Top Stories category, Page 1183
Earth Day ’21: environmental issues past and present still present challenges
Fifty-one years after the founding of Earth Day, with the first on April 22, 1970, the manmade pollution and resulting problems created by global warming and climate change remain the biggest threat to the planet, environmental scientists say. “Certainly, the biggest concern is climate change, because it has so many...
Burrell teachers get 5-year contract with annual raises of nearly 3%
Burrell School Board on Tuesday ratified a five-year contract with the district’s teachers union, the Burrell Education Association, agreeing to an average annual wage increase of almost 3%. Burrell teachers earn an average of $72,635, according to the state Department of Education. The collective bargaining agreement covers 136 employees and...
Pittsburgh police: Man in serious but stable condition after Spring Hill shooting
A man is in serious but stable condition after police say he was shot in Pittsburgh’s Spring Hill neighborhood Wednesday evening. Pittsburgh police responded to a Shotspotter alert and a 911 call for shots fired in the 2100 block of Rhine Street around 8:15 p.m., according to Pittsburgh Public Safety...
Pittsburgh man may leave Hawaii before manslaughter trial
HONOLULU — A Pittsburgh man charged with manslaughter in the death of a friend he was vacationing with in Hawaii will be allowed to return to the U.S. mainland before his trial, a judge ruled Wednesday. Benjamin Fleming, released on $250,000 bond, must return to the Big Island for hearings...
Ohio police kill Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, who attacked 2 with knifeVideo
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Body camera footage from other officers released Wednesday in the fatal police shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant, a Black teenager who charged at two people with a knife, showed a chaotic scene that happened within minutes of the verdict in George Floyd’s killing and ignited outrage by many...
Fayette County man gets 3 years in prison for dealing heroin via ‘Hustlas Don’t Sleep’ drug ring
A Fayette County man will spend three years behind bars for dealing heroin and fentanyl in Western Pennsylvania for more than two years, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. Andrew Welty, 29, of Everson was sentenced based on drug convictions from two separate cases covering illegal drug sales that happened between September...
10 months after Amish woman Linda Stoltzfoos disappeared, human remains found in rural Lancaster County
Investigators searching rural Lancaster County have found human remains in the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of 18-year-old Linda Stoltzfoos, authorities announced Wednesday. Stoltzfoos was reported missing on June 21, 2020, and 34-year-old Justo Smoker was charged with her kidnapping and death last year. The Lancaster District Attorney’s Office said...
3 brothers plead guilty to botched gun shop burglaries in Bethel Park, Moon Township
Three brothers in their early 20s pleaded guilty to plotting to commit an offense against the United States for their roles in a night of back-to-back botched attempts to steal firearms from gun shops in Pittsburgh’s southern suburbs. The sibling defendants — Jerwahn Atkins, 24; Jerquay Atkins, 23; and Jamir...
State greenlights $48 million in transportation infrastructure projects
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Financing Authority on Wednesday approved more than $48 million for 116 new multi-modal transportation infrastructure projects in 45 counties, including a dozen in Allegheny, Armstrong and Westmoreland counties. The authority approved two Alle-Kiski Valley projects, including a $200,000 Rankin Street revitalization project in Arnold and $375,000 for...
Covid vaccine supply overtakes demand in Allegheny CountyVideo
Vaccine supply now outnumbers demand in Allegheny County, officials said Wednesday At a news conference, Dr. Debra Bogen, health director, and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald again encouraged county residents to make a vaccine appointment or walk in for a dose at a county clinic. All Pennsylvania residents 16 and older...
Pittsburgh Mercy to offer free covid vaccines Saturday at South Side clinic
Pittsburgh Mercy just received enough vaccine supply to offer free doses to several hundred people this weekend at its clinic on Pittsburgh’s South Side, officials announced Wednesday. Appointments can be made via Pittsburgh Mercy’s website, and no insurance is required. Vaccine doses will be distributed between 9 a.m. and 2...
‘I’m not going to let this guy die’: Pittsburgh cops on foot patrol save unresponsive man
Pittsburgh Police Zone 3 Officer Aundre Wright wasn’t supposed to be walking the beat in Homewood on Tuesday. He and three other officers weren’t supposed to be headed the direction they were going. But he was and they were. Because of that, a man who might otherwise have died is...
