Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1384
Local, federal officials warn against drinking hand sanitizers to combat coronavirus
Local and federal officials are warning people not to ingest hand sanitizers as more people turn to the popular cleansing agent to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are liquids, gels or foams that can disinfect hands. Such products should contain only ethanol or isopropanol. But...
Sewickley Bridge reopens slightly ahead of schedule
The Sewickley Bridge connecting Moon and Sewickley has reopened slightly ahead of schedule after four weeks of closures for rehab and repairs. The bridge closed July 17 and was scheduled to be closed until Monday, though Swank Construction crews wrapped up work a day and a half early, according to...
Plasma from covid-19 survivors at ’emergency level,’ blood donation organizations sayVideo
Blood donation organizations say they are facing a critical shortage of convalescent plasma from covid-19 survivors – a part of the blood that contains antibodies that can help those still critically ill with the virus overcome the infection. “I’d say we’re at an emergency level,” said Regina Bratton Boothe, a...
Trump orders more unemployment pay, payroll tax deferral
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — Seizing the power of his podium and his pen, President Trump on Saturday moved to bypass the nation’s elected lawmakers as he claimed the authority to defer payroll taxes and extend an expired unemployment benefit after negotiations with Congress on a new coronavirus rescue package collapsed. At...
Can hydroxychloroquine prevent covid-19? Hesitance to participate stunts large study
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For 30 days, Kansas City physician Michael Waxman took a daily dose of hydroxychloroquine. Or maybe, he didn’t. Maybe, those pills were nothing more than a placebo. He won’t know until the end of a national clinical trial investigating whether hydroxychloroquine — the drug that keeps...
Editorial: Wolf needs to stop playing chicken
And the can gets kicked down the road again. On Friday, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association took a tepid fake-out from Gov. Tom Wolf and didn’t try to make a play for the end zone. On Thursday, Wolf made an unexpected drop-in comment at a news conference, saying sports should...
Westmoreland County edges up with 23 new coronavirus cases
Westmoreland County on Saturday reported 23 new coronavirus cases, the most in more than a week. The county had been reporting less than 20 new cases per day in August. The current 7-day average is 14 cases per day in the county, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Westmoreland...
Students’ college plans change as virus drives changes on campus
When Ethan Wyman graduated from Fox Chapel Area High School a semester early last winter, his plans were pretty much set. The O’Hara Township teen would keep working at Giant Eagle and then head to the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg campus this fall. He and his family liked the...
Pennsylvania reports 813 new coronavirus cases, 16 deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported an additional 813 cases of coronavirus. The state’s total cases is 118,092 since the pandemic began. Of the new cases, 114,755 are confirmed with 3,337 considered probable, according to the state Department of Health. The 16 new reported deaths bring the total attributed to covid-19 to...
Allegheny County reports 87 new coronavirus cases, 1 death
The Allegheny County Health Department on Saturday reported 87 new covid-19 cases, bringing the total reported cases to 8,796. The department added one new death, for a total of 258 attributed to covid-19. Nine new hospitalizations were reported to the county. Allegheny County coronavirus by day...
Rare blazing star wildflowers in bloom in Butler County prairieVideo
The sea of tall, purple wildflowers known as blazing stars at Jennings Environmental Education Center are a rarity for Western Pennsylvania, and they won’t last much longer than this weekend. The flower is as exotic as its habitat: a prairie that was first preserved by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and...
Judge orders release of body camera video from night George Floyd died
MINNEAPOLIS — A Hennepin County judge has ordered the public release of body camera video from the night George Floyd was killed after a challenge by a coalition of local and national media companies, including the Minneapolis Star Tribune. In a ruling issued Friday, Judge Peter Cahill wrote that “Members...
Trump says he might sign order to boost unemployment checks. Can he?
WASHINGTON — Can President Trump quickly issue an executive order and start hundreds of dollars in unemployment payments flowing to millions of Americans again? Maybe, but he’d face significant hurdles. Like the Constitution. Congress, not the president, has the power “to lay and collect taxes” in order “to pay the...
