Health Happenings – Jan. 29, 2019
Blood drives • American Red Cross blood drives: — 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday, University of Pittsburgh Smith Hall Lounge, 150 Finoli Drive, Hempfield — Noon-5:30 p.m. Wednesday, McKenna Center, 971 Old Salem Road, Greensburg Appointments: 800-733-2767 or redcrossblood.org; walk-ins welcome • Central Blood Bank will host a blood drive 1-7...
State Sen. Jim Brewster opens office in Lower Burrell
State Sen. Jim Brewster, D-Allegheny/Westmoreland, added new permanent satellite offices, including one in Lower Burrell, throughout the 45th senatorial district, which spans communities from Forward Township in Allegheny County to Allegheny Township in Westmoreland County. Brewster’s office will be staffed at Lower Burrell City Hall, 2800 Bethel St., on the...
L.A. doctor in trouble after prescribing marijuana to 4-year-old
LOS ANGELES — A Hollywood physician has lost his medical license after recommending that a father give his 4-year-old son marijuana cookies to control temper tantrums, according to California’s medical board. Dr. William Eidelman, a natural medicine physician, improperly diagnosed the boy with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and bipolar disorder...
Officials urge vaccinations amid Northwest measles outbreak
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Public health officials scrambling to contain a measles outbreak in the U.S. Northwest warned people to vaccinate their children Monday and worried that it could take months to contain the highly contagious viral illness due to a lower-than-normal vaccination rate at the epicenter of the crisis. The...
Church abuse victims wait to see if Legislature will act
HARRISBURG — Lawmakers have returned to the Pennsylvania Capitol but have yet to revisit legislation on child sexual abuse scandals since an October fight killed a bill that would have allowed long-ago victims to sue the Roman Catholic Church and other institutions. The Legislature’s new two-year session began in earnest...
Houston police: 5 officers hurt in shooting, 2 suspects dead
HOUSTON — Two suspects are dead after a shooting on Monday that injured five Houston police officers, including four who were hit by gunfire as they attempted to serve a search warrant at a home where drug selling was suspected, the police chief said. A group of about a dozen...
Trump hits Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro in pocketbook
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration slapped new sanctions Monday against Venezuelan’s state-owned oil company in its latest effort to push out President Nicolas Maduro and install new leadership under National Assembly chief Juan Guaido. “We have continued to expose the corruption of Maduro and his cronies and today’s action ensures...
Michael Cohen will testify in another closed-door House meetings after getting new lawyers
NEW YORK — Michael Cohen has agreed to back-to-back congressional testimony and has found a new legal team. The prison-bound former personal attorney to President Trump will testify behind closed doors before at least two congressional committees next month — and he has hired new lawyers to represent him in...
St. Louis officer accused of killing colleague in Russian roulette shooting is booked into jail
ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis police officer who allegedly killed a colleague last week as they took turns firing a revolver containing a single bullet was booked into jail Monday. A booking photo of Officer Nathaniel Hendren was released by the department Monday afternoon. He was charged Friday with...
New Kensington tax business reopens after devastating fireVideo
Troy Owen vowed to reopen the tax business he lost in a devastating fire that tore through the heart of New Kensington’s downtown business district in September. On Monday, he did officially – just in time for tax season when Liberty Tax Service has traditionally seen anywhere from 1,000 to...
Loyalhanna Watershed group seeks 6 conservation interns
The Loyalhanna Watershed Association is looking for six student interns to help with conservation and improvement projects this summer at Forbes State Forest. High school seniors or older students who are enrolled in a college program have until March 1 to apply for a local 2019 Youth Conservation Corps internship,...
Mueller investigation is ‘close to being completed,’ acting attorney general says
WASHINGTON — The head of the Justice Department said Monday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation is nearing an end - the first official acknowledgment that the probe that has ensnared President Trump may soon reach a conclusion. Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker made the comment during a news...
N.Y. law change would deliver abuse survivors day in court, hope to Pennsylvanians
New York on Monday was poised to become the 10th state to temporarily suspend the statute of limitations to provide adult survivors of child sexual abuse an opportunity to sue their abusers. Child protection advocates said the new law, passed only after a change of leadership in that state’s Senate,...
