Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 953
Seeing double: 2-22-22 is not your ordinary Tuesday
Some dates just stick out. Today is one of those. It’s Feb. 22, 2022, or 2-22-22. People are calling it “Twosday” and it falls on a Tuesday, which makes it even more of an anomaly. Known as a palindrome, which means it reads the same backward and forward, people take...
Man accused by police of stealing car from Bell driveway, setting it on fire after crashing it
A Kittanning man was arraigned Tuesday on state police accusations that he stole a car from a Bell home, crashed it and set the interior on fire, according to court papers. Robert James Booth, 29, is charged with reckless burning, theft, risking catastrophe and related offenses. Troopers said a Dodge...
All 3 defendants convicted of hate crimes in Arbery killingVideo
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The three men convicted of murder in Ahmaud Arbery’s fatal shooting were found guilty of federal hate crimes and other lesser charges Tuesday for violating Arbery’s civil rights and targeting him because he was Black. In addition to the federal hate crimes, the jury also found father...
Highland Hose firefighter injured in Tarentum fire expected to recover fully; aid sought for families
A Tarentum volunteer firefighter is expected to make a full recovery after his feet became trapped on an aerial ladder while he and others were battling a fire at a duplex Monday. Richard Schuller, 22, was trapped near the far end of the ladder as it was extended from an...
Garbage truck strikes school bus in Ross, no injuries reported
A school bus in the North Hills School District was struck by a garbage truck Tuesday morning on Roseland Avenue in Ross. In an email to district parents, school officials said Highcliff Elementary students on Bus No. 696 were onboard when the truck backed into the school bus around 8:30...
World leaders focus on how to punish Russia over Ukraine
BRUSSELS — With the smell of war in the air over Europe, world leaders got over the shock of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to deploy troops to separatist regions of eastern Ukraine and they are focused on producing as forceful a reaction as possible. Germany made the first big...
Ukraine crisis: Putin gets OK to use force outside Russia
MOSCOW — Russian lawmakers on Tuesday authorized President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside the country — a move that could presage a broader attack on Ukraine after the U.S. said an invasion was already underway there. Several European leaders said Russian troops rolled into rebel-held areas in eastern...
Pittsburgh police say gun found in Hill District domestic incident
Pittsburgh police’s SWAT team responded to a domestic incident Tuesday morning at an apartment building at Bedford Avenue and Chauncey Street in the city’s Hill District. Police said someone jumped from a window and fled the building. According to Pittsburgh Public Safety, police recovered a firearm in the incident. Authorities...
Police: Woman followed Aspinwall man from Rivers Casino, robbed him of winnings
A Forest Hills woman has been charged with assaulting and robbing a man of around $1,500 after following him from Rivers Casino to his Aspinwall home, according to Allegheny County Police. A 66-year-old man turned up at UPMC St. Margaret hospital around 1:45 a.m. Tuesday with face and head trauma,...
Flood watch issued for several counties in Western Pennsylvania
The National Weather Service issued a flood watch Tuesday through Wednesday morning for portions of the Southwestern Pennsylvania region, including Allegheny, Armstrong and Westmoreland counties. Rich Redmond, a NWS meteorologist in the Moon office, said the area may see up to an inch of rain today, with afternoon wind gusts...
Westmoreland fire departments, emergency medical services awarded state grants
Area fire and emergency medical service units are making plans about how they will use their share of $29 million in state grants announced by Gov. Tom Wolf and Acting State Fire Commissioner Thomas Cook. Two Westmoreland County volunteer fire departments will reap the benefits of 2021 consolidations — Hempfield...
Penn Township native returns to Pittsburgh as ‘Hamilton’ company manager
“Awesome” is an adjective often used to describe “Hamilton,” the widely acclaimed song-and-rap Broadway musical about American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. The same word can be used to summarize the nature of the undertaking to get the touring version of “Hamilton” from city to city. One of the company managers...
Resident twin felines earn their keep at garden center in Allegheny Township
Two cats are earning their keep in Allegheny Township. Mary-Kate and Ashley are 15-year-old twins living permanently at the Kiski Garden Center. The cats originally were brought to a former New Kensington store, Arnold Feed and Garden, by store manager Linda Ban when they were 6 weeks old. Ban brought...
