TribLive stories, Page 1696
Trump EPA overhaul of lead pipe regulations allows toxic plumbing to stay in the ground in Chicago, other cities
Chicago has more lead water pipes than any other American city, yet federal regulations unveiled this week by the Trump administration likely won’t require anything new to prevent homeowners and renters from ingesting the brain-damaging metal. Physicians and scientists say that unless water drawn from household faucets is properly filtered,...
Letter to the editor: Drivers, riders should all pay fair share
Kudos to letter-writer Joe Kujawski (“Electric car fees? Fair is fair,” Dec. 4, TribLIVE). I couldn’t have stated the facts better myself. Note to the complainers: Please reference my letter “Comparing motorcycles, bicycles” (April 9, 2018, TribLIVE): Bicycle riders pay no user fees. Period. John M. Figler Tarentum...
Holland Tunnel toll booths no longer accept cash
Staring Wednesday, cash is gone forever as a method to pay the $16 toll at the Holland Tunnel. The tunnel between Jersey City and Lower Manhattan will be the first Port Authority Hudson River crossing to use cashless toll collection and joins the authorities’ Staten Island bridges, which already use...
Sewickley Parking Authority offering free holiday parking
In an ongoing effort to help local businesses, Sewickley Parking Authority has approved free parking all day on Dec. 24, 25, 31 and Jan. 1. Regular enforcement hours will resume on Jan. 2, 2021. Parking Authority chair Cynthia Mullins said that these dates were in addition to free parking offered...
Scottdale man killed after getting out of disabled pickup on Route 119
A Scottdale man was killed Tuesday when state police said he got out of his disabled pickup truck on Route 119 and was hit by a tractor-trailer in East Huntingdon. Brandon C. Peterson, 18, was driving a Dodge Ram 2500 that became disabled on the southbound side of the highway...
Letter to the editor: Disappointed by opinion on front page
Sadly, I believe the Trib has joined the ranks of most mainstream media and has abandoned the basic tenets of journalism. You obviously don’t believe your readers are intelligent enough to take the information you print and make independent judgments. I suppose you’ve succumbed to schools and colleges that no...
Letter to the editor: UPMC staffers overwhelmed
To UPMC Senior Vice President Leslie Davis and other UPMC executives: As a UPMC nurse, I am angry, disappointed, betrayed — yet not entirely surprised. UPMC leadership has been less visible this year and less in touch than ever with what occurs at the bedside. “Davis said the system has...
Dog rescued from Homewood house delivers 9 pups at shelter
There are now nine more animals that can be counted among those rescued from poor living conditions at a house in Homewood. One of the saved dogs had puppies. Officers from the city’s Zone 5 station were dispatched around 7 p.m. Monday to the house where they arrested a man...
Letter to the editor: North Huntingdon commissioners’ callousness
Your Dec. 13 issue was filled with articles about covid-19: weekly deaths hit a high in Westmoreland County, hospitals and health care workers plead with the community to follow CDC guidelines, health care facilities at breaking point, etc. And then there was the article “North Huntingdon says ‘no’ to Wolf’s...
The Stroller, Dec. 23, 2020: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your non-profit’s fundraiser or community event in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Vandergrift Meals On Wheels seeks volunteers Vandergrift Meals On Wheels is in need of regular and substitute volunteers to help with food packing, driving...
Sharky’s Cafe, community help make, deliver 450 Christmas meals for Latrobe area families
Hundreds of Westmoreland County families will receive hot Christmas dinners thanks to the generosity of donors and volunteers. Sharky’s Cafe in Unity organized a donation drive and cooked the dinners, which will be delivered Wednesday. Cafe co-owner Jamie Huemme said she was overwhelmed by the community’s response. “I put a...
Christmas closure, book request delay info, winter reading and more at Sewickley Public Library
While Sewickley Public Library, 500 Thorn St., is not currently open to the public and offering only remote services and curbside pickup, it will be closed on Dec. 24 and 25 for Christmas. For the latest updates or to register for events, call 412-741-6920 or visit sewickleylibrary.org. Book request delays...
