Regional category, Page 305
Week in review: Market Square fire, Pirates’ Felipe Vazquez charged, ‘A Beautiful Day’ premiereVideo
The past week in Western Pennsylvania featured a fire in Market Square, child porn charges filed against suspended Pirates’ relief pitcher Felipe Vazquez and the debut of the Mister Rogers movie. Here’s a look back at some of the top stories of the week. Hemp-drying facility reopens A hemp-drying facility...
Where and when to shop on Black Friday in Western Pa.
Christmas season seems to start earlier and earlier every year, at least according to store displays – need some holly with your Halloween pumpkin? Still, lots of folks don’t get into the spirit until after Thanksgiving. Once the pumpkin pie is eaten, though – watch out. It’s time to go...
Southwestern Pa. projects get DEP funding for clean energy vehicles
The state Department of Environmental Protection awarded $510,000 in grants for three clean energy vehicle projects in Southwestern Pennsylvania, the agency announced Wednesday. The money comes from the state’s Alternative Fuels Incentive Grants program and will be used to help replace older shuttles, school buses, waste-hauling trucks and other vehicles...
Recalled Breakstone’s cottage cheese may contain plastic, metal pieces
Kraft Heinz Foods has recalled 9,500 cases of its Breakstone’s cottage cheese because the product might contain pieces of red plastic and metal. The company said it issued the voluntary recall after a consumer reported finding a piece of red plastic in a container of the cottage cheese. According to...
State Parks plan: More pet-friendly campsites, elevated tree house-like cottages and no Wi-Fi
A preliminary report on the future of Pennsylvania’s 121 state parks revealed that park users want pet-friendly campsites and no Wi-Fi. While “glamping” was not mentioned, park users do want more adventurous sleepovers by trying something new, such as building elevated camping cottages to simulate a treehouse effect. “Penn’s Parks...
Western Pa. lawmakers fight Gov. Wolf on Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
A group of lawmakers from Western Pennsylvania is challenging Gov. Tom Wolf’s effort to make Pennsylvania a member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), saying the resulting carbon tax will hurt the state’s energy sector and consumers. The legislators said Tuesday that Wolf does not have the authority to...
Ski slopes at Seven Springs, Hidden Valley to open this weekendVideo
A late Thanksgiving means an early start to the ski season at Seven Springs and Hidden Valley resorts. Sort of. “Typically the past few years, we’ve been opening on Black Friday (Nov. 23, 2018, and Nov. 24, 2017), which we’ve called ‘White Friday,’” said Katie Buchan, spokeswoman for Seven Springs,...
Officials: 2 students arrested after gun found on Seneca Valley school campus
Two Butler County students were taken into custody Tuesday after officials said one of the students a sold a gun to another student at Seneca Valley Intermediate High School. No one was injured. The district said on its website Tuesday that the incident was reported shortly after school started. High...
Sunday hunting bill heads to Gov. Wolf’s desk
A bill that would allow hunting on up to three Sundays per year in Pennsylvania is headed to Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk. Senate Bill 147 would provide for hunting on three Sundays annually: one during rifle deer season, one during the statewide archery deer season and one determined by the...
Tax credits will help Indiana County demolitions, renovations
Tax credits for two redevelopment projects in Indiana County will pave the way for public space and a renovated community center. A $56,250 tax credit will go to the Friends of Blairsville Communities group for the demolition of the G.C. Murphy building at the corner of Market and Stewart streets...
Gas prices down in most areas as holiday season approaches
Gasoline prices dropped over the past week in the Pittsburgh area and across the nation. In the Pittsburgh area, prices are down 2.2 cents to an average of $2.78 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 731 stations. That’s 6.1 cents per gallon less than a month ago, and 9.6...
Impeachment rules the day, but Pennsylvania lawmakers push bipartisan initiatives
Impeachment proceedings continue to divide much of the country and seemingly the whole of Congress, with predictable partisan stances sounding loudly in the overarching narrative. Firmly in President Trump’s corner has been U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, a first-term Republican from Peters, Washington County, who has repeatedly dismissed the process as...