Drug might lessen covid-19-related lung damage
MIAMI — A Miami hospital will be the first in the country to test a possible covid-19 treatment on humans this month. The research center at Westchester General Hospital in Coral Terrace is on its way to enroll patients to test Ifenprodil, a pill developed in the 1970s to treat...
Census Bureau: In-person census counts to ‘present low risk’ of transmitting coronavirus
As in-person counting efforts kick off across the country for the decennial census, bureau officials are working to keep staff and members of the public safe from the coronavirus. “Participation in 2020 census interviews should present a low risk of transmission of covid-19,” according to the Census Bureau. In-person enumerators...
Allegheny County judge adds protections to moratorium on evictions
Allegheny County Commons Pleas President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark issued an order Friday protecting renters from eviction for the rest of the month. The temporary order covers county residents not protected by Gov. Tom Wolf’s moratorium on evictions during the covid-19 pandemic. The governor’s executive order does not impact evictions...
Georgia school district lifts suspensions of 2 students after photos of crowded hallway went viral
ATLANTA — A student suspended this week after posting a now-viral photo of a packed hallway at her school had her punishment lifted Friday, and so did another student. The Paulding County School District made the announcement Friday afternoon, acknowledging the “significant national interest” in what it called “the issue”...
Jerry Falwell Jr. steps away as Liberty University president after his social media post
Jerry Falwell Jr., son of Moral Majority co-founder Jerry Falwell and ardent supporter of President Trump, is taking an “indefinite leave of absence” as president and chancellor of Liberty University days after posting a photo of himself on social media with his gut exposed and his pants unbuttoned. Also appearing...
Prosecutors investigating police who handcuffed Black girls
DENVER — Prosecutors are investigating whether suburban Denver police officers should face criminal charges for putting four Black girls on the ground and handcuffing two of them after mistakenly suspecting they were riding in a stolen car, a district attorney said Friday. The incident Sunday attracted national attention after a...
Hempfield plans to play fall sports despite state recommendation
Hempfield plans to proceed with fall sports despite Gov. Tom Wolf’s recommendation they be delayed until 2021. In a letter posted on the district’s website, Superintendent Tammy Wolicki wrote school officials plan to move forward with their athletic health and safety plan passed by the board in June. The plan...
Shaw memorial motorcycle run rides again; scholarship awarded to Lower Burrell man
The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t hampered interest in a fundraiser that preserves the legacy of a New Kensington police officer who was killed in the line of duty. The third Officer Brian Shaw Memorial Scholarship Ride and Event, set for Aug. 16, is sold out, with ride slots still open for...
Allegheny County prosecutor continues coronavirus recovery, denied workers’ comp claim
Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Ted Dutkowski has been home from the hospital nearly twice as long as he was in. He still cannot walk a flight of stairs — up or down — without struggling to breathe. His oxygen saturation rate regularly drops, even with the slightest exertion. Dutkowski,...
Jail Oversight Board to review housing policies for transgender inmates
For years, the Allegheny County Jail has been subject to criticism for how it houses transgender inmates, and it currently is defending a lawsuit filed over the issue in 2017. On Thursday, members of the Jail Oversight Board agreed to begin a review of the facility’s classification process for transgender...
PIAA decision to postpone sports by 2 weeks met with excitement, concerns
Jody Brockett nervously awaited the PIAA’s announcement Friday as to whether high school athletics would proceed in the fall. Her daughter Leah, a freshman, plays soccer at Burrell. She feared the season would be canceled. She worried about her daughter, who has been having a hard time coping with the...
Pandemic won’t stop West Leechburg boy from raising money for Alzheimer’s research
When life hands you a pandemic, you still make lemonade — to find a cure. “Even though there is a virus, Alzheimer’s is still out there and I want to make my ‘Joe Joe’ happy and not make anyone else suffer from this,” said Brody Toy, 8, of West Leechburg....
