Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 719
Hempfield school board votes to consolidate 3 middle schools into 2
Despite pleas from parents and a petition that purportedly garnered more than 800 signatures, the plan to consolidate Hempfield’s three middle schools into two was approved Tuesday night. Only one school board director voted against consolidation, which will move all sixth, seventh and eighth grade students into Wendover and West...
Pennsylvania House nears vote on child-abuse lawsuit window
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania House Democrats put their freshly minted majority status to work Tuesday in shutting down Republican efforts to make changes to legislation designed to let victims of childhood sexual abuse file otherwise outdated lawsuits. After the winners of three Pittsburgh-area special elections were sworn in, giving Democrats a...
5 people injured in house fire in Pittsburgh’s Windgap neighborhood
Five people, including two police officers, were hospitalized Tuesday after a house fire in Pittsburgh’s Windgap neighborhood. An elderly woman trapped inside the home in the 1700 block of Oberon Street was rescued and hospitalized. Two other victims were transported to the hospital. According to police, they were all in...
Plum house a total loss after suspected electrical fire
No one was hurt in a fire Tuesday that destroyed a house in Plum. The fire at 435 Millers Lane was reported at 4:40 p.m., according to an Allegheny County 911 dispatcher. Tim Townsend and his fiancee, Christine Biros, own the one-story home and live there with his adult son,...
Democrats assail Fox News’ possession of Jan. 6 Capitol videos
WASHINGTON — Tucker Carlson’s access to unpublicized footage of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection is an “egregious security breach” by Republicans, the House’s top Democrat says. Democrats will hold a virtual conference call on Wednesday to discuss the details of the thousands of hours of security footage that, Axios first...
Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher won’t seek reelection
Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher announced Tuesday she will not seek reelection. “After careful consideration, I have decided to not run for a third term as county commissioner,” Thrasher said in a news release issued Tuesday night. “I truly enjoyed my time as county commissioner, it afforded me the...
Husband, wife identified in Monroeville after apparent murder-suicide
A husband and wife are dead from an apparent murder-suicide in Monroeville on Tuesday, according to police. Allegheny County Police homicide detectives are investigating the shooting incident after Monroeville and Pitcairn police officers responded to a call for gunfire in the 400 block of Ashbury Court in Monroeville. First responders...
Upper Midwest braces for blizzard, nearly 2 feet of snowVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — A monster winter storm took aim Tuesday at the Upper Midwest, threatening to bring blizzard conditions, bitterly cold temperatures and 2 feet of snow in a three-day onslaught that could affect more than 40 million Americans. The storm was to begin around midday and continue through Thursday morning...
Trump, Brockovich to visit East Palestine as Pa. officials plan derailment hearing in Beaver County
Former President Donald Trump and environmental activist Erin Brockovich plan to visit East Palestine, Ohio, this week as the community continues looking for answers after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed Feb. 3 and released toxic chemicals. Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he...
Swissvale homicide victim ‘wanted to give Lyla the best,’ friend says
Tyleda Worou pulled the car over on the Parkway East when she got the call about her friends. Megan Campbell and her 7-year-old daughter, Lyla, had been shot dead in Swissvale. “‘Megan and Lyla are dead,’” Campbell’s brother told Worou, an entrepreneur who lives in Penn Hills. “I couldn’t believe...
North Allegheny assistant football coach charged in club basketball game fight
An assistant North Allegheny Senior High School football coach, is accused of strangling a basketball coach and striking a spectator during a fight that broke out last week at a kids’ club basketball game in Washington County. Scott McMullen, 46, of Coraopolis, was charged Feb. 16 with simple assault, harassment,...
Police: Capture of 2 teens led to arrest after officer slain at Temple University
PHILADELPHIA — Authorities say the quick apprehension of two youths after a Temple University police officer was shot and killed near the north Philadelphia campus led to an arrest just hours later in a neighboring county. Officer Christopher Fitzgerald, 31, spotted three people dressed in black and wearing masks Saturday...
