Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 858
Gilpin police investigating whether neighbor was justified shooting 3 dogs after 1 bit woman
Gilpin police are investigating whether the shooting of three dogs Sunday was justified after one of them bit a neighbor. Police Chief Christopher Fabec said the dogs were shot after one of them bit a woman from a neighboring property multiple times on the leg and thigh. She was treated...
1 person injured in single-vehicle crash in Kiski Township
A car struck a telephone pole and rolled over early Monday in the 1300 block of Route 56 in Kiski Township. Armstrong County 911 confirmed the accident and said one person was transported to an area hospital. The condition of the accident victim was not available Monday morning. State police...
Dr. Anthony Fauci says he will retire by end of Biden’s 1st term
The United States will grapple with covid-19 long after Dr. Anthony Fauci leaves his post as the president’s chief medical adviser, the Brooklyn native said in a Politico interview announcing his plans to retire by the end of Joe Biden’s first term. Fauci, 81, became the face of the covid-19...
Heinz ketchup bottles removed from scoreboard at Acrisure StadiumVideo
The giant Heinz ketchup bottles are coming down. Crews on Monday morning removed the first of two ketchup bottles that framed the scoreboard at the former Heinz Field. Last week, the stadium announced that Kraft Heinz no longer held the naming rights for the home of the Pittsburgh Steelers and...
Pittsburgh’s Picklesburgh sets new attendance record
By any measure, the seventh edition of Picklesburgh was the largest ever held, officials said. During the three-day festival, crowds took full advantage of a larger footprint that encompassed the Rachel Carson (9th Street) Bridge and the riverfront along the 10th Street Bypass. “This was definitely the largest event we’ve...
$1M grant will help prep former Sony industrial site in East Huntingdon for tenants
A $1 million state grant is expected to cover close to half the costs of planned infrastructure improvements at RIDC Westmoreland Innovation Center, the former Sony television plant in East Huntingdon. The grant will help pay for work on a few hundred thousand square feet in the southeastern corner of...
Gas prices continue to fall on drop in demand, declining oil prices
The national average price of gasoline has fallen for 34 straight days, and — barring major hurricanes, outages or unexpected disruptions — could fall under $4 by mid-August, an industry analyst says. “We’ve seen the national average price of gasoline decline for a fifth straight week, with the pace of...
Jury selection underway for ex-Trump adviser Steve BannonVideo
WASHINGTON — Jury selection began Monday in the trial of Steve Bannon, a one-time top adviser to former President Donald Trump. He is facing criminal contempt of Congress charges after refusing for months to cooperate with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. Bannon is charged in...
Buffalo Township bus company receives honor for 75th anniversary
When Jeanne Roenigk is asked about retirement, she responds with a simple question. “What else would I do?” Roenigk, 90, runs the Buffalo Township-based bus company founded by her late husband, William Roenigk Sr., in 1945. Her longevity with W.L. Roenigk is the reason the family-run bus company continues to...
Boost in K-12 state funding to impact Allegheny, Westmoreland districts
Allegheny and Westmoreland school districts anticipate a boost in funding this year after legislators gave their stamp of approval to $8.5 billion for K-12 public education. The Keystone State will provide more than $7.3 billion in basic education and level-up funds — a roughly 11.4% increase from the 2021-22 allocation....
Police: 3 people and gunman dead in Indiana mall shootingVideo
GREENWOOD, Ind. — Three people were fatally shot and two were injured, including a 12-year-old girl, at an Indiana mall after a man with a rifle opened fire in a food court and an armed civilian shot and killed him, police said. The man entered the Greenwood Park Mall on...
Jan. 6 panel to receive Secret Service texts after data lossVideo
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the U.S. Capitol assault expects to receive text messages it has subpoenaed from the Secret Service by Tuesday, panel member Zoe Lofgren said. A government inspector general told the panel last week that the agency wasn’t cooperating with its inquiry into the Jan. 6,...
