Top Stories category, Page 1181
Frances McDormand, Chloé Zhao, ‘Nomadland’ take home Oscars
Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland,” a wistful portrait of itinerant lives on open roads across the American West, won best picture Sunday at the 93rd Academy Awards, where the China-born Zhao also became just the second woman to win best director, and the first woman of color. The “Nomadland” victory, while widely...
Young adults’ relocations are reshaping political geography
Garima Vyas always wanted to live in a big city. She thought about New York, long the destination for 20-something strivers, but was wary of the cost and complicated subway lines. So Vyas picked another metropolis that’s increasingly become young people’s next-best option — Houston. Now 34, Vyas, a tech...
More action, less talk, distinguish Biden’s 100-day sprint
WASHINGTON — The card tucked in President Joe Biden’s right jacket pocket must weigh a ton. You can see the weight of it on his face when he digs it out, squints and ever-so-slowly reads aloud the latest tally of covid-19 dead. Sometimes he’ll stumble on a digit — after...
Relief for child sex abuse survivors revived in Pa. Senate after Wolf administration error
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan 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 — A key state Senate committee on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved legislation to temporarily allow survivors of decades-old child sexual abuse...
Shelters struggle to vaccinate Pittsburgh’s homeless population
Light of Life Rescue Mission had a vaccine clinic planned to help vaccinate homeless people earlier this month. The shelter, which operates short- and long-term programs for the homeless, as well as addiction recovery and employment assistance, planned to administer the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Then, about three hours...
Pittsburgh police investigating fatal shooting of teenage boy in Hill District
Pittsburgh police are investigating the fatal shooting of a teenage boy in the Hill District Saturday night. Police responded to 911 calls for shots fired in the 2400 block of Bedford Avenue at about 7:40 p.m. When responding officers arrived on scene, officers said they witnessed the boy being loaded...
Pittsburgh police seek woman accused of running down paramour in deadly hit-and-run
Pittsburgh police are searching for a woman they allege ran down her paramour after an argument in the city’s Homewood section last week. Ausha Dakisha Brown, 25, is charged with homicide, homicide by vehicle, reckless endangerment and multiple traffic violations. The charges stem from the April 19 hit-and-run death of...
Elon Musk, Starlink look to stars to fill internet broadband gaps, including across Western Pa.Video
Dictated by the peaks and dips of Western Pennsylvania’s rolling landscape, internet service is often spotty — even nonexistent — for thousands of people based on topography and a lack of infrastructure for high-speed internet services. But an ambitious project by billionaire Elon Musk promises lofty goals for those struggling...
Alle-Kiski Valley communities see populations fluctuate, according to census
The Alle-Kiski Valley’s population has declined since the 2010 census, but four of its communities are growing, according to census estimates. The Valley’s 42 municipalities had a combined population of 190,950 in 2019, down about 3% from the 2010 census, the numbers show. Bucking that trend were Oakmont, which saw...
Democrat Troy Carter wins New Orleans-based House seat
BATON ROUGE, La. — Democrat Troy Carter won Saturday’s special election for Louisiana’s vacant U.S. House seat, defeating his state Senate colleague and ending an acrimonious, intraparty clash. Carter easily defeated Karen Carter Peterson in the race for Louisiana’s only Democrat-held seat in Congress, handing a victory to the more...
North Huntingdon, Latrobe police expecting body cameras
With the increase in controversial and sometimes deadly encounters between law enforcement and citizens across the country, more local police departments in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties are looking to outfit officers with body cameras — but they are scrambling to pay for them. “There’s no question that law enforcement needs...
Braddock Council candidate, 2 other Allegheny County men arrested in Altoona on heroin trafficking charges
Three Allegheny County men — including a candidate for Braddock Council — were arrested in an alleged drug-trafficking operation in Blair County, according to Altoona police. Raemon Prunty, 21, is listed as running for a council seat in Braddock in the municipal elections in May, according Allegheny County election information....
