Joe Napsha stories, Page 99

The Pittsburgh region’s jobless rate jumped to 16.8% in April, with 200,400 people unemployed in the seven-country region as pandemic-related shutdowns gripped the economy. The combined unemployment rate for Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties was the highest since January 1983, the state’s Center for Workforce Information...

Veterans and military service members in the agriculture industry can get a view of the farming business on June 12 at the Veteran Farming Workshop in Unity. The Pennsylvania Veterans Farm Project is sponsoring its first farm workshop in Westmoreland County from 9 a.m. to noon at Ralph and Ann...

The state launched its initiative to test residents and staff at all personal care and nursing homes for covid-19 as the first stage of a sweeping plan for ongoing testing at the more than 1,900 facilities. “We will have to continue (testing) until we have a vaccine” for covid-19, state...

Sharon Sachs lost her job in Seton Hill University’s cafeteria when the Greensburg campus closed in mid-March because of the covid-19 pandemic. Now, she could be the poster child for dysfunction in Pennsylvania’s jobless benefits program. “I have not received a penny since filing for unemployment the week of March...

Thirty-one feet below the surface with near zero visibility, a small group of divers are doing painstaking work at the bottom of the Monongahela River to replace rusty bars and beams on 14-foot-high intakes that feed water into locks at a dam near Brownsville. “Diving is inherently dangerous. You just...

One person was hurt in a crash in Unity Thursday night, the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety said. A person was was ejected from a vehicle involved in the crash at 8:50 p.m. and a landing zone for a medical helicopter was being set up near the scene of...

Log by giant log, painstakingly lifted by a crane and laid in place, the ends notched with a chainsaw to make them fit snugly, about a dozen craftsmen and volunteers are rebuilding a roughly 200-year-old log house that will fit right in with the other log houses at Historic Hanna’s...

A California University of Pennsylvania student from Greensburg has sued the university for failing to refund pro-rated tuition for the online instruction she and thousands of other students received for the last part of the spring semester because covid-19 restrictions forced colleges to close. Ashleigh Coffman claimed that the online...

A Penn Township employment agency is giving job seekers the chance to drop off their resumes Thursday without ever leaving their car, thus maintaining safe social distancing while enhancing their chances for a new job. The drive-through job fair at Express Employment Professionals will give those who are laid off...

Pennsylvania’s farmers and ranchers who have lost revenue because of the covid-19 pandemic can apply for federal aid to compensate for their losses. The federal government is making $16 billion available for agricultural producers through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. The direct payments to farmers and producers are limited to...

The state’s poultry, swine, lamb, goat and sheep processors who purchased coronavirus-related equipment for their workers can get reimbursed under a new state program. The state agriculture department and PennAG Industries Association, a Harrisburg-based trade organization, have made $280,000 available through the Center for Poultry and Livestock Excellence for reimbursement...

About $10.6 billion in unemployment compensation and special federal covid-19 funding has been distributed to Pennsylvania’s jobless workers since businesses deemed nonessential were shut down in mid-March, officials said Tuesday. Of that money, $6.2 billion came through regular unemployment compensation, while $3.8 billion comprised extra $600 weekly payments funded by...

For sale: One shuttered elementary school building on nearly 5 acres in Mt. Pleasant Township and 10 acres of surrounding land. The Mt. Pleasant Area School District is selling Lloyd F. Rumbaugh Elementary School at 2414 School St., a year after it closed as part of a realignment. The district...

Visitors to Ohiopyle State Park over Memorial Day weekend will experience traffic delays caused by road repaving and work on the Route 381 bridge over the Youghiogheny River. The state hoped the $12.4 million multimodal project in Ohiopyle would be finished by June 12, but the completion date was pushed...

Sewickley Township’s Crabapple Pool outside Herminie will be closed this summer because of the fear of covid-19, one of several municipal pools that will not be available for swimmers to beat the heat on a hot summer afternoon. The Sewickley Township Supervisors made the decision this week not to open...

Pennsylvania’s jobless rate soared to a record 15.1% in April as the full impact of the covid-19 shutdowns slammed the state’s economy, the state said Friday. The state counted 976,000 workers out of a job last month, an increase of almost 600,000 from March when the unemployment rate was 4.1%,...

Amtrak will resume its service from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia and New York City on June 1, the first time the passenger trains will have run the route since March 18 because of the state’s covid-19 shutdowns. The twice daily service service on the Pennsylvanian route from Pittsburgh to New York,...

Almost 2 million Pennsylvanians have filed initial unemployment claims since Gov. Wolf ordered the shutdown of non-essential businesses in mid-March, according to the latest figures from the state. The state has seen 1.9 million workers file for first-time jobless claims as of May 20, even though the number of initial...

With libraries in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties closed since mid-March to stem the spread of the coronavirus, more patrons are using the electronic resources — books, audiobooks, movies and music, a trend that likely will continue when they reopen, library officials and library directors say. “There has been a significant...

GNC Holdings, Inc. reached a last-minute deal with creditors that allows it to avoid bankruptcy for at least 30 days but no more than 90 days under a deal announced Friday, the Pittsburgh-based health and wellness company said. GNC was facing a Saturday deadline to pay down debt to under...

Norwin made it official Friday for the class of 2020 — no graduation ceremonies as initially scheduled on May 22 because of the restrictions against gatherings of more than 25 people. Even though Westmoreland County has moved from the yellow phase of the state’s reopening plan, Superintendent Jeff Taylor said...

North Huntingdon joined other municipalities in directing its police force not to cite or take any legal action local businesses that open in violation of the state’s coronavirus-related shutdown orders — as long as they follow the Centers for Disease Control guidelines for wearing personal protective equipment, keep social distancing...

What does a non-profit do when it has to postpone its primary fundraiser because of government-ordered restrictions against large gathering during a covid-19 pandemic? In the case of The Lamp Theatre in Irwin, it sells popcorn, just like it does during concerts, shows and other events that would be held...