Local category, Page 2488
Connellsville resident gets informal parade to celebrate 100th birthday
Connellsville resident Mary Frazier celebrated her 100th birthday in style with a parade of firefighters and police officers outside her apartment balcony. Frazier lives at Connellsville Towers senior community, where community manager Leah Bierer and her staff organized the celebration. Well-wishers were encouraged to drive through Connellsville Towers on Thursday...
Billboard advertising shifts during pandemic
Putting up a billboard is a lot like drilling for oil, according to Ben Wallace, chief operating officer of Penneco. He’d know. Penneco is a Delmont-based oil and gas company with a subsidiary — Penneco Outdoor Advertising, which owns about 30 billboards across southwestern Pennsylvania. Both sides of the business...
Pittsburgh police: Man shot in stomach in South Side Slopes
A man was critically wounded after he was shot in the stomach Monday afternoon in Pittsburgh’s South Side Slopes neighborhood, police said. A ShotSpotter alert came over at about 1 p.m. in the 1400 block of Eleanor Street. Police said they found the man near Eccles Street. He was conscious,...
Pennsylvania golf courses, marinas, private campgrounds can reopen this week
Golf courses, marinas and some campgrounds will be permitted to open Friday as Pennsylvania officials move toward a gradual reopening of a state economy halted by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to private campgrounds, guided fishing trips will be allowed to resume Friday. All of those businesses must follow life-sustaining...
Pennsylvania Game Commission launches ‘Call of the Outdoors’ podcast
Country music star Blake Shelton and Outdoor Channel’s “Bone Collector” founder Michael Waddell are making guest appearances in the new Pennsylvania Game Commission podcast series, “Call of the Outdoors.” The series, hosted by Game Commission marketing director and world turkey-calling champion Matt Morrett, will highlight wildlife, hunting, habitat and conservation...
Murrysville family prints mask extenders for area medical personnelVideo
Typically, the 3D printer in Jason Cyprowski’s Murrysville home is more of an entertaining curiosity. “My daughters made cookie cutters, and my son’s made some little toys with it,” Cyprowski said. These days, however, it’s getting a much more rigorous workout creating mask extenders for area medical personnel. “After learning...
Community colleges expect an enrollment spike because of pandemic
Community colleges may become a more viable option for students this fall, as the covid-19 pandemic continues to alter various aspects of higher education. In Western Pennsylvania, schools are preparing for a myriad of possibilities but remain uncertain exactly how the pandemic will affect them, said Stuart Blacklaw, provost at...
Average gas prices in Pittsburgh area remain over $2 a gallon
Pennsylvania is among a dozen states where average gasoline prices remain over $2 a gallon, despite nine straight weeks of declines. Pennsylvania’s statewide average is about $2.03 a gallon, according to the price-tracking service GasBuddy. The average price is slightly higher in the Pittsburgh area, at $2.15 a gallon, GasBuddy’s...
Pennsylvania officials issue guidance on resuming elective surgeries
Hospitals and surgical centers in Pennsylvania can resume elective procedures that have been halted for weeks by the coronavirus pandemic. State Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said Monday such surgeries and procedures may begin again as long as hospitals still would be ready for a potential surge in covid-19 cases....
Officials: Pennsylvania coronavirus reporting largely lacks mandated race, ethnicity data
Health care systems still aren’t providing crucial race and ethnicity data when reporting coronavirus cases to the Department of Health, leaving a wide swath of some vulnerable populations unaccounted for, officials said Monday. A mandate from Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine says facilities and providers include demographic data along...
Construction projects can begin in Pittsburgh on Friday
Pittsburgh will allow construction projects to begin in the city starting on Friday under protocols established by the state and construction industry, the Mayor’s Office announced Monday. Gov. Tom Wolf last month shuttered most construction projects to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The governor last week announced that...
Pittsburgh councilwoman says coronavirus has led to more discrimination complaints
Pittsburgh would ban discrimination based on a person’s citizenship or immigration status under legislation City Council is scheduled to introduce on Tuesday. Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, the sponsor, said the Pittsburgh Human Relations Commission has experienced an uptick of discrimination complaints since the coronavirus pandemic began. The complaints contend people have...
