Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1401
Police seek help to ID men they say threw objects at officers in Downtown protest
Pittsburgh police are seeking help to identify five people they said threw objects at officers during a Downtown protest on May 30. Some also are suspected of burglarizing and damaging businesses during the event at Fifth Avenue and Smithfield Street. Police provided the following descriptions of the individuals and their...
Man rescued from Mt. Washington hillside
Pittsburgh first responders were able to rescue an elderly man who fell down a Mt. Washington hillside Tuesday. Authorities said police, fire and EMS were dispatched to the 600 block of Olympia Road around 5:45 p.m. for a man who had fallen about 20 feet down the hillside. They found...
Duquesne University ‘agreeable’ to requests of mother of student who fell to his death
A mother’s determination can go a long way. Dannielle Brown has been searching for answers since her son, Marquis Jaylen Brown, fell to his death from the 16th floor of Duquesne University’s Brottier Hall on Oct. 4, 2018. She began a hunger strike on Freedom Corner in Pittsburgh’s Hill District...
Trump’s show of federal force sparking alarm in citiesVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is using the Department of Homeland Security in unprecedented ways as he tries to bolster his law and order credentials by making a heavy-handed show of force in cities around the nation in the lead-up to the November elections. His plan to deploy federal agents...
Rest of preseason wiped out for Steelers, NFL
It’s official: No Tom Brady in Pittsburgh in 2020. No Drew Brees, either. No Pittsburgh Steelers late-summer trip to the shadow of the Big Apple. And no installment in the annual preseason “rivalry” with the Carolina Panthers. In fact, no August football at all this year. The 2020 NFL preseason...
Trump says virus in U.S. will get worse before it gets betterVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that the “nasty horrible’” coronavirus will get worse in the U.S. before it gets better, but he also tried to paint a rosy picture of efforts with governors to conquer the disease that has claimed more than 140,000 American lives in just...
Ex-DHS Secretary Tom Ridge: ‘It would be a cold day in hell’ before ‘personal militia’ would be welcomed uninvited in Pa.
Former Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge ripped his former agency’s current actions in Portland, saying it is not the office’s mission to act as domestic law enforcement. Ridge, a two-term Republican governor from Pennsylvania and President George W. Bush’s first head of DHS, said Tuesday the Trump administration’s decision...
Pa. attorney general vows to back schools threatened with loss of funding over distance learning
As schools across the region continue to finalize arrangements for a return to class next month, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has added his voice to the debate. In a letter this week to district superintendents, Shapiro threatened to intervene on behalf of schools should the federal government withhold money...
Coronavirus infections far exceed reported cases, CDC estimatesVideo
Far more people were infected with the novel coronavirus than previously reported in several corners of the United States, according to data released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency conducted a survey looking at antibodies to the virus in 10 U.S. regions. It found prevalence...
Westmoreland County jail reports 2nd covid-19 case, tests 17 more inmates
A second inmate at Westmoreland County Prison has tested positive for coronavirus. Warden John Walton said Tuesday that routine testing of newly booked quarantined inmates confirmed the positive result on July 17, a week after that person entered the Hempfield facility. “This person was asymptomatic,” Walton said. Prison officials confirmed...
Death of woman found in McKees Rocks refrigerator ruled a homicide
A woman whose body was found May 4 in a refrigerator stowed in the hallway of a McKees Rocks apartment building was slain, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office said Tuesday. The woman, Kristy Jefferson, 38, of McKees Rocks was inside a refrigerator that was sitting in a second floor...
WVU mandates covid-19 testing and education; Pitt to require students to quarantine
West Virginia University will require students to get a covid-19 test and complete an education module on the virus prior to returning to campus next month. Those who fail to meet those requirements could be fined $250, school officials warned Tuesday. Like colleges across the region, WVU has published a...
