GetGo in Erie sells $4 million-winning Mega Millions ticket
OK, so it’s not the $400 mllion-plus someone on Long Island just won, but someone in Northwestern Pennsylvania will probably be pretty happy, anyway. The GetGo at 6400 Peach St. in Erie sold a ticket that matched all five white balls — 34-44-57-62-70 — and the $1 megaplier, netting the...
Lane along section of outbound Parkway North closed for work through Jan. 11
One lane of the outbound Parkway North in the city will be closed during the day through Jan. 11 for work to install electrical conduit, PennDOT announced. The lane along Interstate 279 will be closed from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. during weekdays between the Madison Avenue on-ramp and the...
Greensburg police accuse Latrobe man of bilking couple out of $2,000
Greensburg police have obtained an arrest warrant for a Latrobe man who allegedly accepted $2,000 as partial payment for a roof repair project that was never started. Sean L. Hurley, 34, is charged with one count of home improvement fraud and theft by deception. Frank and Kelly Kern of Bella...
August Wilson Center closed for renovations until mid-January
Pittsburgh’s August Wilson Cultural Center will be closed to the public until Jan. 13 for renovations to the lobby floor. During this time, the entire building, including the galleries, will be closed. Regular gallery operating hours will resume Wednesday, Jan. 16. The Center will kick off 2019 events with Poetry...
For decades, nuns in India have faced abuse
KURAVILANGAD, India — The stories spill out in the sitting rooms of Catholic convents, where portraits of Jesus keep watch and fans spin quietly overhead. They spill out in church meeting halls bathed in fluorescent lights, and over cups of cheap instant coffee in convent kitchens. Always, the stories come...
Woman rescued after vehicle goes into creek in Washington Township
A woman became trapped in a vehicle that went down a ravine and into a creek in Washington Township late Wednesday morning, according to Westmoreland County 911 dispatchers. The incident happened just after 11 a.m. at Ashbaugh Road and Greensburg Road, also known as Route 366. Emergency crews were called...
Can Trump win Pa. again in 2020? GOP increasingly concerned
HARRISBURG — Democratic energy in the perennial battleground state of Pennsylvania is raising questions about President Donald Trump’s ability to replicate his stunning 2016 win in a state Republicans hadn’t carried for nearly two decades. Democrats animated by an anti-Trump fervor scored big victories in county and municipal races across...
14-year-old boy arrested on murder charge after fatal crash
HOUSTON — A 14-year-old boy who authorities say was driving an SUV that caused a fatal car accident has been arrested on a murder charge. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says the SUV was filled with teens who were throwing eggs at other cars Tuesday afternoon when another driver began...
Sports betting will be no home run for state budgets
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The race to legalize sports betting is on now that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed it in all 50 states, but will it provide enough extra tax revenue to make much of a difference for schools, roads or pension debt? Don’t bet on it. Just...
Missing Tarentum teen safely returned home
Tarentum police found a 15-year-old teen who had been missing since early Wednesday morning. Police said in a Facebook post that Kazmir Jones voluntarily left her home just before 2 a.m. Wednesday. She was located and returned home unharmed at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Emily Balser is a Tribune-Review staff...
Uffizi Gallery in Florence tries shaming Germany into returning painting stolen by Nazis
MILAN — The director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence is urging Germany to return a Dutch masterpiece stolen by Nazi troops during World War II, dramatizing its absence by hanging a black and white photo of the work with the label “Stolen” in three languages. Eike Schmidt said in...
3 dead after SUV crashes into river during police chase
MILWAUKEE — A toddler, her young mother and a man died when their vehicle drove into a frigid river while being chased by Milwaukee police officers who suspected they were involved in two armed robberies. Surveillance video shows the vehicle speeding and the driver losing control Monday night before the...
Medications for blood pressure and heart failure recalled
A blood pressure medication is being recalled, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report, but patients prescribed the drug are advised to continue taking it until they talk to their doctor. Aurobindo Pharma USA, Inc. is conducting a voluntary recall of 80 lots of Amlodipine Valsartan Tablets USP,...
