Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 974
Pittsburgh officials say 50 trucks still cleaning snow and ice
After a winter storm brought several inches of snow to Western Pennsylvania Sunday, Pittsburgh crews were still clearing roads and combating icy road conditions as of Thursday. City officials said Monday that they had hoped to have all city roads cleared by Tuesday’s morning commute. Though many major roads seemed...
AP-NORC poll: Biden approval hits new low at 1-year mark
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden ends his first year in the White House with a clear majority of Americans for the first time disapproving of his handling of the presidency in the face of an unrelenting pandemic and roaring inflation, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center...
Parents sue Upper St. Clair School District over lifting of mask mandate
A group of families of medically disabled children is suing Upper St. Clair School District in federal court after the board there reversed its mandatory mask mandate earlier this month. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of five medically fragile students who are unnamed in the complaint, seeks a temporary restraining...
Sports talk radio mainstay Jim Colony retiring from 93.7 The Fan
Not since legendary meteorologist Bob Kudzma left the KDKA-TV airwaves two decades ago has a New England native left such an impression on the Pittsburgh media landscape. Jim Colony, who brought a vast knowledge of sports, a self-deprecating sense of humor and a bit of a New England twang to...
Tom Hanks returning to Pittsburgh region to film ‘A Man Called Ove’
Tom Hanks is set to return to the Pittsburgh region to film another project after having portrayed the late Fred Rogers in the 2019 “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” The U.S. adaptation of “A Man Called Ove” will film in Western Pennsylvania this year, Pittsburgh Film Office director Dawn...
Mark Cuban’s online pharmacy touting low-cost prescription drugs now open
Mark Cuban’s online pharmacy promising affordable prices on prescription medications is up and running. The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company cuts out middlemen and negotiates directly with drug manufacturers and pharmacies for rebates and discounts on behalf of employers, health insurers and government health programs. It says it’s offering...
Highlands school board votes to make masks optional
Highlands students are not required to wear masks in class, or elsewhere on district property, after the school board on Wednesday night reversed a previous mandate. The policy extends to staff and visitors, though the new mask-optional guidelines will limit outsiders in the building. The board voted 6-3, with members...
Hempfield school officials, bus company working to lessen impacts of driver shortage
A shortage of substitute school bus drivers is impacting some routes in the Hempfield Area School District. First Student bus company “has an occasional morning in which a substitute bus driver cannot be secured,” according to Superintendent Tammy Wolicki. While efforts are made to cover impacted routes through other means...
Report cites water quality issues in hundreds of miles of Allegheny, Westmoreland waterways
Sections of Loyalhanna Creek and several of its tributaries, as well as some streams in Salem, are among bodies of water in Westmoreland County that are considered impaired for various uses, according to a new statewide integrated water quality report from the Department of Environmental Protection. In neighboring Allegheny County,...
Jeannette man accused of fighting with sheriff’s department warrant team ordered jailed without bond
A Jeannette man remains in custody without bail after he told members of the Westmoreland County Sheriff’s Department warrant squad that he would rather be shot than go to jail during a skirmish at a downtown pharmacy. Deputies reported finding Justin L. Turner, 41, standing outside the Rite Aid on...
Budd Dwyer’s suicide at press conference still shocks after 35 years
An unhinged politician. A room full of reporters and photographers. And a .357 magnum tucked in a manila envelope. These three volatile elements combusted on Jan. 22, 1987, into one of the most enduring and shocking episodes in Pennsylvania history. It began as a press conference in which everyone expected...
Hempfield man sentenced to federal prison for meth trafficking
A Hempfield man will spend up to 10 years in a federal prison for his role in a methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy, according to court records. In addition to the prison term, a federal judge on Wednesday also ordered Zachary Miller, 28, to forfeit five guns. He will spend five years...
