Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1497
Pittsburgh police instructor tests positive for coronavirus; recruit class suspended
A Pittsburgh Police Academy firearms instructor tested positive for covid-19, prompting officials to suspend a 28-member recruit class The city’s Public Safety Department is working to identify everyone, including recruits, who came into contact with the instructor. Officials sent the instructor home on Wednesday after he began exhibiting symptoms similar...
Hundreds wait in long lines at Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank for food giveawayVideo
The line seems to be getting longer every week at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. The organization on Monday held its fifth drive-up food distribution at its headquarters in Duquesne, serving 861 vehicles in three hours. About a half-hour before the noon start, vehicles were backed up onto Route...
Officials offer guidance on how to properly wear a homemade face maskVideo
Pennsylvania officials last week asked all residents to wear homemade face masks if they leave their homes to help prevent the spread of covid-19. But are they wearing them the right way to protect themselves and others? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended the use of homemade...
Pennsylvania jobless claims exceed 1 million since outbreak
More than one million people filed unemployment compensation claims in Pennsylvania since March 15, state Department of Labor and Industry officials told reporters Monday. The exact number — 1,134,053 — eclipses any surge in unemployment in memory. It also represents a 2,735% increase in the number of claims (40,000) from...
U.S. Postal Service hiring temporary employees
The U.S. Postal Service is hiring temporary workers to fill mail handling and processing positions at various locations in Western Pennsylvania, the agency announced Monday. People are needed to serve as mail handler assistants, mail processing clerk assistants, clerk assistants and city carrier assistants, according to the postal service. The...
10 new coronavirus cases reported in Westmoreland County as total tops 150
Westmoreland County reported 10 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the county total to 157, state health officials said Monday. Statewide, the death toll stands at 162, and the 1,470 new cases reported between 12 a.m. Sunday and 12 a.m. Monday brings the statewide total to 12,980. The 10 new cases...
Pennsylvania reports 12 more deaths, 1,470 new coronavirus cases
Twelve more people have died in Pennsylvania as a result of the coronavirus as the number of cases neared 13,000, state health officials said Monday. The death toll stands at 162, and the 1,470 new cases reported throughout the day Sunday brings the statewide total to 12,980. Secretary of Health...
Robocalls dwindle during coronavirus pandemic
Even the robots are listening to worldwide recommendations to keep our distance from each other. Although robocalls are automated, call centers where they’re managed are closed or have otherwise reduced their operations, Los Angeles Times business columnist David Lazarus noted last week. Lazarus heard from a couple who noticed a...
Allegheny County reports 37 new coronavirus cases, total reaches 642
Allegheny County reported 37 additional covid-19 cases Monday, bringing the countywide total to 642. County officials reported 53 new cases Sunday and 76 new cases Saturday. That does not include four county residents who have died from complications related to covid-19. The most recent deaths, reported this weekend, included a...
Pennsylvania is getting worse at social distancing, data shows
Despite a growing number of covid-19 cases in Pennsylvania, location data shows residents have actually increased their travel. Unacast, a phone data company, used data from mobile phones to track the average change in distance traveled by individuals in each state and country, starting from Feb. 24. The state was...
Peduto seeks extension of disaster declaration for Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto has asked City Council to approve an extension of his disaster declaration until early May. Council is scheduled to introduce a resolution on Tuesday that would authorize an extension of the declaration until May 5. Peduto issued the declaration March 13. It allows the city to...
Police: 2 arrested, teen wanted in Derry Township shooting during bungled drug deal
A 20-year-old man was shot and seriously injured Sunday in a bungled drug deal and robbery outside a Derry Township home, state police said. State police at Kiski arrested Michael E. Sawyer, 28, of Salem and Lorraine Painter, 22, of Greensburg in connection with the shooting and robbery that occurred...
Trump tempers officials’ grave assessments with optimismVideo
WASHINGTON — The U.S. surgeon general said Sunday that Americans should brace for levels of tragedy reminiscent of the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, while the nation’s infectious disease chief warned that the new coronavirus may never be completely eradicated from the globe. Those were some...
