Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1490
Pennsylvania reports 60 more coronavirus deaths as total hits 584
Sixty more people across Pennsylvania died from the coronavirus, state health officials said Tuesday. The Pennsylvania Department of Health said 1,146 new cases of covid-19 were reported Monday, bringing the state’s running tally to 25,345. There were 1,366 new cases reported Monday and 1,178 on Sunday. The death toll now...
2nd Monroeville firefighter charged with having sexual contact with minor
A Monroeville volunteer firefighter was arrested and charged last week with having inappropriate sexual contact with a 10-year-old girl. Ryan Costa, 26, of Monroeville is the municipality’s second volunteer firefighter in April to have been charged with inappropriate sexual contact with a minor. Gregory Allen Lauffer, 23, of Monroeville was...
Pittsburgh plans to refinance $161M in debt
Pittsburgh is preparing to refinance $161 million in debt while interest rates remain low, a move that officials say will result in significant savings. Margaret Lanier, the city’s treasurer and finance director, said the refinancing of nearly $161.3 million would cover capital bonds issued in 2012, 2014 and 2018. She...
Allegheny County reports 3 more coronavirus deaths, 17 new cases
Three more Allegheny County residents have died from the coronavirus, bringing the countywide total to 24, health department officials reported Tuesday. The people who died from the coronavirus ranged in age from 56 to 103. The Allegheny County Health Department also reported 17 new cases of covid-19, increasing the countywide...
App tells you where to find toilet paper, milk, other suppliesVideo
The search for toilet paper and milk just got a little easier. A new app is offering shoppers a guide to where products are plentiful or scarce. What started out in January as a crowdsourcing app for cyclists and runners to report unsafe conditions on city streets has become a...
Obama endorses Biden, says former VP has ‘qualities we need’Video
WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama endorsed Joe Biden in a video on Tuesday, giving the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee a boost from the party’s biggest fundraiser and one of its most popular figures. “I believe Joe has all the qualities we need in a president right now,” Obama said...
Allegheny Health Network opens Braddock, North Side coronavirus testing sites
Allegheny Health Network has launched new coronavirus testing sites in Braddock and Pittsburgh’s North Side, the health system announced Tuesday. The Braddock testing site is located at the AHN Urgent Care at 501 Braddock Ave. The North Side testing site is at 1004 Arch St., at the former Divine Providence...
15 coronavirus-related deaths reported in Westmoreland County
Two more people died from the coronavirus in Westmoreland County, bringing the current death toll to 15, officials reported Tuesday. The majority of the county’s fatalities are linked to senior living communities, said Coroner Ken Bacha. The two most recent deaths occurred at hospitals, but were people who had been...
Drive-in theaters face uncertainty as coronavirus continues to spread
Drive-in theaters appear tailor-made for social distancing: Expansive fields of grass let vehicles park more than six feet apart, providing families with a safe night out in relative isolation. Yet drive-ins are subject to the conditions facing most businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Local drive-ins have sat empty since Gov....
Giant Eagle to have one-way aisles to combat coronavirus
Be sure to follow the traffic patterns the next time you’re in Giant Eagle. In an effort to step up the company’s fight to slow the spread of coronavirus, the supermarket chain is implementing one-way aisles. One-way signs will be added to the floors of each aisle to direct shoppers...
6 employees at Smithfield Foods plant in Arnold test positive for coronavirus
Six employees at the Smithfield Foods plant in Arnold tested positive for the coronavirus. United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776 President Wendell Young said four people reported positive tests last week, and two more tested positive as of Monday. He said those individuals have not been to work for...
Trump says his ‘authority is total’ when to ease coronavirus rules, not governorsVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump claimed the authority Monday to decide how and when to reopen the economy after weeks of tough social distancing guidelines aimed at fighting the new coronavirus. But governors from both parties were quick to push back, noting they have the primary constitutional responsibility for ensuring...
Pennsylvania bill would ensure full pay for first responders stricken with coronavirus
State Rep. Eric Nelson this week proposed an amendment to state law that will ensure police and firefighters continue to be paid should they have to miss work because of the coronavirus. Nelson, R-Hempfield, said the proposed legislation will expand the state’s Heart and Lung Act that requires certain emergency...
