Top Stories category, Page 1097
5 things to watch in WPIAL football Week Zero: On opening night, teams have options
“Week Zero” is back. The optional week on the football calendar was eliminated from last year’s pandemic-shortened schedule but returns this fall in full force. In so-called “Week Zero,” teams can replace their second preseason scrimmage with a regular-season contest. A five-game showcase at the Wolvarena highlights this weekend’s slate,...
KISS concert in Burgettstown canceled after front man Paul Stanley tests positive for covid
Thursday night’s KISS concert the Pavilion at Star Lake was canceled after front man Paul Stanley tested positive for covid, according to a post on the band’s website. “Everyone on the entire tour, both band and crew, are fully vaccinated,” the post read. “The band and their crew have operated...
GOP legislative leaders reject Gov. Tom Wolf’s urgent call to consider mask mandate
Republican legislative leaders are standing firm in their position that when it comes to mask mandates in K-12 classrooms and child-care centers, local officials are better positioned to make those calls. In a hand-delivered letter to Gov. Tom Wolf, Republican leaders of the GOP-controlled General Assembly on Thursday turned down...
WPIAL football teams welcome return to traditional ‘Friday night lights’ atmosphere
In any other year, there might have been huge crowds at Sarge Alberts Stadium to witness one of the most dominant seasons in WPIAL football history. Instead, like so many other parts of life in a pandemic, the Warriors’ fans celebrated remotely last fall. “They shared in it,” coach Mark...
Oregon man canoeing across country makes a stop in PittsburghVideo
Neal Moore is traveling 7,500 miles from Oregon to New York City — in a canoe. He will cross 22 bodies of water, two of those in Pittsburgh — the Ohio and the Allegheny rivers. As of Thursday, he had traveled 6,600 miles to date. His goal is to document...
New Kensington businesses gearing up for 2nd ‘Fridays on Fifth’
Going into the first Fridays on Fifth in New Kensington in July, Sweet Tillies baklava bakery owner Amy Johnson was worried she had made too much and wouldn’t know what to do with it. Instead, Johnson said, “Within 20 minutes, I was like, ‘Holy crap, I didn’t make enough.’” Jamie...
West Newton man accused of threatening to bring gun to state representative’s office
A West Newton man is behind bars after police say he threatened staff members working in the office of State Rep. Eric Davanzo and had a stolen handgun when officers arrested him, according to court papers. Raymond C. Keller, 54, is charged with receiving stolen property and four counts of...
Derry Township man charged with ramming police cruiser, dragging officers during pursuit through Murrysville, Monroeville
A Derry Township man is being held in the Westmoreland County Prison without bond after being charged with dragging police officers and ramming a patrol car during a chase through Murrysville and Monroeville. Cory R. Nolan, 33, was taken into custody after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday by police from both municipalities...
Commission: Pittsburgh schools Superintendent Hamlet violated Ethics Act
Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Hamlet violated the state’s Ethics Act with regard to travel expenses, accepting cash for speeches and failing to make required disclosures of financial interests between 2016 and 2018, the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission said in a report issued Thursday. At a news conference Thursday morning, Hamlet...
Kabul airport attack kills 60 Afghans, 13 U.S. troops
Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. The attacks killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops, Afghan and U.S....
Half of U.S. workers favor employee shot mandate: AP-NORC poll
NEW YORK — Half of American workers are in favor of vaccine requirements at their workplaces, according to a new poll, at a time when such mandates gain traction following the federal government’s full approval of Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research...
Rowdy North Allegheny school board meeting ends abruptly when audience members refuse to don masks
The North Allegheny’s school board meeting was abruptly cut short on Wednesday evening after a number of residents in attendance refused to wear masks. Arguments between parents for and against the mask mandate began even before the meeting started, according to Tribune-Review news partners WPXI-TV. The district is under a...
Woman dies in early-morning fire in Monroeville
Firefighters responding to a home in Monroeville early Thursday morning found a woman unresponsive who died before she could receive medical treatment. The fire was reported about 3 a.m. at a home along Carrington Court, according to Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV. When firefighters arrived, a room in the front of...
