Regional category, Page 165
Pa. Turnpike could see Memorial Day traffic exceed pre-pandemic volume
Officials expect to see this year’s Memorial Day holiday traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike exceed pre-pandemic levels. They’re projecting more than 2.2 million travelers will take to the toll road during the four days from Friday through Monday. That represents an increase of nearly 300,000, or 15%, from the same...
Pittsburgh business, community leaders publicly support Pitt funding
Over 100 regional business and community leaders have thrown their weight behind the University of Pittsburgh as Republican support for the school’s state funding is in jeopardy. Pitt shared 12 letters this week urging lawmakers to follow precedent and approve the university’s 2022-23 nonpreferred appropriation bill, which would give the...
Parents, educators try to come to grips with Texas elementary school shooting
Leechburg resident Angelique Senko teared up Wednesday while discussing Tuesday’s elementary school massacre in Texas. Senko, 44, a former Leechburg Area School Board member with three children enrolled in the high school, described news of the shooting as terrible. Like parents all over the country, Senko is trying to come...
Police say Washington County man fatally shot his neighbor
Pennsylvania State Police have accused a Washington County man of fatally shooting his neighbor Wednesday afternoon in Smith Township. Bryce Kevin Tacy, 52, is accused of criminal homicide in the incident reported at about 2:3o p.m. along Loffert Road. Police said Tacy verbally engaged the victim, Jerry E. Anderson, 44,...
Security measures heightened, discussed in Western Pa. districts after Texas school shooting
Knowing just how much the deadliest elementary school shooting since Sandy Hook in 2012 was likely to affect unnerved parents and children throughout Western Pennsylvania, local school officials took a proactive approach Wednesday to reassuring worried students and their families. Greensburg Salem School Districts posted a video message on its...
Proposal would require greater public access to records from Pitt, Penn State, others
Greater transparency requirements could be in store for Pennsylvania’s four state-related universities. State Rep. Ryan Warner, a Republican from the 52nd District — which includes parts of Westmoreland and Fayette counties — has introduced legislation that would increase public access to the records of the University of Pittsburgh and Penn...
Fox’s Pizza Den founder dies, remembered for giving nature
Corporate leadership sometimes has a reputation for being cold and robotic. James Fox Jr. made sure he had the opposite impact through Fox’s Pizza Den. Fox, who founded his eponymous national pizza chain 51 years ago, knew the name of every franchise owner of the chain’s more than 200 restaurants,...
Giant Eagle recalls GetGo branded apple slices with peanut butter dip due to possible contamination
GetGo branded apple slices with peanut butter dip have been recalled due to a potential salmonella contamination, Giant Eagle officials announced Monday. The impacted product was sold in GetGo locations across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Indiana through May 13, the O’Hara based chain said in a news release. Products...
Pa. trooper already facing child pornography charges indicted in federal court
A suspended state trooper already facing charges in Fayette County Common Pleas Court of possessing child pornography has now been indicted in federal court. The federal indictment against Sean Ryan McKenzie, 37, of Perryopolis, was unsealed on Monday. He has been suspended without pay since March 1 after state police...
DEP to get input on proposed mine expansion in Westmoreland, Fayette
State environmental regulators will receive input Wednesday from Donegal area residents who may be affected by the expansion of a coal mine along the Westmoreland-Fayette border. The Department of Environmental Protection will hold a virtual informal conference at 6 p.m. May 25 on a request from LCT Energy LP to...
Hurricane Agnes memories wanted
June will mark the 50th anniversary of Hurricane Agnes in Western Pennsylvania. The Tribune-Review wants your stories of weathering the once-in-a-lifetime flooding that happened when the storm stalled over Pennsylvania in 1972. Email your memories, and photos if you have them, to vndcity@triblive.com and we’ll use them in a special...
Week in pictures: May 16-22
A selection of the most compelling images from Tribune-Review photographers from around the region during the week of May 16-22. (Note: image from the Lincoln Motor Court was taken May 4, but ran May 21.)...
