Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 384
North Apollo woman who drowned at national park in Montana remembered as sweet and compassionate
A North Apollo woman who slipped and fell from rocks and drowned Sunday at a national park in Montana is being remembered for her kind heart. The National Park Service said in a statement that Gillian Tones, 26, slipped on slick rocks at Glacier National Park about 5:20 p.m. and...
Pittsburgh council’s Charland trashes unwieldy city system for garbage citations
Pittsburgh Councilperson Bob Charland wants to make it easier to cite people who leave trash on their property. Charland, D-South Side, on Tuesday introduced legislation that would allow city inspectors to issue citations and fines for people who leave garbage on their property, improperly store garbage cans or leave garbage...
Judge alters Trump’s gag order, letting him talk about witnesses, jury after hush money conviction
NEW YORK — A judge on Tuesday modified Donald Trump’s gag order, freeing the former president to comment publicly about witnesses and jurors in the hush money criminal trial that led to his felony conviction, but keeping others connected to the former president’s case off limits at least until he...
Grandmother carjacked at Hempfield Burlington store; suspect arrested in Millvale
A woman was able to grab her 4-year-old granddaughter from the backseat of her Jeep Compass Sunday afternoon as a carjacker drove off with it outside a Hempfield clothing store, according to state police. Paulino M. Romero, 39, is accused of wresting the woman’s key from her purse at 1...
NTSB chair says Norfolk Southern interfered with derailment probe after botching vent-and-burn call
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The head of the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that Norfolk Southern repeatedly tried to interfere with the agency’s investigation into the East Palestine derailment and shape its conclusions about the flawed decision to blow open five tank cars and burn the vinyl chloride inside....
Abandoned puppies found in Unity Walmart parking lot
A Westmoreland animal shelter is asking for information after a bin of puppies was found abandoned Monday morning in a store’s parking lot. Action for Animals Humane Society posted a photo on social media, explaining how the puppies were found. The post said they were left in the Unity Walmart...
Morning Roundup: Man shot in leg in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Tuesday, June 25: Police investigate shooting in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar Pittsburgh police are investigating after a man was shot in the leg late Monday night in the city’s Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar neighborhood. Police were dispatched to the intersection of Lemington Avenue and Oberlin...
Tim Benz: For Paul Skenes, the process has been even more impressive than the numbers
Thus far, the results have been impressive for Pittsburgh Pirates rookie pitcher Paul Skenes. Over the first eight games of his career, the 2023 No. 1 overall pick is 4-0 with an ERA of 2.14. Through 46⅓ innings pitched, the LSU/Air Force product has yet to leave a game with...
Some skeptical, others confident in Housing Authority police’s word to step up Sheldon Park patrols
Eric Walters has witnessed this before. The notion that police will step up patrols in the Sheldon Park apartment complex in Harrison isn’t believable to the nine-year resident. “They’ve been saying that,” Walters said. “If they do, they’ll do it a couple days and say they’re doing something, and then...
Property taxes to jump 5% to support Hempfield Area budget
Property taxes in Hempfield Area School District will be going up nearly 6% to support a 2024-2025 budget approved Monday by the school board. The $109.6 million budget will increase the district’s tax rate from 85.76 mills to 90.76 mills. It was approved in an 8-1 vote, with board member...
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to plead guilty in deal with U.S.
WASHINGTON — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty to a felony charge in a deal with the U.S. Justice Department that will free him from prison and resolve a long-running legal saga that spanned multiple continents and centered on the publication of a trove of classified documents, according to...
Working conditions are driver of national teacher shortage, federal education deputy says at Pittsburgh conference
When people ask Cindy Marten what she does for a living, she does not tell them she is the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. After 34 years as an educator and school administrator, she tells them she is a teacher. “I was born, literally, to be a...
Mt. Lebanon native, other local swimmers to dive into Mon to fight pancreatic cancer
The covid pandemic put an end to many athletic competitions and uprooted the lives of most everyone around the world. For 63-year-old Judy Caves of Mt. Lebanon, it was the start of something special. “During covid, when all of us couldn’t swim in pools, we started swimming in rivers,” Caves...
