Regional News category, Page 239
Western Pa. residents among virtual presenters set for 2nd Pa. Veteran Farming Conference
The inaugural Pennsylvania Veteran Farming Conference drew a standing-room-only gathering of about 75 to the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg last February. This year’s conference, open to the public as well as military members, veterans and their families, was to have occurred at a larger venue. But, because the covid-19...
Unemployed Pennsylvanians receive compensation boost through March 13
Out of work Pennsylvanians will begin receiving an extra $300 a week in unemployment payments starting this week. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry made the announcement Friday. The extension of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) program is part of the federal stimulus that Congress passed last month....
More residents, staff of long-term care receive vaccine
More than 194,000 covid-19 partial vaccinations have been administered in Pennsylvania, the state’s dashboard showed Friday — and more than 42,000 of them were in the 11-county Western Pennsylvania region. But tracking distribution to long-term care facilities is a challenge. “Allotments are being determined by the CDC and Operation Warp...
Western Pa. resident shares experience with Moderna vaccine trial
As vaccine rollout gets underway in hospitals and long-term care facilities, participants in the trials that made it possible are coming forward to share their experiences – and to assure members of the public there is nothing to fear. “I just thought, maybe people might have a better understanding,” said...
Week-in-review: Covid restrictions expire, explosions, puppy snatching among top Western Pa. headlinesVideo
The first full week of 2021 may best be remembered for unrest in the U.S. Capitol tied to the presidential election, but there was plenty of local news of note. It included businesses being able to reopen at limited capacity after restrictions intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus...
Free radon test kits available from the American Lung Association
January is National Radon Action Month, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection hopes that raises awareness about the importance of home testing because the state has some of the highest radon levels in the country. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that enters homes from the ground. It...
Police searching for escapee from Beaver County Jail
Police are searching for a man who escaped from Beaver County Jail on Thursday morning. John Broman, 41, of Beaver, escaped around 10:45 a.m. according to Hopewell Township Police. He was last seen heading south from the jail on foot. Several law enforcement agencies are involved in the search. Broman...
Western Pa. residents share experiences from chaotic day in nation’s capital
Southwestern Pennsylvanians who traveled to Washington on Tuesday reacted to the chaotic scene that unfolded, as what they anticipated to be a peaceful protest devolved into a violent mob at the U.S. Capitol. Pro-Trump protesters attended a rally with the president — who did little to calm his supporters —...
Pittsburgh-area historians, political scientists weigh in on Capitol chaos
The chaos and destruction Wednesday on Capitol Hill will go down as one of the most significant events in American history, and academics are still coming to terms with it. As calls for President Trump’s removal intensified Thursday, scholars are trying to establish how the events will be remembered in...
Thin mints or Trefoils? Girl Scout cookie sales set to begin
Thin mints or Trefoils? Do-si-dos or Tagalongs? It’s time to decide which Girl Scout cookies you’re buying this year — and how many boxes. Girl Scouts Western Pennsylvania will launch their 2021 Girl Scout Cookie Program on Friday, hoping to bring smiles to the faces of their customers during a...
1,000 Pennsylvania National Guard members being activated to help in Washington D.C.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced Thursday that approximately 1,000 Pennsylvania National Guard members have been activated to support the District of Columbia National Guard and local authorities through the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration in Washington D.C. Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Christopher Miller signed orders Thursday activating the National Guard from Virginia,...
Tires flattened on Trump supporters’ vehicles at Butler mall parking lot
Supporters of President Donald Trump who left their cars at a Butler mall to travel by bus to Washington, D.C. returned to find their tires slashed, according to police. Tires on 20 vehicles were found damaged Wednesday morning at Clearview Mall in Center Township, state police said. Parents told Tribune-Review...
Officers accuse former Ambridge chief of sexual harassment
Two part-time police officers in Ambridge filed a federal lawsuit against the borough and its former police chief on Wednesday alleging that he repeatedly sexually harassed them and that officials there did nothing to stop it. Alexis Korol, who began working as a part-time police officer in November 2016, and...
