Top Stories category, Page 1163
Allegheny County covid case average lowest since Halloween
Both the state and Allegheny County on Tuesday saw covid-19 statistics drop to levels not seen since the fall. Locally and at the commonwealth level, case averages are back to where they were late last year. Cases Allegheny County saw its seven-day average of covid-19 cases drop to lows not...
Prosecutor says N.C. deputies justified in shooting of Black man
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — North Carolina sheriff’s deputies were justified in their fatal shooting of a Black man in April because the man ignored their commands and drove his car directly at one of them before they fired any shots, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Andrew Brown Jr.’s actions caused deputies...
Americans urged to get colon cancer screening earlier
Americans should start getting screened for colon cancer earlier — at age 45 instead of waiting until they’re 50, according to guidelines released Tuesday. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said it’s time for the change because colorectal cancer increasingly is appearing in younger adults. Colorectal cancer is one of...
Pittsburgh ranks 3rd on list of best cities for artists
By now, Pittsburghers are used to their city making various “best” lists. The Steel City has been named a top place for everyone from sports fans and foodies to retirees and Gen Xers. Now it’s also been recognized as one of the top 10 U.S. cities for artists — ranking...
Murrysville man charged with arson in restaurant fire
A Murrysville man was arrested Tuesday on arson charges in connection with a weekend fire that destroyed a landmark restaurant along Route 22. Murrysville police Chief Tom Seefeld said Brian Paul Lucas, 43, confessed to starting the fire at Spaghetti & Steakhouse and Hot Rod Lounge early Saturday after authorities...
North Huntingdon man charged with double homicide in Penn Township killingsVideo
A North Huntingdon man is accused of killing a Penn Township man at his home as well as his girlfriend as she tried to escape early Monday, fulfilling what police say was “a grudge reconciliation weekend.” Before District Judge Helen Kistler on Tuesday night, Victor Steban, 53, of North Thompson...
Penn State to ditch ‘male-specific’ student titles like freshmen
Students at Penn State may soon be saying goodbye to the term “sophomore slump” and hello to “second-year slump.” According to a report in Penn State’s student newspaper The Daily Collegian, Penn State’s Faculty Senate voted to remove gendered and binary terms from Penn State course and program descriptions. As...
Gateway Education Association calls for a strike as contract negotiations linger for more than a year
Gateway School District’s teachers’ union has threatened to go on strike beginning May 24, according to union officials. The Gateway Education Association notified Superintendent William Short on Tuesday morning that a strike will begin next Monday if a tentative agreement has not been reached. The district and association have been...
U.S. home construction falls a surprising 9.5% in April
WASHINGTON — U.S. home construction fell a surprisingly sharp 9.5% in April and economists attributed that partially builders who delayed projects because of a surge in lumber prices and supply constraints. The April decline left construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.57 million units, the Commerce Department said...
GOP Leader McCarthy opposes Jan. 6 commission ahead of vote
WASHINGTON — House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday that he won’t support a proposal to form an independent, bipartisan commission to study the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, almost certainly eroding GOP support ahead of a vote and positioning his party as opposed to investigations of...
Belle Vernon area teen accused by troopers in 2020 brick-throwing incident on I-70
A 16-year-old is charged in Westmoreland County juvenile court in connection with a brick-throwing incident along Interstate 70 in North Belle Vernon last year, state police said. Trooper Brian McKee said evidence against the teen from the Belle Vernon area culminated with charges of criminal mischief, propulsion of missiles and...
Evidence suppressed in federal gun case against suspect in Unity woman’s disappearance
A 2018 search at a Potter County cabin was illegal, a federal judge has ruled, suppressing evidence against Thomas George Stanko in a weapons case. U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann ruled that federal authorities didn’t have a valid reason to believe that a gun would be found at the cabin....
Jeannette police dog vehicle funded solely by donations hits the streets
A new police dog patrol unit is on the streets of Jeannette after incredible support from the community helped handler Sgt. Jim Phillips keep a promise he made years ago. The entire cost of the 2020 Ford Explorer Interceptor — $47,611 — was funded solely by donations to the department’s...
