Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1535
Owner of 4 Shop ‘n Saves given probation for $300K coupon scheme
The owner of four North Hills grocery stores was sentenced Monday to four years of probation after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors for a long-running coupon scheme that bilked nearly $300,000 from manufacturers. Michael Mihelic, 60, of Franklin Park pleaded guilty to a single count of theft. “It was...
Amid lower natural gas prices, Chevron Appalachia to begin layoffs at Moon headquarters
Chevron Appalachia informed Pennsylvania it will begin layoffs at its regional headquarters in Moon. The layoffs, beginning April 6 and continuing through the end of the year, will affect 288 employees, according to a WARN notice filed with the state Department of Labor & Industry. The layoffs at the 700...
Harvey Weinstein found guilty in landmark #MeToo moment
NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday at his sexual assault trial, sealing his dizzying fall from powerful Hollywood studio boss to archvillain of the #MeToo movement. He was found guilty of criminal sex act for assaulting production assistant Mimi Haleyi at his apartment in 2006 and third-degree rape...
Slippery Rock student, Pittsburgh native survives 80-foot fall off cliff at McConnells Mill
A Slippery Rock University student survived an 80-foot fall off a cliff when she “slipped on some leaves” Sunday afternoon near a climbing area at McConnells Mill State Park. Jocie Van Kirk, 21, originally from Pittsburgh, was flown to a hospital around 3:30 p.m. Sunday to be treated for neck,...
6 accused in conspiracy to smuggle drugs into Westmoreland County Prison
A Cambria County woman is accused of working with four Westmoreland County Prison inmates in failed attempts to bring drugs into the jail, according to court papers. Matraca Lynn Vrana, 26, was arraigned Friday and jailed on $50,000 bail. She and five others, including the mother of one of the...
Dow drops more than 1,000 as outbreak threatens the economy
NEW YORK — The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped more than 1,000 points Monday in the worst day for the stock market in two years as investors worry that the spread of a viral outbreak that began in China will weaken global economic growth. Traders sought safety in U.S. government...
Crash on Route 28 snarls early-morning commute
A crash with multiple vehicles snarled traffic on inbound Route 28 on Monday morning, backing up traffic considerably just before the heart of rush hour. Several vehicles were involved in the crash near the former site of St. Nicholas Church between the 31st Street Bridge and East Ohio Street. The...
Tunnel Hill Farms near Leechburg home to unusual herd of animalsVideo
Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series that features Alle-Kiski Valley residents and the notable things that they do. Few people know about Tunnel Hill Farms, a plot of around 100 acres, tucked away near Leechburg. And probably fewer know it contains a barnyard of unusual farm animals...
Vandergrift dance studio joins aerial yoga trendVideo
Take your workout to new heights with aerial yoga. Sandra Lynn’s School of Dance in Vandergrift recently added two weekly classes of this hybrid way of practicing yoga. Kim Stewart, owner and certified yoga instructor at Sandra Lynn’s, says the new classes are a hit and aerial yoga has a...
Israel strikes Gaza, Syria after Palestinian rockets attacks
JERUSALEM — The Israel military said early Monday that it struck Palestinian militants targets in Gaza and Syria in response to rockets fired toward southern Israel on Sunday evening, hours after Israel said it killed a Palestinian militant who tried to place a bomb along the Israel-Gaza barrier fence. The...
Report: Pittsburgh woman hurt after fall from cliff at McConnells Mill
A woman from Pittsburgh was hurt after falling 80 feet from a cliff at McConnells Mill State Park in Slippery Rock Township on Sunday. Tribune-Review news partner WPXI reported the 21-year-old woman was flown to a hospital to be treated for head and back injuries. Lawrence County law enforcement and...
Penn State students raise more than $11 million in annual dance marathonVideo
STATE COLLEGE — Hundreds of Penn State students have raised almost $11.7 million dollars for pediatric cancer patients in the annual 46-hour dance marathon known as Thon. The $11,696,942.38 total was announced Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the Penn State Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, billed as the world’s largest...