Happenstance brought radio host, good Samaritan to Parkway East tragedy
Family and friends of two men killed in a tragic incident along the Parkway East are trying to come to terms with the bizarre happenstance of it all. “It’s only fitting he lose his life while in service to strangers,” Danielle Willey said of her friend, Landen Jones. “He was...
4 generations of Fawn family celebrate milestone at Allegheny Valley Hospital
As Allegheny Valley Hospital marked the 110th anniversary of accepting its first patients Monday, a Fawn family reflected on four generations of their own history at the hospital. The legacy started with Barb Kutchko’s mother, Monie Hanford, who was a switchboard operator there until the late 1970s or early 1980s....
Returned Christmas cards anger prison activists, inmates’ loved ones
Local activists demanded an apology from Gov. Tom Wolf and the state Department of Corrections on Monday, alleging the department and its mail handler unfairly kept 500 Christmas cards from prison inmates. The activists are part of the Western Pennsylvania chapter of the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration, or...
2 convicted in 2001 Bell Township murder get life sentences reduced
Tyler Gett has just a few fuzzy memories of his grandfather, murdered nearly 18 years ago in a Bell Township field. On Monday, Gett, 22, and other family members watched as two of the now-grown men convicted of the 2001 beating and shooting death of 48-year-old Larry Dunmire were given...
Man shot in Homewood North on Monday remains hospitalized
A man with a gunshot wound flagged down a Pittsburgh police car in Homewood along Frankstown Avenue and Murtland Street just before 4 p.m. Monday, police said. The man had a wound to his abdomen. A police spokeswoman said he was taken to a hospital and was listed in stable...
Science Says: Get used to polar vortex outbreaks
WASHINGTON — It might seem counterintuitive, but the dreaded polar vortex is bringing its icy grip to parts of the United States thanks to a sudden blast of warm air in the Arctic. Get used to it. The polar vortex has been wandering more often in recent years. It all...
Nancy Pelosi invites Trump to give State of the Union on Feb. 5
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday accepted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s invitation to deliver his State of the Union speech on Feb. 5, a week later than originally scheduled because of the partial government shutdown. “It is my great honor to accept,” Trump said in a letter to Pelosi. “We...
Armstrong County Jail inmate faces more charges for throwing feces
An inmate at the Armstrong County Jail is accused of throwing feces on his cellmate and threatening correctional officers. Edward Daniel Wilson Jr., 18, of Kittanning is facing a felony charge of aggravated harassment by a prisoner as well as two misdemeanor counts of harassment, said Trooper Michael Dunlap of...
Warming centers open as Arctic blast expected this week
Warming centers in the region are beginning to open as temperatures are expected to plummet to the single digits Wednesday and Thursday. The list below will be updated as more shelters open. Allegheny CountyMagee, West Penn, Brookline and Phillips Community Recreation Centers in Pittsburgh will be open until 9 p.m....
Pittsburgh preparing for Arctic blast predicted for Tuesday and Wednesday
Pittsburgh is gearing for a blast of Arctic cold this week by opening warming centers and having emergency personnel ready to contend with weather-related problems. Pittsburgh will extend hours of city senior centers and make recreation centers available for residents to escape frigid temperatures. Tim McNulty, spokesman for Mayor Bill...
Allegheny Township looks to borrow money for $1.6M building project
Allegheny Township is seeking proposals for bank loans to help it pay for an anticipated $1.6 million in improvements to its community Building. The proposals are due by Feb. 6. Township supervisors are expected to pick one of the proposals in the next few months, and construction could start as...
Pittsburgh’s Rachel Carson Bridge closing in February for more than a year
One of Pittsburgh’s three “Sisters Bridges” connecting Downtown to the North Side will close in February for more than a year during a $23.3 million rehabilitation project, Allegheny County announced Monday. The Ninth Street Bridge, dubbed the Rachel Carson Bridge, will close on Feb. 11 and remain closed through the...