Greensburg, Carnegie made phone history as the first cities with touch-tone phones
Southwestern Pennsylvania made telephonic history in November 1963. Carnegie and Greensburg were first cities in the nation to get Bell Telephone’s touch-tone phones, which would eventually eclipse the old-fashioned rotary models. Bell used the municipalities as test sites before bringing the phones nationwide. According to newspaper reports from the time,...
Catholics halt adoption, foster care programs in Greensburg, Pittsburgh over state rule
Pennsylvania’s Catholic dioceses are challenging a recent state policy that has essentially put them out of the adoption and foster care business. The Diocese of Greensburg recently announced that its Catholic Charities agency was closing its adoption and foster care program after 65 years because the state’s nondiscrimination policy added...
Fire at Penn Township commercial building
Firefighters from several departments responded to a large fire at a commercial building in Penn Township. Butler County dispatchers said the blaze at 103 Hicks Road began shortly before 9 p.m. Friday. Emergency crews remained on scene late that evening and no injuries were reported as of 10:50 p.m....
Study: More than 500M pieces of litter strewn along Pennsylvania roads
An estimated 500 million pieces of litter were strewn along Pennsylvania roads in 2018-2019, with cigarette butts and plastic food packaging, bottles and bags ranking among the most commonly picked-up items, according to the Pennsylvania Litter Research Study. Motorists and pedestrians are leading litterers, followed by improperly secured truck loads,...
Fans react to Steelers-Browns fight: ‘There’s no place for that in sports’Video
What happened at the end of the Steelers-Browns game Thursday night was not football, Western Pennsylvania fans said Friday. While the NFL doled out suspensions and fines for the fight at the end of the game, fans said that level of violence — Browns defensive lineman Myles Garrett swung Mason...
Salvation Army ‘Kettle Pay’ option allows digital donations
One of the country’s oldest charitable giving campaigns is going digital. The Salvation Army’s Red Kettle campaign, a fixture of the Christmas shopping season, will now give people the option to give not by dropping cash or coins in the kettle but by using their smartphones. The Salvation Army Western...
Cleveland police shoot, kill suspect in earlier homicide
CLEVELAND — An investigation is underway in Cleveland after police say officers shot and killed a suspect in a homicide from earlier in the evening. Events leading to the police shooting began shortly before midnight Thursday when officers were called to a gas station to investigate a report of a...
Pennsylvania looks to help food banks trim food waste in state
Area food banks are hailing a new state grant program that aims to reduce food waste through the purchase of refrigerators, freezers, refrigerant vehicles and other equipment. “It really comes along at a good time,” said Dennis McManus, head of government relations for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in...
Train car derails, lands in creek in Fayette County
A train car derailed Thursday in Upper Tyrone, flipping off the track and landing in a small tributary of Jacobs Creek, according to Fayette County 911. No injuries were reported. An estimated few hundred gallons of a flammable industrial solvent, known as HF1000, leaked into the stream, according to Jim...
NBC’s ‘Dateline’ to recount Blairsville dentist’s murder
The 2006 murder of Blairsville dentist John Yelenic will be recounted in the Friday installment of NBC’s “Dateline.” Titled “The Premonition,” the two-hour segment of the long-running investigative series will air at 9 p.m. Among those interviewed for the show is Janelle Lydic, a Blairsville police corporal who was among...
Blair County mother reported missing arrested on drug, child endangerment charges
Charges were filed Tuesday against a Blair County woman who, along with her two children, was reported missing and possibly in danger with her father-in-law, but were later found safe in Indiana County. Trooper Cliff Greenfield said Alicia Rose Brumbaugh, 31, of Imler, is charged with child endangerment, drug possession...
Pittsburgh breaks record low as cold snap hits region
It’s official. The bone-chilling temperatures in the Pittsburgh region Wednesday morning broke a 108-year-old record-low for Nov. 13. Just before 7 a.m., temperatures dropped to 12 degrees, edging past the record previously set in 1911. As of 6:59 am this morning, the low temperature at Pittsburgh International hit 12 degrees,...
Saltsburg’s new Boggs Day will honor town’s founder
Saltsburg will celebrate its founding more than two centuries ago with a ceremony Wednesday afternoon at the Saltsburg Area Historical Society’s Rebecca B. Hadden Stone House Museum. Karen Cumberledge, the borough mayor, will proclaim the first Andrew Boggs Day, honoring the man who established the town on his property. The...