Sparse voter turnout for Pennsylvania primary election; votes start being countedVideo
Voter turnout for Pennsylvania’s primary Tuesday was sparse compared to November’s election, but officials say it was bolstered by mail-in voting and statewide ballot questions drawing out third-party voters. Results are slowing coming in for Allegheny County and Westmoreland County races. In Allegheny County, voters requested 124,813 mail-in ballots —...
North Allegheny teacher accused of dragging 6-year-old girl with Down syndrome won’t face criminal charges
A teacher at North Allegheny’s Hosack Elementary School who was placed on administrative leave May 4 while McCandless police investigated allegations that a young girl with Down syndrome was dragged across the floor during a gym class will not face criminal charges, according to authorities. The McCandless police department began...
Police: Man shot multiple times in Stowe
A man was shot multiple times along a Stowe Township street Monday night. Allegheny County police said they were dispatched for a shooting around 9:20 p.m. along the 600 block of Woodward Avenue. Officers found a man with multiple injuries and other evidence of a shooting, according to a county...
Fire under investigation in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood
Investigators are trying to determine the cause of a three-alarm fire that heavily damaged an apartment building in Bloomfield on Monday night. The fire was reported shortly before 9:45 p.m. in the 4100 block of Main Street, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety officials. The fire quickly was raised to three...
Penn Hills reverses decision on hiring former Wilkinsburg police officer under investigation in shooting death
Penn Hills community members and activists celebrated Monday after the Municipality of Penn Hills pivoted on the hiring of former Wilkinsburg police officer Robert Gowans. Penn Hills council held an emergency meeting Monday afternoon that resulted in letting Gowans go, after facing backlash from the community over his hiring in...
House consumed by tension over Capitol riot as vote on investigation nears
WASHINGTON — Amid increasing tension between Republicans and Democrats in Congress over the January insurrection, the House is expected to vote this week on whether to establish a commission to investigate what led to the violence and whether to pay nearly $2 billion for police back pay and the security...
Biden expresses ‘support’ for cease-fire in Netanyahu callVideo
President Joe Biden expressed support for a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers in a call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, the eighth day of air strikes and rocket barrages that have killed at least 200 people, most of them Palestinians in Gaza. Biden stopped...
Former Rep. Lou Barletta changes the calculus on Pa. GOP gubernatorial primaryVideo
Former congressman Lou Barletta, the failed 2018 U.S. Senate candidate and frequent Donald Trump surrogate at campaign events last year, changed the calculus for Pennsylvania’s 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary with his official campaign announcement Monday. Barletta, 65, a four-term congressmen who sprang to national prominence 15 years ago as the...
Heat wave finally on the way to Western Pa.
Get those air conditioners ready. A warmup is expected to kick in with temperatures in the low-80s by Wednesday and the mid- to upper-80s by Friday. Seemingly gone for good are the below normal temperatures that brought frost potential earlier this month. “We’re coming off a period of cold weather...
Gov. Wolf should apologize for implying cops are ‘racist murderers,’ head of Pa. state troopers association says
Pennsylvania State Troopers Association President David Kennedy is demanding that Gov. Tom Wolf apologize for promoting what Kennedy insisted is “a false narrative that police are racist murderers.” What Kennedy targeted in a statement released Monday were Wolf’s comments in a letter sent to state employees Friday regarding the declaration...
Pennsylvania’s largest teachers union in favor of in-person return
HARRISBURG — The president of Pennsylvania’s largest teachers union expressed support Monday for in-person instruction in the fall, calling it a “top priority” now that many teachers have been vaccinated and older children have become eligible for the covid-19 shot. “As more students are vaccinated over the summer, we believe...
Supreme Court abortion case: Here’s what it all means
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide a major abortion case that could dramatically alter decades of rulings on abortion rights and eventually lead to dramatic restrictions on abortion access. It’s been nearly 50 years since the court announced in its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision...
