Regional category, Page 276
Western Pa. colleges making plans for online, face-to-face learning in fall semester
Universities that bring thousands of students to Southwestern Pennsylvania every fall are offering reassurances that they hope to reopen shuttered classrooms and dormitories in August. Although the region is scheduled to begin reopening on May 15, colleges and universities are not yet permitted to resume face-to-face operations in classrooms and...
WVU furloughing about 875 staffers as virus hits revenues
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University is furloughing around 875 staffers due to a possible $40 million loss from the coronavirus pandemic, the college said Friday. The school issued a statement saying the furloughs will start on May 24 and have staffers return to work either June 28 or July...
Census forms to be hand delivered to Western Pa. households next week
People across Western Pennsylvania could receive a census packet on their doorsteps starting next week as the bureau resumes some operations halted due to the coronavirus pandemic. On May 13, questionnaire packets will be left at households that typically do not receive mail at their physical address, said Susan Licate,...
Beaver County officials blast Wolf’s decision to keep county under heavy coronavirus restrictions
Beaver County officials blasted Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday for his decision to keep their county under the most restrictive pandemic-related guidelines, while the county’s district attorney declared he wouldn’t prosecute business owners who choose to flout the continued restrictions. Commissioners and lawmakers got ahead of Wolf’s 2 p.m. announcement...
Gov. Wolf announces most of Western Pa. moving to yellow phase May 15
Allegheny and Westmoreland are among the counties Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday can begin the first phase of a gradual reopening and easing of coronavirus-related restrictions. A majority of the Southwest and South-Central counties will proceed to the yellow phase of the tiered reopening plan on May 15. That includes...
Week-in-review: Pa. moves some counties to yellow, Pitt researcher killed, ‘murder hornets’Video
While covid-19 and the impact of the pandemic continue to dominate lives and news, other news continued to come in the past week. A missing woman’s body was found in McKees Rocks, while the motivation behind a murder-suicide in Ross came to light. In nature news, we learned about homicidal...
Pennsylvania reports 200 more coronavirus deaths, more than 1,300 new cases
Pennsylvania added 200 more coronavirus deaths to its toll on Friday along with more than 1,300 new cases of the virus, state health officials said. The new numbers bring the statewide death toll to 3,616. Of those deaths, 2,458 — 68% — have been in long-term care facilities. The total...
Western Pa. leaders respond as most of region set to move to yellow phase next week
Officials in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties applauded Gov. Tom Wolf’s decision Friday to move most of Southwestern Pennsylvania to a phase of eased coronavirus restrictions, though many said the decision was overdue. “It’s a step in the right direction,” Westmoreland County Commissioner Sean Kertes said. “This should’ve happened a week...
Record-breaking cold prompts freeze warning
The coldest temperatures ever recorded in May in the Pittsburgh area are expected overnight Friday into Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service. A freeze warning is scheduled to run from midnight to 9 a.m. Saturday, with the low temperature expected to get down to 26 degrees, meteorologist Michael...
State senator: Greene, Washington counties to reopen next Friday
Two more Pennsylvania counties will reopen late next week, according to a post by Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington, on her personal Facebook page. According to Bartolotta, Greene and Washington counties will move from the red into the yellow phase next Friday as per Gov. Tom Wolf’s three-phased plan for reopening...
Windber woman helps provide food for low-income children
Donna LaMonaca of Windber has been a volunteer at the Saint Vincent de Paul Family Kitchen in the Altoona-Johnstown area since she was a child. When they called her last month to say they weren’t able to distribute all of the donated milk they had on hand, she got an...
Elected officials, businesses in 4 Pa. counties sue to end coronavirus shutdown
Citing growing frustration with emergency orders that closed businesses and halted political campaigns, three state lawmakers and U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, Thursday joined a group of local business owners and four southwestern counties in a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Gov. Tom Wolf’s orders. County commissioners from Butler,...
Reopened campgrounds see rush of guests while observing social distancingVideo
Families anxious to get away from it all after weeks under Pennsylvania’s stay-at-home orders have flocked to the area’s privately owned campgrounds. Still, they haven’t escaped from social-distancing guidelines in force as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus. While camping facilities at state parks aren’t set to open...
