Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 947
Allegheny County has ‘turned a corner’ in covid pandemic, health official says
Allegheny County’s top health official said Wednesday that she is optimistic the county has “turned a corner” in the covid-19 pandemic, though disparities remain high among Black residents in every metric, including vaccination rates. “I am an optimist at heart, and I am optimistic that we have turned a corner,”...
West Deer police standoff ends with house fire
A man is in custody after holding police at bay in West Deer and setting his home on fire Wednesday, according to authorities. Police had much of the 3500 block on Huntertown Road blocked off and fire crews were called to extinguish the smokey fire shortly after noon, according to...
Gov. Wolf tours Pittsburgh company working to send cargo to the moon
Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday toured Astrobotic, a company on Pittsburgh’s North Side that is working toward sending unmanned vessels to the moon. Astrobotic CEO John Thornton told reporters that the company is scheduled for a lunar launch this year and another in 2023. If Astrobotic is able to beat...
State trooper in New Stanton charged with possessing child porn, jailed on $500K bond
A state trooper assigned to the turnpike detail in southwestern Pennsylvania remains in jail after investigators allege he possessed dozens of computer files containing child pornography, including on a personal cellphone he was carrying when arrested Tuesday at the New Stanton station. Sean R. McKenzie, 37, a corporal, is charged...
Pittsburgh-area steelworker Joseph Burgess gets front-row seat at State of the Union address
You’re minding your business, going to your job at the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works, and the next thing you know, you have a front-row seat for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. How does that happen? For Joseph “JoJo” Burgess of Washington, Pa., it started with an...
Court throws out school mask lawsuits by Upper St. Clair, North Allegheny
The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday dismissed as moot two lawsuits against local school districts over mask mandates. The court said in its order that the complaints against the Upper St. Clair and North Allegheny school districts no longer present a controversy because Allegheny County isn’t deemed...
Pittsburgh man pleads guilty for role in Downtown protests over George Floyd’s death
A man from Pittsburgh’s South Side Slopes pleaded guilty Wednesday to obstructing law enforcement during Downtown protests over George Floyd’s death on May 30, 2020. Jordan Coyne, 26, agreed to an 18-month federal prison term in exchange for his plea. He will be sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Arthur...
Hempfield leaders approve rezoning of former Cherry Creek Golf Course
Hempfield supervisors this week granted a zoning change that could pave the way for residential development at the former Cherry Creek Golf Course. The zoning status will change from agricultural to suburban residential for about 100 acres of the golf course, which closed in 2015. While site plans for possible...
Biden admin: Covid should no longer ‘dictate how we live’
WASHINGTON — It’s time for America to stop letting the coronavirus “dictate how we live,” President Joe Biden’s White House declared Wednesday, outlining a strategy to allow people to return to many normal activities safely after two years of pandemic disruptions. One highlight is a new “test to treat” plan...
Shadyside’s poorly rated South Negley Avenue Bridge in ‘sufficient operating condition,’ mayor says
Pittsburgh’s poorly rated South Negley Avenue Bridge is in “sufficient operating condition,” according to Mayor Ed Gainey. Some residents have expressed concern about the bridge because wooden posts underneath the deck appear to be supporting the structure. Gainey said the wooden posts do not support the full weight of the...
Space junk on 5,800-mph collision course with moon
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The moon is about to get walloped by 3 tons of space junk, a punch that will carve out a crater that could fit several semitractor-trailers. The leftover rocket will smash into the far side of the moon at 5,800 mph (9,300 kph) on Friday, away...
Ohio woman embezzled $2.1M from Beaver credit union to buy 4-wheelers, farm animals, FBI says
An Ohio woman sentenced in January on charges of embezzling more than $2 million from a Beaver credit union spent much of it on agricultural purchases, including attempting to start a pig farm, federal investigators said. Stacey Shaw of Salem, Ohio, was sentenced to more than four years in prison...
