Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 717
New Kensington police say ‘bored’ teen stole Jeep from city dealership
New Kensington police say a Wilkins Township man admitted to stealing a Jeep from a used car dealership in the city because he was bored. In court paperwork, police say David Eugene George II, 18, admitted breaking into Wheel Deal Auto Sales on Industrial Boulevard on Feb. 3. They say...
Ukraine 1 year later: Kyiv resident and Pitt professor talks about how life has changed
For the better part of the past decade, Tymofiy Mylovanov has maintained a dual role as president of the Kyiv School of Economics and an associate professor of economics with tenure at Pitt, traveling back and forth between Kyiv and Pittsburgh. In the year since Russia invaded Ukraine, maintaining that...
Millions of U.S. workers are still missing after the pandemic. Where did they go?
Millions of workers are still missing from the U.S. labor force three years after covid-19 surfaced, and economists are scratching their heads as to how big the gap actually is and where all these people went. One estimate found at least 2.1 million who retired earlier then expected. Another calculated...
Report: Pennsylvania’s tax burden still a mixed bag
A comparison of tax levels of the 50 states shows residents in Pennsylvania still pay more than most other Americans. In a yearly comparison carried out by the Independent Fiscal Office, Pennsylvania is above-average with its tax burden. The tax burden is different from overall tax rates: it is measured...
31 flying squirrels take refuge in local animal shelterVideo
More than 30 flying squirrels have found a temporary home at the Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Penn Hills. The native rodents, southern flying squirrels, were brought to the center this winter in two large groups after the squirrels’ Western Pennsylvania homes were no longer suitable....
Western Pennsylvania fish fries’ supply chain issues vary
Three years after the start of the pandemic that upended supply chains around the world, some local fish fries still are grappling with inventory while others are reporting no problems getting their menu items. On Monday, Land & Sea in Monroeville was packed with cod waiting to be delivered to...
Morning Roundup: More demolition needed in wake of Elizabeth Forward fire
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023: Virtual learning continues at Elizabeth Forward after fire Fire damage to the Elizabeth Forward High School auditorium is more extensive than originally believed, district officials announced. Superintendent Keith Konyk sent a letter to families saying...
Allegheny County voter turnout rises with a boost from mail-in voting
Allegheny County cast more votes in the November election than any other Pennsylvania county — surpassing even Philadelphia, which has about 350,000 more residents and 100,000 more registered voters. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said the county’s robust efforts to help people vote by mail were a key factor. Fitzgerald...
Former inmate claims mistreatment in Westmoreland jail
A former Westmoreland County Prison inmate claims his mistreatment while he was at the jail led to health issues that have left him confined to a nursing home, according to lawsuit filed this week. James Robert Frantz, formerly of Hempfield, contends he sustained injuries in a fight with another inmate...
Pittsburgh man charged in connection with shooting at Monroeville hotel
A Pittsburgh man has been charged with assault and various gun violations in connection with a shooting Thursday at a Monroeville hotel. Jamar Reese, 36, remained detained in the Allegheny County Jail on Thursday night after being denied bail. He is charged with aggravated assault, person not to possess guns...
7 shot, including 2-year-old, outside Philadelphia school
PHILADELPHIA — Seven people, including five teens and a 2-year-old girl, were wounded Thursday evening in a shooting near a school in Philadelphia, police said. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports shots were fired shortly before 6 p.m. in the city’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. The 2-year-old was listed in stable condition at...
China calls for Russia-Ukraine cease-fire, peace talks
BEIJING — China, a firm Russian ally, has called for a cease-fire between Ukraine and Moscow and the opening of peace talks as part of a 12-point proposal to end the conflict. The plan issued Friday morning by the Foreign Ministry also urges the end of Western sanctions imposed on...
Pa. Senate committee hears 5 hours of testimony on East Palestine derailment
Lives were at stake and timing was crucial when Pennsylvania officials deferred decision-making authority to Norfolk Southern in the aftermath of the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, according to testimony Thursday at a state Senate committee hearing in Beaver County. About 50 Norfolk Southern cars, including 10 with hazardous materials,...
70s temps set weather record in February
February isn’t over yet, but it’s already made weather history for Southwestern Pennsylvania. The high temperature reached a record-tying 70 degrees at Pittsburgh International Airport in Moon Township on Thursday, National Weather Service meteorologist Jason Frazier said. It was the third time this month that the high has reached 70...
Alec Baldwin pleads not guilty in shooting, can still work
Actor Alec Baldwin has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie and waived his first formal court appearance, in court documents filed Thursday. Baldwin and a weapons supervisor were charged last month with felony...
$11.5M preservation of Heinz Memorial Chapel’s spire planned
Generations of Pittsburghers know it as an exquisite wedding and worship space, a limestone cathedral that has 23 imposing yet beautiful stained-glass windows and an organ with 4,272 pipes. But that’s not what is drawing the most attention at the University of Pittsburgh’s Heinz Memorial Chapel these days. It’s the...
Route 65 study to focus on reconnecting Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhoods
Pittsburgh was awarded $1.4 million on Wednesday to study whether it should alter a section of Route 65 in the city’s North Side to reconnect the Chateau and Manchester neighborhoods. In the 1970s, officials raised a portion of Route 65, also known as Ohio River Boulevard, onto a viaduct to...
Pittsburgh investigators uncover new evidence in 1994 unsolved slaying of woman
Pittsburgh police have a new suspect in an unsolved 1994 killing. Florence Simon was 68 years old when she was “brutally strangled” inside her home at the 700 block of North St. Clair St. in East Liberty. She lived alone at the time. George Satler, a Pittsburgh detective assigned to...
Westmoreland municipal authority approves $31 million treatment plant expansion
The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County will spend $31 million to expand and upgrade a water treatment plant near Connellsville — a 70% jump in the cost estimated when it was initially approved 27 months ago. Originally expected to cost about $18 million, the project’s price jumped in the intervening...
‘The clerk was in on it’: Harrison police nab accomplice in gas station robbery
Police say the robbery of a Harrison gas station earlier this month was staged. “The clerk was in on it,” police Chief Mike Klein said, without elaborating further. David Cousineau, 19, of Harrison is charged with criminal conspiracy, theft and receiving stolen property. Police said he was party to a...
NTSB: Train crew got safety alert too late to prevent derailment
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The crew operating a freight train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, did not receive a critical warning about an overheated axle until just before dozens of cars went off the tracks, federal safety investigators said in a report Thursday as U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg...
Roberto Clemente book deemed ‘appropriate,’ returns to Fla. school district shelves
An illustrated children’s biography of Pittsburgh Pirates legend Roberto Clemente is back on shelves in Florida’s Duval County Public Schools after being reviewed and approved for use in classrooms and libraries. The school district said in a news release that its certified reading specialists are in the process of reviewing...
U.S. ending extra help for groceries that started during covid
Nearly 30 million Americans who got extra government help with grocery bills during the pandemic will soon see that aid shrink — and there’s a big push to make sure they’re not surprised. Officials in 32 states and other jurisdictions have been using texts, voicemails, snail mail, flyers and social...
Nearly $300K worth of fentanyl seized at Pittsburgh Greyhound station
More than 960 bricks of suspected fentanyl that were intended to land in McKeesport were seized Tuesday at the Greyhound bus station in Downtown Pittsburgh, law enforcement officials said. The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Narcotics Enforcement Team (DANET), along with the Pittsburgh Regional Transit police and the Attorney General’s task...
Buttigieg visits East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment site
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday to tour the site where a train wrecked nearly three weeks ago as the government faces growing criticism over the federal response to the derailment. The Feb. 3 derailment led to evacuations and fears of air...