Kentucky cops ‘cry’ over lost donuts
In a humorous tweet, a police department in Kentucky lamented the apparent loss of a truckload of Krispy Kreme donuts. The Lexington, Ky., police department posted to Twitter on Dec. 31, “No words” with three photos showing officers seemingly broken up at the scene of a Krispy Kreme truck that...
Boy dies of injuries at Poconos ski resort
ALLENTOWN — A 17-year-old boy has died after an accident at a ski resort in eastern Pennsylvania. Blue Mountain Resort spokeswoman Tricia Matsko says the boy was injured around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. The boy was taken to Palmerton Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Authorities have not said how the...
Trump answers Romney criticism: ‘I won big, and he didn’t’
WASHINGTON — Faced with biting public criticism from Republican Sen.-elect Mitt Romney, President Donald Trump pushed back Wednesday, reminding him that “I won big, and he didn’t.” Days away from joining the Senate’s Republican majority, Romney broadly criticized Trump’s policies and character in a newspaper column, arguing that the president...
Lawsuit: 2nd officer attacked by police dog in Wilkes-Barre
WILKES-BARRE — A second police officer has been added to a lawsuit against the city of Wilkes-Barre over alleged attacks by a police dog. The suit claims the two officers were attacked separately by the dog, named Chase, and that the city put the dog and its handler into service...
Police: Man hit 2 with baseball bat at Hempfield New Year’s Eve party
A Salem Township man started off 2019 in jail after state police said he hit two people with a baseball bat at a New Year’s Eve party in Hempfield. Adam James Daniels, 26, showed up at a get-together at Sinister Muscle Cars on Forbes Trail Road at 2 a.m. Tuesday...
Route 22 eastbound reopens after crash in Salem
Route 22 eastbound was closed for about an hour Wednesday morning at the intersection of Route 66 after a two-vehicle crash, according to a Westmoreland 911 dispatcher. A vehicle apparently drove underneath a flatbed tractor-trailer at 7 a.m. near Scenic Drive, east of Route 66, in Salem Township, the dispatcher...
Romney criticizes Trump’s ‘character’ in scathing op-ed
WASHINGTON — Days away from joining the Senate’s Republican majority, Sen.-elect Mitt Romney broadly criticized President Donald Trump’s policies and character and argued that the president “has not risen to the mantle of the office.” “With the nation so divided, resentful and angry, presidential leadership in qualities of character is...
Garbage, feces take toll on national parks amid shutdown
WASHINGTON — Human feces, overflowing garbage, illegal off-roading and other damaging behavior in fragile areas were beginning to overwhelm some of the West’s iconic national parks, as a partial government shutdown left the areas open to visitors but with little staff on duty. “It’s a free-for-all,” Dakota Snider, 24, who...
No charges expected in White Oak standoff
A man shot through the ceiling of a house during a four-hour standoff Wednesday in White Oak, authorities said. Officers responded about 4 a.m. to a home on State Street where a 20-year-old man allegedly barricaded himself on the second floor with a gun, according to a statement from White...
West Mifflin police seek public’s help identifying man
West Mifflin police are looking for a person they said could be linked to an ongoing investigation. They did not release details other than a photo. They asked for the public’s help identifying a man shown walking in a hardware store. According to the police Facebook page, officers will release...
Growing popularity of donor-advised funds is changing philanthropy
For Marie Stapinski, giving isn’t necessarily tied to the holidays. Throughout the year, she reviews lists of needs across the Pittsburgh region’s human services, education and arts sectors and meets with community advisers to narrow down her options. With that information, she periodically doles out grants of $1,000 to more...
Catholic bishops to begin prayer retreat on sexual abuse
DETROIT — U.S.-based Roman Catholic bishops will gather Wednesday for a weeklong retreat near Chicago on the church sexual abuse scandal that organizers say will focus on prayer and spiritual reflection and not formulating policy. The retreat begins a day after The Associated Press reported that the Vatican blocked U.S....