Coroner’s office identifies teen killed in Allegheny Township ATV crash
A 17-year-old was killed in a rollover ATV crash in Allegheny Township, according to the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office. Dominic G. DeFalco crashed near his home on the 200 block of McGeary Hollow Road around noon Sunday. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The cause of the crash and...
Western Pa. cemeteries attract more visitors during coronavirus restrictionsVideo
Cemeteries across the region have sprung to life during the coronavirus pandemic, with more people than usual flocking to them for fresh air and exercise. Some, however, aren’t as serene as they were before the pandemic. Homestead’s John English, a frequent visitor to Homewood Cemetery in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood,...
ER doctor who died of covid-19-like symptoms was Fayette County native
Fayette County native Dr. Frank Gabrin lived his life helping others, all the way up to the end. An ER physician at East Orange General Hospital in New Jersey, Dr. Gabrin generally worked the midnight shift because that’s when sick people would come in, his younger brother, Mike Gabrin of...
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson hospitalized with coronavirusVideo
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to a hospital Sunday for tests, his office said, because he is still suffering symptoms, 10 days after he was diagnosed with covid-19. Johnson’s office said the admission to an undisclosed London hospital came on the advice of his doctor and...
Researchers discover anti-parasite drug kills coronavirus in labVideo
Researchers from Australia have found a drug already available around the world that can kill coronavirus in a lab setting in under 48 hours. In a study published Friday, researchers at Monash University in Melbourne said the anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin was found to halt the SARS-CoV-2 virus from growing in...
Defense Secretary defends firing of Navy Capt. Brett Crozier over coronavirus warningVideo
WASHINGTON — With the military under broad pressure to step up its coronavirus response, Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday defended the firing of an aircraft carrier commander who sought help for sailors during an outbreak as a matter of holding leaders “accountable.” He also said the matter was under...
Allegheny Valley Hospital explores adding 100 beds if needed to support covid-19 surge
Allegheny Valley Hospital has enough space within its own walls to support as many as 100 more beds by converting the likes of physical therapy areas and family waiting lounges into clinical units, the hospital’s president said. Should the anticipated spike in covid-19 cases overwhelm the Alle-Kiski Valley’s existing options,...
NY’s death count nears 4,200, but there’s a glimmer of hope
NEW YORK — A slight dip in new coronavirus deaths in New York over the past 24 hours may be a glimmer of hope the spread is slowing, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday as overall fatalities in the state climbed to nearly 4,200. Cuomo said it was too soon to...
Members of the 911th Airlift Wing headed to New York City to assist in covid-19 response
About 10 members of the 911th Airlift Wing with medical experience were mobilized Sunday from the U.S. Air Force Reserve Unit adjacent to Pittsburgh International Airport to support covid-19 efforts in New York City, the wing’s commander Col. John F. Robinson said. The airmen left the Moon Township base Sunday...
Pittsburgh pulmonologist discusses safety when working with coronavirus patientsVideo
Dr. Jennifer McComb is a pulmonologist who works in the intensive-care unit at UPMC Shadyside hospital, where more and more covid-19 patients are showing up. A pulmonologist is a doctor specializing in treating the respiratory system, the very thing covid-19 attacks. A wife and mother of two children, McComb works...
14 more coronavirus deaths recorded in Pa.; 1,493 new cases logged
Fourteen more people in Pennsylvania died of covid-19 between Saturday and Sunday, bringing the total number of people who have died from the virus in the state to 150. The state reported an additional 1,493 positive cases of covid-19, bringing the statewide total to 11,510. Sixty-five of the state’s 67...
Grocery workers are key during the virus. And they’re afraid.
AUSTIN, Texas — Every day, grocery workers are restocking toilet paper, eggs, produce and canned goods as fast as the items fly off the shelves. They disinfect keypads, freezer handles and checkout counters as hundreds of people weave around them, sometimes standing too close for comfort amid the coronavirus pandemic....
