Editor's Picks category, Page 373
TV Talk: Eureka! Syfy debuts comedic drama ‘Resident Alien’Video
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. With media companies prioritizing streaming services over their basic cable networks, the number of original scripted shows on cable has started to decline. Other than “The Magicians,” which ended last year, Syfy’s scripted originals have...
99-year-old Brackenridge woman gets covid vaccine
As 99-year-old Martha Platt waited in the New Kensington Rite Aid on Saturday for her turn to get the covid-19 vaccine, her mind flashed back over almost a century’s worth of memories from her busy and, at times, trying life. She remembers being sent away to live with her grandmother...
Sunday marks return to in-person service for Leechburg churches
Two churches in Leechburg are offering in-person worship. One is returning to church, while the other never stopped in-person services during the pandemic. In a letter to the congregation Thursday, the Rev. Beverly Spore of First United Methodist Church announced a return to face-to-face worship, meetings and small groups is...
Fox Chapel senior’s art to be showcased through National YoungArts FoundationVideo
The butterfly is the inspiration for artist Jessica Jing McCann. McCann sees the creature as both fragile and strong. “The butterfly has always been my favorite insect,” said McCann, of O’Hara. She recalled a trip to a butterfly garden at Niagara Falls when she was 14. “I love the elegance...
Arizona, 15th state with legal pot, sees recreational sales
Legal sales of recreational marijuana in Arizona started on Friday, a once-unthinkable step in the former conservative stronghold that joins 14 other states that have broadly legalized pot. The state Health Services Department on Friday announced it had approved 86 licenses in nine of the state’s 15 counties under provisions...
Tom Brokaw says he’s retiring from NBC News after 55 years
NEW YORK — NBC News veteran Tom Brokaw said Friday that he is retiring from the network after 55 years. Brokaw, author of “The Greatest Generation,” was NBC’s lead anchor at “Nightly News” and for big events for more than 20 years before giving way to Brian Williams in 2004....
Seth Meyers calls Ted Cruz a ‘jagoff’ after Pittsburgh vs. Paris commentsVideo
Yinz are gonna love this. Late-night host Seth Meyers — whose father is a Pittsburgh native — took time on Thursday’s “Late Night” show on NBC to deliver a Pittsburgh-centric clap back at Sen. Ted Cruz’s recent comments. Cruz said that by rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, President Biden is...
Santa lookalike from Robinson vies for prizes on ‘Let’s Make a Deal’
Check out the Santa Claus lookalike on the Jan. 29 episode of “Let’s Make a Deal.” That’s Michael Murray of Robinson, vying for big prizes on the long-running game show, airing at 10 a.m. on CBS. Murray teaches health and physical education to Pittsburgh Public Schools students from kindergarten through...
10 movie favorites starring PittsburghVideo
What makes Pittsburgh such an attractive movie location? Tax credits for film companies are just the beginning, says Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office. “We have such a diversity of locations. Pittsburgh can look like any place in the world,” she says. “The only things we don’t have...
WPXI reporter Cara Sapida navigates cancer during pandemicVideo
Reporter’s note: When I heard last summer that my colleague from WPXI, Cara Sapida, had been diagnosed with breast cancer, my heart ached for her and her family. One year ago, I, too, was diagnosed. My scenario is similar to Cara’s — a mother of two with no family history....
Pittsburgh literary voices praise Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem
President Biden welcomed the youngest inaugural poet in history, 22-year-old Amanda Gorman, who earned widespread praise for her performance. Gorman, a Black woman from California, received rave reviews from local literary voices as well as celebrities such as Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and “Hamilton” playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda — for the...
Dog spends days outside Turkish hospital waiting for owner
A devoted dog has spent days waiting outside a hospital in northern Turkey where her sick owner was receiving treatment. The pet, Boncuk, which means bead, followed the ambulance that transported her owner, Cemal Senturk, to hospital in the Black Sea city of Trabzon on Jan. 14. She then made...
