Western PA Local News category, Page 2345
Westmoreland events include ham dinner, book sale and purse bash
Fundraisers • Laurelville Christian Retreat Center, 941 Laurelville Lane, Mt. Pleasant Township, will host a lunch fundraiser, “Kentuck Knob,” at noon Oct. 6 in the center small dining hall. Kentuck Knob manager Tim Fischer will be the speaker. Cost: $15 paid in advance. CDC guidelines will be observed. Tickets: 724-423-2056...
Presidential campaign whistle-stop train tours punctuate Pennsylvania, U.S. political history
It’s back to Pennsylvania. Joe Biden on Wednesday begins his post-debate campaign with a whistle-stop foray into Pennsylvania. The former vice president chose Pittsburgh to kick off his campaign in April 2019, with an event at the Teamsters Local 249 banquet hall in Lawrenceville. While train travel has fallen by...
Hopewell, Freedom students test positive for covid-19, superintendents say
Two Beaver County school districts have confirmed positive cases of covid-19 among students. A senior at Hopewell High School has tested positive for covid-19, according to a letter from the district to parents. At Freedom Area, the district announced on its website that a few students on the girl’s volleyball...
Woman conscious, alert after being hit in California-Kirkbride
A woman was hit by a vehicle in Pittsburgh’s California-Kirkbride neighborhood late Tuesday night, according to Pittsburgh police. Officers responded to the report in the 1000 block of California Avenue around 11:30 p.m. The woman, who police said was conscious and alert, told officers that she was walking on the...
The Stroller, Sept. 30, 2020: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
The Valley News Dispatch is compiling a list of autumn events and Halloween parades, parties and trick-or-treat nights. Send an email to cpinto-smith@triblive.com. Free workshop series about healthy streams, ponds offered A free online workshop series, “Riparian Landowner Workshops,” for those who own property near a creek, pond or river...
Covid concerns may keep some high school students out of Plum’s JROTC program
Penn Hills High School students who participated in Plum School District’s Junior ROTC program due to their district no longer having one may not be able to continue their extracurricular education due to covid-19 concerns. Junior William Phillips and senior Abdulbasit Odunoye went before the Plum School Board on Tuesday...
2 shot in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood
Two men were listed in stable condition after being shot in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood, according to the city Department of Public Safety. The city’s ShotSpotter audio detection system reported multiple shots fired just after 8 p.m. Tuesday in the 7200 block of Mingo Road. Soon after, the shooting victims arrived...
Pittsburgh doctors hopeful flu season will be mild
UPMC doctors on Tuesday said there is optimism among experts that this year’s flu season will be mild, but they cautioned that everyone should get a flu vaccine and continue covid-19 mitigation efforts, such as masking and social distancing. The doctors stressed those mitigation efforts are the best defense against...
1 injured in Derry crash
One person suffered minor injuries Tuesday after a vehicle went over an embankment in Derry, according to Westmoreland County 911. The crash on North Chestnut Street happened around 6:40 p.m. The vehicle went off the side of the road and overturned, but the driver was able to get out of...
Latrobe Council debates remote attendance at meetings beyond pandemic
Latrobe Council members have had the choice of attending their meetings in person or via a remote online connection during the past several months of the coronavirus pandemic. Whether, or how, that policy should continue once the health crisis is over has divided council as it considers a proposed ordinance...
County Councilman Tom Baker hired by North Hills charity, won’t seek 3rd term
Allegheny County Councilman Tom Baker has been hired as executive director for a North Hills charity and will not seek re-election to a third term. Baker said he isn’t running because he wants to focus his full attention on his job as the new executive director for North Hills Community...
Police: Man robs Dollar Bank in Penn Hills, also a suspect in earlier Monroeville heistVideo
Penn Hills police and the FBI are investigating a robbery of the Dollar Bank at Penn Hills Shopping Center on Tuesday afternoon. Police say the same man may have robbed a Monroeville bank last month. Police Chief Howard Burton said a man wearing all blue clothing and a gaiter mask...
White Oak ditches $75 yard sign deposit after ACLU warningVideo
The same day that White Oak officials received a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania that their political yard sign ordinance is unconstitutional, they agreed to suspend enforcement. The ordinance, passed in 2000, requires anyone wishing to place a political sign in the borough — even on...