Arnold Girl Scout Stella Van Why inches closer to her 4K cookie box goalVideo
Daisy Scout Stella Van Why has a lofty goal, but she just might see it through. The determined girl told her troop co-leader that she was going to sell 4,040 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. As of Sunday, she had already sold more than 2,900 boxes. And sales aren’t over...
Cops: Woman caught with stolen purse kicked trooper during arrest
A Vandergrift woman who authorities say kicked a state police trooper as she was being arrested in Oklahoma Borough last week remained in the Westmoreland County Prison on Sunday, according to court records. Court records show Melissa Ann Gourley, 46, failed to post $3,000 bond on charges of aggravated assault,...
Fashion icon, Southmoreland graduate B. Smith dies at 70
Fashion icon and Everson native Barbara “B.” Smith, who also became a restaurateur and author, died Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020, at her home on Long Island, N.Y., her family announced on social media. She was 70. Smith was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2013, when she was 64....
Volunteers clean up graffiti on 3 Rivers Heritage trailVideo
A dozen volunteers painted over graffiti to clean up about six panels of a large wall Sunday along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail in Pittsburgh’s Hays section where bald eagles fly. It’s a popular section of trail, part of the Great Allegheny Passage to Cumberland, Maryland, where a nearby bald...
Lawsuit against Pa. Lt. Gov. Fetterman still looms over Twitter fallout
The back-and-forth between Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and the Harrisburg attorney retained to represent two men claiming Fetterman violated their First Amendment rights when he blocked them on Twitter has continued offline. Jason Lindemuth, of Harrisburg, and Sean Guay, of Hummelstown, were unblocked one day before a deadline attorney...
Vandals spray paint graffiti on rocks at Ohiopyle
Vandals spray painted graffiti on hundreds of feet of sandstone rock along the Youghiogheny River in Ohiopyle State Park over the weekend, park officials said. The graffiti was discovered by a park ranger shortly after opening the park gates at 7 a.m. Sunday, said Ken Bisbee, park operation manager. “This...
Man skeptic of world being round dies in California rocket crash
BARSTOW, Calif. — A California man who said he wanted to fly to the edge of outer space to see if the world is round has died after his home-built rocket blasted off into the desert sky and plunged back to earth. “Mad” Mike Hughes was killed on Saturday afternoon...
Passage to India: Trump ready for warm embrace, adulation
WASHINGTON — It was the Trumpiest of offers. A rally at one of the world’s largest stadiums. A crowd of millions cheering him on. A love fest during an election year. President Donald Trump’s packed two-day visit to India promises the kind of welcome that has eluded him on many...
Trump says he was not told that Russia was helping Sanders
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Sunday that he has never been briefed about Russian efforts to help Bernie Sanders win the Democratic presidential nomination and he accused the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee of leaking election security information from a classified briefing. Sanders acknowledged on Friday that...
Pittsburgh foodie dishes on best city ‘crawls’
A Pittsburgh native and Mt. Washington resident, Shannon Daly enjoys exploring the city’s neighborhoods, especially its restaurants and watering holes. She often shares her finds on her popular Instagram account, pittsburghplates Her mouth-watering social media posts brought her to the attention of publisher Globe Pequot Press. In May, the company...
Once the cradle of basic industry, the Alle-Kiski Valley diversifies as it looks forward
Kalmar Chevrolet in Gilpin has weathered many changes since Rudy Kalmar, the son of Czechoslovakian immigrants, founded his family’s car dealership selling Hudsons in 1937. It’s been handed down through generations of the family, rolled with changes in the auto industry, and persisted through the changing fates and fortunes of...
M. Maskas & Sons, a 4th-generation business, to celebrate 100 years in TarentumVideo
A Tarentum candy shop turned distributor is celebrating 100 sweet years in the borough. M. Maskas & Sons was founded in 1920 by Matthew Maskas, a Greek immigrant from Chios who came to the United States in search of opportunity. He found one in chocolate. “Our great grandfather made his...
Regional health care systems set a national pace in elder care
Health systems like to tout new facilities and innovative treatment protocols, but some of their most significant advances in Southwestern Pennsylvania are happening quietly in medical schools, hospital rooms and homes where they are setting new standards in geriatric health care. In a nation struggling to contain health care costs...