TV Talk: Future WTAE reporter hit by a car live on the airVideo
Local TV news reporter Tori Yorgey will begin her new job at Pittsburgh’s WTAE-TV in February, but her last week on the job at WSAZ-TV in Huntington, W.Va., has been eventful: She was struck by a car during a live broadcast and continued reporting, becoming a viral sensation on Twitter...
Police investigate fatal shooting in Bellevue
Police are investigating the fatal shooting of a woman Wednesday night in Bellevue. Police were called to the intersection of Sheridan and Lincoln avenues at 8:30 p.m., according to an Allegheny County 911 supervisor. They found a 28-year-old woman who had been shot multiple times. She was rushed to a...
Voting bill collapses, Democrats unable to change filibusterVideo
WASHINGTON — Voting legislation that Democrats and civil rights leaders say is vital to protecting democracy collapsed Wednesday when two senators refused to join their own party in changing Senate rules to overcome a Republican filibuster after a raw, emotional debate. The outcome was a stinging defeat for President Joe...
Tarentum hit-and-run suspect faces March trial date
A Lower Burrell woman accused of hitting two people with her car near the Tarentum Bridge late last month will face a March trial following a preliminary hearing Wednesday. Lois A. Davis, 55, had two felony counts of accidents involving death or personal injury held for court along with one...
Biden reviews first year of ‘challenges but also enormous progress’Video
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday sought to reframe his presidency as one of “challenges but also enormous progress,” saying he would restart efforts to pass his signature legislative agenda and use the midterm election campaigns to push harder against Republican obstinance. “For all this progress, I know there’s...
Supreme Court allows Jan. 6 committee to get Trump documentsVideo
WASHINGTON — In a rebuff to former President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court is allowing the release of presidential documents sought by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. The justices on Wednesday rejected a bid by Trump to withhold the documents from the committee until the issue is...
Ohio woman sentenced to 4 years after embezzling $2 million from credit union in Beaver County
An Ohio woman was sentenced to more than four years in prison on Wednesday after being convicted of embezzling from a federal credit union and failing to file tax returns, according to U.S. Attorney Cindy K. Chung. Stacey Shaw, 48, of Salem, Ohio, was president and CEO at the International...
State Rep. Eric Nelson wants ‘natural immunity’ exemption for employer vaccine mandates
A Hempfield Republican is seeking support for a state bill that would exempt people who have been infected with covid-19 from employer mandates requiring covid vaccines and booster shots. State Rep. Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield, said he intends to introduce a bill in February that would allow workers with natural immunity...
Covid hospitalizations high among young children in Allegheny County
Last month, covid-19 hospitalizations among young children jumped to the highest level since the start of the pandemic, increasing more than 14-fold from mid-December to the end of the month, according to data collected by the Allegheny County Health Department. The numbers look at hospital admissions by week. The week...
Pennsylvania Senate passes bills aimed at ransomware, data breaches
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s state Senate passed a package of legislation on Wednesday aimed at preventing data security breaches and requiring victims and law enforcement officials to be notified when they do happen. The bills’ passage comes barely two weeks after the state’s unemployment compensation system acknowledged that hackers changed bank...
Carnegie man convicted in deadly Club Erotica shooting to get new trial
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani on Wednesday threw out a jury verdict and ordered a new trial for a man found guilty of third-degree murder in last year’s fatal shooting outside a McKees Rocks strip club. Bruce Antkowiak, a former federal prosecutor who teaches law at Saint...
Police: Teen dead after being shot outside school on Pittsburgh’s North SideVideo
A 15-year-old boy waiting to go home after school Wednesday died after at least one person opened fire on the school van he was sitting in outside his school on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Two suspects, at least one of whom had a handgun, remained at large hours after the shooting...
Candidate withdraws from race for Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s former Pa. House seat
A woman who planned to run for the state House seat vacated by Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey has rescinded her candidacy, citing proposed legislative maps that will likely put her in a different district. Ashley Comans of Wilkinsburg had previously launched a campaign in the 24th State House District, which...
