Top Stories category, Page 1206
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania see covid hospitalizations go up again
While progress had been made for covid hospitalizations in the past month, numbers appear to be going up again. Hospitalizations in the state and Allegheny County have been generally increasing over the past week, while Westmoreland County’s numbers tell a different story, according to state Department of Health data. Hospitalizations...
Legendary Fallingwater cook Elsie Henderson dies at 107
She famously cooked for the Kaufmann family at Fallingwater, was the object of Frank Lloyd Wright’s flirtations and later shared her recipes on television and in print. Elsie Henderson, a lifelong Pittsburgher, has died. She was 107. Henderson served as the cook, baker and meal planner from 1947 to 1963...
In Pittsburgh, a push to prioritize restaurant, hospitality workers for covid vaccines
Pittsburgh City Council members are calling on the state Health Department to add restaurant, service and hospitality workers to the prioritized group that’s receiving the covid-19 vaccines. The measure, sponsored by Councilman Corey O’Connor, was unanimously approved Tuesday as a will of council. It asks Pennsylvania Acting Secretary of Health...
The Eagle lands in Pittsburgh: Fried chicken restaurant set to open
Fried chicken is the specialty at Downtown Pittsburgh’s newest restaurant. The Eagle Food & Beer Hall calls its main dish “cage-free all-natural chicken.” “Our focus is fried chicken,” said co-founder Joe Lanni. His Cincinnati-based Thunderdome Restaurant Group owns The Eagle. The restaurant is located on Penn Avenue. The name comes...
Evanston, Ill., is 1st city in U.S. to offer Black residents reparations
EVANSTON, Ill. — Evanston, Ill., on Monday became the first U.S. city to make reparations available to its Black residents for past discrimination and the lingering effects of slavery. The Chicago suburb’s City Council voted 8-1 to distribute $400,000 to eligible Black households. Each qualifying household would receive $25,000 for...
Suspect ID’d in mass shooting at Colorado supermarket; victims named
BOULDER, Colo. — Police on Tuesday identified a 21-year-old man as the suspect who opened fire inside a crowded Colorado supermarket in an attack that killed 10 people, including an officer, and sent terrorized shoppers and employees scrambling for cover. Authorities said Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa was from the Denver...
U.S. health officials: AstraZeneca may have used outdated info in vaccine trialVideo
WASHINGTON — AstraZeneca may have included “outdated information” in touting the effectiveness of its covid-19 vaccine in a U.S. study, federal health officials said Tuesday in an unusual public rift that could further erode confidence in the shot. In response, AstraZeneca said that it is working on more up-to-date information...
Report: Extremist groups thrive on Facebook despite bans
A new outside report found that Facebook has allowed groups — many tied to QAnon, boogaloo and militia movements — to glorify violence during the 2020 election and in the weeks leading up to the deadly riots on the U.S. Capitol in January. Avaaz, a nonprofit advocacy group that says...
Overstimulated? Stocks soar 75% in historic 12-month run
NEW YORK — It was one year ago that the terrifying free fall for the stock market suddenly ended, ushering in one of its greatest runs. On March 23, 2020, the S&P 500 fell 2.9%. In all, the index dropped nearly 34% in about a month, wiping out three years’...
4 charged with animal cruelty in connection with poisoning of pigeons in Pittsburgh
A woman’s grim discovery on the streets of Downtown Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving Day culminated in felony animal cruelty charges against four people, including two managers of Downtown’s Frick Building, according to police. Allen Zimmerman, owner of Bird Control Services in Eastern Pennsylvania, his employee, Randall Hoffmaster, and Colleen Derbish and...
Pa. House passes bill to loosen rules on substitute teachers
Legislation to provide more flexibility when it comes to finding substitute teachers to staff classrooms won unanimous approval on Monday from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Barb Gleim, R-Cumberland County, now goes to the Senate for consideration. It aims to help ease the problem districts...
Arson suspected in Penn Hills fire that left one man burned
A husband and wife domestic dispute may have been the spark that caused a Penn Hills fire Sunday afternoon. “It’s a possibility,” police Chief Howard Burton said Monday night. “We don’t believe it was an accident. We believe it was definitely set. It was arson.” Firefighters were initially called to...
