Top Stories category, Page 1000
Judge rules against Port Authority union’s vaccine mandate challenge
An Allegheny County judge on Thursday ruled against the union representing Port Authority bus drivers in their challenge of a covid-19 vaccine requirement taking effect next week. In a two-page order, Common Pleas Judge John McVay denied Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have...
URA set to invest $2.5M in affordable housing in Hazelwood, East Hills, East Liberty
Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority is poised to invest more than $2.5 million in new construction and rehabilitation of 144 affordable housing units in the city’s Hazelwood, East Hills and East Liberty neighborhoods. The URA board is scheduled to vote Thursday to authorize using a $620,000 grant to build four new...
U.S. extends mask rule for travel while weighing new approach
WASHINGTON — Federal officials are extending the requirement for masks on planes and public transportation for one more month — through mid-April — while taking steps that could lead to lifting the rule. The mask mandate was scheduled to expire March 18, but the Transportation Security Administration said Thursday that...
Man pleads guilty to fatally shooting stepbrother after 2019 Pittsburgh fireworks
A North Side man who, in 2019, unintentionally shot his stepbrother during a melee between two groups of teens following the July 4 fireworks in Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty Thursday to third-degree murder. Camerin Caldwell, 20, will be sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente on June 23....
How will covid end? Experts look to past epidemics for clues
NEW YORK — Two years into the covid-19 pandemic, most of the world has seen a dramatic improvement in infections, hospitalizations and death rates in recent weeks, signaling the crisis appears to be winding down. But how will it end? Past epidemics may provide clues. The ends of epidemics are...
Winter storm watch issued; expect a snowy St. Patrick’s Day parade in Pittsburgh
It won’t exactly be a repeat of the unforgettable Blizzard of 1993, but the forecast for Saturday’s St. Patrick’s Day parade in Pittsburgh includes rather heavy snow accumulation and high winds. “There will be accumulating snow during at least the early part of the parade,” said WPXI-TV’s chief meteorologist Stephen...
‘Scum of the earth’: Drug victims face Purdue Pharma owners
NEW YORK — Angry, defiant and sometimes tearful, more than two dozen Americans whose lives were upended by the opioid crisis finally had their long-awaited chance Thursday to confront in court some members of the family they blame for fueling it. They were unsparing as they unleashed decades of frustration...
Goldman Sachs to shut down its Russia business
NEW YORK — Goldman Sachs says it is closing its operations in Russia entirely, making it the first major Wall Street bank to do so since Russia invaded Ukraine. Goldman’s announcement comes after Citigroup said it would start winding down its Russia operations. But that process will likely take longer...
Teacher strike authorized, but not set, at New Ken-Arnold
Teachers in the New Kensington-Arnold School District authorized a strike if a new contract isn’t reached in the near future. The New Kensington-Arnold Education Association represents 151 teachers and professional staff who have been working without a contract for nearly eight months. Ashley Pujol, union president, did not provide an...
U.S. inflation soared 7.9% in past year, a fresh 40-year high
WASHINGTON — Propelled by surging costs for gas, food and housing, consumer inflation jumped 7.9% over the past year, the sharpest spike since 1982 and likely only a harbinger of even higher prices to come. The increase reported Thursday by the Labor Department reflected the 12 months ending in February...
Russians keep pressure on Mariupol; massive convoy breaks up
MARIUPOL, Ukraine — Civilians trapped inside Mariupol desperately scrounged for food and fuel as Russian forces kept up their bombardment of the port city Thursday, while satellite photos showed that a massive Kremlin convoy that had been mired outside the Ukrainian capital split up and fanned out into towns and...
Officials in Freeport, Gilpin to hold talks about feasibility of merging police forces
Freeport officials say they want to explore the feasibility of merging the borough’s police department with Gilpin Township’s force to help increase patrols and, if possible, save money. Borough officials recently floated the idea of a merger as a way to avoid a situation like the one in November in...