EPA orders Norfolk Southern to clean up toxic derailmentVideo
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered Norfolk Southern on Tuesday to pay for the cleanup of the East Palestine, Ohio, train wreck and chemical release as federal regulators took charge of long-term recovery efforts and promised worried residents they won’t be forgotten. Speaking to reporters near...
4-day workweek trial: Shorter hours, happier employees
LONDON — Work less, get more. A trial of a four-day workweek in Britain, billed as the world’s largest, has found that an overwhelming majority of the 61 companies that participated from June to December will keep going with the shorter hours and that most employees were less stressed and...
‘They saved his life’: Daughter of man who collapsed at Pirate City thankful for team’s medical response
BRADENTON, Fla. — The daughter of a man who collapsed on the field at Pittsburgh Pirates spring training practice Tuesday morning credited the team’s medical and training staff for saving her father’s life. Ernie Withers, 68, of Bradenton, Fla., was shagging fly balls in the outfield when he went into...
I-79 changes — speed limit, express lane shutdown — target work zone safety improvements
PennDOT announced it has made changes to an Interstate 79 construction zone to improve safety. The I-79 southbound express lane has been closed and a 45 mph speed limit was enacted in the southbound lanes while engineers work through safety changes. PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said the speed limit was...
Putin suspends Russia’s involvement in key nuclear arms pact
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Tuesday that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New START treaty — the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the United States — sharply upping the ante amid tensions with Washington over the fighting in Ukraine. Speaking in his state-of-the-nation address,...
Buttigieg urges safety changes after fiery Ohio derailment
OMAHA, Neb. — Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wants the nation’s freight railroads to immediately act to improve safety while regulators try to strengthen safety rules in the wake of a fiery derailment in Ohio that forced evacuations when toxic chemicals were released and burned. Buttigieg announced a package of reforms...
Soccer complex proposal draws criticism from neighbors in Murrysville
A proposal for a soccer complex along School Road South near the Murrysville-Penn Township border is drawing criticism from nearby residents. More than a half-dozen residents are opposed to the proposal to develop a sports complex with one full-sized and one seven-on-seven soccer field in the 4900 block of School...
Morning roundup: McKeesport police return to work
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023: McKeesport officers back on duty McKeesport police department returned to work Monday, two weeks after the shooting death of one of its officers, Sean Sluganski. A Facebook post from the Mayor’s Office said people can...
Route 30 openings and closings — Aldi in, Boston Market out
Construction is busy on and around Route 30 in Hempfield. Here’s a roundup of happenings in the area. Aldi plans second location 6207 US-30 A second Aldi location is headed to Hempfield. The supermarket chain known for its low prices could move into the space that houses Staples near Sam’s...
Mary Queen of Apostles, Kiski Area get shares of $8M state grants for school safety
Kiski Area School District and Mary Queen of Apostles Catholic School are among 166 schools or districts across Pennsylvania getting shares of more than $8 million in state grants to improve school safety. Mary Queen of Apostles received two grants totaling nearly $100,000 for use at its two schools in...
Explosion at Ohio metals plant kills 1 worker, injures 13
OAKWOOD VILLAGE, Ohio — A maintenance worker was killed in explosion at an Ohio metals plant that sparked a large fire and sent more than a dozen people to hospitals, with at least two in critical condition, authorities said. Emergency crews were called to the I. Schumann & Co. copper...
Committee to study opening resource centers for youth, families in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh officials on Monday announced members of a new committee that will study curbing youth violence in the city and launching resource centers geared toward youth and families. Pittsburgh City Council President Theresa Kail-Smith and Mayor Ed Gainey teamed up to form the new Advisory Committee for Youth and Family...
Students, faculty return to Michigan State after shooting
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University students and faculty returned to the East Lansing campus Monday as the university resumed normal operations, one week after a gunman shot and killed three students and injured five others. The 50,000-student university’s campus remained relatively quiet on the first day back, with...
