TribLive stories, Page 1322
American Airlines reports $2 billion in losses for 2021 as omicron weighs on near future
American Airlines lost $931 million in the fourth quarter to finish a 2021 year that was as much about surviving the covid-19 and its variants as it was about recovering from the devastating pandemic, the company reported Thursday morning. American’s losses totaled $2 billion for the full 2021, a vast...
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...
Tax help available from AARP in Westmoreland County
The AARP Tax Counseling for the Elderly program will begin in February with volunteers from Westmoreland County Community College’s Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) helping to prepare simple tax returns for lower income, elderly residents and people with disabilities. It’s part of the AARP Tax Counseling for the Elderly...
Rapid rise in mortgage rates startles homebuyers; blame inflation fears
All the big unknowns surrounding the rapid jump in inflation — including how high consumer prices will go and how quickly the Fed will raise interest rates — have put the mortgage market on high alert in early 2022. “Rates have gone up rather quickly and there’s still a little...
Mike Preston: With so many NFL openings, it’s past time for more Black coaches to be hired
BALTIMORE — Black coaches are good enough to be coordinators in the NFL, but not head coaches. That’s the message the league has been sending, with hopes that it will change this year. There were eight openings soon after the regular season ended Jan. 9, leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike...
Former Penn State offensive lineman announces transfer destination
STATE COLLEGE — One of the first Penn State players to enter the NCAA transfer portal at the end of the 2021 regular season has found his new home. Offensive lineman Des Holmes announced Wednesday that he is transferring to Arizona State for the 2022 season. Holmes has one year...
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...
Letter to the editor: Avoiding abortion
I recently have read articles stating that pro-choice politicians are stepping forward to protect legal abortion When I was a young girl, my mother explained many things to me. The first was that going out on a date does not include sex, and she explained the reason why. You could...
How the body’s immune system tries to fight off covid
Vaccines have shown themselves to be the best defense against a serious case of covid-19: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, unvaccinated adults were about 13 times more likely to be hospitalized with the disease than vaccinated adults as of late November. But vaccines and the antibodies...
Nearly 28,000 miles of Pennsylvania’s streams are impaired by pollution, report finds
PHILADELPHIA — One-third of all Pennsylvania waterways are now considered polluted enough to harm wildlife, recreation or drinking water, according to a report released this week by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. The DEP listed 27,886 miles of streams it found impaired in one or more ways, which is...
Meet Junior Achievement of Western PA’s inaugural class of 18 Under Eighteen
The kids are more than alright — just take a look at Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania’s inaugural class for 18 Under Eighteen, which showcases the talents and achievements of 18 of the region’s most incredible young people. “These amazing kids are entrepreneurs, social activists, scientists, entertainers and so much...
Letter to the editor: What covid, Trump have cost us
The caveman mentality that “I’m the boss and I’ll do what I want” is how many people are thinking. Mask and social distancing requirements have made adults act like children. So many lies about the vaccines have frightened people. Bring on the death and suffering caused by the stupidity of...
Editorial: Open seats are chance to step up
It seems like every day brings a new announcement of the latest person running for governor or the U.S. Senate seat representing Pennsylvania. The ever-enlarging pool of possibilities comes on the heels of two presidential elections with fields of candidates so large they didn’t all fit on the debate stages...
The Stroller, Jan. 20, 2022: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your events, club meetings 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. HOPE Center accepting donations for its SAF-T pet kennel The Alle-Kiski HOPE Center offers a Sheltering Animals and Families Together (SAF-T) Kennel...
Letter to the editor: Biden’s policies are not working
If you were president of the United States today, your State of the Union Address might well read like this: • Our southern border is overrun by illegal immigrants, with drug and child trafficking out of control. • Prices of basics like food, gas, homes and autos are shooting upward,...
High school scores, summaries and schedules for Jan. 19, 2022
High School Basketball Boys Wednesday’s schedule Class 4A Section 3 Uniontown 70, Mt. Pleasant 55 Class 3A Section 2 Avonworth 73, Freedom 48 Section 3 Steel Valley at East Allegheny, (n) Nonsection Albert Gallatin at Uniontown, ppd. Laurel Highlands 76, Belle Vernon 67 Chartiers-Houston 50, Brentwood 44 Laurel at Freedom,...
High school roundup for Jan. 20, 2022: Waynesburg, Peters Township win battles of unbeatens
Colton Stoneking (138), Jake Stephenson (152), Nate Kirby (160), Eli Makel (215) and Joseph Simon (120) recorded pins to lead Waynesburg to a 55-10 victory over Canon-McMillan to wrap up first place in Section 4A-3A Wednesday night. Mac Church (132) and Rocco Welsh (172) won by tech fall and Zander...
Laurel Highlands lives up to hype, knocks off Belle Vernon
Not often does pomp and circumstance surround an ordinary nonsection boys basketball game in the middle of January. Wednesday’s showdown between Class 4A No. 2 Belle Vernon and Class 5A No. 1 Laurel Highlands wasn’t your ordinary affair, though. And it lived up to the hype. With the game tied...
Apollo-Ridge girls defeat St. Joseph in game between teams battling rust
Apollo-Ridge and St. Joseph did something Wednesday night they rarely had done this month: play a basketball game. Despite all the down time, the Vikings girls didn’t lose their free-throw shooting touch. Apollo-Ridge shot 30 of 40 from the free-throw line and posted a 66-55 victory in a home nonsection...
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...
Bruce Arians fined $50,000 by NFL for slapping helmet of Bucs safety Andrew AdamsVideo
TAMPA, Fla. — Bucs coach Bruce Arians has been fined $50,000 by the National Football League for slapping the helmet of safety Andrew Adams during Sunday’s 31-15 win over the Eagles in an NFC wild-card playoff game. Arians said he was trying to prevent Adams from getting a penalty for...
Bronx native Cardi B to cover funeral costs for all 17 victims of deadly borough high-rise blazeVideo
NEW YORK — Grammy-winning Bronx native Cardi B pledged Wednesday to cover the funeral costs of all 17 victims of a high-rise building fire in her home borough. The hip-hop star’s commitment includes the expenses to return some of the dead for burial in their native Gambia, and Cardi B...
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...
Sen. Ryan Aument: We’re No. 22 — and that’s bad news
It is almost surreal to look at numbers and rankings that show Pennsylvania floundering in comparison to other states, but this freakish economic landscape that puts us behind Ohio and Indiana speaks to a rock-solid reality. Our state’s reputation for high taxes, unfriendly regulatory climate and stagnant manufacturing growth quantifies...
Is the allure of cryptocurrency fading?
Bitcoin dropped to a three-month low recently and its movement has closely mirrored financial markets in its decline. Bitcoin bulls often describe it as an asset that is uncorrelated to traditional financial markets, CNBC reported, however experts have noticed growing parallels in the price movements of bitcoin and stocks. It...
