Top Stories category, Page 1023
Secret Service: Nearly $100B stolen in pandemic relief funds
Nearly $100 billion at minimum has been stolen from covid-19 relief programs set up to help businesses and people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic, the U.S. Secret Service said Tuesday. The estimate is based on Secret Service cases and data from the Labor Department and the Small...
Pedestrian dies following Forest Hills crash
Allegheny County Police are investigating a crash that resulted in a pedestrian’s death Tuesday night in Forest Hills. Emergency responders were called to the 2000 block of Ardmore Boulevard, just south of Kenmore Avenue, where they found a man who’d been hit by a vehicle. Police said the man was...
Teen pedestrian’s death last month in Duquesne ruled accidental
The death of a teen killed in a crash in Duquesne last month has been ruled accidental, according to an Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office report released Tuesday. Deveon Franklin, 18, of Duquesne, died at a hospital at 7:40 a.m. Nov. 17, after being hit by a pickup around 6...
Search continues for dog lost by Monroeville veterinary hospital
Darcie and Nicholas Chontas have just one Christmas wish this year: the safe return of their dog, Scoobee. What started out as a routine veterinary appointment for the married couple’s 60-pound shepherd/pitbull mix has turned into a holiday nightmare. Last Friday, some 20 minutes after her husband returned to his...
Churchill Council approves application for controversial Amazon warehouse
Churchill Council on Tuesday voted in favor of a controversial Amazon warehouse in their residential community. Council voted 5-2, with council members Adam McDowell and Norma Greco opposing the development. The vote comes after a 14-day public hearing that included more than 55 hours of testimony — and about a...
Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry denies Jan. 6 panel’s request for interview
WASHINGTON — Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania on Tuesday rebuffed a request for him to sit down for an interview and turn over documents to the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection, joining other allies of former President Donald Trump in trying to stonewall the committee....
Canada lynx at Pittsburgh zoo positive for covid-19
A Canada lynx in Pittsburgh has tested positive for covid-19, the first known case in a lynx in the United States, officials at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium said Tuesday. The lynx showed some symptoms, including occasional coughing, but “overall symptoms have been mild,” zoo spokesman Ian Hunter said...
Man who died after being tased by Pittsburgh police pleaded for medical help but got none, report says
Jim Rogers reportedly asked for help at least 13 times as he sat in the back of a Pittsburgh police vehicle after being stunned with a taser eight times on Oct. 13. For 17 minutes, Rogers banged his head off the seat and repeated, “‘I need a hospital, I can’t...
Troopers: Derry Area student to be charged after social media post referencing school violence threats
A 14-year-old Derry Area High School student will be charged with making terroristic threats and disorderly conduct for a statement state police said she made Friday regarding a nationwide string of threats on social media made against school districts. The girl, who was not identified, allegedly made a statement on...
Pennsylvania casinos continue to shatter records, generate $432 million in revenues in November
Pennsylvania casinos again shattered monthly records, generating more than $432.5 million in November, state regulators said. That was nearly $6.5 million more than October, which set a revenue record at nearly $426 million, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. In addition, revenues last month were up 52%, or $148...
Pittsburgh pauses vaccine mandate as officials negotiate with unions
Pittsburgh officials announced Tuesday that they will not enforce a city-issued vaccine mandate set to take effect Wednesday for at least the remainder of the week as they negotiate with unions representing the city’s police and firefighters. Mayor Bill Peduto announced Nov. 1 that all city employees without medical or...
New Jersey man pleads guilty to throwing firecracker at Pittsburgh police during protest
A New Jersey man pleaded guilty Tuesday to throwing a firecracker at police officers during last year’s protests in Downtown Pittsburgh over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Nicholas Frank Lucia, 26, of Long Beach Township, pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh via video conference to a single...
Bald eagle cam goes live at U.S. Steel mill in West MifflinVideo
U.S. Steel Irvin Works in West Mifflin flipped the switch today on its first live webcam trained on bald eagles nesting on their property along the Monongahela River. The nest is believed to be the only one located at a working steel mill in the state. The birds built the...
Rite Aid to close 63 stores and expects to close more locations next year
Rite Aid, the long-time East Pennsboro Township-based pharmaceutical chain that will soon be based on Philadelphia, announced on Tuesday that it will close 63 stores. The company made the announcement as part of its third quarter results from 2021. Rite Aid said the move will save the company $25 million....
First day of winter brings chilly temps but it won’t last
Winter arrived today and flurries are possible Wednesday morning. The winter solstice is at 10:59 a.m. Tuesday, National Weather Service meteorologist Jason Frazier said. While the day began feeling like winter, with frost and temperatures in the mid-20s, it’s expected to warm into the low 40s, a few degrees above...
Embattled Freeport councilman resigns
A Freeport councilman who allegedly misappropriated nearly $100,000 in Freeport EMS funds and later paid it back has resigned. Justin DeAngelis stepped down from his elected post. Council accepted his resignation Monday night. He wasn’t at the meeting. In his resignation letter, DeAngelis wrote he plans to move out of...
Biden to pledge 500M free covid-19 tests to counter omicron
WASHINGTON — With the omicron variant on the march, President Joe Biden plans to announce 500 million free rapid tests for Americans, increased support for hospitals under strain and a redoubling of vaccination and boosting efforts. In a speech scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, Biden is announcing major changes to his...
Meat lovers feeling the sting of higher holiday season prices for beef
Instead of serving beef three days a week, the owners of Pershing Heights Senior Living in New Kensington now are providing beef one day a week to residents because of high meat prices. “People like me and different community organizations and churches I cook for are having a hard time...
Pittsburgh City Council approves $613 million operating budget
Pittsburgh City Council on Monday approved the city’s 2022 budget. The budget, compiled by Mayor Bill Peduto’s administration, was initially introduced in late September. Peduto formally introduced the $613.2 million operating budget and a $158.2 million capital budget to City Council during his final State of the City address in...
1 driver alerts another to fire under her vehicle while traveling on Pennsylvania Turnpike
An Ohio woman escaped her vehicle before it became engulfed in flames on the Pennsylvania Turnpike after another driver got her to pull over, according to state police. The incident happened around 6 p.m. Friday in the westbound lanes in Pine. According to state police, Amanda M. Harder, 35, of...
Kim Ward shares reports of covid-fueled burden on hospitals, but opposes vaccine mandates
Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, addressed reports from health system officials about the “dire situation” hospitals across the state are facing as they are being overburdened by a heavy volume of covid patients. The officials have noted the vast majority of covid patients who are being admitted to their...
Jan. 6 committee seeks interview with Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry
WASHINGTON — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection requested an interview and documents from Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania on Monday, marking the first time the committee publicly sought to sit down with a sitting member of Congress. The latest request launches a new phase...
Omicron sweeps across nation, now 73% of U.S. covid-19 cases
NEW YORK — Omicron has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the United States, accounting for 73% of new infections last week, federal health officials said Monday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers showed nearly a six-fold increase in...
Allegheny County Mental Health Court program marks 20th anniversary, graduation
Timothy Treganowan, who has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, became addicted to heroin at age 27 after he broke his back and was prescribed opioids. In 2017, while incarcerated for burglary and receiving stolen property — crimes committed, he said, to fuel his habit...
Pittsburgh council to vote on whether police can make minor traffic stops
City Council on Monday continued debate about a measure that would prohibit Pittsburgh police from pulling people over for minor, secondary violations. Though council was originally scheduled to vote on the legislation Monday, members delayed the final until next Tuesday at the request of Councilman Anthony Coghill, who has repeatedly...