Ohio cuts off liquor sales to out-of-state residents in Pennsylvania border counties
Ohio is cutting off liquor sales to out-of-state residents in counties bordering Pennsylvania, a response to “repeated instances” of Pennsylvanians going to Ohio solely to buy liquor, Gov. Mike DeWine said. “Any other time, we’d love to have visitors from PA, but right now this creates an unacceptable public health...
North Huntingdon woman accused of intentionally coughing on McDonald’s worker
A 47-year-old North Huntingdon woman who allegedly coughed on a McDonald’s worker and told the person “I hope you get covid-19” has been charged with assault, state police said. Sharon K. Powell is charged with disorderly conduct, harassment, reckless endangerment and simple assault in connection with the alleged incident at...
Procession honoring acting Aliquippa police chief stretches 2 milesVideo
A long line of police cruisers and emergency vehicles with sirens blaring escorted a hearse Monday carrying the body of Aliquippa’s acting police Chief Rob Sealock back home to Aliquippa. Sealock, 49, had been in UPMC Presbyterian hospital since March 26 after suffering a medical emergency while on duty and...
Wolf: ‘New normal’ will take time, 3 phases of response
While the adherence to the state’s stay-at-home orders is “bending the curve and diminishing the surge” of new cases, Gov. Tom Wolf said Monday he was not ready to predict when he will lift the sanctions against business activity that are crushing the economy. “There is no hard, fast metric...
Ambridge police chief who died of coronavirus was retired Pittsburgh officerVideo
Ambridge police Chief Mark J. Romutis was lauded as “the people’s policeman” in a statement on the borough’s Facebook page. But he was more than that, former colleague Robert Swartzwelder said Monday. Romutis was “just an all-around wonderful guy,” said Swartzwelder, a Pittsburgh officer who is president of the Fraternal...
AHN, UPMC spearhead plasma program that could treat coronavirus
Plasma from people who have recovered from the coronavirus could be a tool in helping critically ill patients recover from the virus, and the region’s two largest health care providers are working together to help facilitate those transfusions. Vitalant, previously the Central Blood Bank, is working with UPMC and Allegheny...
Another covid-19 death in Westmoreland County; total now 13
Officials on Monday reported the 13th coronavirus-related death in Westmoreland County. Coroner Ken Bacha said the latest death was yet another person connected with a local nursing home as all but one of the county’s fatalities have been linked to senior living communities. State health officials on Monday continued to...
Pennsylvania’s online liquor sales booming despite tricky website
Patience is said to be a virtue — and it’s a necessary one for those using Pennsylvania’s Fine Wine and Good Spirits website to get their fill of libations. The state Liquor Control Board has randomized access to the site to control traffic and is filling an unspecified number of...
Pennsylvania reports 17 more coronavirus deaths as total cases top 24,000
Seventeen more people died from coronavirus in Pennsylvania, state health officials said Monday, and the total case count now tops 24,000. The death toll, which includes two new deaths in Allegheny County, stands at 524. Officials said one inmate from SCI-Phoenix in Montgomery County died. About 1,179 health care workers...
Pittsburgh man killed after motorcycle hits deer in New Kensington
A man was killed and a woman hurt Sunday night after the motorcycle they were on struck a deer in New Kensington, police Chief Bob Deringer said. The crash happened shortly after 9 p.m. on Route 366, Stevenson Boulevard. According to Deringer, a 49-year-old man from Pittsburgh was operating the...
Stay-at-home order has spurred increase in home renovation projects
Pennsylvania’s stay-at-home order has allowed Albert Trombi to devote more time to do-it-yourself projects around his Vandergrift home. “I can’t do anything else,” said Trombi, 72, who has built a deluxe woodshop above what a relative calls Trombi’s “Garage Mahal.” These days, Trombi is staying busy doing work such as...
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald calls for primary election to be conducted by mail
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald on Monday called for the June 2 primary election to be conducted completely by mail because of concerns about the coronavirus outbreak. “Holding an in-person election in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic would be, in and of itself, a disaster,” said Fitzgerald, who called...
