Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1419
Another West Mifflin-based Port Authority driver diagnosed with covid-19
Another Port Authority of Allegheny County employee who works out of the authority’s West Mifflin garage has tested positive for covid-19, the authority said Wednesday. It is the 17th case involving a Port Authority employee. The employee has been in a medically directed self-quarantine since March 19, but they tested...
Pennsylvania makes masks mandatory — even outdoors
Face masks are now mandatory in Pennsylvania in public places and outside when social distancing is not possible, according to an order intended to slow the spread of covid-19. Gov. Tom Wolf said the mandate expands an order signed in April that requires the wearing of masks in businesses. The...
Diocese of Greensburg Catholic schools receives largest recorded donation, offering $4.1 million in tuition assistanceVideo
Diocese of Greensburg Catholic schools could see an uptick of about 250 students in the coming year thanks to $4.1 million in tuition assistance now available. The funds were made possible after the diocese received the single largest donation by a family, amounting to $2.4 million, along with smaller donations...
Jordan Brown sues for wrongful conviction after childhood in prison
A former Lawrence County man is suing a handful of retired state police investigators and officials alleging malicious prosecution after he spent most of his childhood in prison for the shotgun killing of his father’s pregnant fiance before the state Supreme Court overturned his conviction. Jordan Brown was 11 years...
Pennsylvania finishes year $3B behind because of pandemic
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania state government finished its fiscal year about 9% short of its initial revenue estimate, a result of the state’s coronavirus-related shutdowns and delayed tax-filing deadlines, the Department of Revenue said Wednesday. The state collected $32.3 billion for the 12 months through Tuesday. That was about $3.2 billion...
Stocks rise as Wall Street heads for a 3rd straight gain
Communication companies helped lift U.S. stock indexes mostly higher Wednesday afternoon, placing the market on track for its third gain in a row. The S&P 500 was up 0.6%, coming off the heels of a whiplash start to the year where its worst quarterly performance since 2008 gave way to...
Hot, dry weather hitting Western Pennsylvania for holiday weekend
At Harbison Nursery in Harrison, keeping plants alive is the main concern during these hot July days. Andrew Scarborough tends to the nursery’s plants. With the weather forecast calling for more scorchers, he said it’s important to care for plants correctly. High temperatures will peak in the low 90s from...
$175M available soon to Pa. renters, mortgage holders struggling with payments
Applications will be accepted starting Monday for $175 million in assistance for Pennsylvania mortgage holders and renters who are struggling to make payments during the coronavirus pandemic as an end to a moratorium on evictions looms. Residents who have lost a job or saw at least a 30% decrease in...
38 new covid-19 deaths, 636 additional cases reported in Pennsylvania
There were 38 new covid-19 deaths and 636 additional cases reported statewide by the Pennsylvania Department of Health on Wednesday. The state total is now 87,242 cases with 6,687 deaths; about 633 patients are considered probable cases. According to the Department of Health, the most severe cases are seen in...
Petition drive calls for dropping derogatory ‘squaw’ from Fox Chapel, O’Hara parks, roads
Three women — including a member of Fox Chapel council — are leading an effort to drop the word “squaw” from local parks, roads and waterways because it is considered an ethnic and sexual slur against women of Native American descent. It’s not the first time one of the women,...
Pittsburgh officials to enforce fireworks laws, restrict large gatherings during July 4th weekend
Pittsburgh’s public safety agencies are taking a different approach to monitoring gatherings to mark Independence Day because of the coronavirus pandemic. “We all know that these are uncertain and trying times,” Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said in a statement. “But if we can pull together as a city and...
110 new coronavirus cases reported in Allegheny County, 1 death
Allegheny County health officials reported 110 new cases of covid-19 Wednesday, along with four hospitalizations and one death. Wednesday’s update brings the county to 2,870 total cases of the virus, 397 hospitalizations and 187 deaths. There have been around 56,000 tests administered in the county since the start of the...
