Shapiro formally launches reelection campaign in Allegheny County
Gov. Josh Shapiro promised to be “a governor for all Pennsylvanians” as he formally announced his reelection campaign Thursday in a Pittsburgh suburb. “Most Pennsylvanians want the same few things,” Shapiro told a crowd of officials and supporters at the Carpenters Union Local 432 building in Collier, six miles southwest...
O’Connor fills top roles, installs Jason Lando as acting Pittsburgh police chief
Jason Lando is serving as Pittsburgh’s acting police chief as Mayor Corey O’Connor fills top roles in his administration and waits for City Council to vet and approve certain positions. After O’Connor was sworn in Monday, he submitted to council various appointments to fill key posts, mayoral spokeswoman Molly Onufer...
Charges held against man accused of shooting, killing his brother outside New Ken Elks Lodge
Criminal charges against the Arnold man accused of shooting his brother outside the New Kensington Elks Lodge in December were held for court following a preliminary hearing Thursday. District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. held charges to court against Steffon Ballard, 38, including criminal homicide, attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault...
Jury finds Monessen parents not guilty of child endangerment
Felicia Dugan embraced a friend and sobbed Thursday afternoon outside a Westmoreland County courtroom after a jury found her and her former boyfriend not guilty of endangering their 2-year-old twins in their Monessen home in 2024. “I am so happy. I’m getting my kids back, and that’s all that matters,”...
Hotel tax revenues doled out to help promote Westmoreland tourism
Dwight Brown knows that word of mouth isn’t enough to sustain business growth. Brown opened Great Scott Escape in November 2020, a Scottdale business that has grown over the last several years to include three separate rooms for gaming enthusiasts. He wants to see it continue to grow, and said...
Anger, outrage spills onto Minneapolis streets after ICE officer’s fatal shooting of Renee Good
MINNEAPOLIS — As anger and outrage spilled out onto Minneapolis’ streets Thursday over the fatal shooting of a woman the day before by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, a new shooting by federal officers in Oregon left two people wounded and elicited more scrutiny of enforcement operations across the...
House passes bill to extend health care subsidies in defiance of GOP leadersVideo
WASHINGTON — In a remarkable rebuke of Republican leadership, the House passed legislation Thursday, 230-196, that would extend expired health care subsidies for those who get coverage through the Affordable Care Act as renegade GOP lawmakers joined essentially all Democrats in voting for the measure. Forcing the issue to a...
Hemingway’s Cafe in Oakland to close
Hemingway’s Cafe, the popular bar along Forbes Avenue known for its cheap pitchers and lively trivia nights, is closing after more than four decades in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood. The business will wind down in May, owner John Elavsky said in a social media post Thursday afternoon. He did not give...
McKeesport man gets 2 life sentences for murdering his mother and her friend
Pennsylvania state law required an Allegheny County judge Wednesday to sentence a McKeesport man to life in prison without parole in the 2024 killing of his mother and her friend. Prosecutors and pair of mourning families, however, asked Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Satler to do more — and acknowledge “the...
Ukrainian Catholic church sues Collier for blocking chapel project
A Ukrainian Catholic church claims Collier’s rejection of a proposed chapel amounts to religious discrimination under the First Amendment. Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church is seeking a preliminary injunction in a 60-page lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Pittsburgh. The lawsuit argues the planned 13,000-square-foot chapel was subject to...
Federal immigration officers shoot and wound 2 people in Portland, Oregon, authorities say
PORTLAND, Ore. — Federal immigration officers shot and wounded two people outside a hospital in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, a day after an officer shot and killed a driver in Minnesota, authorities said. The FBI’s Portland office said it was investigating an “agent involved shooting” that happened around 2:15 p.m....
Pittsburgh police locate 2 girls after being last reported in the Vandergrift area
Pittsburgh police have located two missing Pittsburgh girls who had been missing for almost 24 hours. Angela Beer, 14, and Roxy Petruzzi, 10, were found safe Thursday night. They were reported last seen in their Beechview neighborhood on Wednesday at 10 p.m., police said. According to a Thursday Facebook post...
