Regional category, Page 183
Longtime Shanksville fire chief, who responded on 9/11, in need of heart transplant
The Somerset County area is digging deep to help longtime area firefighter Terry Shaffer, who was Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department’s chief when United Airlines Flight 93 crashed on 9/11. Shaffer, 66, was admitted last week to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment of congestive heart failure, according to his...
State lawmakers vow to better protect care home residents from convicted sex offenders
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No central registry in Pennsylvania tracks convicted sex offenders placed in nursing care facilitiesVideo
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Brighton Rehab no stranger to federal, state scrutiny for resident care
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Follow-ups by journalists to an earlier covid-related story uncovered a horrid reality in Pennsylvania’s long-term care facilities
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When there’s no room at nursing facilities, convicted sex offenders often land in unregulated boarding homes
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Hidden danger: Registered sex offenders often go undetected in care homesVideo
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Powerball jackpot will climb to $483 million on New Year’s Day
Looks like 2022 is going to be a great year for someone. The Powerball lottery jackpot will climb to $483 million on New Year’s Day after no one matched the five numbers and Powerball in Wednesday’s drawing, according to state lottery officials. The numbers drawn were 2-6-9-33-39 and the Powerball...
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In Pa., no central registry tracks convicted sex offenders placed in nursing care facilities
When the Tribune-Review began investigating the placement of sex offenders in nursing, personal care and assisted-living homes, it seemed logical to ask some basic questions. • How many sex offenders are living in these facilities in Pennsylvania? • In what facilities are they living? • How many assaults on patients...
When there’s no room at nursing facilities, convicted sex offenders often land in unregulated boarding homes
Christopher Farkas said he’s not one to judge the 23 convicted sex offenders living at his boarding house in a rundown, troubled section of McKeesport. Without Farkas’ Hospitality House, he said those offenders, most needing help with basic daily tasks such as cooking, laundry and complying with the rules for...
Brighton Rehab no stranger to federal, state scrutiny for resident care
When convicted sex offender Richard Marlin Walter assaulted a 57-year-old dementia patient at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center last December, it was not the first time trouble surfaced at the Beaver County nursing home. In 2020, the 589-bed facility became the epicenter of one of the nation’s deadliest outbreaks of...
State lawmakers vow to better protect care home residents from convicted sex offenders
Pennsylvania lawmakers have vowed action to protect some of the state’s most vulnerable residents by changing the system that has sent convicted sex offenders to nursing, personal care and assisted-living homes where some have found their next victims. Their promises come after learning the results of a Tribune-Review investigation showing...
Hidden danger: Registered sex offenders often go undetected in care homes, sometimes at an unspeakable cost
It was just a few days past Christmas 2020 when a 57-year-old woman with advanced dementia and a penchant for wandering the hallways stumbled into Richard Marlin Walter’s room at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center. Frail, confused and robbed of her ability to speak, she couldn’t scream for help when...
2 workers hurt after truck falls off lift at Fayette County car dealership
Two employees were injured when they were struck by a falling truck Wednesday at a Fayette County car dealership. The incident happened just before 3 p.m. at the Tri-Star Chevrolet dealership in North Union Township, according to a Fayette County 911 supervisor. The workers were flown to an area hospital...
$4 per gallon gas possible in spring before relief arrives, outlook says
Gasoline could reach a national average of $4 per gallon early next year, price tracking service GasBuddy says in its 2022 fuel price outlook released Wednesday. For all of 2022, GasBuddy expects the national average price to increase by nearly 40 cents per gallon, from $3.02 in 2021 to $3.41....
Coroner identifies 3 people killed in New Castle house fire
Two family members and a guest were killed in a house fire early Wednesday in Lawrence County. The victims were identified as Courtney Payne, 41, and Terrianna Payne, 17, both of New Castle, and Xzavia Booker, 18, who was originally from New Castle, according to Lawrence County Coroner Richard Johnson....
From rare bourbon to TV anchors: Here are top TribLIVE news stories of 2021
TribLIVE readers dug into thousands of stories and accounted for millions of page views in 2021. The news stories that got the most views? Well, a rare bourbon lottery from the state led the way. But readers also had an oversized interest in local TV news stations moves — three...
Travel this week expected to inch toward pre-pandemic numbers, state police release Christmas weekend stats
More than 5.4 million motorists are expected to take to the Pennsylvania Turnpike between Christmas and New Year’s Day, inching toward pre-pandemic numbers, officials said. Projections call for 460,000 turnpike motorists on New Year’s Eve and 350,000 on New Year’s Day. Over the Christmas weekend, state police across the region...
Powerball jackpot climbing at $441M, but not nearly a record
Lora Trenney of Kiski Township is feeling lucky. The 40-year-old bartender at Cicero’s Bar and Grill in Leechburg bought a Powerball ticket Tuesday during her work shift. The lottery jackpot swelled to an estimated $441 million with a cash option of $317.5 million for the Wednesday drawing, according to the...
Gas prices falling after setting new Christmas Day record
Average gasoline prices are coming down in the Pittsburgh area and across the nation but remain significantly higher than they were a year ago, according to price tracking service GasBuddy. According to GasBuddy’s survey of 731 stations in Pittsburgh, gas prices fell 2.1 cents per gallon in the past week...
Where’s winter? Warm, wet weather here to stay
Southwestern Pennsylvania has had an unusually warm late fall and early winter without much snow, and that is not expected to change anytime soon, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Moon Township said. The Pittsburgh region officially has had all of 0.2 inches of snow in December — far less...
Handling covid exposure around holidays depends on vaccination status, experts say
Attempting to return to normal life has come with a price during the pandemic. While many people opted to forgo large family get-togethers during the holidays last year as cases surged and the United States was still without an approved vaccine, many families seemed determined to gather this year. Inevitably,...
Strain of pandemic drives Americans to drink more
The strain of the coronavirus pandemic, now almost two years old, has contributed to a national uptick in alcohol consumption, experts say. People might not feel as isolated as they did during the height of the pandemic, when in-person activities were limited or shut down at many workplaces, schools and...
Coroner: 2 Pittsburgh residents killed in Route 28 crash
The Armstrong County Coroner’s Office has identified two people killed in a multi-vehicle crash that shut down both lanes of northbound Route 28 for a time on Monday morning. The road was shut down shortly after 9 a.m. between Exit 18 PA 128 — Slate Lick/Northpointe and Exit 19 US...
Woman dies 3 days after apartment building fire in Washington County
A woman from a Washington County apartment building died Sunday after a fire swept through the building days earlier, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office reported. Frances Venen, 78, of Washington County, died at an area hospital about 10 a.m. Sunday, according to the medical examiner’s office. A cause of...
