light Congregation at the Tree of Life synagogue traveled to Charleston, S.C., to pray with members of Emanuel AME Church, where nine Black worshippers were shot to death by a young white supremacist in 2015. It was a less than three months after a...
State could recommend closure of Westmoreland County schools over coronavirus surge
Pennsylvania Department of Education officials soon could begin urging Westmoreland County schools to close and move to fully remote learning if the present coronavirus surge continues. The county has the seventh-highest coronavirus incidence rate in the state, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. This week, it moved from “moderate”...
Westmoreland sheriff wants deputies to patrol polling places on Election Day, in case needed
Westmoreland County Sheriff James Albert on Tuesday said he will assign deputies to patrol near the county’s 307 polling locations on Election Day. The first-term sheriff said he has received no specific information about threats but he wants deputies at the ready should disturbances or calls of voter intimidation arise...
Future of Race for the Cure in question as Komen Foundation closes local chapters
The Susan G. Komen Foundation will close all of its local offices across the country by year’s end, leaving the future of Pittsburgh’s annual Race for the Cure up in the air, the nonprofit announced Tuesday. The foundation, which raises money for breast cancer research, screenings and treatment, plans to...
Biden-Harris caravan, rally planned in Alle-Kiski Valley
A caravan and rally are being held in the Alle-Kiski Valley this weekend in an attempt to drive up support for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris. Harrison’s Rachel Miller created a Facebook group called “Local Biden-Harris Rally” to drum up support for...
Pa. in peak season for number of ticks carrying Lyme disease
While most Lyme disease cases are confirmed in the summer, October and November are when the number of adult ticks carrying Lyme disease is highest and they are most active, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. “The adult ticks are emerging now and they are here to do...
Plans move ahead for Blue Angels’ return to Westmoreland airshow in 2021
Beset by the covid-19 pandemic and construction at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport that has slashed commercial passenger traffic by 60%, the Westmoreland County Airport Authority is turning the page on 2020 and planning the return of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels next year. The flight demonstration squadron based in Pensacola,...
Officials: Greene County prison inmate dies of covid-19
A 35-year-old inmate in Greene County has died from covid-19, marking the 13th inmate death within the Department of Corrections since the pandemic began, officials said. The man, who was taken to the hospital Oct. 7 for an issue not related to covid-19, tested positive Oct. 13, according to Department...
Pa. Supreme Court hears arguments on statute of limitations in priest sex abuse cases
Renee Rice said she was abused by a priest in the Altoona-Johnstown diocese from the mid-1970s until 1980. She filed a complaint with the diocese in 2006 and received a letter from them in July of that year inviting her to participate in an ongoing investigation. Rice declined because she...
