Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1349
Brentwood restaurant defies order to close for covid-19 violations, faces court action
A Brentwood restaurant that continues to violate the state’s covid-19 mitigation orders — and whose owner spoke at a Harrisburg rally bragging about it — is facing action in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court as the health department attempts to prohibit it from operating. The Crack’d Egg, at 4131 Brownsville...
Pennsylvania reports 760 new coronavirus cases, 21 new deaths
Pennsylvania on Friday reported 760 new coronavirus cases to raise the state’s total to 148,683 since March. There were 11,530 new negative cases reported, making the daily positivity rate 6.18%. The state’s seven-day average of new cases is 828. There were 172,682 tests administered in the past seven days with...
Barstool’s Dave Portnoy hits 3 Pittsburgh-area pizzerias, tries Turner’s tea
Famed Boston-based pizza reviewer Dave Portnoy descended upon Pittsburgh recently to review three pizza places, Beto’s Pizza and Fiori’s Pizzaria in Pittsburgh and Juliano’s in Robinson. He came away impressed by all three. Portnoy is well known as the celebrity founder of the sports and pop culture website Barstool Sports...
‘Today’ show heads to McKeesport where students get laptops from ComcastVideo
The band was playing, cheerleaders were chanting and football players were huddled on the football field when they heard the news. On national television via NBC’s “Today” show, students, teachers and staff members in the McKeesport Area School District found out they would receive free laptops. The McKeesport Tigers truly...
Ladles restaurant in Springdale closes, possibly for good
The future is uncertain for the popular Springdale eatery Ladles. The storefront on busy Pittsburgh Street still looks inviting, but the restaurant is closed. And while a sign on the front door reads, “We plan on reopening very soon,” Ladles’ future actually remains very much in doubt. “The future is...
Antwon Rose Jr.’s mother sees ‘common ground’ with Steelers’ Maurkice Pouncey, Alejandro Villanueva
When Michelle Kenney read Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey’s Instagram post in which he indicated he would remove her son’s name from his football helmet, she initially was offended and disappointed. “But when I read to the bottom of it,” said Kenney, the mother of Antwon Rose Jr., “I was...
15 people displaced following McKees Rocks fire
More than a dozen people were displaced from their McKees Rocks home following a fire Thursday afternoon, according to the American Red Cross Greater Pennsylvania. Eight families, totaling 15 people, and a dog were forced to evacuate an apartment building in the 100 block of George Street. When crews arrived...
73 cats rescued from North Huntingdon home up for adoption at New Kensington shelterVideo
More than 70 cats rescued from a house in North Huntingdon are being cared for at Frankie’s Friends, a cat rescue in New Kensington. It did not appear anyone was living in the house on Leger Road where the cats were found, Dr. Becky Morrow, medical director and president of...
New Kensington-Arnold may go to hybrid schedule if too many students want to return to schools
New Kensington-Arnold School District will be forced to go to a full hybrid schedule if too many students now learning from home choose to come back to school next month, Acting Superintendent Jon Banko said. Under a hybrid schedule, students would be in school only two days a week, Banko...
Trump’s vaccine ambitions contradict his own health expertsVideo
President Donald Trump once again promised that a covid-19 vaccine for Americans could be ready within weeks, a timeline faster than has been deemed possible or likely by the scientific agencies overseeing the effort and the companies developing the products. Trump’s optimistic promises have left him in a battle with...
Court denies petition to reinstate pay for suspended Allegheny County judge
The Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline on Thursday denied a request from an Allegheny County judge charged with misconduct to be paid during the pendency of his suspension. In a one-sentence order, the petition by Judge Mark V. Tranquilli was denied. Tranquilli was suspended without pay on Aug. 26, two...
Allegheny County to open new elections offices for ballot drop-offs, voting help
Allegheny County voters now have more options to vote early and submit ballots without relying on the mail or visiting a polling place on Election Day, officials announced Thursday. Concerns raised about voting during the covid-19 pandemic prompted the county’s Board of Elections to unanimously approve a proposal to open...
