Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 949
Target seeks to entice workers with pay of up to $24 an hour
NEW YORK — Workers at Target stores and distribution centers in places like New York, where competition for finding and hiring staff is the fiercest, could see starting wages as high as $24 an hour this year. The Minneapolis-based discount retailer said Monday that it will adopt minimum wages that...
Ukraine slows Russian advance under shadow of nuclear threat
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian and Ukrainian officials met for talks Monday amid high hopes but low expectations for any diplomatic breakthrough, after Moscow ran into unexpectedly stiff resistance when it unleashed the biggest land war in Europe since World War II. Outgunned Ukrainian forces managed to slow the Russian advance,...
Emotional Michael Keaton dedicates SAG award win to nephew, sisterVideo
On Sunday, actor and Pittsburgh native Michael Keaton won a Screen Actors Guild award for his role in “Dopesick.” His acceptance speech for winning the best male actor in a television movie or limited series started out just as you’d expect from the 70-year-old star of movies like “Nightshift” and...
Crews battle Gilpin fire along Allegheny River
Emergency crews are wrapping up the scene of a fire on Godfrey Road in Gilpin. Firefighters were called to the 100 block of Godfrey Road, on the banks of the Allegheny River, around 5:45 a.m. for a report of a fully involved house fire. Gilpin fire Chief Phil McConville said...
To mask or not to mask? Under revised guidelines, it’s a personal question
More than two years into the covid-19 pandemic, Western Pennsylvanians still are seemingly divided over whether they will choose to continue wearing a face covering. Uncertainty over how they will move forward comes as case counts continue to ease and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlined new measures...
Fire crews battle fire at Valley Hotel bar in ClairtonVideo
A Clairton bar was damaged heavily by a fire Sunday night, and fire crews were called back shortly after 7 a.m. on Monday morning. Firefighters responded to the Valley Hotel bar on New England Hollow Road around 9 p.m. Sunday night. An Allegheny County 911 supervisor said fire crews were...
Kiski traffic stop yields unlicensed gun, drugs
Two men were arrested Saturday night after Kiski Township police say they were driving a car with marijuana and an unlicensed gun inside. Police conducted a traffic stop shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday night along Route 56 near McKinstry Hill Road. The vehicle’s occupants, Clevon Helton, 21, of Pittsburgh and...
Pittsburgh man, 31, identified as Homewood shooting victimVideo
Pittsburgh police say a 31-year-old man was shot to death at around 2 p.m. Sunday in Homewood in the area of Frankstown and North Homewood avenues. Officers in Zone 5 responded to a one round Shotspotter alert. Upon arrival, police said they found Allen R. Parker, 31, of Pittsburgh, who...
Ukrainians in Pittsburgh rally in Gateway Center in support of country under siege
They came carrying Ukrainian and American flags. They sang the Ukrainian national anthem in Ukrainian, and they said prayers for the country that has been attacked by Vladimir Putin’s Russia — which doesn’t appear ready to cease until a complete takeover is accomplished. In all, a little more than 500...
Mardi Gras gator a big hit at Slovak American Club in Tarentum
If you want to celebrate Mardi Gras with a genuine Louisiana delicacy, you don’t need to go to Bayou country to enjoy it. Over the weekend, the Slovak American Club in Tarentum brought a full-grown alligator to its headquarters on West Seventh Avenue for its Saturday night Mardi Gras celebration....
New York to lift statewide school mask mandate by March 2
NEW YORK — New York’s statewide masking requirement in schools will be lifted by March 2, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday, citing a dramatic drop in covid-19 infections and new federal guidelines. Hours later, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he’s considering lifting vaccine mandates on restaurants, bars and...
Inflation pain means Biden gets no credit for roaring economy
WASHINGTON — Karen Downing, a U.S. Navy retiree living on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, voted for Joe Biden in November 2020 — expecting the new president to end the covid-19 crisis and then pivot to tackling broader and long-standing social ills, like alleviating student loan debt and increasing access to mental...
Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board removes Russian-made products from state store shelves
That didn’t take long. Following a strongly worded message from Gov. Tom Wolf urging it to do so, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) on Sunday ordered Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores to remove all Russian-made booze from shelves, in a show of support for the people of Ukraine....
Jeremy Shaffer, former Ross commissioner, to run for Congress
A former Ross Township commissioner is the latest candidate to enter the race to replace U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb. Jeremy Shaffer joins at least three other Republicans vying for the seat representing Beaver County and many suburbs north and west of Pittsburgh. The boundaries of the congressional district were finalized...
Trump talks Putin, grievances as GOP focuses on midterm wins
ORLANDO, Fla. — Leading Republicans spent much of three days avoiding Donald Trump’s chief grievances or ignoring him altogether as they unified behind a midterm message designed to win back the voters the polarizing former president alienated while in office. That changed Saturday night. Facing thousands of cheering activists at...
On cusp of Biden speech, a state of disunity, funk and peril
WASHINGTON — In good times or bad, American presidents come to Congress with a diagnosis that hardly differs over the decades. In their State of the Union speeches, they declare “the state of our union is strong,” or words very much like it. President Joe Biden’s fellow Americans, though, have...
Fence being reinstalled around U.S. Capitol for Biden speech
WASHINGTON — Fencing installed around the U.S. Capitol for months after the January 2021 insurrection will be put back up before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday as concern grows about potential demonstrations or truck convoys snarling traffic in the nation’s capital. Capitol Police Chief Tom...
How is Russia-Ukraine war linked to religion?
Ukraine’s tangled political history with Russia has its counterpart in the religious landscape, with Ukraine’s majority Orthodox Christian population divided between an independent-minded group based in Kyiv and another loyal to its patriarch in Moscow. But while there have been appeals to religious nationalism in both Russia and Ukraine, religious...
‘Saturday Night Live’ opens with tribute song to UkraineVideo
NEW YORK — “Saturday Night Live” normally kicks off each show with some humor, but the comedy sketch series opened with a tribute performance to Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion. The Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York performed a “Prayer for Ukraine” during the opening of “SNL” on Saturday....
Putin puts nuclear forces on high alert, escalating tensions
KYIV, Ukraine — President Vladimir Putin dramatically escalated East-West tensions by ordering Russian nuclear forces put on high alert Sunday, while Ukraine’s embattled leader agreed to talks with Moscow as Putin’s troops and tanks drove deeper into the country, closing in around the capital. Citing “aggressive statements” by NATO and...
Police make arrest following Coraopolis shooting
A Coraopolis man has been arrested after, police say, he shot another man in an apartment in the 900 block of Sixth Avenue early Sunday morning. The man who was shot is in critical condition, officials said. Coraopolis police responded to the apartment around 4:45 a.m. Sunday. They found a...
Lawsuit claims Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau failed to protect New Ken 3-year-old killed in 2020
The maternal grandfather of a nearly 3-year-old New Kensington boy beaten to death in 2020 claims the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau failed to protect the child after it received allegations he was subjected to repeated incidents of physical and sexual abuse at the hands his mother and her live-in boyfriend....
Murrysville, North Huntingdon Republicans blast new congressional map; Democrats invigorated by changes
Republicans in Westmoreland County towns included in a redrawn congressional district based in Pittsburgh said they fear their communities will be excluded from key decision-making and have a reduced voice in national politics. Meanwhile, local Democrats said the move to align the county’s largest municipalities with traditional Democratic enclaves will...
Liquor privatization in Washington state could provide lessons for Pennsylvanians
Another attempt is underway to privatize Pennsylvania’s state-run liquor system and end the monopoly of state-owned stores being the only place to buy distilled spirits. A proposed constitutional amendment introduced by state Rep. Natalie Mihalek is the latest effort in a decades-long campaign by state Republicans to do away with...
Holy Virgin Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Arnold holds special memorial service for Ukraine
As Russian troops closed in on Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv on Saturday morning and the world wondered how long the Ukrainians could hold off Vladimir Putin’s assault, 5,000 miles away in Arnold, a Ukrainian-American pastor prayed for the dead. The Very Rev. Mark Swindle stood at the altar of...
