TribLive stories, Page 396
Photo gallery: Dozens say hello to 2025 with polar plunge into muddy Mon
Dozens of people welcomed 2025 with a plunge into the chilly brown water of the Monongahela River on Wednesday during the New Year’s Day Polar Plunge hosted by the Pittsburgh Polar Bear Club....
Drew Allar’s NFL future comes into focus after Penn State’s CFP win over Boise State
Before the ball dropped and the East Coast rang in 2025, football fans across the country were glued to what was happening at the Fiesta Bowl. More specifically, neutrals saw what Penn State supporters have witnessed all year: the highs and lows of Drew Allar. They saw the elite arm...
Driver ‘hell-bent on carnage’ kills 10, injures 30 on New Year’s Day in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A driver in a pickup truck who officials said was “hell-bent on carnage” sped through a crowd of pedestrians in New Orleans’ bustling French Quarter district, killing 10 and injuring 30 revelers early on New Year’s Day. The attack occurred around 3:15 a.m. along Bourbon Street,...
The Stroller, Jan. 1, 2025: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your non-profit’s community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least two weeks in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15084. Please include a daytime telephone number. Follow the Stroller on X at @VNDStroller. Donations welcome for Apollo...
First Night Pittsburgh welcomes 2025 with fireworks, celebrations
Pittsburgh said farewell to the year welcomed 2025 Tuesday evening with fireworks and a community celebration Downtown. Highmark First Night Pittsburgh included a parade, a 6 p.m. children’s fireworks show, musical performances and more fireworks into the night. The evening’s crescendo culminated with the raising of the Future of Pittsburgh...
Holy Family Parish Christmas brunches feed more than 155 guests
Holy Family parishioners and neighbors enjoyed brunch on Christmas morning at the church halls of Our Lady of Joy in Plum and St. Joseph in Verona. The Christmas brunches at the parish, which includes congregants from Plum, Oakmont, Verona and Penn Hills, started as a way to ensure no one...
Chip Minemyer: Tired Sandusky taunts further insult victims of abuse
Why does chirping about a scandal that broke more than 13 years ago still give fans of Penn State’s football opponents such glee? A grand jury indictment in November 2011 accused former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky of sexually abusing young boys in his care. In 2012, he...
‘We’re in trouble’: Pittsburgh police lost 103 officers this year, figures show
Figures released Tuesday show Pittsburgh police lost more officers in 2024 than they have in at least 12 years, triggering calls from elected leaders and public-safety watchdogs to stem a staffing crisis that’s also playing out in police departments nationwide. In 2024, a total of 103 sworn officers left the...
Marc Champion: Europe needs to swiftly fulfill its aid pledges to Ukraine
A note to Europe’s leaders: When it comes to sending sufficient aid to help Ukraine end Russia’s invasion, if not now, when? In October, I visited and wrote about a critical mine at Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, which had become the primary focus of Russia’s efforts to maximize the territory...
Board expected to vote on new Allegheny County Jail warden
The Allegheny County Jail oversight board is expected to vote on a new warden at its Jan. 9 meeting. The new warden, whose name has not yet been released, is expected to meet with members of county council on Monday, said Council President Pat Catena. Catena said he hasn’t talked...
Carl P. Leubsdorf: A look ahead to what might happen in 2025
My prediction that President Joe Biden would drop out was a rare bright spot among last year’s not totally serious predictions. Undaunted, I try again by looking ahead to 2025: January — House reelects Speaker Mike Johnson on third ballot after he agrees to make Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene assistant...
Pennsylvania’s political pendulum swung to Republicans this year. Will it stay there?
PHILADELPHIA — Republicans had a major political comeback in Pennsylvania in 2024 after a series of disappointments in recent elections. President-elect Donald Trump won the state by a margin of 1.7 percentage points. Republicans swept the row offices, and ousted two incumbent Democrats in the U.S. House along with longtime...