Pittsburgh gas prices continue climb as $5 per gallon looms in some spots
Average gasoline prices in the Pittsburgh area rose more than 17 cents per gallon in the last week, with the most expensive just a penny shy of the $5 mark, according to price tracking service GasBuddy. GasBuddy reported Pittsburgh’s average at $4.69 per gallon on Monday, up 17.4 cents in...
Vietnam memorial replica to visit Erie Memorial Day weekend
ERIE — The Wall That Heals, a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., will arrive in Erie this Wednesday and remain there throughout Memorial Day weekend. The wall have a motorcycle escort from Conneaut, Ohio, which will leave at 1 p.m. Arrival of the escort...
2 tractor-trailers sought after theft of 210 gallons of diesel fuel in Indiana County
State police are searching for two tractor-trailers seen stopping at an Indiana County gas station where 210 gallons of diesel fuel were stolen. The rigs were seen next to fuel pumps shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday at Krevetski’s Convenience Store on Route 56 in East Wheatfield. The trucks remained at...
Man dead in Washington County police-involved shooting
One man was killed Saturday in a confrontation with Pennsylvania State Police following a traffic stop in Washington County. Police said troopers responded to a retail theft call at 6 p.m. at the Rural King store at the Washington County Mall, identified the suspect’s vehicle and later located it in...
Testimony: Suspended Somerset County DA assaulted wife after he was discovered with paramour; wife denies she was beaten
JOHNSTOWN — A Westmoreland County woman testified on Friday that suspended Somerset County District Attorney Jeffrey Thomas assaulted his wife in 2021 after she discovered him drinking with a recent lover. But Thomas’ wife, Amy Thomas, maintained in her own testimony that injuries to her face and head were caused...
Bedford County cottages are last of their era in Lincoln Highway overnight stops
Nearly 40 years ago, Virginia natives Bob and Debbie Altizer got a map and drew a circle with a 200-mile radius centered on Washington, D.C. They were looking to operate a hospitality or retail business within that territory, and in 1983 they purchased the Lincoln Motor Court. Now the last...
Butler County gun parts supply store files federal lawsuit against ATF over ghost gun rules, enforcement
A fight over the sale of ghost guns and parts to make them has come to Western Pennsylvania as a Butler County gun parts supplier on Friday filed a federal lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The complaint, filed by Not an LLC, which operates as...
Associated Press calls Summer Lee winner over Steve Irwin in 12th Congressional District race
Election Night on Tuesday produced a neck-and-neck race between state Rep. Summer Lee and Pittsburgh lawyer Steve Irwin in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District, but after outstanding votes were counted a few days later, Lee emerged victorious. After Tuesday, Lee led by less than half a percentage point. But there were...
PennDOT plans bridge closure, line painting along I-70
PennDOT plans to close a North Belle Vernon bridge that crosses Interstate 70 on Monday, the day when line painting also is scheduled to begin on the interstate. The Fayette Street bridge, slated for replacement, is expected to remain closed to all traffic through mid-September, depending on weather that might...
Ghost towns dot Western Pa., Pittsburgh landscape and history
When Ron Ross was 8, he used to climb up a hill overlooking his family’s Westmoreland County farm and watch houses being moved from the small village of Cokeville. “It was like watching a ballgame,” said Ross, 78, of Blairsville, who lived in a 13-room, three-story farmhouse. The procession was...
As population continues to decline, the fate of some communities could be in jeopardy
Bob Davis spent only seven years of his childhood in Adamsburg before his family moved to Greensburg in 1966, but the borough made an impression. Davis lived in an old farm house along Main Street. He fondly recalls a bustling town filled with several businesses. There was a service station...
Turnpike delays expected Saturday at Allegheny Tunnel in Somerset County
Motorists traveling on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Somerset County Saturday should be prepared for possible delays at the Allegheny Tunnel as single-lane, two-way traffic patterns will be in place, the turnpike commission said. The westbound tunnel is slated to close from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday. Two-way traffic will...
Teen charged in drive-by shooting death of Washington woman
Police have charged a 15-year-old boy with homicide and are looking for two others in the drive-by shooting of a 58-year-old woman in Washington earlier this month. Tyriq Xavier Moss of Washington was arraigned Thursday on multiple charges, including criminal homicide, attempted homicide, aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy, reckless endangerment and...