Stimulus checks made out to deceased people should be returned, government says
The last thing Lori Hughes expected to receive in the mail was a $1,200 stimulus check made out to her mother, Sharyn Davis, who died last July. The 54-year-old Smithton resident is now left deciding the best course of action for sending the money back to the federal government after...
Community-supported agriculture thriving during pandemic
Community-supported agriculture has been around for years, said Don Kretschmann, owner of Kretschmann Family Farm in Beaver County. But now, during a public health crisis, the assets of local, organically-grown produce is really catching on. Moreover, the long-standing distribution method is built for the time of social distancing: Most customers...
Honeybees can gang up and fry Asian giant ‘murder hornets’
If they follow their Japanese counterparts, maybe U.S. honeybees could surround and fry an invading Asian giant “murder hornet” entering its hive, according to a Carnegie Museum of Natural History expert. Agriculture authorities in Washington State are creating a national buzz trying to eradicate the aggressive and invading Asian giant...
Baking supplies, other staples remain low — or altogether gone — at local grocers amid pandemic
Baking is helping people pass the time under stay-at-home orders, gauging from aisles normally filled with flour, sugar and brownie mixes at several local grocery stores. Cake mixes, chocolate chips and other staples were hard to come by at Target and Giant Eagle in North Huntingdon this week. Stocks of...
UPMC officials say small Mother’s Day visits OK as they push Pennsylvania to reopen
UPMC’s top emergency medicine expert said Thursday that people can go out and “safely” partake in small Mother’s Day visits, maintaining his suggestion is not in conflict with the stay-at-home order that will remain in effect for Allegheny and 42 other counties this weekend. “I think having a visit with...
Pennsylvania’s pause on evictions and foreclosures extended
People can’t be evicted from rental properties and mortgage foreclosures will remain halted through July 10, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday. But rents, including back rent, and unpaid mortgage payments still will need to be paid, Wolf and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a joint livestream. A...
Pennsylvania reports jump of 310 coronavirus deaths as it continues to catch up with data
Continued work by the state Department of Health to catch up with coronavirus numbers from all 67 counties has resulted in another jump in deaths on Thursday, this one by more than 300. The 310 new deaths, which occurred over the course of several weeks rather than one day, brings...
GetGo donates Girl Scout cookies to educators during Teacher Appreciation Week
Giant Eagle’s GetGo Cafe and Market convenience chain is celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week by giving teachers in the Pittsburgh region a cookie break. GetGo has purchased $25,000 worth of Tagalongs, Samoas, Thin Mints and other Girl Scout cookies for the doubly sweet gesture. Store officials noted the covid-19 pandemic has...
Postal Service extends holds on mail during pandemic
Those living within the U.S. Postal Service’s Western Pennsylvania District, which stretches from to Erie to Morgantown, W.Va., and as far east as Altoona, can place a hold on their mail for more than 30 days beginning next month, because of the pandemic. The Postal Service said late Tuesday it...
Some beaches popular with Pittsburghers have reopened, others waiting during pandemicVideo
Western Pennsylvanians eager to get to their favorite beaches once stay-at-home orders are lifted might have to wait a little longer as beach towns rebound from effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Down the East Coast from New Jersey to Florida, officials are working to determine the best times to reopen...
Rats are eating each other in Pittsburgh amid waste shortage caused by coronavirus closures
Turf wars among rats that are resorting to cannibalism because of less available garbage to scavenge isn’t something just happening in New York, New Orleans or some other far-away metro areas during the coronavirus pandemic. “It is no different here in Pittsburgh as just like these metro cities, with restaurants...
Limited in-store sales to resume at 77 Pennsylvania liquor stores
State liquor stores in Clarion, Lawrence, Mercer and Venango counties will be the closest to Pittsburgh resuming limited in-store public access on Friday, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board announced Wednesday. The 14 stores in the four counties north of Pittsburgh are among 77 Fine Wine & Good Spirit locations in...