Letter to the editor: Biden is unfit and should be removed
In my opinion, President Biden has proven that he is unfit for office, but he is still there. There is a set process to remove him if he is unable to do his job. To me, the people trusted to protect the country are showing themselves just as unfit. Shouldn’t...
Letter to the editor: System is rigged for Trump and Musk
President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk are two peas in a pod. Both think they hit a home run, but in fact they were born on third base. Both came from extremely wealthy families and connived and plotted their way to become billionaires. Both are obsessed with money and will...
Editorial: Tissue donation is a gift of hope
Organ donations save lives. The story of medicine in Pittsburgh has included huge chapters on the growth of transplant surgery. Livers, hearts, kidneys and lungs — all of these are the critical organs people need to survive. They are not, however, the only donations that can be made when someone...
A look back at the best in Pittsburgh theater in 2024
In the world of musicals and plays, 2024 was a hilarious, heartfelt and enlightening year in the city of Pittsburgh. From eye-opening world premieres to fresh interpretations of old favorites to jaw-dropping touring productions, this was a great year in theater. Take a glimpse at some of the highlights. Top...
The Stroller, Dec. 31, 2024: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your non-profit’s community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least two weeks in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15084. Please include a daytime telephone number. Follow the Stroller on X at @VNDStroller. Happy New Year! Wishing...
Letter to the editor: Destroying our foundations
Webster defines murder as an unlawful killing, and it should be condemned. The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, however, has been hailed by some and justified by others (such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who stated that “you can only push someone so far”) as though this murder were a...
Trump’s nomination returns Mehmet Oz to the spotlight, puts him on track to oversee health care for 160M Americans
Mehmet Oz stood in front of a camera in July and filmed a TikTok about “how to conquer your constipation.” “Here’s the scoop on the poop brain loop,” Oz said confidently, delving into an enthusiastic pitch for probiotic supplements to keep you regular. In the two years since losing his...
Leaked documents show Cuban military sitting on billions of dollars amid humanitarian crisis
Even as Cubans have been dying because of shortages of medicines and supplies at hospitals, and the government claims it doesn’t have the money to buy them because of U.S. sanctions, companies run by Cuba’s military have stashed away billions of dollars, according to financial records obtained by the Miami...
Elon Musk living in $2K per night Mar-a-Lago cottage, report says
Elon Musk is reportedly staying in a cottage at President-elect Donald Trump’s estate that rents for $2,000 a day. The world’s richest man, who holds substantial government contracts and appears to have spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to get Trump and his surrogates elected to office,...
Woman dies after fall at Bethlehem ice rink, coroner says
A woman died early Monday after a fall Sunday at the SteelStacks ice rink in Bethlehem, according to authorities. Maria Luisa Jimenez, 63, of Costa Rica was pronounced dead about 1:30 a.m. at St. Luke’s University Hospital in Fountain Hill, Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio said. Jimenez fell backward...
2024 in Pittsburgh professional sports: Revamped Steelers’ QB room, Pirates’ phenom pitcher among top storylines
The year began with the Pittsburgh Steelers losing their fifth consecutive playoff game, keeping alive a streak that dates to the 2016 postseason. It ended with the Steelers, while reeling from a three-game losing streak, assured of another trip to the playoffs and a chance to end the franchise’s longest...
Peter Morici: Biden’s gift to Trump — golden opportunity to supercharge the economy
President-elect Donald Trump returns to Washington with a golden opportunity to continue the country’s accelerated economic growth. Over the past eight years, U.S. GDP has increased 2.5% annually. This surpasses the 1.9% growth during the Bush-Obama years but trails the 3.2% performance of the Reagan-Bush-Clinton era. The current growth rate...
Allison Schrager: Make daylight saving time permanent? U.S. economy says yes
President-elect Donald Trump’s latest promise is to eliminate daylight saving time, which would mean putting the U.S. on standard time year-round. Billionaire DOGE bosses Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, meanwhile, seem to want to make daylight saving time permanent. Is this just a miscommunication? Or is the incoming administration as...
