Regional category, Page 283
Beaver County officials frustrated over tracking of nursing home’s coronavirus outbreak
Beaver County officials said Thursday they are frustrated about differing state reports on how many nursing home residents have coronavirus as they grapple with one agency’s report that Brighton Rehabilitation has more than 100 cases. The state Department of Health is reporting 70 cases total across two of the county’s...
Nearly 450K Pennsylvania voters apply to cast mail-in, absentee ballots
Nearly 450,000 people have applied to vote in the June 2 primary by mail-in and absentee ballots, and the number is expected to grow as people look for an alternative to voting in person because of coronavirus concerns, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. The agency is urging voters...
Nurse N’at brings faces of Pittsburgh-area front line workers to the publicVideo
A Pittsburgh-area registered nurse is bringing the faces of the front lines to the community, in hopes that their support will help the region’s nurses push through the daily work related to the coronavirus pandemic. Dena Strano of Plum has been collecting photographs of nurses wearing items from the online...
Shell Chemicals to bring back 200 more workers to its ethane cracker site in Beaver County
Shell Chemicals confirmed that it will bring back about 200 employees next week to assist with operations at its ethane cracker construction site in Beaver County. Beaver County Commissioner Jack Manning told the Tribune-Review about the company’s plans earlier Thursday. Shell spokesman Michael Marr said there are currently fewer than...
Pennsylvania’s ‘masks in public’ order manifests in a variety of ways in Western Pa.
Alyson Holt’s house in Murrysville is starting to fill up with 3D printers. Her husband, Gary, already had two and recently ordered a third. These days, they are humming steadily, creating moldable face masks using polyactic acid plastic, the most common material for 3D printing. The Holts are using a...
Pennsylvania reports 60 more deaths, over 1,200 new coronavirus cases
Another 60 coronavirus deaths were reported across Pennsylvania on Thursday, pushing the death toll above 700 as the case count eclipsed 27,000. The deaths, reported to the state throughout the day Wednesday, bring the total to 707, according to the Department of Health. The 1,245 new cases reported during that...
Domino’s to donate 7,600 pizzas in Western Pa.
Local Domino’s stores will donate 7,600 pizzas within their communities in the Pittsburgh area, the national chain announced Thursday. Nearly 40 stores in the region will each donate 200 pizzas as part of a national effort. Donations will be sent to hospitals, medical centers, school children and their families, grocery...
Covid-19 crisis could cost Pennsylvania hospitals $2 billion per month, health advocates warn
Pennsylvania’s hospitals stand to lose as much as $2 billion every month the pandemic-spurred shutdown goes on, the state’s largest hospital advocacy group said Wednesday. Gov. Tom Wolf’s order canceling elective medical procedures as part of the covid-19 measures is estimated to rack up $1.5 billion in collective monthly hospital...
Washington County Food Bank holding ‘single largest’ distribution Friday in Canonsburg
The Greater Washington County Food Bank is holding a “Truck to Trunk” drive-thru distribution on Friday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church. It will be the eighth Truck to Trunk distribution in April and is expected to be the “single largest” food distribution in Washington...
Fayette County dairy farmer helps arrange 4,860-gallon milk delivery to needy
Fayette County dairy farmer Louie Diamond knew a lot of area families would be short on money during the coronavirus pandemic and with children home from school wanting milk, he decided to lend a helping hand. This week, the Masontown resident teamed with the American Dairy Association North East and...
‘It cannot get worse’: Airlines see fewest travelers since 9/11 attacks
The number of people boarding flights in the United States reached a new low Tuesday, with likely the fewest travelers in a single day since flights were grounded in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Transportation Security Administration said 87,534 people boarded flights Tuesday, down 96% from...
Online sales keep Western Pa. breweries, distilleries, wineries in business during coronavirus pandemic
In the age of coronavirus, we drink alone. But sales figures from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, based on heavy traffic to its Fine Wine & Good Spirits website, and reports from distilleries and wineries in the region since the covid-19 pandemic shut down the Keystone State a month ago...