TV Talk: Why an NFL playoff game on Monday?Video
A Monday night Steelers playoff game might seem like a novel concept, but it’s not new to the NFL. In 2021, ESPN signed a five-year agreement to broadcast Monday night games following the first weekend of the NFL playoffs. That’s how the Steelers wound up being scheduled to play the...
No arrests yet in Greenfield shooting, abduction
Allegheny County Police confirmed that a man shot in Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood on Wednesday night was the victim of a kidnapping earlier that evening. But police say the kidnapping did not happen in Plum, as originally reported. Instead, police say, preliminary information shows the victim traveled to an undisclosed location...
Don’t blame this Franklin Regional grad for hoping the Steelers lose Monday. It’s his job
Nate Leopold used to sit in the yellow seats at Heinz Field — before it became Acrisure Stadium — twirling a Terrible Towel and cheering on the Pittsburgh Steelers. When they played “Renegade,” he stood up and yelled like the 68,000-plus going crazy around him. “The first year I remember...
‘Long overdue’: Tenaska power plant faces hearing on emissions, monitoring
From his Mendon Road horse farm, Eric Metz watches white clouds billow daily from the 940-megawatt natural gas power plant looming over South Huntingdon. “It’s really not a problem,” Metz said of the emissions drifting from the Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station over his property. The health of the 23 horses...
Burrell: No concern following bomb threat, evacuation of high school
No immediate concern was found following a bomb threat and evacuation of Burrell High School on Thursday morning, according to district officials. A statement from Superintendent Shannon Wagner said there was a message posted on a high school bathroom wall that read, “I am going to bomb this school.” The...
New charges filed against Latrobe man arrested after manhunt, police say
Additional charges were filed Thursday against a man who, according to investigators, ran from police attempting to serve an arrest warrant this week and was armed with a knife when authorities apprehended him at a home in Latrobe. The manhunt started Tuesday night when Latrobe and Rostraver police teamed up...
McCandless couple charged in ‘elaborate’ food-stamp fraud
Pennsylvania’s attorney general has charged a McCandless couple with running an “elaborate scheme” to illegally buy food stamps at a cut rate, use them to purchase nearly $180,000 in food from area stores, then resell the items at their Pittsburgh deli and restaurant. Rachna Anwar, 46, and her husband, Munir...
Senate pushes back on Trump’s military threats against Venezuela with war powers vote
WASHINGTON — The Senate advanced a resolution Thursday that would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela, sounding a note of disapproval for his expanding ambitions in the Western Hemisphere. Democrats and five Republicans voted to advance the war powers resolution on a 52-47 vote and...
Josh Shapiro to run for 2nd term as Pa. governor, trailed by talk of a 2028 White House bid
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will run for a second term in the pivotal battleground state after a first term that put him on the Democratic Party’s radar as a potential presidential contender in 2028. He plans to make the formal announcement Thursday at events in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia....
TV Talk: Renewed for season 3, ‘The Pitt’ returns for excellent 2nd season; Shaler native on ‘Traitors’
Watching season two of “The Pitt,” which HBO Max renewed for a third season late Wednesday, it’s so clear that this is a series made by TV veterans who understand that to keep a show going it needs to be both the same and different. “ER” veterans John Wells and...
New year means jump in tax rates for multiple communities in Western Pa.
For a number of communities across Southwestern Pennsylvania, 2026 is arriving with higher property tax bills. Those cities, boroughs and townships have hiked their millage rates for the new year to contend with rising infrastructure costs, inflation and the exhaustion of pandemic-era federal subsidies. In Westmoreland County, many municipalities are...
Highmark, spurred on by state law, offers no-cost breast imaging
Highmark has introduced no-cost breast imaging as part of an above-and-beyond push to comply with a new Pennsylvania law. The Pittsburgh-based insurer, which boasts more than 7 million members, began fully covering advanced mammograms, ultrasounds and MRIs in the new year. Doctors use these tests to investigate possible signs of...
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announces closure
Owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced Wednesday they will cease operations May 3, shuttering one of the oldest metropolitan newspapers in the country. Jodi Miehls, president of Block Communications, informed staff of the decision during a pre-recorded, 2½-minute Zoom call Wednesday afternoon. Block Communications, which has owned the Post-Gazette since...