Study: Fungal disease killing over 90% of 3 bat species in Pa., elsewhere
Southwestern Pennsylvania bats were part of a new large national study that flagged a die-off nationally of more than 90% of certain bats in less than 10 years. The bats in question are the northern long-eared, little brown and tri-colored bats. Researchers also found declines in Indiana bat and big...
Wildlife webcam viewership more than doubles; 2 screech owls nuzzle and more surprises
Two screech owls in Murrysville were caught on video nuzzling or rather grooming each other, a clutch of bluebird eggs have hatched and tired migrating birds are stopping at a drip bird bath in Key Largo, Fla. All are sights anyone can access in seconds and on demand. Apparently more...
Your guide to Pa.’s 2021 primary ballot questions
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan 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. All Pennsylvania voters — yes, that includes independents and minor-party members — will be asked to consider four ballot questions on...
Mt. Pleasant walking route proposed under state health program, would be 1st in Westmoreland
The YMCA of Laurel Highlands is joining a state effort to get residents outside and walking on a regular basis. Located in East Huntingdon, the Y is planning to establish a designated walking route in adjacent Mt. Pleasant Borough as part of the state’s WalkWorks program. It would be the...
Greensburg church, others partner to fight vaccine hesitancyVideo
Bishop Carl Jones of Greater Parkview Church in Greensburg admits having many reservations earlier this year about the covid-19 vaccine, but that initial skepticism has turned to advocacy over the past few months. Jones, pastor since 2003 of the nondenominational, multicultural church with many Black congregants, teamed with two other...
Pennsylvania sees new trend in covid hospitalizations: 3 days of decline
To start the month, the state had increases in covid hospitalizations in 13 of the first 14 days of April. But a trend in the last few days shows numbers going the other way, with hospitalizations in Pennsylvania dropping by about 6% since Wednesday. Pennsylvania The state had 2,656 covid-19...
1 killed, 2 injured in Strip District collision
A 48-year-old woman was killed and two men were injured in a Strip District crash on Saturday. Police said Pamela McAllister of Pittsburgh died in the crash occurred on Liberty Avenue at 16th Street just before 8:15 a.m., police said. According to police, a sport utility vehicle on Liberty Avenue...
Police: Man dies after being shot outside bar in Hill District
A 51-year-old man was fatally shot Friday night outside a bar in the Hill District. Pittsburgh police and medics responded to 911 calls about a shooting and a ShotSpotter alert for a single shot fired in the 2100 block of Wylie Avenue around 10:40 p.m., police reported. Officers located an...
Westmoreland courthouse to host vaccine clinic on Tuesday
The Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greensburg will host a covid-19 vaccine clinic on Tuesday. County officials announced that county employees, their families and the general public are eligible to participate in the clinic, which will be conducted in the commissioners’ public meeting room off the main lobby of the courthouse....
Local health systems look to CDC guidance on resuming J&J covid vaccinations
U.S. health advisers on Friday urged resuming covid-19 vaccinations with Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose shot, saying its benefits outweigh a rare risk of blood clots — in line with Europe’s rollout. Federal health officials uncovered 15 vaccine recipients who developed a highly unusual kind of blood clot, out of nearly...
Biden spokeswoman: Pandemic ‘exposed what a problem we have on our hands’ in U.S. nursing homes
The pandemic shined a spotlight on problems that plagued low-performing nursing homes scattered across Western Pennsylvania and the rest of the nation long before covid-19 struck the United States, White House press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged Friday. As vaccinations ramp up and covid-19 hospitalizations go down, the Biden administration intends...
Summit shows Biden’s big vision on fighting climate change
WASHINGTON — What did the world learn at Joe Biden’s global summit about his vision of the battle to save the world’s climate? For two days, Biden and his team of climate experts pressed his case that tackling global warming not only can avert an existential threat, but also benefit...
Penn Hills community grieving loss of high school student, counseling available
The Penn Hills School District community is grieving the loss of a high school student. Jason Lott Jr., 17, died in his home on April 18, a little more than two weeks after the birth of his daughter, Amora Rose Lott. “It’s horrible,” his mother, Gina Bigenho, said Friday. “I...
