Local category, Page 2569
Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese suspends communion wine as coronavirus spreads
As fears over the coronavirus grow, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced Monday it will suspend the distribution of wine during communion. Bishop David Zubik announced precautions in the diocese Monday, to take effect immediately. Across the diocese, the distribution of wine is temporarily suspended. Additional precautions include the halting...
Prosecutors tell jurors New Kensington woman hid gun used to kill police officer
As police fanned out across the region in the hours and days after the fatal shooting of New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw in search of his killer, the gunman’s cousin spirited away and disposed of the suspected murder weapon, prosecutors told a Westmoreland County jury Monday. Assistant District Attorney...
Mike Bloomberg to campaign in Pittsburgh on Thursday
Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is scheduled to campaign in Pittsburgh on Thursday, according to a statement from the campaign Monday. Bloomberg opened a brick-and-mortar campaign office on Broad Street in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood over the weekend. “Mike is running for president to...
County leaders across Western Pennsylvania endorse Joe Biden
A coalition of 12 Democratic county leaders from across Western Pennsylvania came forward Monday to endorse Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential race. The group includes Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli, along with 10 Democratic commissioners from Armstrong, Beaver, Butler,...
United Steelworkers agree to continue working under expired ATI contract
Members of the United Steelworkers union will continue working at Allegheny Technology Inc. facilities as talks for a new contract continue, an update from the union states. The last contract, covering about 1,300 workers at nine ATI locations, including the hot rolling and processing facility in Harrison, expired Saturday. About...
Jeannette tradesman recreates original moulding for 1889 Greensburg building
A Jeannette tradesman is bringing a 130-year-old Greensburg building up to speed on its past. When Doug Davis is done with his dusty work, the Ameriprise Financial Services building on West Otterman Street will have the same decorative moulding throughout. A couple months into the project and it’s hard to...
Troopers accuse Fayette man of strangling woman, teen after chasing demon dog for Satan
A Fayette County man was jailed Sunday for allegedly strangling a 28-year-old woman and her teenage son in her LaBelle home on the pretense of chasing a demon dog into the house on behalf of Satan, state police at Uniontown said. The suspect, Terry Lee Murphy, 31, of LaBelle, was...
Kool & The Gang return to Rivers Casino Pittsburgh
There will be another celebration at Rivers Casino Pittsburgh. Rhythm and blues icons Kool & The Gang return June 20 to the casino’s event center on the North Shore. Known for 1970s and ’80s classics like “Celebration,” “Get Down on It,” “Joanna,” “Cherish” and “Jungle Boogie,” the band opened the...
Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium offer free admission for World Wildlife Day
Admission to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium will be free on Tuesday as the zoo celebrates World Wildlife Day. “It is important for all of us to start thinking about how our actions can make a positive impact on the environment and conservation efforts,” said Dr. Barbara Baker, President...
Belle Vernon Area teachers issue strike notice over unresolved contract
Belle Vernon Area teachers put the district on notice that they intend to strike beginning March 13 if officials haven’t agreed on a new labor contract by then. According to President Daneen Watson, a Spanish teacher with 20 years of service, the Belle Vernon Area Education Association has been in...
Edinboro University launches honors college
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania will bump up its quest for the best and brightest next fall with the official launch of an honors college. The university, one of the 14 schools in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, previously offered an honors program for high-achieving students. A university spokesman...
Carnegie Mellon tops list of U.S. universities pulling in foreign cash
What a difference a generation and a billion dollars or so can make. Four decades ago, when economist Robert Strauss landed at Carnegie Mellon University, the Pittsburgh school Andrew Carnegie launched as a training center for the children of mill workers in 1900 was a small, well-regarded private research university....
League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh seek to intervene in voter-roll lawsuit
Four groups on Monday requested to intervene in a federal lawsuit accusing Allegheny County officials of failing to maintain county voter rolls. The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and of Pittsburgh, along with One Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, filed a motion in...
Low income residents, Southwestern Pa. farmers should benefit from surplus food expansion
Low-income residents in Southwestern Pennsylvania could receive more fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs, dairy, meat and grains from local farms. Gov. Tom Wolf’s 2020-21 budget proposes to increase spending from $1.5 million to $2.5 million for the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System program, which distributes surplus produce, dairy and meat from local...
Jeannette man remembered for time in service
When Linda Reddy was growing up with her brother, Louis Chishko Jr., she would spend hours with him while he worked on cars. “When I was little and he would be working on a vehicle or something in the years before he went to the Navy, I was always right...
Missing New Kensington woman found safe
New Kensington police have located a woman who they say hadn’t been seen since last week. Sandra Allison, 65, of New Kensington, was found about 2:30 p.m. Monday in Penn Hills, police said. Allison was reported missing on Sunday. She had last been seen Wednesday in the area of the...
Indiana County man fired AR-15 rifle during argument with girlfriend, troopers say
A 28-year-old Indiana County man is accused of firing two shots from an AR-15 rifle during a several hour standoff with state troopers over the weekend before he surrendered, according to state police. Jacob M. Bloomberg was arraigned on charges of illegal possession of prohibited offensive weapon, reckless endangerment, terroristic...
Police investigate cause of West Deer head-on crash that sent 2 to hospital
Police continue to investigate the cause of a head-on, two-car collision in West Deer that sent two people to the hospital on Sunday. “It’s being reconstructed,” West Deer police Chief Jon Lape said Monday. “The reconstruction should tell us what occurred.” The collision happened shortly after 1 p.m. on Middle...
Police: Fayette man claimed to chase ‘demon dog’ into neighbor’s home, choked occupants
A Fayette County man who told police he had been using crystal methamphetamine for days is accused of breaking into a neighbor’s home Sunday and choking two people, according to state police. Terry Lee Murphy, 31, of Luzerne Township, reportedly yelled “that he was chasing a demon dog into their...
Allegheny County health officials emphasize calm with eye on likely spread of coronavirusVideo
Health officials continue to prepare locally for the likely spread of the coronavirus that has killed more than 3,000 worldwide, but they cautioned that there are still no known cases in the region. “We expect to see some (cases) as we expand testing,” said Dr. Kristen Mertz, an epidemiologist with...
Somerset meetings to address 9/11 benefits for local first responders
Local emergency personnel who responded to the Flight 93 crash near Shanksville may qualify for federal benefits through the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and the World Trade Center Health Program. Meetings about the benefits, eligibility criteria and enrollment information are scheduled for March 25, 26 and 27 at the...
Warm, rainy March likely for Pittsburgh region
Southwestern Pennsylvania is enjoying some unseasonably warm temperatures in the first week of March. Temperatures Monday are about 10 degrees higher than average — though nowhere near 1972’s record-setting high of 72 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. “The average for now is around the mid-40s, and we’re sitting...
Hempfield man jailed, accused of kicking trooper
A Hempfield man is accused of kicking and punching state troopers called to break up a fight outside a Mt. Pleasant Road home Sunday night. John P. Henigan, 26, was arraigned on charges of aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, harassment, resisting arrest and simple assault after troopers Robert Dietz, Troy Faulk...
Leechburg Area Pool Board votes to keep pool open
The Leechburg Area Pool is here to stay. At least for now. At a pool board meeting Sunday night in Gilpin, officials said they received enough volunteers to be able to open the pool this season. They still are looking for more. “This was exciting,” board member Dave Safranyos said....
Don’t succumb to stock market panic, advisers caution
Stocks tumbled, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged and the S&P 500 index fell dramatically — all over bad news out of China. That was a little more than a year ago — when Apple announced that iPhone sales in China were slumping. This year, the bad news out of...
