TribLive stories, Page 1175

Longtime “Laverne & Shirley” actor Eddie Mekka was reportedly discovered dead last Saturday at his California home. He was 69. Mekka, who portrayed Carmine Ragusa on the popular sitcom, had battled blood clots recently, his brother told TMZ. Authorities went to Mekka’s home in Newhall after receiving reports that Mekka...

Mt. Pleasant led WPIAL Class 4A in scoring defense last season. The Vikings allowed a paltry 47.6 points per game. Among the district’s three largest classifications, only two teams posted a better defensive scoring average. Now, imagine how low the total might have been if Mt. Pleasant avoided a 2-6...

Laurel: To holiday time again. After all of the festivities that have been canceled or gone remote in the last two years, it is with childlike delight that people can see old favorite events returning to their communities. “We’re happy to have things back in person,” said Emily Pasqualino, committee...

Penn State’s player list for the Senior Bowl is growing. Jordan Stout, the Nittany Lions’ first-team All-Big Ten punter, accepted an invite to the all-star showcase on Thursday. Six Penn State players have accepted invitations — Stout, wide receiver Jahan Dotson, safety Jaquan Brisker, cornerback Tariq Castro-Fields, linebacker-end Jesse Luketa...

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 — A proposal that would allow military planes to fly training missions less than a quarter-mile above a section of...

The Mt. Pleasant girls basketball team won seven of its final nine games last season. Among the victories was a first-round defeat of Freeport in the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs. The win catapulted the Vikings into the quarterfinals for the first time in seven years, but the postseason stay was...

Kevin Sousa’s dream of running a restaurant focused on food rooted in his family’s Italian heritage appears to be short-lived. Less than two months after opening Mount Oliver Bodega restaurant, the iconic and nomadic chef is cutting ties with RE360, the real estate company Sousa partnered with to create the...

Should fairness to political parties be the standard for evaluating legislative redistricting? Across the nation, state lawmakers are jockeying to advantage their party — be it Republican or Democratic — while drawing boundaries for legislative and congressional districts. If the Freedom to Vote Act currently before Congress passes, many state...

Pennsylvania needs to have new congressional redistricting maps in place by Jan. 24. To make the deadline, legislative leaders need to release preliminary maps now. It is the only way to meet the deadline and give the public an opportunity to provide input on the maps. We’re running out of...

The Sewickley Public Library has partnered with the Ohio Township Nature Center to offer the first-ever Holiday StoryWalk. The Holiday StoryWalk brings a festive twist to the seasonal StoryWalk programs offered in the past. Visitors are invited to stroll down the walking path at Ohio Township Nature Center and read...

WASHINGTON — Historic Supreme Court arguments over abortion behind them, the justices soon will begin the work of crafting a decision that could dramatically limit abortion rights in the United States. They will meet in private before the week ends and take an initial vote on whether to uphold Mississippi’s...

For the first time, Keller Williams Realty Sewickley Division is hosting a Christmas Home Tour. From 4-8 p.m. Dec. 11, attendees will get a chance to check out five Sewickley-area properties decorated for the holidays. The styles of the homes vary, according to Lisa Kunkel, a Keller Williams Sewickley real...

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald was on TV one night thanking businesses that mandated the vaccine and said that “… we know how safe they are. We know how effective they are.” He asked, “Who wants to work in an office among people who are unvaccinated, spreading this deadly disease?”...

Two Shaler Area High School students placed in the National Chemistry Week Illustrated Poetry Contest sponsored by the Pittsburgh Section of the American Chemical Society. Alyssandra Poliziani, a sophomore, won first place in the high school division for her poem about fruit oxidation. Ciarra Reese, a junior, won third place...

Following a pandemic hiatus last year, Baldwin-Whitehall School District will once again host its Fourth Annual Holiday Cookie Extravaganza 10-11:30 a.m. Dec. 17. This year’s event will follow all required covid-19 safety protocols, including required masking and social distancing, in order to protect attendees, students and employees. Senior citizen residents...

I was appalled by the letter from Robert A. McLaughlin (“Lack of urgency for change in Jeannette,” Nov. 17, TribLIVE) criticizing our current Jeannette council. He has never attended a council meeting in the four years I have been mayor, that I am aware of. We have been working tirelessly...

Have you turned on that furnace? Cranked up the electric baseboard heaters? Touched the thermostat? Coming off a Thanksgiving weekend during which temperatures dipped into the 30s or below, you probably at least thought about it. But maybe you were among those who are acutely aware of the cost of...

Publicize your club meetings, community events and fundraisers for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Therapy dogs welcome to join program at Allegheny Valley Hospital Allegheny Valley Hospital, Harrison, is expanding its pet therapy program and...

In response to the article “Legislation would focus on lead paint in Pittsburgh homes” (Nov. 23, TribLIVE): Westmoreland County is ahead of neighboring counties in finding and mitigating lead contamination in homes. Our Community Planning and Development Department took steps in 2020 to secure grant funding for certified risk assessors to...

High schools Football PIAA playoffs Semifinals Class 6A Saturday’s schedule Garnet Valley (14-0) vs. St. Joseph’s Prep (10-2) at Ridley, 7 p.m.; State College (8-5) vs. Mt. Lebanon (13-0) at Altoona’s Mansion Park, 1 p.m. Class 5A Friday’s schedule Imhotep Charter (10-1) vs. Strath Haven (13-1) at Ridley, 7 p.m.;...

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Board of Appeals listened Wednesday to the case of Bishop McCort on penalties levied by District 6 on its athletic programs. The group decided after about a half-hour of deliberation to sustain those penalties with amendments. The PIAA announced a postseason ban for Bishop McCort wrestlers for...

The Washington Wild Things announced Wednesday that manager Tom Vaeth has agreed to a four-year extension through the 2025 campaign. In his first season this past summer, Vaeth led the Wild things to their seventh division championship and fourth trip to the Frontier League Championship Series. “I’m very pleased to...

The subtext of two prominent trials in recent weeks is vigilantism, the questionable notion that the institutions that we depend on — the police, especially — have declined into such impotence that ordinary citizens are called upon to maintain peace and order on their own. In both trials, justice prevailed,...