Kmart is down to its last 4 stores in the country
AVENEL, N.J. — On a busy stretch of Route 35 near Rahway, N.J., one of the nation’s last Kmart stores looks like a relic from the past. Its big red K is faded and cracked. Inside this most American of retail stores, popular for K Cafe luncheonettes and Bluelight Specials,...
Dispatcher: 2 firefighters injured while battling garage fire in North Huntingdon
Two firefighters were injured while battling a garage fire Monday in North Huntingdon, according to a Westmoreland 911 dispatcher. The fire was reported at about 7:20 p.m. at 2005 Tomco Lane. According to the dispatcher, a firefighter from Circleville Volunteer Fire Department was taken to the hospital with chest pains....
Pittsburgh City Council looks to allocate $12.8M to Bus Rapid Transit Project
Pittsburgh City Council appears poised to allocate $12.8 million for Port Authority of Allegheny County’s proposed Bus Rapid Transit project, though at least one council member has said the city should investigate whether that cash could be spent on other infrastructure needs. Port Authority has touted the Bus Rapid Transit...
1 person hit by vehicle in Tarentum, taken to hospital by medical helicopter
A pedestrian who was hit be a vehicle Monday afternoon in Tarentum was flown by medical helicopter to a hospital, authorities said. Emergency crews were called about 3 p.m. to the 100 block of East Seventh Avenue for the single-vehicle crash in which a pedestrian was struck, according to an...
Pittsburgh Diocese: Bishop David Zubik surgery successful, injury worse than thought
Bishop David Zubik underwent successful shoulder surgery Monday, but Diocese of Pittsburgh officials said the bishop’s injury was worse than initially thought. The surgery to repair a “significant tear” in Zubik’s left shoulder took two hours, said diocesan spokesperson Jennifer Antkowiak. The surgeon at UPMC Mercy found the damage more...
Fire destroys duplex in Tarentum; firefighter injuredVideo
Two families lost their homes to fire in Tarentum on Monday, and a volunteer firefighter responding to the blaze was injured. The fire that destroyed a duplex at 205-207 W. 11th Ave. was reported to 911 shortly before noon. It sent a thick plume of smoke into the air that...
Some Pa. cannabis companies use misleading statements to promote marijuana for addiction treatment
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 — Some Pennsylvania cannabis companies are using incomplete or misleading claims to promote marijuana as a treatment for opioid addiction,...
Firefighters rescue deer stuck in icy waters in Fayette County
As far as rescues go, Bullskin Township firefighters had a first of its kind for the department when they received a report over the weekend of three deer trapped in the icy water at the Greenlick Dam Reservoir in Fayette County. “We’ve had rescues before involving wildlife, but nothing like...
House fire in Parks Township sends woman to hospital
Three occupants escaped from an early-morning house fire Monday on Lincoln Street in the North Vandergrift section of Parks. Joel Brown, chief of the Parks Township Volunteer Fire Department, confirmed there were no life-threatening injuries in the blaze that was reported at 7:51 a.m. Brown said one woman was flown...
Russia orders troops into eastern Ukraine, fear of war growsVideo
MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the specter of war on Monday by ordering troops into separatist areas of eastern Ukraine in his most dangerous provocation yet with Washington over the fate of a nation that could redraw the map of Eastern Europe and upset the decadeslong security architecture...
Pittsburgh region’s balmy temperatures, sunshine won’t last
The official start of spring is just less than a month away, but in the Pittsburgh region it will feel as though it’s come early. Until Wednesday, that is. A high of 57 degrees and clear skies are expected Monday, and temperatures are expected to reach 60 degrees on Tuesday....
Westmoreland transit authority sees signs of rebound after years of pandemic-related declines
After months of declines in ridership during the coronavirus pandemic, Westmoreland County Transit Authority buses appear to have turned a corner. Transit officials said last week the agency’s fixed-route bus service, which operates 18 weekday and six Saturday routes throughout Westmoreland County and commuter service to Pittsburgh, has seen marginal...
