TribLive stories, Page 883

Each year, students at Stewart Elementary School in Lower Burrell forgo having classroom holiday parties on the last day before Christmas break. Instead, they bring in their own toys, collectibles and handmade items to sell to other students and faculty to raise money for a charity. This year, the students...

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — The transition team helping Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro prepare for office is wide-ranging and, in some cases, controversial, offering a...

Elon Musk is crying out for an intervention. Do ghosts in the Twitter machine exist who can perform Scrooge-style visitations on the misbegotten magnate and help him reclaim his wayward soul? It’s hard to picture such a natural born, amoral, noxious blowhard awakening as a reborn and glorious Christmas butterfly,...

Two Harmar sewage projects are set to move forward in 2023 because the township received two county gambling revenue grants. Matt Pitsch, township engineer, said the township has received two grants from Allegheny County’s Gaming Economic Development and Tourism Fund. He said one is a 2022 grant the township applied...

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. Monarch Hospice seeking volunteers Monarch Hospice, Lower Burrell, is looking for...

Laurel: To a worthy legacy. When Lower Burrell’s Brian Shaw, a New Kensington police officer, was killed in the line of duty in 2017, it didn’t bring an end to his service to the community. Five years later, a scholarship in Shaw’s name is making a difference in the lives...

My most sincere thank-you to Officer Zakary Fedunok of the West Deer Township Police Department for resolving a four-month nightmare of mine. In August, I was billed for running a toll gate on the New Jersey Turnpike, on which I had never traveled. After numerous efforts to prove my innocence,...

High Schools WPIAL Basketball Boys Thursday’s results Class 4A Section 2 Lincoln Park 87, Ambridge 47 Class A Section 3 Neighborhood Academy 62, Hillel Academy 24 Nonsection Aliquippa 48, Steel Valley 45 Bishop Canevin 52, Carlynton 41 Burgettstown 67, Avella 34 California 73, Frazier 71 Canon-McMillan 73, Connellsville 34 Chartiers-Houston...

Bryce Robson scored 21 points as Deer Lakes ended the longest winning streak in Pennsylvania boys high school basketball history at 74 games Thursday night, beating Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, 70-55. Billy Schaeffer added 17 points and Nate Litrun had 12 for the Lancers (5-3), who jumped out...

The Penguins paid tribute to Steelers great Franco Harris, who died Wednesday at age 72, by wearing No. 32 decals on their helmets for a home game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena. The team played a tribute on the arena video board before faceoff...

Not only did Fox Chapel graduate Jake Pilarski agree to sign with an MLB team, he will join one of the sport’s premier franchises. Pilarski will sign a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers and will report to the team’s minor-league training facility in February. Pilarski played for the Washington...

There already was going to be much written about Franco Harris, the legendary Pittsburgh Steeler who 50 years ago caught a deflected pass off his teammate at the last minute of a game against the Oakland Raiders in a play that would be known forever as the “Immaculate Reception.” Now,...

Amid national security concerns involving the social media app TikTok, Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity announced on Thursday she has banned its use on Treasury-owned phones and computers. This comes at a time when Congress is considering a similar ban of the video-sharing app on all federal government devices and possibly,...

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State’s 2022 defense was one of the Big Ten’s most disruptive units during the regular season. The Nittany Lions’ fan base will get one more look at coordinator Manny Diaz’s troops when the 10-2 Nittany Lions face 10-3 Utah in the Jan. 2 Rose Bowl. Penn...

Three members of the Pitt men’s soccer program had their name called Wednesday during the 2023 Major League Soccer SuperDraft. Junior forward Bertin Jacquesson, senior midfielder Valentin Noel and fifth-year midfielder Jackson Walti were selected. Jacquesson, Pitt’s highest draft pick in program history, was taken 16th overall by Real Salt...

After enthusiastic response earlier this month to the ” Alexa, thank my driver” campaign, Amazon is doing it again. It started yesterday, Dec. 21, so it is not clear if the 1 million rewards have yet been reached. When Amazon launched the program on Dec. 7, 1 million thank-yous -...

Dear Editor, During the pandemic, there was time to consider ways to reshape some of the ways in which we live. From supply chain issues to inflation to a renewed understanding of our environmental impact in daily life, it seems an especially good time to allow people the comfort of...

Technology companies are shedding jobs at disturbing rates. Those with experience in computing are being laid off, sometimes with little warning. Freshly minted computer science graduates are facing employment headwinds not seen for well over a decade. Is this the next dot-com bubble burst, which could send the economy spiraling...

LOS ANGELES — There’s something special about a holiday trip to a national park. At many parks, you get more space to yourself, with crowds dispersing after summer ends. Snow falls, depending on the park, and certain plants and animals go into hibernation. It can be a quiet, contemplative time...

KABUL, Afghanistan — The minister of higher education in the Taliban government on Thursday defended his decision to ban women from universities — a decree that had triggered a global backlash. Discussing the matter for the first time in public, Nida Mohammad Nadim said the ban issued earlier this week...

Submissions from nonprofit organizations for Briefly Speaking can be emailed to Carol Pinto-Smith at cpinto-smith@triblive.com or mailed to Briefly Speaking, 210 Wood St., Tarentum, PA 15084. Include a complete address and daytime phone number. Submissions are due at least two weeks before the event. Each announcement is printed once; there...

Brittney Griner is a very lucky person. Other Russian prisoners are not so lucky. President Biden has messed up this country. He and the Democrats need an edge in future elections. Bringing Griner home may do that. In return, we gave them a notorious illegal arms dealer. How many thousands...

Beth Samuel Jewish Center Shabbat Morning Services are held every Saturday at 10 a.m. in person and on Zoom. Beth Samuel Jewish Center is at 810 Kennedy Drive in Ambridge. For more information, visit bethsamuel.org. Christ Church at Grove Farm On Dec. 23, a traditional candlelight communion service will take...

Many of us who were familiar with Donald Trump and his lifelong pattern of taking advantage of others and acting outrageously were confident that he would not grow into the presidency and that he would consistently embarrass us. We did not know exactly what he would do to bring himself...

Sports heroes don’t have much say in where they end up playing. It comes down to things like what team is highest in the draft and what positions that coach has to fill. By the same token, the cities that play host to those teams don’t have a say in...