TribLive stories, Page 2179

A propane tank being hauled in a tractor-trailer exploded Thursday, shutting down Interstate 70 eastbound for four hours in Westmoreland County and snarling traffic for miles, according to state police. The force of the 11 a.m. explosion ripped apart the trailer, spilling 100 to 150 propane tanks of various sizes...

Even though I was not a big Ronald Reagan fan, I can’t deny he was one of the better modern presidents, possibly the greatest Republican president of all time. He led the Republicans to a 12-year stronghold on our country. One of Reagan’s greatest moments came in a 1987 speech...

A local progressive politician just elevated to lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania recently stated that he is haunted by the inequality of some people being born into wealth while others into poverty. Inequality is a fact of life. Some people are very tall like John Fetterman. Some are more beautiful, athletic,...

Both Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and District Attorney Stephen Zappala are grandstanding as politicians do. I’m not impressed. This is a no-brainer. In the mayor’s oath of office, did he swear to uphold the constitutions of the United States and the commonwealth? Did members of City Council do the same?...

Donald Boudreaux is probably a fine economist, and I side with his views most of the time. However, his lauding of the end of the draft based on economic reasons is so very far off base (”Draft’s end most pro-freedom move of past 50 years,” Jan. 17, TribLIVE). I’ll dare...

There’s a party going on in Millvale. Beer and conversation flow. Laughter fills the room. But these people aren’t congregating at one of the borough’s many bars. They’re hanging out at McWalker Yarns, a boutique store for fiber arts crafters. Every Friday from 6 to 8:30 p.m., folks are welcome...

Maura Kardasz, a 2016 graduate of Hampton High School and an accomplished musician, continues to shine at Westminster College. Kardasz is a junior music education major with a concentration in composition. She is a member of the Westminster Wind Ensemble, Westminster Symphonic Band, Westminster Orchestra, Westminster Jazz Ensemble and Westminster...

On Friday, Jan. 25, the Fox Chapel Area bocce team traveled to take on Hampton in the first unified bocce game of the season....

On Friday, Jan. 25, the Hampton High School bocce team took on the Fox Chapel Area Foxes in the first unified bocce game of the season....

The governor of Kentucky thinks we all need to just toughen up. Well, good news, governor. Everything has a tendency to get harder in the cold. “Come on, now. I mean, there’s no ice going with it, or any snow … I mean, what happened to America,” Gov. Matt Bevin...

WASHINGTON — A major new study provides the strongest evidence yet that vaping can help smokers quit cigarettes, with e-cigarettes proving nearly twice as effective as nicotine gums and patches. The British research, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, could influence what doctors tell their patients and...

PHILADELPHIA — A powerful union boss with a tight grip on construction jobs in the Philadelphia region and outsized influence in city and state politics has been indicted in alleged schemes to embezzle more than $600,000 and have a councilman on the union payroll to do his bidding at City...

MEXICO CITY — The population of monarch butterflies wintering in central Mexico is up 144 percent over last year, experts said Wednesday. The data presented by Andrew Rhodes, Mexico’s national commissioner for protected natural areas, was cheered but scientists quickly warned that it does not mean the butterflies that migrate...

NEW YORK — The Beatles’ farewell documentary “Let It Be” is getting an encore, and a reinvention. “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson announced Wednesday that he is making a new film out of some 55 hours of footage — shot in January 1969 — that has never been...

MADISON, Wis. — Electronics giant Foxconn reversed course and announced Wednesday that the massive Wisconsin operation that was supposed to bring a bounty of blue-collar manufacturing jobs back to the Midwest — and was offered billions of dollars in incentives from the state — will instead be devoted mostly to...

It was a cold snowy Sunday and Amelia Lincoln, 8, of Connellsville, was restless. Her father, Mayor Greg Lincoln was a little bored himself, so he told Amelia to get her coat — they were going outside to make snow angels. However, before they ever hit the snow-covered ground, the...

With temperatures below zero with windchills exceeding -20 below, some local municipalities are providing warming centers for anybody that needs refuge from the cold weather. The Richland Township Building, located at 4019 Dickey Road, will be open Jan. 30 and 31, for community members to use as a place to...

CHICAGO (AP) — Detectives have reviewed surveillance footage of “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett walking to a downtown Chicago apartment after an early-morning visit to a Subway restaurant, but none of it showed the alleged attack on the actor, a police official said Wednesday. Investigators “for the most part” can confirm...

The fact of the matter is I don’t know exactly how cold it got at my house today. The mercury thermometer on our porch only goes down to minus 30. The digital thermometer in our backyard weather station bottoms out at minus 40. For roughly two hours on Wednesday, this...

The Tribune-Review wasted an editorial with “Whose shutdown is it?” (Jan. 20, TribLIVE). The question is not who is responsible/owns the shutdown. The question should have been, what should be done to get us out of the impasse? Politicians and the media talk about who is to blame, not solutions....

Regarding the article “Cyril Wecht shreds ‘nonsense’ JFK single-bullet theory for Fox Chapel Area students” (Jan. 16, TribLIVE): The only nonsense is that the Tribune-Review and the Fox Chapel AP history teacher would give credibility and a platform for conspiracist Wecht to spread his widely debunked myth of multiple shooters...

If all the people who want to build Trump’s wall were to contribute $50,000 or $100,000 to the GoFundMe account to build the wall, there would be more than enough money to build it. After all, they saved tens of thousands of dollars in taxes from the great tax cut...

A cookie in a skillet? We admit this Internet phenom made us skeptical—until we tried it. Unlike making a traditional batch of cookies, this treatment doesn’t require scooping, baking and cooling multiple sheets of treats; the whole thing bakes at once in a single skillet. Plus, the hot bottom and...

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — “Project Runway” is going home, back to its original network with several new twists. The biggest change is new host and executive producer Karlie Kloss, who takes over from the departed duo of Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn when the show debuts March 14 on Bravo....