Refugee count tops 1 million; Russians besiege Ukraine ports
KYIV, Ukraine — The number of people sent fleeing Ukraine by Russia’s invasion topped 1 million on Wednesday, the swiftest refugee exodus this century, the United Nations said, as Russian forces kept up their bombardment of the country’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv, and laid siege to two strategic seaports. The tally...
Ohio man charged in Duquesne Heights shooting that left man in critical condition
Pittsburgh police have arrested an Ohio man in a shooting in the city’s Duquesne Heights neighborhood that left another man in critical condition. Police were called just after 3 a.m. Wednesday to the scene in the 1400 block of Grandview Avenue. Neil Toalston, 27, of Alliance, was charged later Wednesday...
Covid pandemic puts pressure on Pittsburgh region’s child care services
Like so many businesses over the past two years, the child care industry has been whipsawed by the covid pandemic and its impact on the economy. Some parents working from home or leaving their jobs have pulled their children from child care, which creates openings — if the centers can...
Pittsburgh police: Missing girl last seen Saturday
Pittsburgh police seek help finding a missing girl. Taylor Wilson, 13, was last seen on Saturday. She is described a standing 5 feet 7 inches tall, with blue eyes and brown hair. Police said she is known to frequent Ross, Fineview and Westwood neighborhoods. Anyone with information on Taylor’s whereabouts...
New Kensington-Arnold teachers rally for new contract, threaten strike vote
First grade teacher Mick Dombroski feels like he’s living in the movie “Groundhog Day.” Over and over again, he said, the New Kensington-Arnold School District can’t approve a new contract with its teachers union until after the previous deal has expired. Most districts settle on new contracts before that happens,...
1 killed after opening fire on police in South Connellsville
South Connellsville police shot and killed a man after they say he fired at them during a welfare check early Tuesday evening in South Connellsville. Police were called to a home on the 2100 block of Second Street in Connellsville shortly after 4:30 p.m., after a request to check on...
Pittsburgh gang member sentenced to federal prison for drug, firearm conviction
A Pittsburgh man has been sentenced to eight years in federal prison after he was convicted of violating federal drug and firearms laws, officials announced Tuesday. Devonte Parker, 26, became the latest member of Darccide/Smash 44, or DS44, a neighborhood gang involved with significant drug trafficking in the city. U.S....
State of Union: Biden vows to check Russia, fight inflation
WASHINGTON — Addressing a concerned nation and anxious world, President Joe Biden vowed in his first State of the Union address Tuesday night to check Russian aggression in Ukraine, tame soaring U.S. inflation and deal with the fading but still dangerous coronavirus. Biden declared that he and all members of...
Allegheny County 911 dispatchers authorize strike on day of St. Patrick’s Day parade
After previously protesting what they described as long shifts and low pay, unionized Allegheny County 911 dispatchers have authorized a one-day strike for March 12. The strike date coincides with Pittsburgh’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. Al Smith, business manager for Service Employees International Union Local 668, said workers sent...
Former Mt. Pleasant, Perryopolis doctor gets prison for illegally prescribing drugs, having sex with patients
Dr. Emilio Navarro told the court he made a mistake. It was a mistake that he made dozens of times over four years. A federal indictment against Navarro, a longtime family physician who practiced in Mt. Pleasant and Perryopolis, said he wrote prescriptions for painkillers and Xanax to two patients...
Justices keep Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law in place, at least for now
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law will remain in place, at least for the near future, despite a state judge’s order that would have made it expire in two weeks, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The justices issued a one-paragraph order that overturned a Feb. 16 decision by Commonwealth...
Pittsburgh adopts measures intended to strengthen focus on city’s infrastructure
Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday approved several measures intended to improve the way the city investigates, reports on and provides funding for its infrastructure needs. The measures come in the wake of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in Pittsburgh’s Frick Park in January, which has brought heightened awareness to the...
Jeannette officials aim to stop trespassers at crumbling former brewery
Notices discouraging anyone from entering the former Fort Pitt Brewery property in West Jeannette were put up last week after city officials received reports of trespassing, according to code enforcement officer Bill Whetzel. He said the city was notified that adults and children were inside the abandoned property and that...
