Westmoreland happenings: Feb. 9 and beyond
Special events • The Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra announces the Tribune-Review Young Artists Competition Winners’ recital will be at 3 p.m. Sunday in Seton Hill University’s Performing Arts Center, 100 Harrison Ave. Admission is free. Details: 724-837-1850 or joy@westmoreland symphony.org. Classes/programs • Saint Vincent Camerata will present “Music Was My Refuge,”...
Amphitheater being built in downtown Jeannette
Three years after a fire destroyed a vacant three-story building in the heart of downtown Jeannette, the now-empty lot will rise again as an amphitheater. Construction on the project should be completed this summer, said Tay Waltenbaugh, director of Westmoreland Community Action. “I think that’s a great attraction for the...
Brackenridge to hold public meeting on riverfront trail project
Brackenridge has hired a Pittsburgh firm to help design a trail along the Allegheny River that would become part of the larger Three Rivers Heritage Trail. The firm, TranSystems, will have to work around a number of obstacles and challenges such as trees, telephone poles and “pinch points” where maintaining...
Virginia’s highest office frozen as Ralph Northam weighs next move
RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s office put much of the business of governing on hold Tuesday as the Democrat privately weighed whether he can stay in the job despite the uproar over a racist photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page. Negotiations between the governor’s office and...
U.S. commander: ISIS hold in Syria, Iraq on verge of collapse
WASHINGTON — President Trump is expected to declare near-total triumph over the Islamic State group in Syria in his State of the Union address Tuesday, but U.S. defense officials are increasingly fearful that the militants are simply biding their time until the Americans leave the battlefield as planned. ISIS has...
Utica shale gas well in Washington Township contained
CNX Resources contained a Utica shale gas well that experienced a significant drop in pressure last week, the company said Tuesday. Well “killing” operations on Shaw 1G well in Washington Township began at about 5 p.m. Monday and were completed by 11 p.m., said Lauren Fraley, spokeswoman for the state...
Water main break affects 20 in Tarentum
Tarentum crews were responding to a water main break on Park Street Tuesday afternoon. About 20 customers were affected by the break in the 1100 block of Park Street, according to the borough. No roads were closed as of about 3:30 p.m. Brian Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You...
Officials: Temperature swings cause poor air quality in Allegheny County
Blame Allegheny County’s poor air quality forecasts on a weather event called an “inversion” where warm air in the atmosphere traps cold, polluted air on the ground. Or blame the polar vortex. While county health officials predicted a poor air dispersion day that didn’t quite materialize Tuesday, another is in...
Sens. Toomey, Casey weigh in on what they’d like to hear from Trump tonight
Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators hope that President Donald Trump will point to two Pittsburghers seated as his guests at the State of the Union as part of a message of unity and against hate. Judah Samet, a Holocaust survivor who missed the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue because he...
Pittsburgh salt truck driver fired after crash that damaged 3 vehicles in Lawrenceville
Pittsburgh has fired a Public Works Department salt truck driver who sideswiped three vehicles in Lawrenceville in January and left without reporting it, a city official said Tuesday. Tim McNulty, spokesman for Mayor Bill Peduto, said the city terminated the driver Friday. City officials are not releasing his name. The...
Grand jury: Penn Hills school leaders plunged district into ‘economic ruin’
A scathing grand jury report released Tuesday says Penn Hills School District leaders are guilty of “inexcusable” carelessness that brought the district to “economic ruin” but failed to find any cause to bring criminal charges. The grand jury, convened by Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., worked for...
UPMC Children’s Hospital receives $1.5 million from Tull family
Young physician-scientists pursuing groundbreaking pediatric research are about to receive a substantial boost in funding. The Tull Family Foundation, founded by Thomas and Alba Tull, is donating $1.5 million to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh to support research and the hospital’s creative arts programs. A million dollars of the funding...
College student finds man in closet wearing her clothes
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A college student says she found a man in her closet wearing her clothes. The University of North Carolina-Greensboro student heard strange noises coming from her closet in her off-campus apartment on Saturday. The student told WFMY-TV she asked who was in there and was told “My...
State Rep. Wheatley says time is now for recreational marijuana legalization
State Rep. Jake Wheatley knows the marijuana bill he introduced Tuesday will be a tough sell in the Republican-controlled legislature. But he predicted the GOP would eventually sign on as more and more state residents call for legalization. Wheatley’s legislation would legalize recreational use of marijuana in Pennsylvania for people...
Nomination of acting EPA head Andrew Wheeler moves to full Senate
WASHINGTON — Acting Environmental Protection Agency chief and former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler won a Senate committee’s approval of his appointment to the permanent post on Tuesday, along with praise from the panel’s Republicans for his work rolling back a series of Obama-era environmental measures. The 11-10 vote by the...
Philadelphia trolley crash injures more than 30
PHILADELPHIA — Authorities say a crash involving a trolley and a paratransit vehicle in Philadelphia resulted in injuries to more than 30 people, but the severity of injuries is unclear. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority says the crash happened shortly before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in west Philadelphia. SEPTA spokeswoman Heather...
Seton Hill takes MLK Day across Westmoreland
OK, the official remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King was Jan. 21, but the impact of King’s teaching will continue to unfold in Westmoreland County this weekend. About 200 students, faculty and staff from Seton Hill University will mark King’s legacy Saturday when they spread out across 20 different nonprofit...
Cops: Unity man subdued by Taser also accused of drug possession
State police used a Taser early Tuesday to subdue a Unity man who became combative with four state troopers during a traffic stop. Patrick A. Smith, 35, was arraigned on charges of resisting arrest, manufacture and delivery of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug...
Prosecution committed to not calling use-of-force expert in Rosfeld case
Defense attorneys for former East Pittsburgh cop Michael Rosfeld want to make sure prosecutors don’t renege on their pledge not to call a use-of-force expert during next month’s homicide trial. Daniel Fitzsimmons, chief trial deputy for the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office, has said repeatedly that he does not intend...
Pittsburgh 3rd grader turns rare, 50-year-old book into books for classmates
The discovery began at a church yard sale. Joycita Rose Malrey Lucas was looking through books when she spotted a brand new copy of “The Three Wishes,” retold by M. Jean Craig. The pristine book printed by Scholastic books was 50 years old. It told the story of a fairy...
Pope acknowledges priests, bishops have sexually abused nuns
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis has for the first time publicly acknowledged the scandal of priests and bishops sexually abusing nuns, and says he is committed to doing more to fight the problem. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Francis said: “Should we do something more? Yes. Is there the...
Cops: Cleveland school kids get gummies likely laced with marijuana
CLEVELAND — Police in Ohio say gummy candies suspected of being laced with marijuana were given to some students at an elementary school. Cleveland police say they were called Monday to Anton Grdina Elementary School after some children were given the gummies by other children. Police say one boy said...
Schools, farms and voting machines in Gov. Wolf’s budget sights
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars more for schools in his budget proposal released Tuesday, as well as a sprinkling of money for new voting machines and programs to improve worker training and the agricultural sector. The Democrat is also seeking new college...
Trump squabbles with Democrats before speech on unity
WASHINGTON — The bitter partisanship of the past two years was on full display Tuesday just hours before President Donald Trump was to call for optimism and unity in his State of the Union address. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York seems to have triggered the latest Trump...
Oakland’s Las Palmas ordered to close, then re-opened
A day after county health inspectors ordered Oakland’s Las Palmas to close, a second re-inspection Tuesday deemed the storefront and eatery clean enough to remain open. An initial inspection on Jan. 24 turned up an infestation of cockroaches, sewage leaking from a toilet and inadequate hand-washing facilities. A follow-up inspection...
