Top Stories category, Page 1060
Josh Shapiro breaks with Gov. Wolf over strategy on climate changeVideo
HARRISBURG — Josh Shapiro, the Democratic candidate for governor, is breaking with Gov. Tom Wolf on the centerpiece of Wolf’s plan to fight climate change amid the strong and sustained pushback it has received from building trades unions that have long backed the party’s candidates for governor. Wolf — a...
October covid deaths exceed 100 in Allegheny County
More than 100 people in Allegheny County have died from covid-19 so far this month, a number that will likely increase, health director Dr. Debra Bogen said Wednesday. “These are mostly preventable deaths,” she said of the 105 deaths since Oct. 1. A breakdown of deaths by age and vaccination...
Merrick Garland defends school board memo amid Republican criticismVideo
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday defended a memo aimed at combating threats against school officials nationwide while Republicans insisted he rescind the directive. He signaled he had no plans to do so despite their criticism. The memo took center stage as Garland appeared before the Senate Judiciary...
Police: Text messages lead to baseball bat attack, shooting in Arnold
One man’s attempt to assault another man with a baseball bat backfired when the other man pulled out a gun and shot him three times, according to Arnold police. Arnold police this week charged both men they say were involved in the incident that happened shortly before midnight on Sept....
Hempfield supervisors approve development that includes 52 duplexes
Several duplexes are coming to Hempfield after supervisors this week granted final conditional approval for second phase development plans at Grandview Estates. Supervisors unanimously approved the project, which would bring 52 duplex lots and one single-family home to the township near Swede Hill Road. Mark Nikoula, co-owner of Cherry Hills...
Woodland Hills officials investigate social media threats, students return to remote learning
Woodland Hills High School administrators said Wednesday that they received notice that a student threatened on a live social media post to bring a gun to school. Later in the day, school officials said that students would return to remote learning Thursday and Friday. Fights inside the school prompted the...
Pittsburgh City Council renews push for rental registration, inspections
Pittsburgh City Council has reintroduced a proposal to create a rental registration and inspection schedule for the city’s rental units, a measure that was stopped by a judge when officials previously tried to implement it. The proposal, advanced unanimously by council, would allow the city to identify all of Pittsburgh’s...
Pittsburgh considers converting all streetlights to LED in proposed $16M project
A proposed $16 million project would upgrade Pittsburgh’s streetlights to more efficient LED lights, though two council members said they’ve already heard pushback from residents. The city has identified The Efficiency Network, an independent energy services company, to handle the proposed citywide project. The company would survey the city’s streetlights...
El Diablo eatery brings wood-fired pizzas, grilled entrees to Greensburg
On opening day at El Diablo Brewing Co. & Wood-Fired Kitchen in Greensburg, Sierra Barner had a build-your-own pizza with white sauce, pineapple and sausage. She proclaimed it “fantastic.” The Greensburg resident had been watching signs of progress at the site for months when she visited the nearby Aerobic Center...
Healing continues for Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life, Dor Hadash and New Light congregations
Each year in late October, as fall starts to turn a bit grayer, the feeling shifts for many people who are connected to Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue. “It’s a day that you know is coming,” said Barb Feige, executive director of the Tree of Life congregation. “It’s not like...
Big Bad Wheels: World’s fastest Monster Truck on display at Harrison dealership
Fans of high-powered, hill-climbing Monster Trucks can get a glimpse of the speed record-setting Raminator in Harrison. The truck is on display to mark the grand opening of the new Cochran dealership along Route 908 for the Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep brands. The new dealership is on the same...
Biden calls Tree of Life attack ‘an assault on our country’
Three years to the day after a lone gunman killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, President Biden acknowledged the “indelible scars of grief” in a brief statement from the White House Wednesday. Biden referred to the deadliest act of antisemitism in American history as...
McDonald’s workers strike to protest workplace harassment
McDonald’s workers in 12 U.S. cities walked off the job Tuesday to protest what they say is an ongoing problem of sexual harassment and violence in the company’s stores. Several hundred workers were expected to participate in Chicago, Houston, Miami, Detroit and other cities, according to Fight for $15 and...