Ex-GOP state Rep. Rick Saccone joins chaos in Washington, praises TrumpVideo
Former Republican congressional candidate Rick Saccone was in Washington on Wednesday, and bragged on his Facebook page about storming the Capitol. The post was removed by early evening, but was captured by various media members and constituents. Saccone wrote: “We are storming the capitol. Our vanguard has broken through the...
‘An absolute disgrace’: Pa. delegation reacts to violent storming of U.S. Capitol
Mike Doyle has served in Congress since 1995. The Democrat from Forest Hills said he has never seen a day like Wednesday when protesters stormed the Capitol and created a violent scene that caused House and Senate members to flee. “This looks like something that would happen in a Third...
What to expect from Pa. Congress members in Electoral College count
It’s the final step in certifying Joe Biden as the next president of the United States, the constitutionally required Jan. 6 Electoral College vote count being held Wednesday as part of a joint session of Congress. But some Republican lawmakers will use the occasion to make one last attempt to...
Brighton Rehab claims it is immune from lawsuit in federal court filing
Attorneys for a Beaver County nursing home where more than 70 residents died of covid-19 claim it has immunity from civil liability — even as a judge in the same jurisdiction has previously said, in a separate case, it does not. In a motion to dismiss filed Monday in federal...
Female pedestrian killed in Somerset County Turnpike crash; vehicle fled
A female pedestrian was killed in a crash Monday evening on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Somerset County, state police said. She was hit and killed by a vehicle just before the Somerset exit at 6 p.m., troopers said. That vehicle fled the scene eastbound. State police did not identify the...
Armstrong County woman taken for $10K in Publishers Clearing House scam
An 85-year-old Armstrong County woman was scammed out of $10,000 by someone claiming to represent Publishers Clearing House, according to state police. State police said the theft took place between Dec. 1 and Dec. 23. According to state police, a man identifying himself as “John Green” contacted the East Franklin...
Pandemic plagued schools in 1st semester, likely to continue after holidays
While the end of a tumultuous first semester is in sight, school districts plagued with uncertainty and ever-changing situations brought on by the coronavirus pandemic are far from in the clear as record-breaking cases are continually reported, leaving no set plans going into the spring months. As the first semester...
State game commission’s plant seedling sale starts Monday
Landowners wanting to plant tree species that benefit wildlife are in luck. The state game commission on Monday will start its annual sale of tree and shrub seedlings from its Howard Nursery in Centre County. The sale will continue through April 23. Orders can be placed online through www.pgc.state.pa.us, then...
It’s a boy! First New Year’s baby born to Greensburg woman
Siearra Pantojas of Greensburg received an early New Year’s Day surprise. A healthy baby boy. Pantojas, 21, was out shopping when she went into labor early on New Year’s Eve. After about five hours of hard labor, she welcomed son Bentlee Cole, the first 2021 baby born at Forbes Hospital...
Looking back, looking ahead: 2020 was a trying year, what’s in store for 2021?Video
Americans would have to go back several decades at least to find a year as hellacious as 2020. Perhaps not since 1968, when the United States was fighting a war in Vietnam, when police were clashing with young people protesting that war, and when Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby...
Dick Thornburgh remembered by Western Pa. dignitaries for leadership, empathy, intellect
Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all state and American flags at public buildings statewide to fly at half-staff Thursday upon learning of the death of former U.S. Attorney General and Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh. Wolf, a Democrat, described Thornburgh, a Republican, as “an unequaled public servant.” “He guided Pennsylvania through a...
Butler house fire claims 3-year-old boy, sends others to hospitals
A 3-year-old boy died Thursday in a house fire in Butler County, and three other family members were taken to area hospitals as a result of the blaze, authorities said. A state police fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire that was reported just before noon at a...