Biden vows to finish Kabul evacuation, avenge U.S. deaths
President Joe Biden vowed Thursday to complete the evacuation of American citizens and others from Afghanistan despite the day’s deadly suicide bomb attack at the Kabul airport. He promised to avenge the deaths of 13 U.S. service members killed in the attack, declaring to the extremists responsible: “We will hunt...
Rep. Mike Doyle announces positive coronavirus test despite being vaccinated
Congressman Mike Doyle has tested positive for coronavirus, the U.S. representative announced Wednesday evening via his Twitter feed. “I’m feeling okay and only have mild symptoms, but I’ll be quarantining in DC (sic) for a 10-day period, as the District of Columbia requires,” wrote Doyle, D-Forest Hills. Doyle added he...
Lower Burrell woman ordered to stand trial on charges stemming from fiery Tarentum Bridge crash
An attorney representing a Lower Burrell woman who crashed her car in a work zone on the closed Tarentum Bridge in June tried to argue Wednesday there was no proof she was drunk at the time of the crash. Brackenridge District Judge Carolyn Bengel didn’t buy defense attorney Tom McKinley’s...
Half of Pa. school districts with mask mandates are in Allegheny County, officials say
There are 59 school districts in Pennsylvania with mask mandates, officials said Wednesday. About half of those districts exist in Allegheny County. Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald praised those 30 Allegheny County school districts and their school boards for instituting the mask mandates, a move meant to protect, among the...
Court action threatened over Franklin Regional school mask policy, as debates rage in Pa.
An attorney representing a group of parents in the Franklin Regional School District sent the superintendent and board of directors a letter this week threatening litigation if masking is not made mandatory. It is one of many lawsuits being considered by parents on both sides of what has become a...
Hempfield retiree helps fend off attack on sheriff’s deputy in emergency roomVideo
Joseph Twigger said he didn’t think twice in the emergency room at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg this week when he saw a county jail inmate trying to grab a sheriff’s deputy’s gun. On Monday, an inmate was draped over Deputy Edgar Fink, who was pinned against a wall...
U.S. says 1,500 Americans may still await Kabul evacuation
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that as many as 1,500 Americans may be awaiting evacuation from Afghanistan, a figure that suggests the U.S. may accomplish its highest priority for the Kabul airlift — rescuing U.S. citizens — ahead of President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline. Untold thousands...
Covid cases, hospitalizations continue to rise in Allegheny, Westmoreland
The latest reports of coronavirus cases show new cases are being found at increasingly higher numbers. Hospitalizations are also rising, although not as rapidly. Over the past week, the Pennsylvania Department of Health has reported 24,875 new covid cases. Of that number, 21% (5,227) are old test results dating back...
Wolf asks Republican leaders to return to Harrisburg and pass school mask mandate
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 — Gov. Tom Wolf is calling on the Republican-led legislature to return to the Capitol immediately to pass legislation mandating...
Excela Health seeing increase in covid cases, with nearly all hospitalizations for unvaccinated people
The vast majority of covid-19 patients at Excela Health’s three hospitals have not been vaccinated against the virus, according to Chief Medical Officer Dr. Carol Fox. “Our numbers have dramatically increased in the last month,” she said, pointing to a “tenfold” uptick in covid patients compared to the three patients...
Johnson & Johnson reports its booster shot increases antibodies ninefold
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Johnson & Johnson says a booster shot of its covid-19 vaccine appears to produce “a rapid and robust” increase in antibodies needed to fight the coronavirus. The drugmaker says researchers saw a ninefold increase in antibodies than levels seen about a month after the first dose...
Masks remain optional at Greater Latrobe after elementary mandate fails by slim margin
When Greater Latrobe parents send their elementary students back to the classroom beginning Monday, they will have the option of deciding whether their children should wear a mask upon entering their school building. The school board this week was just one vote away from amending its July 27 mask-optional policy,...