Row House Cinema’s online video festival is the cat’s meowVideo
It’s “purr-fect, a-meow-zing and totally fur-tastic.” It’s the Quarantine Cat Film Fest, a 70-minute compilation reel available for online viewing courtesy of Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville. Row House is no stranger to cute cat videos, having previously screened the national CatVideoFest and its own Pittsburgh Pretty Kitties festival, a...
Alcohol ban protest organizer’s West Deer bar reports positive covid-19 test in employee
The sports bar owner who was organizing a protest against Allegheny County’s covid-19 restrictions closed his West Deer business Tuesday night after an employee tested positive for the virus, according to a post on the bar’s Facebook page. Xtra Innings Sports Bar and Grille on Saxonburg Boulevard is owned by...
Penn State planning to equip all police officers with body cams at all 22 campuses
Penn State plans to equip all campus police officers with body cams within the next year to “be more transparent and accountable,” according to a news release by the university. Penn State announced Tuesday morning that, after extensive research, it will purchase body cams for every officer — about 150...
3 suspects sought in shooting in Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill
Pittsburgh police said they are searching for three suspects in connection with a shooting in the city’s Troy Hill neighborhood on Monday. Officers from the Zone 1 station in the North Side responding to a call for a person shot along the 1400 block of Claim Street around 6 p.m....
Greater Latrobe OKs 2% tax hike, realigns administrators
Property owners in the Greater Latrobe School District will see a 2% hike in real estate taxes for the coming school year as the district balances a $57 million budget in the face of revenues that have taken a hit during the covid-19 pandemic. The school board on Tuesday approved...
Marcellus Shale Coalition strikes back at grand jury report blasting fracking industry
The trade group representing the unconventional drilling industry fired back at the state attorney general and the grand jury report released last week that blasted the industry and the state departments charged with overseeing it. “The attorney general’s report exhibits a jarring lack of reality as to how shale gas...
Man taken into custody following a SWAT standoff in Sharpsburg
A man was taken into custody following a SWAT situation in Sharpsburg on Tuesday night. An Allegheny County 911 dispatcher said the incident began around 7:45 p.m. at a home along the 200 block of Tenth Street. News partner WPXI said a person was apprehended shortly before 10 p.m. No...
Trump’s deference to Putin back under harsh scrutiny after Russian bounty reportsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s deference to Vladimir Putin is back under the microscope amid accusations that he ignored intelligence that Russia offered to pay Taliban militants to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Democrats returning from a classified briefing at the White House on Tuesday pledged to get to the...
Pittsburgh man faces federal charges in police car fire during May 30 protests
A Pittsburgh man faces federal charges, accused of setting fire to an unmarked police car during a protest downtown. Devin Montgomery, 24, was charged with malicious destruction of property using fire or explosives in connection with an incident May 30 near the Fifth Avenue entrance to PPG Paints Arena. Authorities...
FEMA grant funds protective gear for firefighters, ambulance crews in Western Pa.
Eighteen fire departments and emergency medical service organizations in Westmoreland County will receive personal protective equipment through funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. All told, the FEMA grant of nearly $875,000, coordinated by the Nanty Glo Fire Department in Cambria County, will provide protective gear to 67 first-response agencies...
Hermitage police issue plea, announce DNA probe in 50-year mystery of newborn’s remains
Hermitage police believe they can identify the parents of a newborn girl whose remains were found 50 years ago near a dirt road in Mercer County. They’re also asking the person who left the baby off Lynnwood Drive all those years ago to come forward and explain what motivated that...
Focus on covid cases could be wrong way to interpret Allegheny County surge, experts say
Allegheny County’s surge in daily cases of covid-19 has suddenly become steep, but health experts say the tally does not show the full story. “I think that focusing on the sheer number of cases is not the best way to look at this,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Pittsburgh-based infectious...
New road salt methods saved Pittsburgh $1 million last winter, city says
The City of Pittsburgh picked a typically steamy summer day to announce that it saved $1 million from new methods of salting roads last winter. Using new technology and a different salt mixture, Pittsburgh’s Department of Public Works used only 376 tons of salt per inch of snow that fell....
