Regional category, Page 40
15 years ago, Snowmageddon crushed Western Pa.
Two days before what came to be known as Snowmageddon, the National Weather Service forecast the Western Pennsylvania region could expect about “6 to 8 inches of snow.” The following day, the forecast was revised: Winter storm warnings were calling for a heavy snowfall beginning Friday afternoon — Feb. 5,...
Parts of Western Pa. on alert for freezing rain
Freezing rain is expected make its way across the region Wednesday evening, with Westmoreland and Fayette counties getting the brunt of bad weather. The chance of precipitation in the area is near 100%, with freezing rain falling mostly after midnight, according to a forecast from the National Weather Service in...
Morning Roundup: No injuries reported in shooting near Rankin apartment building
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025: Shooting at Rankin apartment building Allegheny County Police are investigating a shooting reported early Tuesday at a Rankin apartment building. Police said they were dispatched for a report of gunshots about 1:35 a.m. to Palisades...
Restaurant owners pay twice the cost for eggs as bird flu spreads
Dick’s Diner in Murrysville purchases more than 2,800 eggs every week. That’s 16 cases, each holding 15 dozen eggs. But what used to cost the diner $800 a week has skyrocketed to more than double the price — nearly $1,730 every seven days. That’s nearly 62 cents per egg. General...
Newly approved painkiller Journavx is ‘potentially groundbreaking’
A new painkiller that is said to be free of addiction risks may be transformative for treatment of acute pain, according to local medical professionals. “I think it could be a potentially groundbreaking medication,” said Dr. Richard Gao, anesthesiologist and chronic pain physician with Allegheny Health Network. “I definitely think...
D.C. museum hosts Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision for Southwestern Pennsylvania
Thousands of visitors seek out Fallingwater and Polymath Park in Southwestern Pennsylvania each year to marvel at the works of Frank Lloyd Wright. Why is there such inspiration in this area? Having a wealthy client and patron in Edgar Kaufmann certainly didn’t hurt. And as it turns out, the greater...
Western Pennsylvania musicians strive to preserve polka tradition
Chris Bogdon was in first grade in his native Carnegie when he started taking accordion lessons. Steve Novosel, while growing up in Murrysville, took up the instrument at 9 years old. Both were raised in families where polka music was a regular part of the family soundtrack, and both are...
Punxsutawney Phil predicts 6 more weeks of winter after seeing shadow
The largest Groundhog Day crowd to date greeted the news from Punxsutawney Phil with a chorus of boos Sunday. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club declared the famous rodent saw a shadow at sunrise and predicted six more weeks of winter. The prediction at 7:25 a.m. came as thousands who gathered at...
Move over, Punxsutawney Phil: Woodstock Willie brings Groundhog Day spirit to Illinois
Western Pennsylvania has its beloved Punxsutawney Phil, but in Illinois, there’s a lesser-known contender for the groundhog throne: Woodstock Willie. Home of the popular “Groundhog Day” movie starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, Woodstock, Ill., attracts a bustling crowd hoping to catch a glimpse of Willie’s weather prediction every Feb....
WVU scraps Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Division office
West Virginia University in Morgantown has scrapped its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Division and is replacing it with a new initiative, keeping in line with the state’s governor who declared an end to DEI offices. State-owned WVU said the move was in compliance with Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s executive order prohibiting...
Monroeville Mall sold for $34 million; buyer not disclosed but store employees, shoppers hopeful
The Monroeville Mall and its annex have been sold for $34 million in cash, the mall owner said Friday. CBL Properties of Chattanooga, Tenn., did not disclose the buyer. In a statement, CBL said the sale will allow it to focus its efforts on properties with a higher productivity than...
D.C. plane crash killed ex-Johnstown woman, an IUP grad, and her family
An IUP grad and former Johnstown woman, her husband and two children were among the 67 people killed Wednesday when a plane collided with an Army helicopter approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. Donna Smojice Livingston graduated in 1999 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a marketing degree,...
Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts warm, rainy spring for Western Pa.
Punxsutawney Phil will weigh in Sunday on Pennsylvania’s weather for the next six weeks, but the Old Farmer’s Almanac is one step ahead. The 1792 long-range weather publication predicts a warm, rainy season for the Keystone State. Though temperatures are predicted to align with typical patterns in part of the...
Take the TribLive weekly news quiz: Jan. 31
The following is a regular feature from TribLive: A weekly news quiz:...
Washington County inmates detained by ICE
Up to six Washington County inmates could be detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Jose Turcios Salmeron, a native of El Salvador, was being held at Washington County Jail on charges of aggravated and simple assault. He was released to ICE Thursday, according to a statement from the county...
Butler County woman struck and killed by vehicle
Butler County resident June M. Ruff died Tuesday afternoon of injuries she sustained after being hit by a vehicle Monday evening, according to a report from the Allegheny Medical Examiner’s office. Ruff, 62, of Slippery Rock was struck in the 400 block of Main Street in Evans City, Butler County...
Conservative group objects to Slippery Rock University STEM program’s minority recruitment
A conservative nonprofit is asking the U.S. Department of Education to investigate Slippery Rock University and three other state schools, alleging that their participation in a national program to recruit minority students into science majors is discriminatory against white and Asian students. The Equal Protection Project, an offshoot of the...
Western Pa. leaders react to federal funding freeze
Residents of Allegheny and Westmoreland counties could be hurt by a move to halt the federal funding stream to state and local governments, especially those who rely on social service programs and public housing, some of the area’s elected officials said. Others defended President Donald Trump’s directive Tuesday to pause...
Norfolk Southern and East Palestine announce $22 million settlement after 2023 derailment
East Palestine and Norfolk Southern have announced a $22 million settlement resolving all of the village’s claims arising from the disastrous 2023 train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border that prompted a national reckoning on railroad safety. The settlement is to be used for priorities the village identifies in connection with...
Coffee lovers likely to pay more in wake of jump in bean prices
The cost of a cup of joe is on the rise at coffee shops. If the price of her $3.25 cup of Americano coffee goes up too much, Piper Anke of Derry is among those who say they would consider drinking less. Anke, 18, is a student at Seton Hill...
Donora, Murrysville, Greensburg dive teams help pull Fayette County crash victim, vehicle from West Virginia lake
With an 8-inch sheet of ice atop the frigid water beneath their feet, dive teams from Murrysville Medic One and the Donora and Greensburg volunteer fire departments helped pull a vehicle and remains of a Fayette County resident from West Virginia’s Cheat Lake Sunday. Kevin Laitalle, 59, of Smithfield, and...
‘A freeing experience’: Guides help visually impaired skiers take to Seven Springs slopes
Editor’s note: The captions under the photographs associated with this story include a description of the image content so that information might be relayed to software assisting the visually impaired. Downhill skiing with a guide took away any fears for Amelie Colletti. Having the support close by to navigate the...
Area fallen soldiers remembered 81 years after Allied landing craft sank off coast of Italy
When Allied forces landed on the Italian coast at Anzio 81 years ago, they began a four-month battle that left some 7,000 of their 100,000 troops dead. That toll included 58 soldiers from the Keystone State — several residents of Westmoreland and Allegheny counties among them — who never made...
From the archive: Punxsutawney Phil’s famous prognostications had humble beginnings in 1880s
Pennsylvania’s famed weather prognosticator has been at it for more than a century. With that fame, Punxsutawney Phil and his namesake hometown have become a sort of ground zero on Groundhog Day. The limelight has turned every Feb. 2 into an early morning festival at Gobbler’s Knob that ends with...
National reproductive health care resource website goes dark
When Elizabeth Ringstad found out that the national reproductive health care resource website www.reproductiverights.gov had been taken down, she felt fear. “I feel like taking down such a major research tool for women is kind of removing our ability to educate ourselves on our bodies and our rights,” said Ringstad,...