Fires scorch France and Spain, as Europe wilts in heat waveVideo
PARIS — Firefighters battled wildfires raging out of control in France and Spain on Sunday as Europe wilted under an unusually extreme heat wave that authorities in Madrid blamed for hundreds of deaths. Two huge blazes, which have consumed pine forests for six days in southwestern France, have forced the...
Report: ‘Systemic failures’ in Uvalde school massacreVideo
UVALDE, Texas — Nearly 400 law enforcement officials rushed to a mass shooting at a Uvalde elementary school, but “systemic failures” created a chaotic scene that lasted more than an hour before the gunman who took 21 lives was finally confronted and killed, according to a report from investigators released...
4 counties under flood watch as storms approach Pittsburgh area
A flood watch is in effect for parts of the Pittsburgh area until Monday morning as excessive rainfall may cause flooding, the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh said Sunday. The watch for Allegheny, Beaver, Greene and Washington counties began at 11 a.m. Sunday and was scheduled to last until 8...
Doug Mastriano helps celebrate the political movement that made him at film premiere
LOWER ALLEN TOWNSHIP — Sen. Doug Mastriano largely set aside his standard stump speech Saturday night to pay an homage to the latest grassroots conservative movement in Pennsylvania of which— for the moment — he’s field general as he fights with Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro to become the state’s...
Abortion laws spark profound changes in other medical care
A sexual assault survivor chooses sterilization so that if she is ever attacked again, she won’t be forced to give birth to a rapist’s baby. An obstetrician delays inducing a miscarriage until a woman with severe pregnancy complications seems “sick enough.” A lupus patient must stop taking medication that controls...
No major problems with ballot drop boxes in 2020, AP finds
ATLANTA — The expanded use of drop boxes for mailed ballots during the 2020 election did not lead to any widespread problems, according to an Associated Press survey of state election officials across the U.S. that revealed no cases of fraud, vandalism or theft that could have affected the results....
Church rebuilding, war on minds as Arnold parishioners observe Feast of St. Vladimir
Understanding suffering was part of the message the Rev. John (Ivan) Chirovsky brought Saturday to an audience in the social hall of St. Vladimir Ukrainian Catholic Church in Arnold. Chirovsky, director of spiritual formation at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Pittsburgh’s Perry North neighborhood, appeared...
Stepping up: Volunteers donate thousands of hours of time maintaining the region’s myriad hiking, biking trails
As walkers, hikers and bikers make their way onto the crushed limestone gravel of one of Western Pennsylvania’s many trail systems, it might not seem as though they are merging onto an economic highway. But if they’re stepping onto the Great Allegheny Passage — the trail between Pittsburgh’s Point State...
Latest battle over abortion rights in Pa. all about state constitution
Pennsylvania is in the middle of a new fight over the future of abortion, and it’s all about the state constitution. It began months before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, declaring states are the proper battleground over abortion rights. It exploded into public consciousness July 8, when...
Quecreek miners, former governor kick off rescue reunion
Former Gov. Mark Schweiker waved the green flag to start the races Saturday night at Jennerstown Speedway Complex in Somerset County, but his duties also marked the start of the 20-year celebration of the rescue of the Quecreek miners. The dramatic rescue two decades ago of the nine miners trapped...
Trooper: Vandergrift man admits to dealing drugs after car pulled over for speeding
State police say a Vandergrift man who was a passenger in a car that was pulled over for speeding admitted to dealing drugs after the trooper found narcotics in his possession. Donald Charles Riggle, 37, of Franklin Avenue was charged with a felony count of possession with the intent to...
Armstrong County man killed in dirt bike accident
A 26-year-old man from Templeton, Armstrong County, was killed Friday evening when the dirt bike he was riding went off a road and struck a tree, officials said. Brandon Weaver was killed in neighboring Pine Township when the mishap occurred at around 7:50 p.m., according to a release from Armstrong...
New mental health hotline strives to make care more accessible nationwide
A new 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline has launched nationwide, with the intent to strengthen and transform crisis care in America, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials. The 988 system will build on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is an existing network of over 200...