Highmark boasts $490M operating gain in 2020 — better than pre-pandemic
When covid-19 struck Western Pennsylvania last March, Highmark Health CEO and President David Holmberg said he and fellow executives braced for the worst. They weren’t sure just how overwhelmed their providers might get, or how much money and other resources it would take to keep operations going as outbreaks proliferated....
Ballot questions should be clear, but 2 written by Wolf administration don’t pass test, critics say
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. A version of this story originally appeared in our free weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — Amending the Pennsylvania Constitution is a lengthy process that ends at the ballot...
Police: 10 people killed at Colorado supermarketVideo
BOULDER, Colo. — A shooting at a Colorado supermarket killed 10 people Monday, including a police officer, and a suspect was in custody, authorities said. Boulder police Chief Maris Herold announced the death toll at a news conference Monday night, fighting back tears. The suspect was getting medical treatment and...
D.C.’s long-simmering statehood push begins in CongressVideo
WASHINGTON — Washington, D.C.’s bid for statehood finally got a congressional hearing Monday, but Mayor Muriel Bowser’s clashes with Republicans on the panel made clear that the issue is far from settled. Republicans accused Democrats of a cynical power play, claimed statehood was never the intention of the country’s Founding...
Pa. updates mask guidance for fully vaccinated residents
The Pennsylvania Department of Health has amended its mask mandate, updating guidance for fully vaccinated residents to fall in line with federal guidelines, officials said Monday. A previous state order went into effect that loosened mask restrictions in certain circumstances. “The vaccines that are currently available across the state and...
Photos of migrant detention highlight Biden’s border secrecyVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration has tried for weeks to keep the public from seeing images like those that emerged Monday showing immigrant children in U.S. custody at the border sleeping on mats under foil blankets, separated in groups by plastic partitions. Administration officials have steadfastly refused to call...
Mysterious new system at border keeps migrants guessingVideo
BROWNSVILLE, Texas — After hearing rumors that Central American families with younger children were being allowed into the U.S., Irma Paz left Honduras with her husband and two kids on a nearly two-month journey to the banks of the Rio Grande. They waded through the cold waters, turned themselves in...
Court records: Box cutter used in attack on child in Downtown Pittsburgh McDonald’s
Court documents paint a chaotic scene inside a Downtown Pittsburgh fast food restaurant over the weekend where a man is accused of stabbing a child in the neck seemingly at random. The incident happened Saturday afternoon at the McDonald’s on Liberty Avenue, where the 12-year-old boy and his family had...
New Greensburg shop promises decadent milkshakes, retro candy
The five Nickischer kids of Hempfield have been living out a dream, acting as taste-testers for the milkshakes their parents will serve in a new downtown Greensburg shop. Nicole and Greg Nickischer are looking for an early May opening for Main Street Sweets, in the lower level of the building...
Kenny Chesney postpones 2021 tour, including Pittsburgh stop
Country music star Kenny Chesney has postponed his entire 2021 tour — including a stop at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field — for the second time because of the coronavirus pandemic. Chesney announced Tuesday on social media that the tour would be pushed back to 2022. The Chillaxifacation tour was originally supposed...
Pennsylvania closing in on 1 million covid cases as numbers continue to creep upward
New cases of the coronavirus continue to see a week-over-week increase at state and county levels in Pennsylvania, according to numbers released Monday by the Department of Health. There were 3,920 new cases of covid-19 recorded in the state over the past two days, the Department of Health reported Monday....
Annual ‘Furry’ convention canceled in Pittsburgh for 2nd straight year
The covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of Anthrocon, the annual furry convention, for the second year, according to the group’s official Facebook page. “We had high hopes but, at this point, it looks like we will not be able to safely hold the convention,” Anthrocon staff wrote in a Facebook...
Pittsburgh-area officers’ posts to private Facebook group show hostility, hateVideo
In a private Facebook group called the Pittsburgh Area Police Breakroom, many current and retired officers spent the year criticizing chiefs that took a knee or officers who marched with Black Lives Matter protesters, who they called “terrorists” or “thugs.” They made transphobic posts and bullied members who supported anti-police...
