Editor's Picks category, Page 421
Arnold girl, 6, aims to sell 4K boxes of Girl Scout CookiesVideo
Stella VanWhy is one determined Daisy. The 6-year-old Arnold girl told her troop co-leader she was going to sell 2,020 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies so she could pay for Girl Scout camp this summer, said Alicia Phillips, Stella’s mom. “That’s what I want to do most, because I love...
Review: Mac Miller posthumous album is heartbreakingly full
“Why does everybody need me to stay?” Mac Miller asks on the first single from his latest release. He answered his own question with the superb posthumous “Circles.” Miller’s 12-track album is heartbreakingly sublime, a portrait of a wry and honest musician acknowledging his demons but looking past them. “I’m...
Chicago-area man falls ill on plane, dies after emergency landing at Pittsburgh International
A 48-year-old man from suburban Chicago became unresponsive Wednesday afternoon while on a Southwest Airlines flight from New York to Chicago. The plane made an emergency landing at Pittsburgh International Airport shortly before 1 p.m. and the man was transported to a hospital, according to Allegheny County Airport Authority spokesman...
Muslim millennial’s site dispels stereotypes for millions
Today she travels the world, attends a red-carpet movie premiere and sits on panels with astronauts, former presidents and feminist icons. But in the years after 9/11, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh was just a New Jersey teenager, writing a blog from her bedroom. She used the blog to connect with other young...
Food Podcast: How to keep public aware of hunger as communication landscape changes
Making the public more aware of hunger in the United States is a key priority of Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the country. “Feeding America only has about 50 percent awareness in the U.S., and that’s because we changed our name about 10 years ago,” Feeding America Chief...
Harrisburg University, Nerd Street Gamers partner for new esports degreeVideo
Harrisburg University has launched a new esports degree in partnership with Nerd Street Gamers. Beginning this spring semester, students at the Pennsylvania school will be able to enroll in Harrisburg’s esports program, which will help provide with them skillsets for a career in this industry, reports Cheddar Business. Nerd Street...
Larry Jock, former Valley News Dispatch publisher, dies while hunting at 58
Standing 5 feet 7 inches tall, Larry Jock had such a big personality that he proved he didn’t need to be the tallest one in the room to command its attention, his former colleagues, friends and family recalled. “He was a smaller guy, bulky and short, but he was a...
Who wants to buy a house-bus in Pittsburgh?
One can’t help but notice this house rolling down the road that’s for sale. Pennsylvania native Andrew Weidman, 27, is visiting Pittsburgh for the winter, hoping to sell “Lucy Half-Bus.” It’s a 2003 Ford E350 converted former school bus, powered by Ford’s legendary 7.3 diesel, with 137,000 miles on the...
Game Commission honors Latrobe student for bringing help to entangled deer
A Greater Latrobe ninth-grader’s sharp eyes and caring response helped free a white-tailed deer trapped in Unity this past fall. Pennsylvania Game Commission officers surprised Parker Williams on Friday when they arrived at her school and presented her with a certificate, recognizing the initiative she took on Nov. 4 to...
UPMC, Pitt test out wireless eyeball implant in hopes of restoring lost sightVideo
A surgeon at UPMC Mercy hospital implanted a wireless chip designed to act like a small, artificial retina in the eye of an Ohio woman last week in the first trial of the technology in the United States. The treatment could offer a novel way to restore the sight of...
What’s Brewing? Collaboration beers with bands, bakeries and charities
The excitement continues with beer collaborations across the country and right here in Pennsylvania. Whether a brewery works with a band to invigorate its fan base, a local bakery to rouse your sweet tooth or a charity that is in desperate need of help, one thing is for certain —...
Winter heat having odd effect on Outer Banks wild horses
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Freakishly warm January temperatures are having a strange effect on the wild horses roaming North Carolina’s Outer Banks, prompting a warning to drivers. The notoriously independent horses are sleeping on the beaches at night — in the path of recreational vehicles. “Please be careful!” the Corolla Wild...
What really works for dry winter skin, according to dermatologists
Your skin doesn’t like winter. The combination of cold air outside and heated air inside often leads to dry, itchy, scaly skin. There’s plenty of advice on the web about what to do and plenty of heavily marketed products that claim they’ll solve this seasonal problem, often at a hefty...