2022 maple sugar season nearing its end in Western Pennsylvania
Don’t get too sappy about it: The 2022 maple sugaring season is nearing its end in Western Pennsylvania. Dan Roseum, owner of Roseum Maple Syrup in Murrysville, expects the season to last one or two more weeks at most. The Pennsylvania season, which typically begins in early February and ends...
Leet zoning hearing canceled, denial of proposed Quaker Valley High School application pending
A Leet Zoning Hearing Board meeting to discuss changes to a proposed Quaker Valley High School was canceled after the district failed to provide an amended plan. The zoning board had scheduled a hearing for March 9 following its denial of the district’s special exception application for the school last...
Private plane leaves runway while landing at Allegheny County Airport
No injuries were reported Wednesday morning when a small plane strayed off the runway at the Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, according to a county airport authority spokesman. Three people were aboard the private HondaJet aircraft when it went off the runway upon landing at the airport at about...
Lights Out Pittsburgh program helping migrating birds continues this spring
A program encouraging owners of businesses and homes to turn off lights during peak migration hours is set to continue. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s BirdSafe Pittsburgh program has announced the Spring 2022 Lights Out Pittsburgh campaign. Its purpose is to reduce bird collisions with windows and the disorientation...
United House OKs $13.6B for Ukraine in huge spending bill
WASHINGTON — The House approved a massive spending bill Wednesday night that would rush $13.6 billion in U.S. aid to battered Ukraine and its European allies, after top Democrats were forced to abruptly drop their plan to include fresh funds to battle covid-19. Passage of the Ukraine aid and the...
St. Patrick’s Day parade strike averted: Allegheny County and 911 dispatchers reach tentative deal
Allegheny County and the SEIU, which represents 1,000 county workers including emergency dispatchers, announced a tentative agreement Wednesday. The contract between the county and the Service Employees International Union expired at the end of last year. Specific details on wage increases and terms of the contract will be released in...
2 taken by ambulance from Route 30 crash in North Huntingdon
Two motorists were taken by ambulance for treatment at a hospital following a three-vehicle crash Wednesday night on Route 30 in North Huntingdon, according to Circleville Fire Chief Craig Couchenour. The wreck was reported at 7:40 p.m. near the Flynn Tire auto repair store, a Westmoreland County Public Safety supervisor...
Sewickley Academy student group CARES speaks out about clash with administration
A group of Sewickley Academy students gathered Wednesday to express their distrust of administrators following several high-profile controversies at the private school. Members of student-led organization CARES (Collective Action for Representative Education at Sewickley) held a press conference to voice their concerns and present their demands of change to the...
Lawsuit accuses former Seward police chief of forcing woman to have sex with him
A woman who said the former Seward police chief forced her to have sex with him to avoid criminal charges is suing him in federal court. The lawsuit filed Wednesday against Robert I. Baldwin Jr. and the Seward Police Department includes claims of civil assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress...
Man gets life in 2017 killing of Penn Hills man; judge delays sentencing of accomplice
An Allegheny County judge on Wednesday delayed sentencing one of two brothers convicted in the 2017 shooting death of a Penn Hills man. Prosecutors had described Donald King, 36, of Stowe, as the ringleader who targeted the victim and then pulled the trigger. A jury in December found him guilty...
Nurses at Armstrong County Memorial Hospital plan to strike early Sunday
Nurses at ACMH Hospital in the Kittanning area are set to strike Sunday after months of contract talks with no results, union officials announced . Cassie Wood, a registered nurse and president of ACMH Nurses United, said the strike is set to take place daily from 7 a.m. to 7...
Gas tax holiday? Not so fast, says Washington, D.C., tax think tank
When Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf hailed President Joe Biden’s plan to ban Russian energy imports to the U.S. in response to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion in the Ukraine, he also announced support for a so-called federal gas tax holiday through 2022 as prices at the pump skyrocket. Wolf said he...
Hempfield is latest district to face book ban challenge
As a frenzy of book challenges rocks the nation at an unprecedented rate, local school districts are facing heightened scrutiny over which texts are made available in their libraries. This week, a Hempfield Area School District committee will review a policy that determines how school materials are reevaluated after two...
