Nicole C. Brambila stories, Page 2
Open Records Office gives mixed ruling on swimming pool injury request
The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records recently ruled on a Tribune-Review appeal, siding with county officials saying that providing the age and gender of swimming pool victims treated by health care personnel violates federal law restricting the release of medical information. But the state’s arbitrator of Right-to-Know disputes also ruled...
Pittsburgh ranked as 3rd-best Rust Belt comeback story in nation
A new study ranks Pittsburgh No. 3 among the 17 most successful Rust Belt comebacks. Using U.S. Census data, the commercial real estate information services provider CommercialCafé evaluated a city’s performance across a number of indicators, including population and income growth, unemployment and poverty, educational attainment levels, and median home...
Pennsylvania voters can apply for absentee ballots online
Pennsylvanians seeking to vote by absentee ballot can apply online starting next week, rather than making the request by mail or in person. Absentee voters can apply for a ballot starting Monday, Sept. 16, at votesPA.com/ApplyAbsentee. After approval by the voter’s county election office, the absentee ballot is delivered by...
Pennsylvania voters can apply for absentee ballots online
Pennsylvanians seeking to vote by absentee ballot can apply online starting next week, rather than making the request by mail or in person. Absentee voters can apply for a ballot starting Monday, Sept. 16, at votesPA.com/ApplyAbsentee. After approval by the voter’s county election office, the absentee ballot is delivered by...
Vandergrift couple owe property taxes even after fire ravaged home
A former volunteer firefighter watched helplessly last year as his Vandergrift home and everything in it burned. In the six months following the Nov. 7 blaze, Rich Hooks and his wife, Catherine, had to find and furnish a new home while tearing down and removing the one destroyed by an...
Study: Women spend more at craft brewpubs, while men prevail in volume
Craft beer drinkers might be predominantly male, but a recent study shows women spend more per brewpub trip. A recent survey of 5,000 visits over two years conducted by Secret Hopper, which conducts mystery shopping and consulting for the craft beer industry, found women spent nearly 7% more than men....
Pittsburgh ranks high as football fan-friendly locale
In a head-to-head matchup, Pittsburgh beats Boston and Denver, but falls short of edging out Cincinnati. And in a surprising upset, Baltimore doesn’t make the top 20. This isn’t the standings for the American Football Conference, but a new list by Apartment Guide — ranking the best cities for gridiron...
Labor Day weekend vehicle crashes down slightly from last year
The Pennsylvania State Police reported 5% fewer crashes on state-patrolled roads over the four-day Labor Day holiday compared to last year. This year’s holiday weekend saw 684 crashes that injured 204 people. In 2018, there were 722 crashes that injured 224 people. Across the state’s southwest region, which includes Allegheny...
Elizabeth Smart to speak in Pittsburgh for United Way women’s leadership event
Kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart will share her story of hope and survival with nearly 800 women during this year’s United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Women Leadership Council’s campaign kickoff. The luncheon starts at 11:45 a.m. on Sept. 13 at the Wyndham Grand Hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh. The local Women’s Leadership...
3 drownings in past 3 years in public pools in Allegheny County
Allegheny County has had three drownings in public pools – one for each of the past three years – according to incident data obtained in a Right-to-Know request. The Tribune-Review requested the information as part of its examination of pool inspection reports in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. That report found...
Who’s responsible when a driverless vehicle is in a crash? Answer still unclear
Who is liable when an autonomous vehicle is involved in a car crash? It’s a question yet to be answered, and one the Governors Highway Safety Association broached in a recently released white paper the association will present at its annual meeting Aug. 26 in Anaheim, Calif. “Finding fault and...
Pittsburgh’s Jewish Community Center provides outreach to El Paso
A Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh official traveled this week to El Paso, Texas, to help with the community’s healing process after the Aug. 3 mass shooting. “There’s no playbook for any of the communities affected,” said JCC chief program officer Jason Kunzman, who traveled to Texas on Sunday....