Latrobe Historical Society to revisit centennial through archival film
Rock ‘n roll had its first major impact about 65 years ago, with the release of the Elvis Presley single “That’s All Right (Mama).” Also in 1954, doctors began a mass trial vaccination of children against polio and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. That...
Ghost Town Trail named 2020 Trail of the Year by state conservation officials
The Ghost Town Trail that runs from Blairsville to Ebensburg has been named Pennsylvania’s 2020 Trail of the Year by the state’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Built initially as a 12-mile trail in 1994, Ghost Town Trail was the first in the state constructed using transportation enhancement funding....
Foreigner, Kansas, Europe bring ‘Juke Box Heroes’ tour to BurgettstownVideo
The band Foreigner turned out hit songs including “I Want to Know What Love Is,” “Cold as Ice,” “Hot-Blooded” and “Juke Box Hero” throughout the 1970s-80s. Right alongside was Kansas, with “Dust in the Wind,” “Carry on Wayward Son” and “Point of Know Return,” and, soon, Europe with “The Final...
Tom Hanks lands Oscar nomination for role as Mister RogersVideo
Tom Hanks woke up to beautiful news Monday. His portrayal of Fred Rogers in “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” was nominated for an Academy Award for best actor in a supporting role. The movie, with some scenes filmed in Pittsburgh, also stars Matthew Rhys as Lloyd Vogel, the...
‘Joker’ tops Oscar nominations with 11; ‘Irishman’ scores 10
Todd Phillips’ much-debated supervillain origin story and R-rated box-office smash “Joker” topped all films with 11 Academy Awards nominations, while Martin Scorsese’s elegiac crime epic “The Irishman,” Quentin Tarantino’s 1960s Los Angeles fairy tale “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” and Sam Mendes’ World War I tale “1917” all...
Kennywood’s Steelers Country ranks among top 10 best new attractionsVideo
Steelers fans have yet another reason to cheer: Kennywood’s Steelers Country recently received a national recognition. Steelers Country, which opened at the West Mifflin park over the summer, was named ninth on USA Today’s 10 Best New Amusement Park Attractions of 2019. “Kennywood Park and the Pittsburgh Steelers teamed up...
Zottola’s Pub and Eatery in West Deer is a marriage of flavorsVideo
Business consultants and marriage counselors often caution husbands and wives about the perils of also working together. The arrangement, they say, can strain a relationship. Or, it can create something wonderfully tasty and satisfying. Happily, that’s exactly what it’s done at Zottola’s Pub and Eatery in West Deer. Not only...
Saturday’s 70-degree temperature breaks 130-year-old record
Paul Moylett said he’s fished the Allegheny River plenty of times at a spot under the Tarentum Bridge — but never in January. Moylett, 44, of Tarentum was among scores of Western Pennsylvania residents taking advantage of Saturday’s unseasonably balmy weather as temperatures soared to a record level. “I have...
Mountains of tires, appliances, electronics collected in 2019 by Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful
Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful affiliates — including Westmoreland Cleanways and other area environmental groups — announced Friday that it had collected more than 2 million pounds of electronics and other waste. That includes more than 21,000 tires; 6,000 appliances, and 61,000 pounds of household hazardous waste from local residents in 2019....
Mild weather impacting flocks of robins in Pittsburgh region
If you’re noticing more American robins lately — flocks of them — so did residents counting birds in the Pittsburgh area for the 120th annual National Audubon Society Bird Count. Volunteers tallied a little more than 28,000 birds among 72 species in the Pittsburgh area count circle during a Dec....
Mac Miller pop-ups coming to Pittsburgh for ‘Circles’ releaseVideo
Pop-up exhibitions will be held at two Pittsburgh sites with the release of “Circles,” Mac Miller’s sixth and final studio album, next week. The exhibitions, launched in partnership with Amazon Music, will feature immersive, intimate, front-to-back listenings of the late Pittsburgh rapper’s new album in Ultra HD audio, as well...
Olympic, X Games skiers head to Seven Springs for rail jam competitionVideo
Skiers who placed in the Olympics and X Games are taking to the slopes at Seven Springs this weekend as Pittsburgh native and professional freeskier Tom Wallisch brings a piece of his childhood back to the area. Steel City Showdown is one of the first rail jams — or contests...