Bishop Zubik eases limits on Mass attendance in Pittsburgh diocese
Now that Pennsylvania has raised indoor dining capacity to 50%, Bishop David Zubik has decided parishes in the Pittsburgh diocese can do the same for services. Beginning this weekend, parishes will be allowed to increase attendance to 50% capacity at each Mass. “People need Jesus now more than ever. We...
Ethane cracker plant in Beaver County about 70% complete, Shell executive says
Construction of a multibillion-dollar ethane cracker plant in Beaver County is about 70% complete, a Shell Global executive said Tuesday during the Shale Insight conference. Hilary Mercer, Shell Global’s vice president of Pennsylvania Chemicals, spent about a half-hour during the virtual conference describing the development of the facility, work on...
Cycling clergyman the Rev. Doug Boyd rolls through PittsburghVideo
At 6:58 a.m. on Tuesday, the Rev. Doug Boyd got on his Trek bicycle. It wasn’t yet light out, as he made his way down Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood to his destination of UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Oakland. The 2 ½ mile ride took him past St. Paul...
Hempfield woman charged with assaulting police, jail guards, released to await trial
A Hempfield woman charged with assaults against a police officer and guards at the Westmoreland County Prison was released from jail on unsecured bond this week. Sonya Rae Connors, 52, had been behind bars since her arrest in January after she was charged with a felony count of aggravated assault,...
Covid Alert PA downloaded more than 165,000 times in 1st week
More than 165,000 Pennsylvania residents have downloaded the state’s new contact tracing app, Covid Alert PA, Gov. Tom Wolf’s office announced Tuesday. The app has been available for about a week. “Thank you to all of the Pennsylvanians who have already downloaded the Covid Alert PA app and added their...
Shale Insight conference focuses on fossil fuels’ impact on economy, tech and election
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, on Tuesday lauded President Trump’s support of the fossil fuel industry during the opening day of the annual Shale Insight conference, being held virtually this year because of the covid-19 pandemic. “Everyone in the room knows that President Trump, Vice President Pence and Republicans...
7 more residents test positive for coronavirus at Westmoreland Manor in Hempfield
Seven more residents at Westmoreland Manor tested positive for coronavirus, county officials said Tuesday. With those test results, the county-owned nursing home in Hempfield has now has 54 residents and 23 employees who have been been infected with covid-19 since mid-September. No additional employees have tested positive for the virus...
Pittsburgh’s economic development leaders launch ‘Next is Now’ campaign
As part of the contingent that worked on the 2017 proposal to land an Amazon headquarters, Stefani Pashman saw that the Pittsburgh region lacked a cohesive marketing plan. Pashman, CEO of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, was among those who spent Tuesday afternoon on a virtual kickoff of a...
Pittsburgh area jobless rates drops to 10.2%
The seven-county Pittsburgh area unemployment rate continued to fall in August, dropping 2.3 percentage points to 10.5%. But the decrease is deceiving because almost 13,000 people dropped out of the labor force last month, the state said Tuesday. The jobless rate for the region — Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette,...
Westmoreland voters could begin receiving mail-in ballots next week
Mail-in and absentee ballots are expected to be sent out to Westmoreland County voters no later than Saturday. The state’s late certification of ballots two weeks ago delayed the process and final reviews were not completed until this week, said JoAnn Sebastiani, director of the county’s elections bureau. Pending any...
UPMC doctors: Covid vaccine ‘not going to happen’ this year
UPMC doctors on Tuesday addressed the race for a covid-19 vaccine, calling it “this generation’s moonshot,” but warned that a vaccine by year’s end is pie in the sky. “This is simply not going to happen,” said Dr. David Nace, chief medical officer of UPMC’s senior communities. “We’re hopeful that...
McCandless council extends incubation period for proposed chicken law to tone down some restrictions
McCandless council’s proposed ordinance on keeping chickens on residential properties won’t be ready to hatch for at least 90 days so that changes discussed during a public hearing can be added to the measure. Council initially planned to vote on the ordinance at its Oct. 12 meeting, but the changes...
