Top Stories category, Page 1061
Pennsylvania lawmakers get started on bills aimed at lobbyist influence
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s state House of Representatives on Monday began advancing a package of bills aimed at lobbyist influence, including limiting gifts from lobbyists and prohibiting lobbyists from trying to influence an elected official for whom they also worked as a campaign strategist. The bills won passage in the House...
Man pleads guilty to 2020 shooting death in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood
A man from Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood pleaded guilty Monday to voluntary manslaughter in the 2020 shooting death of another man. Daejon Brentley, 21, will be sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani on Jan. 19. He also pleaded guilty to a firearms count. A criminal complaint filed...
Panel OKs data for redrawing Pa. Assembly, Congress district maps
HARRISBURG — The five-person commission redrawing Pennsylvania General Assembly district lines gave its approval on Monday to adjusted and validated census-based data they will use to craft preliminary maps over the coming months. “Even though we have 90 days to develop a preliminary plan under the provisions of the state...
$1.75M Match 6 Lotto ticket sold in Indiana County
A winning Pennsylvania Lottery Match 6 Lotto ticket worth $1.75 million on Saturday was sold in Indiana County, according to state lottery officials. The ticket matched winning numbers 6-16-17-34-38-39 to win the jackpot prize. Lottery officials said the ticket was sold at the Giant Eagle at 475 Ben Franklin Road...
Fayette priest pleads no contest to sexually assaulting altar boy; Greensburg bishop working to remove him from priesthood
A Fayette County priest pleaded no contest Monday to charges of repeatedly assaulting an altar boy over three years at a parish in Fairchance, according to state Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Rev. Andrew M. Kawecki, 66, entered his plea to one count of indecent assault. Judge Linda Cordova is expected...
Pa. is on the brink of regulating recovery homes for the first time
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — The Wolf administration has cleared one of the final hurdles to enact oversight of Pennsylvania’s drug and alcohol recovery...
Biden ‘positive’ on budget deal; Manchin OK with wealth tax
WASHINGTON — Pivotal Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin appears to be on board with White House proposals for new taxes on billionaires and certain corporations to help pay for President Joe Biden’s scaled-back social services and climate change package. Biden said Monday he felt “very positive” about reaching agreement on his...
Moderna says its low-dose covid shot works for kids 6-11
Moderna said Monday that a low dose of its covid-19 vaccine is safe and appears to work in 6- to 11-year-olds, as the manufacturer joins its rival Pfizer in moving toward expanding shots to children. Pfizer’s kid-size vaccine doses are closer to widespread use. They are undergoing evaluation by the...
Police: Man arrested in connection with home invasion in Pittsburgh’s Fineview
A man has been arrested for allegedly threatening a woman from Pittsburgh’s Fineview neighborhood with a gun inside her home early Monday, police said. Public Safety spokeswoman Amanda Mueller said the home invasion happened in the 1800 block of Belleau Drive just before 3 a.m. Thomas Harper, 23, has been...
Disease management areas expanded, created after CWD-positive deer found
The Pennsylvania Game Commission expanded an existing disease management area and created a new one after a roadkill deer tested positive for chronic wasting disease in Jefferson County. The change comes in the middle of archery season and about a month before regular firearm season. CWD is a contagious disease...
Driver hurt after pickup slams into New Stanton chiropractic center porch
A man was taken to the hospital Monday after crashing into the New Stanton Chiropractic Center. New Stanton Fire Second Lt. Craig Bromke said the driver of a pickup truck was taken from the scene by ambulance. The truck slammed into the front of the building on West Pennsylvania Avenue...
Hertz order for Teslas ranks among biggest-ever EV purchasesVideo
DETROIT — Hertz announced Monday that it will buy 100,000 electric vehicles from Tesla, one of the largest purchases of battery-powered cars in history and the latest evidence of the nation’s increasing commitment to EV technology. The purchase by one of the world’s leading rental car companies reflects its confidence...
