TribLive stories, Page 2194

To letter-writer Jeanne Snyder (“TEACH grants should be paid back,” Jan. 1, TribLIVE): You state that “Upon graduating, he (your son) found a job and started making payments toward the loans.” Did he also pay back the grants he received? TEACH grants are not free money to teachers. They come...

CHICAGO — Katie Beers’ joy quickly turned to deep concern when she learned 13-year-old Jayme Closs had been found alive in rural Wisconsin nearly three months after police say a man shot and killed her parents then abducted the girl from their home. “She is going to have to grieve...

Hampton Township held its annual organizational meeting for 2019 on Jan. 7 with the re-election of Michael Peters as its president and Dr. Carolynn Johnson as its vice president. “I am honored to have been elected to a second term as Council president by my colleagues,” said Peters. “Looking forward...

Cub Scout Pack 418 of Hempfield hosted their annual Pinewood Derby race on Saturday in the Maxwell Elementary School cafeteria. Along with neighboring Cub Scout Pack 211 of Delmont there were nearly 70 handmade wooden cars created by the scouts, who ranged in age from kindergarten through fifth grade. This...

WASHINGTON — The partial government shutdown became the longest closure in U.S. history when the clock ticked past midnight into early Saturday as President Trump and nervous Republicans scrambled to find a way out of the mess. A solution couldn’t come soon enough for federal workers who got pay statements...

NEW YORK — Megyn Kelly’s turbulent two-year run at NBC News is over as both sides reached an agreement Friday night on her exit from the network. Terms of her departure were not disclosed, but people familiar with the negotiations said the former morning show host is leaving with the...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After a dramatic, hourlong meeting that recalled events from nearly seven decades ago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s three-member Cabinet granted posthumous pardons Friday to four African-American men accused of raping a white woman in a 1949 case now seen as a racial injustice. The...

BELGRADE, Serbia — Heavy snow paralyzed much of Europe for yet another day, cutting off mountain villages, sparking avalanches like one that crashed into a Swiss hotel and killing at least four more people Friday. Workers at the Hotel Saentis in eastern Switzerland spent Friday shoveling out hip-deep snow after...

In reference to efforts to teach black children, the president of the St. Petersburg, Fla., chapter of the NAACP, Maria Scruggs, said: “The (school) district has shown they just can’t do it. … Now it’s time for the community to step in.” That’s a recognition that politicians and the education...

Ten states and Washington, D.C., have now legalized adult use of marijuana. Supporters of America’s long war on drugs said legalization would create disaster. Has it? No. Colorado and Washington offer the longest points of comparison, because weed has been legal in those states now for five years. More people...

Classes/programs • A still life painting workshop with Doreen Currie is planned 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 26 in Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Ligonier Valley, One Boucher Lane and Route 711 South. Cost: $30, attendees are required to bring their own materials. Reservations required by Jan. 23 at 724-238-6015...

Learning support students at Hampton Middle School went on a shopping spree to help out people in need. The students helped out Beverly’s Birthdays, an organization that provides birthday cheer for children experiencing homelessness and families in need. Students used proceeds from their Express-O-Cart business at the school, which sells...

He lied. Sometimes Cardinal Donald Wuerl concealed the truth of sexual abuses in “secret archives.” Sometimes he didn’t acknowledge. Sometimes he stayed silent. But now we know the former bishop of Pittsburgh didn’t just commit sins of omission. Now we know that he took a commandment and snapped it like...

MIAMI — With more federal security screeners refusing to work without pay, Miami International Airport plans to cut off access to one of its terminals over the weekend in order to send TSA workers to busier checkpoints, a spokesman said Thursday night. Closing of the security checkpoint at Terminal G...

Erie Mayor Joe Schember’s family now includes a millionaire. Schember confirmed to the Erie Times-News on Friday that his sister-in-law, Leann Wolfe, is the Erie woman who won a $4 million prize in the Mega Millions drawing on New Year’s Day. Wolfe, a 58-year-old retired Erie School District teacher, is...

Hypocrisy: 7-year-old girl dies in the custody of border patrol, and the left-wing media goes berserk. Had these been American citizens, the father would be arrested for child abuse and possibly murder. Hypocrisy: Journalist is murdered by people in Saudi Arabia because he was a threat or inconvenience to them,...

The protection of health and the environment that is guaranteed by the Pennsylvania Constitution is being eroded. Every judge in Pennsylvania should live next to an active gas operation with the truck traffic, emissions, leaks, spills, risks to health and environment, and blight on the landscape before attesting to the...

Worshipers gathered at St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church in Monroeville to celebrate Orthodox Christmas Eve Jan. 6. According to the Julian Calendar, it is a Serbian tradition to attend vespers on Christmas Eve, participating in an evening of praise, prayers and sacrifice. At the end of the service, parishioners gather...

Full-service restaurants, facing higher labor and food costs, raised prices the most in more than seven years in December, a Labor Department report released Friday shows. As grocery costs rise at a slower pace, that could push more U.S. consumers to eat at home, potentially shifting sales away from sit-down...

NEW YORK — Twenty years ago this week, “The Sopranos” was about to debut on HBO, and creator David Chase was sure it would never amount to much. “My wife will tell you. I thought, ‘Another mob story? People are gonna get sick of it, or they’ll just laugh it...

Real estate taxes will remain the same in 2019 for residents living in several South Hills communities including Pleasant Hills, Jefferson Hills and Whitehall. Here’s a look at how each budget breaks down: Pleasant Hills Pleasant Hills will continue to hold its property tax rate at 6.75 mills for 2019....

Mikayla Davic fought back tears as she talked about the $22,000 raised for Make-A-Wish earlier this month through a musical she wrote and produced as a high school senior. The amount equates to five wishes granted. “It was amazing,” said Davic, 18, of Baldwin Borough. “It’s just incredible to me.”...

The pope has accepted Donald Wuerl’s resignation of his bishopric office. That’s an internal action by the Catholic Church. The Pennsylvania attorney general, based on a formal grand jury report, has accused Wuerl of covering up many instances of sexual abuse of minors by priests under his jurisdiction when he...