Top Stories category, Page 1000
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...
Trump plane makes emergency landing after engine failure
A plane carrying former President Donald Trump was forced to make an emergency landing in New Orleans last weekend after suffering engine failure over the Gulf of Mexico. The details of the emergency landing, first reported by Politico, were confirmed Wednesday by a person familiar with the incident who was...
Penn Hills refuses to play Kiski Area sports teams this spring over alleged racial taunts
Penn Hills won’t play games against Kiski Area teams this spring because of racial taunts allegedly made by fans during a recent middle school volleyball game. In a letter sent Monday to school district families and staff, Penn Hills superintendent Nancy Hines said “several boys” in the Kiski Area student...
Pittsburgh’s proposed 1% tax on college tuition, medical bills met with opposition
A proposal to impose a 1% tax on college tuition and medical bills in Pittsburgh is facing opposition and potential legal problems. Councilman Ricky Burgess introduced the measure Tuesday. Students seeking higher education in colleges, universities and advanced technical schools would be assessed a 1% tax on their tuition before...
Snow can’t stop Page’s from opening in Pittsburgh to serve ice cream
It’s one of the first signs of spring — even on a snowy day. Page Dairy Mart on the South Side — now called Page’s — opened for the season Wednesday. “People wait months for opening day,” said Margie Page-Prusia, on Tuesday, as she tested the ice cream machine swirling...
Fire marshals still investigating fatal fire in New Kensington, fire responders lauded for their efforts
State police fire marshals continue to investigate the cause of a fire Sunday that swept through a duplex in New Kensington and resulted in the death of one woman. New Kensington fire Chief Ed Saliba Jr. said the fire was reported a few minutes before 6 p.m. Sunday. The blaze...