Confiscated note unravels drug scheme at Westmoreland jail, investigators report
A sheet of paper left in the Westmoreland County Prison library helped investigators unravel a yearlong scheme that used mail to deliver drugs to the Hempfield lockup, officials reported in court documents. Corrections officers listened to inmate phone conversations to intercept pieces of mail, and county detectives staked out the...
Monroeville, Pitcairn coronavirus cases provided by county, state
There have been 23 positive cases of covid-19 in Monroeville, according to latest state and county figures. Pitcairn, a borough surrounded by Monroeville and within the Gateway School District, reports one positive case. The county’s map also shows there have been 384 tests given in Monroeville and 42 in Pitcairn....
Amtrak extends train service for Pittsburgh to Philadelphia until at least May 18
Amtrak has extended the suspension of its passenger rail service between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia until at least May 18 — instead of May 4, as previously reported. With Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order extended until May 8, the Pennsylvanian and Keystone trains will not be resumed next week as tentatively...
Hempfield homes evacuated after construction crews strike gas line, no injuriesVideo
About 20 Hempfield residents were evacuated from their homes Monday as a precaution after an unidentified construction crew reportedly struck a gas line, according to Westmoreland County dispatchers. The incident occurred just before noon along Millersdale Road. No injuries were reported. The residents were evacuated as a precaution while the...
Police: Somerset man severely beaten, subjected to Russian roulette at ‘house party’
Pennsylvania State Police say a 21-year-old Somerset County man was duped into attending a “house party,” where he was severely beaten and subjected to “Russian roulette.” Charles D. Sleasman, 22, of Plum and Eric Flamm, 24, of Somerset were arraigned on assault charges after allegedly tying the man’s hands and...
No bird-banding this year at Powdermill because of coronavirus concerns
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Bird Banding Laboratory, whose efforts have helped researchers uncover information about avian migration patterns, population shifts, productivity and more. For the first time in six decades, however, spring migration won’t be documented by the bird-banding operation at the Powdermill Nature Reserve...
FNB donates $50K to Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank
First National Bank’s parent company, FNB Corp., is donating $50,000 to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank for use in its covid-19 emergency food relief effort. The donation, announced Monday, is part of FNB’s $1 million commitment to support efforts throughout the seven states the Pittsburgh-based bank serves. “Providing food...
Pennsylvania reports fewer than 900 new coronavirus cases, 47 deaths
Dozens of new coronavirus deaths in Pennsylvania have pushed the statewide death toll to nearly 1,600 and hundreds more people tested positive, according to state health officials. The 47 new deaths reported to the Department of Health throughout the day Sunday brought the confirmed total to 1,597. Another 885 people...
Meadowcroft postpones season opener because of pandemic
Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, part of the Senator John Heinz History Center system, postponed Saturday’s scheduled opening of its 52nd season because of covid-19 concerns. Meadowcroft, a National Historic Landmark located in Washington County, is the oldest site of human habitation in North America. It features a massive rock...
Allegheny County reports 6 new coronavirus deaths, 14% of cases in health care workers
The Allegheny County Health Department reported six new deaths and 13 additional cases of the coronavirus Monday. Of the total 79 deaths, 72 are listed as confirmed cases of covid-19, while seven are considered probable. Those deaths come after the county reported zero new deaths Sunday. The new diagnoses bring...
Murrysville Area Soccer Association cancels spring season
Murrysville Area Soccer Association officials have canceled the spring 2020 in-house and travel-team season. PA West Soccer, the sanctioning body for MASA, announced last week that it was canceling all spring competitions. “MASA is currently working with its website administrator regarding the processing of refunds for the spring 2020 season...
FBI warns about ‘money mule’ recruiters preying on people working from home
The FBI’s Pittsburgh office is warning people to be wary of offers to earn money working from home during the mandated shutdown to help curb the spread of coronavirus. “Watch out for ‘work from home’ fraud schemes that take advantage of uncertainty to promise easy money for little or no...
3 new Westmoreland coronavirus deaths bring toll to 30
Three new deaths in Westmoreland County related to the coronavirus have been reported by Coroner Ken Bacha. All three were women, bringing the death toll to 30, according to statistics updated early Monday. Bacha has said the majority of the county’s deaths are tied to nursing and personal care homes....
