Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 830
Brashear High School student caught with gun in backpack
Staff members at Brashear High School caught a student with a gun in their backpack Wednesday after noticing suspicious behavior at dismissal time, a Pittsburgh Public Schools spokeswoman said. Spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said that as students were dismissed, a staff member noticed a student walk into a wooded area before...
Reported sexual assaults across U.S. military increase by 13%
WASHINGTON — Reports of sexual assaults across the U.S. military jumped by 13% last year, driven by significant increases in the Army and the Navy as bases began to move out of pandemic restrictions and public venues reopened, The Associated Press has learned. Mirroring the increase in those reports is...
Thousands of Pa. nursing home workers may strike despite $600M for care in state budget
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Months after the state approved hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to bolster caregiving in nursing homes, thousands of...
Pittsburgh’s 3 Sister Bridges to get permanent LED light installations
A temporary lighting display on Pittsburgh’s Rachel Carson Bridge from several years ago was so popular and memorable that Allegheny County officials have decided to make a similar project permanent, and bring artistic lights to all three of the city’s Sister Bridges. The Roberto Clemente Bridge, Andy Warhol Bridge and...
Justice Department is likely to wait past midterms to reveal any charges against Trump, sources sayVideo
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors are likely to wait until after the November election to announce any charges against Donald Trump, if they determine he broke laws, according to people familiar. The unprecedented prospect of bringing charges against a former U.S. president is creating intense scrutiny of the Justice Department in...
Single-lane restrictions along Route 28 extended through December
Single-lane restrictions on Route 28 in O’Hara and Harmar will be extended for at least three more months. Work that initially was expected to wrap up in mid-September will run through early December. Motorists should allow extra time for travel, PennDOT announced. Traveling northbound, restrictions will be in place from...
Pittsburgh police, first responders ready for Backyard Brawl, holiday weekend
Pittsburgh safety officials say they are ready for the estimated 70,000 fans set to descend on the city’s North Shore on Thursday for the return of the Backyard Brawl. The Pitt-West Virginia rivalry game, the first in more than a decade, will shut down multiple roads around Acrisure Stadium. Police...
Pittsburgh City Controller Michael Lamb will not seek reelection
Pittsburgh City Controller Michael Lamb announced Wednesday that he will not seek reelection next year. “I think it is important to make this announcement now to give anyone considering a run for City Controller the time to make a thoughtful decision and mount a strong campaign,” he said, adding that...
CDC website for free covid tests set to close
If you want a free covid test sent to your door, you’d better hurry. The popular website run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that uses the Postal Service to deliver rapid tests to U.S. addresses at no cost will stop taking orders on Friday. The White...
Megabus to expand Pittsburgh service to Buffalo, Central Pa.
A new public transit connection is coming to Pittsburgh thanks to a recently announced partnership between low-cost bus service provider Megabus and Fullington Trailways, a transit service based out of Clearfield County in Central Pennsylvania. The new daily passenger bus service starts on Sept. 1 and will connect Pittsburgh to...
Bed Bath & Beyond to sell stock, shut 150 stores in survival bid
Bed Bath & Beyond said it’s close to securing financing and is putting in place a new business strategy to reduce costs as the troubled retailer tries to convince investors, vendors and customers that it has a credible survival plan. The home-goods retailer said it has received commitments for a...
Updated covid boosters OK’d; shots could begin in days
WASHINGTON — The U.S. on Wednesday authorized its first update to covid-19 vaccines, booster doses that target today’s most common omicron strain. Shots could begin within days. The move by the Food and Drug Administration tweaks the recipe of shots made by Pfizer and rival Moderna that already have saved...
U.S. life expectancy plunged again in 2021, down nearly a year
NEW YORK — U.S. life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, falling by nearly a year from 2020, according to a government report being released Wednesday. In the first two years of the covid-19 pandemic, the estimated American lifespan has shortened by nearly three years. The last...
Police say Butler County woman kept animals in ‘deplorable conditions’
A Butler County woman has been charged with animal cruelty after police say 10 German Shepherd dogs and three cats living in “deplorable conditions” were seized from her home. Regina Pruitt, 48, of Butler is facing multiple charges of aggravated cruelty to animals and neglect of animals, as well as...
Feds cite efforts to obstruct probe of docs at Trump estate
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department says classified documents were “likely concealed and removed” from a storage room at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate as part of an effort to obstruct the federal investigation into the discovery of the government records. The FBI also seized boxes and containers holding more...
Fetterman says no to Oz offer to debate, calls list of ‘concessions’ insulting
John Fetterman isn’t about to debate opponent Mehmet Oz, saying the GOP candidate’s campaign thinks “it is funny to mock” his recovery from a stroke. “I’m eager to put my record and my values up against Dr. Oz’s any day of the week,” Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, said in a...
Police: 1-year-old falls out of window in Plum
A 1-year-old child fell out of a window Tuesday in Plum, according to Allegheny County Police. Officers were dispatched about 6:30 p.m. to the 100 block of Winchester Drive. Police said the child was transported to a hospital in critical condition. Authorities did not specify if it was a boy...
Plum residents, environmentalists and other officials speak out against injection well conversion proposal
Concerns about air quality, water contamination, environmental pollution and truck traffic were recurring themes as people spoke Tuesday against a Delmont company operating a natural gas well in Plum. Penneco Environmental Solutions wants to convert an existing conventional, shallow natural gas well at its Sedat facility, 1815 Old Leechburg Road,...
Police probe fatal shooting in Mt. Oliver
A man was shot to death Tuesday evening in Mt. Oliver, the Allegheny County Police Department said. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner identified the victim as 20-year-old Timothy Coates. According to county police, Coates was found by police shot in the head in the 100 block of Dawes Street at...
More Republicans backing Josh Shapiro for Pennsylvania governor
The ranks of Republicans rejecting State Sen. Doug Mastriano, their party’s nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, grew this week as a former national security Cabinet member and a former Trump administration lawyer endorsed the Democratic nominee, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Michael Chertoff, who served as secretary for the U.S....
Biden defends FBI, promotes ban on assault-style weaponsVideo
WILKES-BARRE — President Joe Biden on Tuesday forcefully defended the FBI as the agency and its employees have come under withering criticism and threats of violence since executing a search warrant at former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence earlier this month. “It’s sickening to see the new attacks on the...
Russian media: Ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev dead at 91
MOSCOW — Mikhail Gorbachev, who as the last leader of the Soviet Union waged a losing battle to salvage a crumbling empire but produced extraordinary reforms that led to the end of the Cold War, died Tuesday. He was 91. The Central Clinical Hospital said in a statement that Gorbachev...
Fetterman says Biden should decriminalize marijuana ahead of Pittsburgh visit
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman has called on President Joe Biden to reclassify marijuana before Biden visits Pittsburgh on Monday. Fetterman, a long-time champion of recreational marijuana, also said he would like for Biden to decriminalize the drug at the federal level. “It’s long past time that we finally...
43% of Americans say a civil war is at least somewhat likely in next 10 years
More than 2 in 5 Americans say a U.S. civil war is at least somewhat likely in the next decade, highlighting the deepening political divisions in the country heading into the midterms. A recent poll by YouGov and The Economist found that 43% believe a civil war was either “very”...
22nd Allegheny County Music Festival to rock Hartwood Acres with jam band theme
Those looking to enjoy a day of music and fun during Labor Day weekend can do so for a good cause. The 2022 Allegheny County Music Festival, which is marking its 22nd year, will take place Sunday at Hartwood Acres Park Amphitheater. The show kicks off at 5:30 p.m. and...