Pittsburgh awaiting federal guidance on stimulus cash
There are many questions, but few definitive answers about exactly how much federal stimulus money the city of Pittsburgh will receive and how it can be spent. City council members Wednesday asked council Budget Director Bill Urbanic and Kevin Pawlos, director of the city’s Office of Management and Budget, a...
Chief: No allegations of improper behavior in Pine-Richland football probe reported to police
Despite a long-standing practice of conferring with police when allegations are made about improper behavior by students, none of the incidents that led to last week’s firing of championship-winning Pine-Richland football coach Eric Kasperowicz were reported to authorities, according to the chief of the Northern Regional Police Department. Pine-Richland school...
TV Talk: ‘A League of Their Own’ series will film in Pittsburgh
A streaming series based on the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own,” about the first female professional baseball league, will film in Western Pennsylvania. Stars attached to the series include Abbi Jacobson (“Broad City”), D’Arcy Carden (“The Good Place”) and Chante Adams (“Bad Hair”). Pittsburgh Film Office director Dawn...
South Fayette Capitol riot suspect has covid, hearing delayed
A status conference for a South Fayette man charged in the Capitol riot case was postponed Wednesday after he recently tested positive for covid-19. Jorden Mink, 27, is charged with 10 counts, including assaulting, resisting or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon; civil disorder and committing an act of physical...
Pittsburgh officials apologize for backlog in processing property tax payments
Nobody likes paying taxes. But after they’re paid, it’s easier if the check clears quickly so one can forget about them (until the next time they’re due). In Pittsburgh, that hasn’t been the case. There’s a six- to eight-week backlog processing real estate and parks tax payments, according to a...
Allegheny County’s covid case average drops to lowest in month
Allegheny County reported 340 more covid cases on Wednesday, as weekly numbers returned to lower averages. The county’s seven-day average of new cases dropped from 491 on Tuesday to 351 on Wednesday. It’s the lowest seven-day average since 326 on March 25. For the month, the county is averaging 436...
Pitt law professor David Harris calls Chauvin verdict wake-up call for policeVideo
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts Tuesday in the death of George Floyd last year. Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter for kneeling on the Black man’s neck for over nine minutes. The case is a benchmark trial for an American police officer...
Biden administration opens global climate summit
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden opened a global climate summit Thursday with a pledge to cut at least in half the climate-wrecking coal and petroleum fumes that the U.S. pumps out, a commitment he hopes will spur China and other big polluters to speed up efforts of their own. Biden...
Garland announces police probe day after Floyd case verdict
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is opening a sweeping investigation into policing practices in Minneapolis after a former officer was convicted in the killing of George Floyd there, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Wednesday. The announcement comes a day after former officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murder and...
Snow, yes. But cold could set record; freeze warning issued
Pittsburgh could break a nearly 150-year-old weather record for this day but not because of the late April snow being seen this morning. The record for the lowest high temperature has stood since 1875, when the high was only 41 degrees. Today’s high is expected to be colder, at just...
A stable home: Former horse barn converted in Sewickley Heights, listed at $1.2MVideo
The four horse paddocks remain in the basement of the barn-turned-luxurious home in Sewickley Heights. The details in the former working horse farm preserve its history, while modern additions create a spacious up-to-date living space. The barn house is on the market for $1,185,000. “This is an incredibly well-built home,”...
ATI sets deadline on latest contract offer to end Steelworkers strike
Allegheny Technologies Inc. has given striking United Steelworkers employees until Monday to accept the company’s latest contract offer. If the deal isn’t accepted by 5 p.m. Monday, the company said, “It will be replaced by an offer that begins to reflect the costs incurred by ATI as a result of...
Key GOP lawmaker eyes photo ID, signature matching as Pa. considers voting changes
This article is made possible through Votebeat, a nonpartisan reporting project covering local election integrity and voting access. This article is available for reprint under the terms of Votebeat’s republishing policy. HARRISBURG — Local officials charged with implementing any changes lawmakers might make to Pennsylvania’s Election Code are begging Democrats...