Nearly 600 priests, lay people have been publicly named in Pa. sex abuse scandal
The 2018 grand jury identified 301 priests who had sexually assaulted and abused hundreds of children over the past several decades. As large as that number is, the true scope is much higher. Last year’s grand jury report has been the largest in scale, covering six of the state’s eight...
What you do when a shooter strikes could save or cost you your life
The median police response time to an active shooting incident is three minutes, according to FBI statistics. While fast by law enforcement standards, potential victims are essentially on their own in those first critical minutes. “Most of the violence is over in less than five minutes,” said J. Pete Blair,...
How to get a Real ID driver’s license (it’s not that hard)
Here is what you need to know to get a Real ID driver’s license. First, be aware that “Real ID” is a process, not a specific identification. There are various types of Real IDs, such as a U.S. passport or card, permanent resident card and federally recognized tribal-issued photo ID,...
Allegheny County leading in number of Real ID cards
More than 28,000 Allegheny County residents applied for and received a federally enhanced driver’s license and ID card in the first three months of Real ID in Pennsylvania, state transportation data shows. No other county had more. The roughly 7,600 cards issued in Westmoreland County placed it in the top...
CMS names underperforming nursing homes for ‘Special Focus Facility’ program
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid has published a list of more than 400 poor performing nursing homes that are candidates for federal intervention, six weeks after pledging to make the secret list publicly available following its disclosure last month by Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators. The list, released July 16, identifies...
DePasquale: Pennsylvania nursing home oversight improves, but aging population threatens progress
The state Department of Health’s oversight of the 700 nursing homes in Pennsylvania has improved since the 2016 performance review by the auditor general, according to a follow-up report released on Tuesday. But Auditor General Eugene DePasquale warned that progress is threatened by the looming gray tsunami of baby boomers...
Duquesne Light hires its first chief diversity officer
Duquesne Light announced Thursday the creation of a new diversity strategy with the company’s first chief diversity officer: Sara Oliver-Carter. She starts Aug. 19. Oliver-Carter will focus on company culture, community partnerships and diversifying the suppliers with which Duquesne Light partners. “Our commitment to diversity and inclusion and its importance...
Junk removal company G.I. Haul seeks military vets for franchises
The transition from the battlefield to the labor force can be a challenge for veterans returning home. Mike and Dave McCloskey, two brothers who served in the military overseas, understand the challenge. As owners of G.I. Haul, a residential and commercial junk removal company, they are recruiting fellow veterans for...
Pittsburgh draws the most bottles of rare spirits in liquor lottery
The lucky Pennsylvania liquor lottery winners have been chosen. Winners, who will be granted the opportunity to purchase highly sought-after bourbons and whiskeys, were notified last week. The drawing was held Wednesday. For the first time, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board has released the cities in which the winners live....
List of poor-performing nursing homes still not public a month after promised release
A month after federal regulators pledged to release its secret list of poor-performing nursing homes, officials echoed what the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Chief Medical Officer Kate Goodrich said five weeks ago — that the report would be coming “soon.” Lawmakers said CMS has not provided them...
Pa. state police report 9 killed in crashes over 5-day Fourth of July holiday
The Pennsylvania State Police reported that nine people died in eight crashes over the Fourth of July holiday, the second deadliest Independence Day stretch in the last five years. Four of those roadway deaths happened in Western Pennsylvania, data for the state police’s five-day enforcement period shows. Three people died...
Casey, Toomey react to plea-deal controversy surrounding Labor Secretary Acosta
Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators disagree whether Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta should resign amid growing criticism over a 2008 plea deal he negotiated with an accused sex offender who now faces new sex-trafficking charges. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, joined a growing chorus that includes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and...
Pennsylvania, Allegheny County health departments issue heat warnings
A cool front Wednesday is expected to bring a little reprieve from the heat, but only after the mercury rises to nearly 90 degrees. Afternoon showers forecasted for Wednesday could drop as much as three-quarters of an inch of rain, according to the National Weather Service in Moon Township. The...
