Regional category, Page 75
IUP students ready to crunch their competition in lettuce-eating contest
Student clubs on college campuses have their defining attributes, and the group that Ava Moriarity and her friends started at Indiana University of Pennsylvania is no exception. In fact, it even has a distinguishing sound: It’s the crunch of fresh iceberg lettuce being devoured at breakneck speed by undergraduates who...
UPMC is shedding 1,000 jobs
Pittsburgh-based health care giant UPMC said Wednesday it is cutting 1,000 jobs because of post-pandemic challenges. The reductions will impact just over 1% of UPMC’s more than 100,000-member workforce systemwide, according to Paul Wood, vice president and chief communications officer. “The entire health care industry continues to face the realities...
American Lung Association ranks Pittsburgh metro area among nation’s most polluted
The American Lung Association ranked the Pittsburgh metro area among the worst in the nation for pollution in a report released Tuesday. The annual ‘State of the Air’ report named the Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton metro area one of the worst in the nation for year-round particle pollution. The Pittsburgh metro area...
Summer Lee beats Bhavini Patel in Democratic primary
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, cruised to a primary victory Tuesday night, vanquishing her Democratic challenger, Bhavini Patel. Lee, a progressive, took an early lead over the more moderate Edgewood councilwoman with a strong showing in mail-in ballots. Lee never looked back. With nearly 100% of precincts reporting, Lee won...
Remains found in Fayette County identified as missing 17-year-old girl
Skeletal remains found last week in Fayette County have been identified as a 17-year-old girl who was reported missing in November, according to Coroner Bob Baker. The remains found in North Union were that of Kaitlin Whoolery, he said. Authorities were led April 16 to an area near Washington Avenue...
Police: Copper wire theft suspects left identifying documents, receipt for tools at crime scene
Three Fayette County men were arrested after police said they stole more than 400 feet of telephone line and left behind a court custody notice identifying one of them, along with a receipt for tools that may have been used to remove the lines. State police in Belle Vernon were...
Primary 2024: ‘No sense complaining if you’re not voting’
It’s Primary Day in Pennsylvania. Among voters’ options on this year’s ballot will be candidates for president, the U.S. Senate, and the state’s attorney general. Despite it being a presidential election year, local officials say they expect low voter turnout. That could be due to the fact that both of...
Communities embrace use of license plate readers
Communities across the region are considering or have installed license plate readers on local streets and highways. As TribLive reported in March, Springdale is one of the latest to adopt the Automated National Noninvasive Insurance Enforcement (ANNIE) program, designed for police departments to address uninsured and unregistered vehicles. Tarentum also...
Kenneth Mash re-elected leader of Pa. state university union
Kenneth Mash has been re-elected president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, the 5,000-plus member union for professors and coaches across the State System of Higher Education. The union on Monday announced result of voting by delegates across the state. Mash, a political science professor at...
Wild turkey season opens early for young hunters
Spring wild turkey season in Pennsylvania starts Saturday with an opportunity for young hunters in advance of the regular season opener on May 4. Junior hunters and mentored ones 16 and younger can hit the woods Saturday from 30 minutes before sunrise until noon, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission....
New Castle police investigating fatal shooting
New Castle police are investigating a fatal shooting that left one man dead Sunday. Police were dispatched to the area of East Moody Avenue and Carlisle Street for reports of gunshots Sunday, officials said. Officers found a parked Green Chevrolet Tahoe at the scene with a man dead in the...
‘It’s life-changing’: Collegiate, high school esports programs on the rise
Brayden Seech has been playing video games since he was in elementary school. He started with Nintendo’s Wii and DS devices, shifting into Xbox and PC games as he got older. Now, as a 17-year-old senior at Penn-Trafford High School, Seech has earned a college scholarship to continue his hobby...