Why the ruling against Wolf’s covid-19 restrictions faces long odds on appeal, explained
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 weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — A federal judge sent a shockwave through Pennsylvania politics this week when he ruled that several actions taken...
Post-Gazette accuses its unions of ‘bad-faith’ bargaining as possible strike looms
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s leadership is accusing the news organization’s unions of violating bargaining rules as the newsroom prepares for a possible strike. The P-G’s Tennessee-based legal team filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board against five unions representing about 200 employees, including reporters, photographers, copy editors, pressmen and...
U.S. judge blocks Postal Service changes that slowed mailVideo
SEATTLE — A U.S. judge on Thursday blocked controversial Postal Service changes that have slowed mail nationwide, calling them “a politically motivated attack on the efficiency of the Postal Service” before the November election. Judge Stanley Bastian in Yakima, Wash., said he was issuing a nationwide preliminary injunction sought by...
CMU, Pitt developing covid antibody test that gives results within seconds
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC are collaborating to develop a new antibody test — which they say is one of the fastest antibody tests in existence. The test uses a small drop of blood from a fingertip to search for the presence of two...
Rescuers reach people cut off by Gulf Coast hurricaneVideo
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Rescuers on the Gulf Coast used high-water vehicles Thursday to reach people cut off by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Sally, even as a second round of flooding began taking shape along rivers and creeks swollen by the storm’s heavy rains. Across southern Alabama and the...
Elderly pedestrian dies after struck by shuttle bus in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood
An elderly pedestrian died shortly after she was struck by a shuttle bus Thursday afternoon in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, officials said. The incident happened near the 3400 block of Terrace Street at about 3:30 p.m., Pittsburgh Public Safety officials report. Mary Flaherty, 76, of Monroeville was identified by the Allegheny...
Slot machine arrival marks milestone in Hempfield casino constructionVideo
The former Bon-Ton department store at Westmoreland Mall in Hempfield is starting to look a lot like a casino. Live! Casino Pittsburgh, a $150 million venue owned by The Cordish Companies of Maryland, is slated to open before Thanksgiving with 750 slot machines and 30 table games. By Thursday, about...
Gov. Wolf urges legislature to give $225 million to frontline workers’ hazard pay
Gov. Tom Wolf urged the legislature Thursday to allocate an additional $225 million to the Hazard Pay Program, which offers temporary pay increases for frontline workers during the covid-19 pandemic. Wolf announced the first wave of Hazard Pay Program funding in July. The program distributed $50 million in hazard pay...
Burrell spectator policy keeps out visiting fans for football, indoor events
Burrell School District’s spectator policy for football and indoor sporting events, adopted this week, allots two tickets to every senior participant and one ticket for each underclassman. There isn’t enough room to accommodate everyone who wants to attend games given guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and...
‘Hamilton’ performances at Benedum Center being moved back 1 year because of coronavirus
You’ll have to wait a year to be in the room where it happens. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announced Thursday that the performance of “Hamilton” is being rescheduled to 2022. The Broadway musical was scheduled at the Benedum Center on Jan. 5-Feb. 7. The new dates are set for Feb....
Pa. Supreme Court grants 3-day extension on mail-in ballots; Green Party ordered off ballot
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s highest court gave the Democratic Party a series of victories Thursday, including one allowing repairs to glitches and gray areas in the battleground state’s fledgling mail-in voting law and another that kicked the Green Party’s presidential candidate off the November ballot. The state Supreme Court, which has...
Biden campaign outlines tax proposals ahead of Scranton town hall meeting on CNN
Calling the upcoming election “Park Avenue vs. Scranton,” Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign issued a series of tax policy proposals Thursday ahead of his town hall meeting tonight on CNN. The 8 p.m. event will be held in Scranton. Although they stressed controlling the covid-19 pandemic remains Biden’s top...
2 people sue West Penn Hospital after former employee is charged with secretly recording them
Two people who say they were video recorded by a West Penn Hospital employee filed a lawsuit against the hospital system Wednesday, alleging negligence and invasion of privacy. The complaint, filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, seeks class-action status to represent everyone who was allegedly victimized by Guy Caley,...
