Regional category, Page 222

It’s the season of giving, and Trib Total Media wants to show its gratitude to locally owned businesses. The Trib announced Monday it will give new matching grants to local small businesses recovering from the covid-19 pandemic and ensuing economic downturn. With the Shop Local Marketing Grant 2021, Trib Total...

A 21-year-old man will serve 50 to 100 years in prison for the attempted murder of two state troopers last year while they were driving him back to the state prison in Indiana County. Indiana County President Judge William J. Martin imposed the sentence Monday on Simere Maurice Alford. In...

A Middlesex Township woman accused of driving under the influence of alcohol has been charged with homicide by vehicle after police say she crashed her car into a convenience store and killed her two passengers earlier this year, according to a criminal complaint. Police say Diane Elizabeth Read, 37, had...

UPMC has acquired a third hospital in Ireland, the Pittsburgh-based health system announced Monday. The system is expanding services at Aut Even Hospital in Kilkenny. The 105-year-old hospital will be renamed UPMC Aut Even Hospital. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Aut Even will be operated in addition to...

A crash between a horse and buggy and a dump truck killed four people and injured four others Monday morning, state police said. The crash happened about 6 miles south of Quarryville, in Lancaster County, shortly before 8 a.m., according to state police Trooper Kelly Osborne. Troopers remained at the...

As the number of bald eagles continue to soar in the state, so are the numbers of the previously endangered raptors congregating at local waterways in the winter. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Shenango River Lake near Hermitage in Mercer County is inviting the public to visit and...

Fewer Pennsylvanians have applied so far this year to the state’s home heating assistance program than last year, but the need is still there. As of Wednesday, close to 230,000 people had sought assistance with heating bills through the 2020-21 Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. That’s down from the roughly...

Kaitlin Smith was getting increasingly worried about covid-19 outbreaks at Quality Life Services, a nursing home chain where she works as a clinical reimbursement specialist. For weeks, she had been on daily calls with all of the facility administrators, hearing about rising infections and staffing struggles. Then one Friday last...

At least three people were shot outside of a bar in Monaca early Saturday morning. Borough police said they responded to the shooting incident just after midnight outside of Whiskey Rhythm Bar along the 1200 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. Information about the victims, including their conditions, was not released. Anyone...

A day after casinos across the state announced they were closing to comply with Gov. Tom Wolf’s covid-19 mitigation efforts, officials announced video gambling terminals at truck stops are also shuttering. The terminals, which are similar to slot machines at a casino, are located at 40 truck stops across the...

Nashville police on Friday arrested a man in connection with the killing of a Butler native who was on her way to her shift as a nurse at a Tennessee hospital. Caitlyn Kaufman, 26, was shot and killed Dec. 3 as she drove on I-440. An officer discovered her body...

Clouds may block Pittsburgh-area sky watchers from seeing the Geminid meteor shower this weekend, but there’s always next year. In 2021, we’ll have plenty of meteor showers, plus a couple of partial lunar eclipses and one partial solar eclipse. Here’s a schedule of reasons to watch the sky next year,...

Sunday night is the best chance all year to see shooting stars — or it would be, if the weather behaved. “I don’t see any hope,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Brown. “I just think we’re going to have very high clouds.” The Geminid meteor shower is an annual...

Americans could start receiving a covid-19 vaccine as early as this month, as three drugmakers have produced vaccines deemed highly effective. Health and government officials are moving quickly to organize the distribution and delivery systems for the vaccines. Three drugmakers — AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer — are seeking regulatory approval...

The deadline is almost two big lotto winners in Washington and Beaver counties to claim their $1 million prizes, according to the Pennsylvania Lottery. A winning Cash 5 ticket was sold at the Rite Aid on Merchant Street in Ambridge Jan. 12. If not claimed within a year, the state...

Preparing for the covid-19 vaccine is like no other immunization, said Dr. Brian Parker, chief quality learning officer at Allegheny Health Network. In recent weeks, the network has acquired several massive ultra-cold freezers in expectation of the Pfizer vaccine, which requires an environment of minus 70 degrees below Celsius —...

More than 2,600 households and businesses in rural parts of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties soon will have access to high-speed internet after the Federal Communication Commission auctioned about $9.2 billion to companies across the country with the goal of closing the digital divide in rural America. The first phase of...

Brian VanSickle may not have believed in Santa Claus before, but he’s a true believer now. “I met Santa Claus Friday and her name is Maggie Hardy Knox,” said VanSickle, chief of the rural Farmington Volunteer Fire Department in Fayette County for more than 20 years. The chief admits he’s...

A Donora man is accused of fatally shooting a man who police said forced entry into the defendant’s home early Thursday morning. Bryan Harris, 23, is charged with criminal homicide in the death of Brandon Harrison, 34, of Masontown. State police also have charged Harris with tampering with evidence and...

A Washington County detective was “involved in an accident with a pedestrian” Wednesday night, authorities said. Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone did not identify the detective involved but noted that he was on duty at the time. The incident happened shortly before 8 p.m. along National Pike, or Route...

Stamp collectors soon can grab a piece of Pittsburgh history with a new Forever Stamp honoring legendary playwright August Wilson. The U.S. Postal Service will dedicate the stamp Jan. 28, the first day of its release, with a virtual ceremony on its Twitter and Facebook pages. The stamp will be...

Most residential customers of Peoples Gas in Pennsylvania saw a discount on their recent bills as a result of the natural gas company being acquired in a $4.3 billion deal earlier this year. Essential Utilities announced in mid-March that it had completed its acquisition of Peoples. That followed the state...