People or profit? Facebook papers show deep conflict within company
Facebook the company is losing control of Facebook the product — not to mention the last shreds of its carefully crafted, decade-old image as a benevolent company just wanting to connect the world. Thousands of pages of internal documents provided to Congress by a former employee depict an internally conflicted...
Opponents of critical race theory seek to flip school boards
GUILFORD, Conn. — A racial reckoning began years ago for the Guilford school system, first with an episode in which a student wore blackface makeup to a home football game and then a fraught debate over the elimination of its mascot, the Indians. After the killing of George Floyd, district...
Woodland Hills High School students to return to class after fights led to building closure
Woodland Hills students will return to classrooms Monday after a series of fights led to a two-day closure of the building. In a letter to parents Sunday night, Principal Shelly Manns said a student assembly to address the incidents will take place Monday. “Over the next couple of weeks, we...
Severe, isolated storms expected in Western Pa. late Monday
Isolated thunderstorms are expected to roll through parts of the region late Monday. Some of the showers may be strong enough to bring damaging winds and large hail, said Michael Brown, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh. “It’s typical late-October weather,” Brown said. Temperatures will be mild...
Police say Snapchat post of ‘shooting up’ Central Catholic High School is no longer a threat
A social media post about “shooting up” Central High School, not necessarily Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, is no longer a threat to the local all-boys, college prep school, according to Pittsburgh Police on Sunday. Central Catholic officials alerted Pittsburgh Police about the threat Saturday on Snapchat. Detectives with...
Peck seeks to fight off Ziccarelli challenge in Westmoreland district attorney race
For the first time in a quarter century, Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck has a race on his hands. Republican Nicole Ziccarelli, fresh off a razor-thin defeat in a bid for state Senate last fall, insists it’s time to change leadership in the county prosecutor’s office. “I respect the...
After one-year hiatus, ‘witches’ return to Ligonier
Bicycles, buses and maybe even brooms were the preferred mode of transportation Sunday in Ligonier, as more than 1,200 “witches” from the region gathered for the town’s fifth annual Witches Bike Brigade event. Since it was created as a pre-Halloween event for women in 2016, the daylong festival offers a...
Here’s how Pa.’s school pension fund keeps its communications secret from the public
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — In December 2020, Pennsylvania’s largest pension fund adopted a figure for investment profits that its executives said was rock...
Where are the workers? Cutoff of jobless aid spurs no influx
INDIANAPOLIS — Earlier this year, an insistent cry arose from business leaders and Republican governors: Cut off a $300-a-week federal supplement for unemployed Americans. Many people, they argued, would then come off the sidelines and take the millions of jobs that employers were desperate to fill. Yet three months after...
Westmoreland County sheriff takes dispute over inmate medical transports to court
Westmoreland County Sheriff James Albert is taking a dispute with the county’s prison board to common pleas court. The sheriff and the prison board are sparring over a requirement that sheriff’s deputies transport sick inmates to and from the county jail for medical treatment. In a lawsuit filed Friday, Albert...
Texas drag race driver slams into spectators, killing 2 kids
KERRVILLE, Texas — A driver lost control during a Texas drag racing event on an airport runway and slammed into a crowd of spectators, killing two children and injuring eight other people, authorities said. A 6-year-old boy and an 8-year-old boy were killed in the crash Saturday afternoon at an...
Washington County woman killed on I-79 by wrong-way driver, troopers say
A Washington County woman was killed early Sunday when the car she was driving was struck by a wrong-way driver along Interstate 79 in North Strabane, state police said. Holly A. Davis, 56, of Canonsburg died in the 1:45 a.m. head-on crash near mile marker 42. Moments before the collision,...
Man critically injured in Swissvale shooting
The Allegheny County Police are asking the public’s help in connection with a shooting that critically injured a man early Sunday in Swissvale. Police reported that dispatchers were notified at 2:12 a.m. of a shooting on the 7500 block of Washington Avenue. First responders found a man suffering from a...