Unity firefighters set 6-month trial for paid daytime crews
The seven volunteer departments in the Unity Township Fire Bureau are investing in their personnel to ensure they have crews available to respond to emergencies. Beginning July 1, the departments are launching a duty crew program for a six-month trial. Their aim each weekday is to have one fire truck...
Pittsburgh airport advises travelers to arrive up to 3 hours before flights
Passengers could see long security screening waits at the Pittsburgh International Airport this summer, and airport officials are advising travelers to get there extra early, especially for early morning flights. Airport officials issued a travel alert Monday, advising passengers to get to the airport between two-and-half and three hours early...
Westmoreland increases capacity at reopened juvenile detention center
The Westmoreland County juvenile detention center in Hempfield has hired enough staff to double its capacity three months after a limited reopening in March, officials announced Monday. The detention facility that makes up half of the Regional Youth Services Center was temporarily shuttered last year amid a series of negative...
After a ‘rough’ start, Sen. John Fetterman opens up about his mental health journey
ASPEN, Colo. — It wasn’t the 2022 election that nearly killed Sen. John Fetterman. By his own account, it was the aftermath. The Pennsylvania Democrat has been candid about his personal experience with depression and self-harm, shining a spotlight on what can still be a taboo subject for many Americans....
Kids 15 and younger need adult supervision at Highland Park pool
Children ages 15 and younger will need to be accompanied by an adult to enter Pittsburgh’s Highland Park pool this summer, a city spokesperson said Monday. The rule that kids must be supervised by someone who is at least 21 years old is not in effect at any other city...
Lawsuit challenges new Louisiana law requiring classrooms to display the Ten Commandments
BATON ROUGE — Civil liberties groups filed a lawsuit Monday to block Louisiana’s new law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom, a measure they contend is unconstitutional. Opponents of the legislation signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry last week had long...
Prosecutors in classified files case to urge judge to bar Trump from inflammatory comments about FBI
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A federal prosecutor in the classified documents case of Donald Trump clashed with the judge Monday as he faced skeptical questioning over a request to bar the former president from making threatening comments about law enforcement agents involved in the investigation. Special counsel Jack Smith’s team...
Dali cargo ship leaves Baltimore for Virginia, nearly 3 months after bridge collapse
The cargo ship Dali headed out of Baltimore for Virginia on Monday, nearly three months after it lost power and crashed into one of the Francis Scott Key bridge’s supporting columns and caused the bridge to collapse. The 984-foot Dali started moving shortly before 8:30 a.m. with four tugboats. The...
Dr. Iulia Vann nominated as new Allegheny County health director
Allegheny County could soon have a new health director after a six-month search. Dr. Iulia Vann was nominated by the Allegheny County Board of Health Monday in an unanimous vote from the nine-member board. Vann, a Romanian native, has served as public health director for Guilford County, N.C., since 2020....
IUP inks deal with Punxsutawney Area Hospital for medical school
Indiana University of Pennsylvania on Monday signed an affiliation agreement with Punxsutawney Area Hospital to provide clinical training to students of IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine. Having access to clinical settings is among the requirements to be accredited by the American Osteopathic Association’s Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation. The...
Eaglet takes 1st flight from nest at U.S. Steel’s Irvin Plant
A bald eagle was fortunate enough Sunday morning to take flight for the first time from the nest at U.S. Steel’s Irvin Plant in West Mifflin. It happened at 7:24 a.m., to be exact. The No. 7 has followed the eaglet, fittingly dubbed Lucky, through its young life, according to...
Mark Madden: Pirates need bats to contend, but expect ownership to kick can down the road
They say the standings never lie. But sometimes they do. In the National League, nine teams are within four games of each other in the race for the second and third wild-card spots. One of those teams is over .500, another at .500. The rest have losing records. All of...
