Top Stories category, Page 1204
3 candidates receive nominations in special election race to replace state Rep. Jeff Pyle
Three nominees to replace former state Rep. Jeff Pyle have been chosen by their respective parties to run in a special election to represent parts of Armstrong, Indiana and Butler counties. A longtime Republican lawmaker from Ford City, Pyle retired suddenly because of health issues this month. He had just...
Mass shooters exploited gun laws, loopholes before carnage
The suspect in the shooting at a Boulder, Colo., supermarket was convicted of assaulting a high school classmate but still got a gun. The man accused of opening fire on three massage businesses in the Atlanta area bought his gun just hours before the attack — no waiting required. They...
Gov. Wolf hints that vaccination phases could fade in light of open eligibility goal
Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday indicated Pennsylvania’s phased approach to vaccinations could be fading as the administration sets its sights on President Biden’s goal of open eligibility by May 1. He said the vaccine landscape “changed a little bit” when the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine received emergency authorization. As...
Biden: ‘My plan is to run for reelection’ in 2024
NEW YORK — President Joe Biden on Thursday said he would likely seek reelection in 2024, but the 78-year-old Democrat left open the possibility of stepping aside after one term. “My plan is to run for reelection. That’s my expectation,” Biden told reporters in a wide-ranging news conference, the first...
Tornadoes pummel Alabama, killing at least 5Video
Deadly tornadoes roared through Alabama on Thursday, toppling trees, demolishing homes and knocking out power to thousands, part of a broad swath of violent weather sweeping across the Deep South. At least five fatalities and an unknown number of injuries were reported. All of the deaths happened in eastern Alabama’s...
Jeannette man charged with ethnic intimidation
Jeannette police charged a man with ethnic intimidation and related offenses this week after they said he called another man a racial epithet during a fight, according to court papers. Police were called to Jeannette Manor on South Fourth Street at 9:30 p.m. Sunday for a reported fight. Witnesses told...
Biden leaves door open for U.S. to stay longer in AfghanistanVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday left the door open for U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan through the end of the year, and one of his top generals told Congress that Afghanistan’s military forces need American assistance to successfully counter the Taliban. Biden, at his first news conference...
Vaccine eligibility expanded at Allegheny County sites
The Allegheny County Health Department once again is expanding vaccine eligibility at county-run sites, effective immediately, to everyone in Phase 1A. The department had been vaccinating people 65 and older until last Friday, when eligibility was expanded to include people 50-64 with certain medical conditions. This marks the second eligibility...
Alabama air filter maker says new plant in Arnold will create at least 120 full-time jobs
An Alabama-based air filter manufacturer has chosen Arnold as the location for its first facility in the northeastern United States, and the operation is expected to employ more than 100 people. Filterbuy will lease 137,000 square feet of production and distribution space in New Kensington Advanced Manufacturing Park from the...
Jailed Youngwood man accused in fatal overdose furloughed to attend drug rehab
A Youngwood man awaiting trial on charges he sold drugs used in the fatal overdose of a Greensburg woman in 2019 will be furloughed from Westmoreland County Prison to attend an inpatient drug rehabilitation treatment program. Westmoreland County Judge Christopher Feliciani on Wednesday granted the request from Matthew Thomas Caughey,...
2 people sue Nemacolin, claiming it abruptly ended lifetime memberships
Two people from West Virginia are suing Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, alleging that the Fayette County resort eliminated a lifetime membership program they purchased years ago. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Pittsburgh, seeks class-action status for all the members of the Nemacolin 400 Club, which began in 1988. The...
New Kensington police accuse Jeannette man of sexually assaulting girl, who became pregnant
New Kensington police have charged a Jeannette man with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl, who became pregnant. Police said they began investigating last September after getting a report that a teen had given birth to a son in November 2019 at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh. The father was identified...
Pennsylvania passes 1 million covid cases
Pennsylvania passed 1 million covid cases on Thursday. The milestone comes as vaccinations continue amid rising cases statewide and stable cases closer to home in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 1,000,240 cases, a rise of 3,623 cases from Wednesday. The seven-day average of cases is...
Lawyer: Colorado shooting suspect needs mental health review
BOULDER, Colo. — The suspect in the Colorado supermarket shooting appeared in court for the first time Thursday, and a defense attorney immediately asked that he receive a mental health evaluation before the case against him proceeds. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 21, did not speak during the brief hearing except...
Wolf administration refuses to release details of wasted covid vaccine doses
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 is refusing to disclose details of wasted coronavirus vaccine doses, including how many have been discarded...
AstraZeneca confirms strong vaccine protection after U.S. riftVideo
AstraZeneca insisted Wednesday that its covid-19 vaccine is strongly effective even after counting additional illnesses in its disputed U.S. study, the latest in an extraordinary public rift with American officials. In a late-night press release, AstraZeneca said it had recalculated data from that study and concluded the vaccine is 76%...
Pittsburgh police: Man dies after being wounded in North Side shooting
A man shot Wednesday night in Pittsburgh’s Perry South neighborhood has died, police said Thursday morning. The shooting happened about 9:30 p.m. on Brightridge Street. Police responded to a ShotSpotter alert and found a man shot in the head with a possible puncture wound to his chest, said Public Safety...
Gas driller to pay Pennsylvania $1.9M for damage to wetlands, waterways
HARRISBURG — One of the most active natural gas exploration firms in Pennsylvania has agreed to pay $1.9 million after it disclosed in 2014 that its construction work had damaged waterways and wetlands, without proper permits, according to paperwork filed in federal court on Wednesday. Officials from Chesapeake Energy Corp....
Oath Keepers militia, far-right Proud Boys coordinated plans for Capitol assault, Justice Department says
WASHINGTON — A leader of the Oath Keepers militia was communicating with members of the far-right Proud Boys in the weeks leading to the U.S. Capitol attack, federal prosecutors allege, suggesting for the first time the extremist groups had formed an alliance for the day of the deadly assault. The...
Rally for Solidarity held in Pittsburgh’s Oakland section
A “Pittsburgh Rally for Solidarity” was held Wednesday in Oakland to protest racism and violence toward the Asian community. A few hundred people participated in the event, which started out at Flagstaff Hill and ended at Schenley Plaza. The event featured several speakers and eight minutes of silence for the...
As thousands of unemployment claims expire, Pa. residents refile, wait on federal benefits
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 — Shawn McCreary has measured the last year in time waiting. As a substitute teacher, there have been exactly zero...
A first: U.S. Senate confirms transgender doctor, Rachel Levine, for key postVideo
Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be the nation’s assistant secretary of health. She is the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. The final vote was 52-48. Levine had been serving as Pennsylvania’s top health...
Allegheny County to launch new vaccine registration system next weekVideo
Allegheny County will launch a new vaccine registration system next week, officials announced Wednesday. The system will allow residents to register for a covid-19 vaccine, receive notifications when they become eligible and prevent those who are ineligible from making appointments in the meantime. The system will reduce the number of...
Suspect in McKeesport shooting arrested 1 year later
Allegheny County authorities on Wednesday arrested a man wanted for more than a year in connection with a shooting in McKeesport, investigators said. Kiesean Brown, 20, was identified by the victim in the aftermath of the March 1, 2020, shooting on Irwin Street, according to the charges against him. The...
Pagan woman sues Pleasant Hills Panera over religious discrimination
A Clairton woman who worked as a baker at the Pleasant Hills Panera claims that she was discriminated against and ultimately fired because she is Pagan. Tammy McCoy said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court that she was hired at the Panera on Clairton Boulevard in October 2019....