Pa. Lottery awards ‘humongous’ 10-year contracts that will modernize its business
The Pennsylvania Lottery is about to undergo a modernization with new equipment, new signage and a new app. The changes will be rolled out over the course of the coming year as part of the recent execution of the commonwealth’s most lucrative technology contracts to Las Vegas-based Scientific Games Corp....
Biden urges bill over ‘finish line’ as Democrats eye new surtax
WASHINGTON — With his signature domestic initiative at stake, President Joe Biden is urging Democrats to wrap up talks and bring the social services and climate change bill “over the finish line” before he departs Thursday for global summits overseas. Top Democratic leaders are signaling a deal is within reach...
Not a trick: No White House treats for Halloween this year
WASHINGTON — Ghosts and goblins can scratch the White House from their trick or treating routes this year. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will be in Europe on Halloween and won’t be at the White House to help hand out candy and other treats. Instead, the Pennsylvania...
Exotic dancer sues 2 Westmoreland adult clubs, claiming employment law violations
A North Huntingdon exotic dancer wants a local adult night club to pay her more than $58,000 in back wages and damages she says she is owed because the club misclassified her employment status. Deanna Betras, 41, alleges the owners of the former The Filly Corral in South Huntingdon —...
Fire rips through Patete Kitchen & Bath’s Scott showroomVideo
A fire late Tuesday ripped through a South Hills-based kitchen and bathroom remodeling center that’s been serving Western Pennsylvania for more than half a century Owners of Patete Kitchen and Bath Design Center in Scott say the setback shouldn’t affect existing customers. The blaze and fast-paced effort to extinguish it...
Tree of Life shooting survivor takes steps to live ‘joyous’ life
Carol Black remembers making the 27-mile drive from her Cranberry home to the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, and turning onto Wilkins Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill. As she headed for the parking lot, she saw her brother Richard walking into the building. It’s the last time...
3 years after Tree of Life shooting, social media still a breeding ground for extremism, experts say
Federal prosecutors say the mass shooting that Robert Bowers carried out at a Pittsburgh synagogue three years ago was preceded by disturbing, hate-filled activity on social media. Since then, social media sites have continued to be linked to — and some say breeding grounds of — acts of violence and...
Teen gets 15 to 30 years after pleading to killing Homestead man, shooting 2 others
Corey Mickens, then 15, killed a man who had been his friend by shooting him in the head execution style on Feb. 5, 2019. Two weeks later, Mickens stood up through the sun roof of a car as it drove through North Braddock and shot and wounded a stranger on...
FDA advisers back Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11
WASHINGTON — The United States moved a step closer to expanding covid-19 vaccinations for millions more children as a panel of government advisers on Tuesday endorsed kid-size doses of Pfizer’s shots for 5- to 11-year-olds. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted unanimously, with one abstention, that the vaccine’s...
Lawsuit: FedEx truck driver’s headphones may have contributed to deadly 2020 Pa. Turnpike crash involving tour bus
If a FedEx truck driver hadn’t been wearing noise-canceling headphones, he might have avoided crashing into an overturned tour bus in January 2020 as part of a Pennsylvania Turnpike wreck that killed five people and injured 14 in Westmoreland County, according to a civil lawsuit. The complaint, filed in Philadelphia...
Sewickley Academy settles with Black former administrator who filed race discrimination lawsuit
The former director of admissions and financial aid at Sewickley Academy who was fired this summer has settled a federal lawsuit he filed against the school. Federal court records show U.S. Magistrate Maureen P. Kelly signed the order dismissing Douglas Leek’s case against Sewickley Academy on Monday. Attorney Sam Cordes,...
Pittsburgh police to lease former Steamfitters building in Duquesne Heights
Pittsburgh will lease a former Steamfitters Local Union 449 building in the city’s Duquesne Heights neighborhood to consolidate police operations, allowing the city to redevelop other sites that police are currently using. City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved legislation allowing the city to lease 1517 Woodruff St. The city will...