Pennsylvania launches task force to address coronavirus outbreaks among minorities
The governor’s office on Wednesday announced a new task force aimed at analyzing and addressing disproportionate coronavirus outbreaks in minority communities across Pennsylvania. The goal of the Covid-19 Response Task Force for Health Disparity is to identify disparities and make recommendations to Gov. Tom Wolf on how to address the...
Cops: 3 SCI-Somerset inmates to be charged with assaulting guards
Three inmates at SCI-Somerset will be charged with assault after allegedly throwing feces at corrections officers in the state prison’s restricted housing unit earlier this month, state police said. The first of two alleged incidents happened on April 6 in the Somerset Township facility when two corrections officers were walking...
How should you spend your stimulus check? Here is what experts say
The check is not in the mail. But that big coronavirus stimulus check — up to $1,200 for singles, $2,400 for married couples and an extra $500 for each qualified child — might be in your bank account if the IRS has direct deposit information on you. Some families will...
Coronavirus pandemic continues to impact financial health of colleges, universities
Less than a month into a shutdown that forced colleges and universities across the country to transition to online classes, covid-19 is exposing new fractures in higher education. When students were forced to leave campus months before the end of the spring semester, residential campuses had to come up with...
Pennsylvania orders businesses to turn away customers who don’t wear masks
Customers and employees will soon be required to wear masks inside businesses still operating, and those who don’t wear masks will be denied entry, state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said Wednesday. The order, which includes dozens of other requirements, will go into effect 8 p.m. Sunday. It dictates...
Who is tracking your smartphone data during coronavirus pandemic?
Smartphone companies have always gathered data on their users. But in the weeks since the covid-19 pandemic gained traction in the U.S., special attention has been given to data’s role in curbing the spread of the disease. Experts say data can be used to trace individuals’ contact with others who...
Pennsylvania coronavirus deaths rise to 647 as total cases top 26,000
Coronavirus deaths in Pennsylvania crested 600 on Wednesday, though the total number of new cases remained below 1,200 for the second straight day. In numbers reported throughout Tuesday, 63 more people died from the virus statewide, bringing the death toll to 647. The Department of Health reported 1,145 new cases....
Goodwill stores in Pa. open no-contact donation centers
Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania is accepting donations again after closing its 27 stores in the state a month ago amid nonessential business shutdowns because of the coronavirus pandemic. No-contact, self-service donation areas at each of the organization’s store locations in Pennsylvania opened this week to accept donations from 9 a.m....
5 things to know on what would have been Tax Day
It’s tax day, or at least it would have been. When coronavirus turned the world on its axis, Congress and the Pennsylvania General Assembly reacted quickly to provide temporary relief. So, here are five things you need to know today: 1. The deadline for filing federal income tax returns has...
Region’s airports get $46.2 million in coronavirus-related grants
Pittsburgh International Airport will get a $36 million federal grant to help cope with the impact of coronavirus-related shutdowns. The grant represents the lion’s share of the $46.2 million provided to airports in Western Pennsylvania. The Federal Aviation Administration grants to the state’s 63 airports were part of the CARES...
State police: As gun sales increased, so did background checks during coronavirus pandemic
Uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic and business shutdowns ordered to control it appear to be good for the gun business in Pennsylvania. A surge in gun sales that started in mid-March as Pennsylvania’s coronavirus cases began to steadily increase caused a 14.4% year-to-year increase in the number of background...
Fayette, Westmoreland residents support dairy farmer struggling through coronavirus pandemicVideo
Ben Brown said he was nervous Tuesday morning when he answered the telephone call from his wife, Mary Beth, as he was busy in the barn during a 24-hour shift pasteurizing milk on the family’s dairy farm in Fayette County. “The farm store wasn’t supposed to open for another hour...
Pair charged with growing hallucinogenic mushrooms in Indiana
Pennsylvania State Police arrested two people for allegedly growing hallucinogenic mushrooms in an Indiana Borough apartment. The suspects are a 39-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman. Charges are pending, and police have not identified the suspects to the public. Investigators received a tip about the apartment on the 900 block...
