Top Stories category, Page 36

The construction company hired to rebuild an underground garage at the Westmoreland County Courthouse claims it still is owed nearly $1 million. Carl Walker Construction of Robinson filed a lawsuit this week seeking payment for its work on the project plagued by cost overruns and delays. The company was hired...

A Pittsburgh police sergeant facing criminal charges related to his moonlighting resigned this week, a day before his first scheduled appearance in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Brian M. Marckisotto, 36, of Peters, is facing trial on charges that he misused a city computer program that schedules police officers for...

U.S. regulators approved updated covid-19 vaccines Thursday, shots designed to more closely target recent virus strains — and hopefully whatever variants cause trouble this winter, too. With the Food and Drug Administration’s clearance, Pfizer and Moderna are set to begin shipping millions of doses. A third U.S. manufacturer, Novavax, expects...

Penn State University grad Stephen Nedoroscik, now known as the “pommel horse guy” following his performance at the Paris Olympic Games, is headed for a new stage — “Dancing with the Stars.” Nedoroscik, 25, from Massachusetts, was the first celebrity announced for Season 33 of the reality competition show, NBC...

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro took to the Democratic National Convention stage late Wednesday with a freedom-themed, primetime speech and warnings about a second Trump administration. In a nearly 6-minute address in front of a cheering crowd in Chicago and millions more on TV, Shapiro echoed many of the same points...

A man was fatally stabbed Thursday inside his Penn Hills home, Allegheny County Police said. The county’s 911 center was notified at 4:20 a.m. of a stabbing in the 100 block of Pennoak Drive. First responders said they found the victim, who had been stabbed multiple times. The man was...

The former Rivertowne Pub & Grille building in North Huntingdon — which was condemned as unsafe and uninhabitable by the township in October 2021 — is going to be demolished after an almost three-year court battle with its owners. Township commissioners this week approved advertising for bids to raze the...

Fall foliage enthusiasts can expect a less vibrant leaf-peeping season this year in Western Pennsylvania, according to experts. Certified arborist Eric Countryman of Swissvale has studied trees for 15 years. He said this year’s record-breaking heat and lack of rain across Western Pennsylvania will likely result in trees turning colors...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Thursday, Aug. 22: Pittsburgh light-rail stops set to close this weekend Multiple light-rail stations on the Blue Line will be closed over the next several weekends for maintenance, Pittsburgh Regional Transit announced Wednesday. The closures will allow crews to...

On Wednesday, nurses at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood voted to authorize a strike. The union nurses, represented by SEIU Healthcare PA, voted 99.3% in favor of authorizing their negotiating committee to send a strike notice if necessary. The union in a news release said it rejected contract...

A motorcyclist was killed after a crash with a school bus Wednesday in Jefferson Township, Butler County. Knoch School District said a bus of elementary school students, who were being driven home, collided with a motorcycle near the intersection of Victory and Dinnerbell roads. The motorcyclist, a 79-year-old man from...

Ashley Emeigh of Salem recently was caught in the crosshairs of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s crackdown on people who don’t pay tolls. She owed $9,763 in tolls and fees when she appeared at an Aug. 12 court hearing and explained to a district judge how she plans to pay her...

LOS ANGELES — An attorney for Hunter Biden accused prosecutors Wednesday of wanting to introduce salacious details about partying and spending by President Joe Biden’s son to smear his character in front of jurors at his upcoming trial on federal tax charges. During a lengthy hearing in Los Angeles federal...

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania State Police pulled drivers over at about the same rate regardless of the motorists’ race or...

The state Superior Court on Wednesday said that a now-retired Allegheny County Common Pleas judge did not have the authority to prohibit prosecutors from seeking the death penalty. The appellate court returned the criminal case against Deangelo Zieglar back to the trial court to proceed as a capital case, finding...

A Washington County woman is claiming in a lawsuit that she had to jump from a moving Uber because she feared for her life after the driver crashed on a highway and then fled in a smoking, speeding car. A police report stemming from the Dec. 2 crash, however, does...

When fire hit Janet Feil’s Allegheny Township house Wednesday evening, first responders, family and neighbors rallied around the 84-year-old woman. But it was a motorist driving down Garvers Ferry Road and Feil’s daughter living in Florida who set that response in motion. Feil said she was getting dinner ready about...

The Natrona neighborhood’s grief over the death of a hearing-impaired, 11-year-old girl was tinged with anger over the reckless driving they say caused it. Roxanne Alexis Bonnoni died on North Canal Street, just steps from her home, after she was hit by a Jeep Patriot while walking across the road...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Democrats have won legal challenges keeping the left-wing Party for Socialism and Liberation off the battleground state’s presidential ballot, at least for now, while a lawyer with deep Republican Party ties is working to help independent candidate Cornel West get on it. The court cases are among...

CAIRO — Key mediator Egypt expressed skepticism Wednesday about the proposal meant to bridge gaps in cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas as more details emerged a day before negotiations were expected to resume in Cairo. The challenges around the so-called bridging proposal appeared to undermine the optimism for an...

“Pink Pony Club” fans have been around since the pandemic in Pittsburgh, but the release of “Good Luck, Babe!” in April started an international Femininomenon — and singer Chappell Roan became a household name. Roan, a 26-year-old singer from Missouri, released her first EP titled “School Nights” in 2017, followed...

An internal probe spurred by misuse of City of Pittsburgh-issued credit cards revealed “honest mistakes” by employees and resulted in little discipline and few policy changes, a top city official said Wednesday. The three-month investigation, released by Jake Pawlak, the city’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget, found...

Arch Resources and Consol Energy are combining to form a single coal producer valued at more than $5 billion, the companies announced Wednesday, the latest consolidation in a deal-happy energy sector. Arch shareholders will get 1.326 shares of Consol common stock for each share of Arch they own. Consol shareholders...

ASHEBORO, N.C. — Donald Trump is holding his first outdoor rally since narrowly surviving an attempted assassination in Pennsylvania last month. Trump’s podium at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame, where he is slated to deliver remarks on national security Wednesday afternoon, is surrounded by panes of...