Sensory accessibility: Theaters create a welcoming space for guests
When Amy Hart caught a glimpse of daughter Sophie jumping up and down in her seat in the theater, she began to tear up. Artists from the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s “The Nutcracker” were dancing on stage in a sensory-friendly performance in 2021, and 14-year-old Sophie and her friend were smiling...
Guaranteed doe licenses in most hunting areas expected to thwart repeat of 2023 system shutdown
Luke Wasilowski isn’t looking forward to June — when state hunting licenses go on sale. At least, he isn’t looking forward to a repeat of last year, when the state’s computer system ground to a halt on the first day of sales, leaving hunters waiting in lines, sometimes for hours....
GOP reverses course, says mail-in ballots key to 2024 success
Local Republican leaders are pushing voters to get in the game when it comes to mail-in ballots, even if the most prominent voice in the party still is resistant. “It is important because we’re already starting each election with a deficit,” said Westmoreland GOP Committee Chairman Bill Bretz. “Many Democratic...
United Methodists will vote on the church’s future at upcoming General Conference
Hundreds of United Methodists will gather in Charlotte, N.C., in the next two weeks to make big decisions on the religious denomination’s policies, finances, inclusiveness and future. The international conference, referred to as the 2020 General Conference because the original event was postponed during the pandemic, comes after years of...
Coroner reports driver in Fayette crash that killed 5 had cocaine in his system
The driver involved in a three-vehicle crash in late March that killed himself and four others, including an infant, had cocaine in his system at the time of the collision, the Fayette County coroner reported Saturday. All five people killed in the March 26 crash on Route 40 were from...
Local Holocaust survivors’ stories counter rising trend in antisemitism
Voices from the past that keep alive the horrors of the 20th century Holocaust carry an urgency today. Those voices are demanding increased attention through programs based in Southwestern Pennsylvania and New York, even as the current tragedies of the Israel-Hamas conflict reverberate around the world and antisemitic incidents continue...
Beaver County man gets 10-year prison term for severe abuse of disabled residents
A Beaver County man was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison Friday in Pittsburgh on federal hate crime charges stemming from severe abuse of disabled residents he was responsible for assisting at an in-patient health care facility in the county. U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan imposed the...
Most farmers don’t mind record-setting April rain
It’s been a soggy April. And it’s about to be the soggiest, according to the National Weather Service. “Prior to today, we’re 0.27 inches away from tying the wettest April on record,” said weather service Meteorologist Fred McMullen on Friday. What that means to local farms is highly dependent on...
PennWest presidential search narrowed down to 3 candidates
The search for a leader who can quell enrollment and financial woes at Western Pennsylvania’s largest state-owned university has narrowed to three people. Still in the running for the presidency of Pennsylvania Western University are: • Jon Anderson, provost and vice president for academic affairs/professor at Southern Utah University (Cedar...
Car crashes into Washington County reservoir; McMurray driver killed
A McMurray woman was killed Friday morning when the vehicle she was driving crashed and sank into a reservoir in Washington County, officials said. Washington County Coroner Tim Warco identified the driver as 44-year-old Jessica L. Williams. Williams was driving South on Sherwood Drive in Peters Township after 12:30 a.m....
FBI investigates violent threats to Pittsburgh Diocese, Jewish community
The FBI’s Pittsburgh office is investigating violent threats made this week against religious schools and places of worship in Western Pennsylvania. They included two threatening emails sent to a Catholic school and a handful of antisemitic online messages sent to members of the Jewish community in the city. The Jewish...
Take the TribLive weekly news quiz: April 19
The following is a new feature from TribLive: A weekly news quiz: 1. Pittsburgh-area river traffic resumed this week with a few restrictions when the barge operator and U.S. Coast Guard confirmed the location of a sunken barge on the Ohio River. The sunken barge was one of how many...
FAFSA mess leads to deadline extension for students to apply for state grants
Students hoping for a Pennsylvania state grant to help pay for college have an extra month — until June 1 — to submit the federal form that is needed to be considered for financial aid. The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) on Thursday announced that it has pushed back...