Pa. Supreme Court: Doctors cannot be sued for failing to commit Western Psych shooter
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a lawsuit against the doctors who failed to involuntarily commit a man who killed one person and injured others in a March 2012 shooting at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic cannot go forward. In a 6-1 opinion, the court found that the...
Food Podcast: Pittsburgh food bank celebrating 40 years of helping others
In June 1980, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank opened its doors in the Hill District. The once-thriving steel industry, which had been in a slow, steady decline for nearly 30 years, began to rapidly deteriorate during the early 1980s. In January 1983, the region’s unemployment rate hit 18.2 percent,...
PIAA files suit claiming it should not be subject to Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association is suing the commonwealth and the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, alleging that it should not be subject to the state’s Right to Know Law. The complaint, filed in Commonwealth Court on Friday, comes nearly 12 years after Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law took effect...
Assault, drugs among charges filed recently by Monroeville police
Monroeville police filed the following charges in October and December with District Judge Jeffrey L. Herbst. Charges were filed by Monroeville police: • Keira Linsenbigler, 29, of Pittsburgh with recklessly endangering another person, criminal mischief, carrying a firearm without a license and two counts of aggravated assault. Charges were filed...
How Dionne Warwick, the Queen of Smooth Pop, has become the Queen of Twitter
Dionne Warwick: first Black female solo pop star who rose to prominence in the ’60s, Queen of Smooth Pop and a living legend. Nowadays, you can refer to her as Dionne The Singer (her words she posted, hehe), but her newest honorific title is our undisputed Queen of Twitter. Here’s...
Man acquitted in Wilkinsburg mass shooting pleads to gun charge
Darnell Mahone logged in to the federal court hearing Tuesday to watch the man he believes killed his daughter in a mass shooting plead guilty to a gun charge. It isn’t as much as he’d hoped for — the plea agreement Cheron Shelton reached with the U.S. Attorney’s office calls...
Congress takes steps to curb unexpected medical bills
Most Americans tell pollsters they’re worried about being able to afford an unexpected medical bill. Late Monday, Congress passed a bill to allay some of those fears. The measure is included in a nearly 5,600-page package providing coronavirus economic relief and government funding for the rest of the fiscal year....
Police find body wrapped in plastic in Brighton Heights, woman detained
Police following up on a tip in a missing persons case found a body wrapped in plastic at a home in Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood, authorities said. Police discovered the body about 8:15 a.m. at a home on California Avenue, said Maurice Matthews, a spokesman for the Department of Public...
Michael Carnahan: Mill 19 solar project step toward clean air — if expiring tax credit is renewed
When the switch flipped on for Mill 19 at Hazelwood Green last month, I felt a rush of gratitude for the union workers who had stood on netting hammocked between steel beams 85 feet off the ground. Slow, steady and with great skill, they’d clamped on each of the 4,968...
Assault, harassment, trespassing among charges handled recently by Bridgeville, Carnegie, Scott judges
District court judges in Bridgeville, Scott and Carnegie handled these criminal cases recently. Defendants will have court dates set in appropriate district courts or the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. Judge Maureen McGraw-Desmet, Bridgeville • Michael Waite, 31, of Carnegie on charges of simple trespassing, theft from a vehicle,...
Letter to the editor: Lies will lead to disaster
If important actions occur because of believing lies, consequences could be devastating. To often, we take lies as fact without thinking and make stupid mistakes that are hard to correct. We need to be very careful when our country’s future is at stake. Dave Bastl Manor...
Santa makes an appearance in Leet
Santa Claus brought some Christmas cheer to residents of Leet Township on Dec. 19 with the help of Fair Oaks Volunteer Fire Department. He rode around on a firetruck to the neighborhoods of Olde Sewickley Highlands, Leet Acres, Quaker Heights and more....
Letter to the editor: Reschenthaler should resign or apologize
Rep. Guy Reschenthler took an oath to abide by and defend the Constitution. I think he should resign immediately for breaking that oath: He was willing to be a party to subverting a fair election merely to keep his favored candidate in office. His support for Texas’ lawsuit is outrageous...