Point Park University students, alumni featured in Sheetz commercial
Keep an eye out this spring for a Sheetz commercial featuring Point Park University students. A professor in Point Park University’s Conservatory of the Performing Arts, Kiesha Lalama, worked with a production team to cast and choreograph a television commercial for Sheetz convenience stores. “Working with Sheetz was amazing,” said...
TV Talk: Pittsburgh TV production bounces back; CMU grad stars in ‘Bridge and Tunnel’Video
Netflix’s horror series “Archive 81” has been filming in and around Pittsburgh since November and will be joined in a couple of weeks by another Netflix program, “The Chair.” Showtime’s “Rust” expects to film in March. Beyond these three series, 2021 local big-budget TV/film production is in a holding pattern....
Style, fashion play at President Biden’s inauguration
Inauguration Day was a bold and blue day. The new first lady Jill Biden on Wednesday wore an ocean-blue dress by designer Alexandra O’Neill and matching long coat and gloves as she accompanied her husband, President Joe Biden. President Biden donned a blue tie and blue suit and overcoat by...
China hits Trump officials with travel bans, business restrictions on their way out
WASHINGTON — China imposed sanctions on nearly 30 former Trump administration officials moments after they left office on Wednesday. In a statement released just minutes after President Joe Biden was inaugurated, Beijing slapped travel bans and business restrictions on Trump’s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, national security adviser Robert O’Brien...
As coronavirus surges, states reporting shortages of vaccine
NEW YORK — The push to inoculate Americans against the coronavirus is hitting a roadblock: A number of states are reporting they are running out of vaccine, and tens of thousands of people who managed to get appointments for a first dose are seeing them canceled. About half of the...
Photos: The inauguration of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris
“The will of the people has been heard, and the will of the people has been heeded. We’ve learned again that democracy is precious and democracy is fragile. At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed,” Biden said. “This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day. A day in history...
Things to do in Western Pa.
Paint outdoors with the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Ligonier Valley, or make a Valentine shadowbox at home with The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Learn about ongoing preservation efforts at Fallingwater or the history of the world’s largest architectural plaster cast in Carnegie Museum of Art’s Hall of...
TV Q&A: If I drop cable but want to see Penguins games, what TV service should I add?
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review. Q: I really need to dump the cable portion of my Comcast bill. I saved your item about the Pens when AT&T SportsNet had their disagreement...
Trib Total Media $1 million Shop Local Marketing Grant program extended
Trib Total Media will extend its 2021 Shop Local Marketing Grant program, following a strong response from local businesses that claimed the first allotment of funds. The program was launched in April 2020 in the jaws of the pandemic. It supports locally-owned businesses by matching their advertising purchases — in...
TribLive Taste Test: National Peanut Butter Day is coming up!Video
This Sunday, Jan. 24, is National Peanut Butter Day! And what better way to celebrate than buying most of the major store brands of peanut butter to figure out which is the best? TribLive Taste Test team members were originally hoping to do a blind taste test to try and...
Western Pa. teachers struggle to get information on vaccine distribution
As the state expands the first priority group for the covid-19 vaccine, educators in Western Pennsylvania are struggling with inadequate and often conflicting messages about when teachers and staff could receive their first doses. Teachers and staff inside school buildings fall into Phase 1B of the federal and state guidelines...
Pittsburgh to participate in national remembrance of covid victims Tuesday evening
Pittsburgh will participate in this evening’s national Memorial to Lives Lost to covid-19. The City-County Building Downtown will be illuminated in amber for the memorial at 5:30 p.m. Other government and private buildings are expected to be included. In Washington, President-elect Joe Biden and incoming Vice President Kamala Harris plan...
Netflix’s ‘Archive 81’ filming in North Side and Downtown Pittsburgh
In November, a random group of visitors walked into The Government Center, an independent record store on Pittsburgh’s North Side, with no interest in making a purchase. “They came in to search out specific locations,” said owner Josh Cozby, referring to film scouts for Netflix’s production company, looking for spaces...