Tree of Life hires firms to help congregations in rebuilding Squirrel Hill synagogue
Leaders with Congregation Tree of Life-Or L’Simcha took another step toward rebuilding with the hiring of two consulting firms that will help with logistics of getting back inside the Squirrel Hill synagogue. “It’s a next step to returning physically and spiritually to the building,” said Barb Feige, the congregation’s executive...
U.S. accuses Chinese hackers in targeting of covid-19 researchVideo
WASHINGTON — Hackers working with the Chinese government targeted firms developing vaccines for the coronavirus and stole hundreds of millions of dollars worth of intellectual property and trade secrets from companies across the world, the Justice Department said Tuesday as it announced criminal charges. The indictment does not accuse the...
Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix taking a road less traveled this year
The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix is traveling a different road this year. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the annual event that encompasses most of Schenley Park “shifted gears,” according to organizers. There will be some smaller happenings on various roads in the region instead of the large 10-day gathering, which...
Car, Port Authority T car crash in Dormont; 1 hurt, spokesman says
A Port Authority of Allegheny County light rail train and a car collided Tuesday afternoon in Dormont, officials said. The car and the train crashed at about 1:45 p.m. at the Red Line crossing near the Hillsdale crossing in the 1500 block of Hillsdale Avenue in Dormont, according to Port...
Bloomsburg Fair denounced for dunk tank mocking Pa. Health Secretary Rachel Levine
A fair in Eastern Pennsylvania was criticized this week for perceived mocking of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine in a dunk tank. At the Columbia-Montour County Fireman’s Relief Carnival, hosted by the Bloomsburg Fair, a man wearing a dress and wig sat on the dunk pedestal, claiming to resemble Levine....
Weekend closures, lane restrictions expected with Tarentum Bridge project
PennDOT plans to close the Tarentum Bridge for several weekends while preservation work is being done. The work is scheduled to start in the fall, stop for the winter, continue in the spring and be finished next summer, PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said Tuesday. About 30,000 vehicles cross the bridge...
Police seek help finding missing Pittsburgh man
Pittsburgh police are asking for help in locating a missing man. Willis Morris, 78, was last seen July 16, police said. He is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs around 150 pounds. He has gray hair and brown eyes. He frequents Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood and South Side neighborhoods and Homestead,...
Pa. Turnpike drivers without E-ZPass face 45% higher tolls next year
Turnpike travelers who have not made the switch to E-ZPass will face a hefty increase in the cost of tolls beginning next year. The 45% average increase for drivers who use the toll-by-plate option is necessary to cover the high cost of collecting those tolls, Pennsylvania Turnpike Chief Executive Mark...
Pennsylvania reports 1,027 new covid-19 cases
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 1,027 new coronavirus cases and 20 new deaths Tuesday. Tuesday’s reported cases represent the second time in the last six days that cases surpassed 1,000 cases, as 1,032 cases were reported Friday. However, cases in the 700 range were reported four times in that...
Alice in Wonderland-themed cocktail party planned for Pittsburgh
It’s billed as “the tea party to end all tea parties” — only it’s more of a cocktail party. Figuring the middle of pandemic is as good a time as any to go down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass, the team behind The Wizard’s Den and Beyond...
Former Pa. senator sentenced to prison for child pornography possession
A former state senator from Lebanon County was sentenced to one to two years in prison for possessing child pornography and related offenses, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Tuesday. Mike Folmer was charged in September 2019 after an online tip led investigators to discover images of child pornography on...
Walmart shopper in northeast Pa. accused of spitting on fellow shopper who asked him to wear a mask
A northeastern Pennsylvania man is accused of spitting in the face of a fellow shopper inside a Wayne County Walmart after she asked him to follow the store’s mandatory mask policy. The incident happened Monday when Evan Spangenberg and his girlfriend were shopping in the Texas Township store without face...
New Kensington considering dumping garbage hauler as residents’ complaints pile up
A New Kensington councilman claims city residents would be willing to pay more for garbage collection if it meant getting better service. Councilman Todd Mentecki said people from across the city have complained about problems with the city’s new garbage company, County Hauling. After more than six months it hasn’t...
