Top Stories category, Page 1207
Newly confirmed surgeon general to focus on covid, opioidsVideo
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed a soft-spoken physician as President Joe Biden’s surgeon general Tuesday. While Dr. Vivek Murthy says ending the coronavirus pandemic is his top priority, he’s also raised concerns over a relapsing opioid overdose crisis. The vote on Murthy was 57-43, giving him bipartisan support. Biden’s coronavirus...
Westmoreland commissioner says county voters want end to no-excuse mail-in ballots, another disputes that
Drawing criticism from county Democrats, Republican Westmoreland Commissioner Doug Chew on Tuesday told a Pennsylvania Senate committee that his constituents want to eliminate no-excuse mail-in voting. Chew testified before the Senate committee on election integrity and reform that more than 20,000 county residents were potentially disenfranchised during the 2020 presidential...
Slower mail, fewer office hours part of Postal Service plans
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy on Tuesday announced plans to slow mail delivery standards and cut hours at some post offices as part of a 10-year strategy to stabilize the struggling agency. Details of the long-awaited plan come at a time of intense scrutiny on the U.S. Postal Service over persistent...
Biden urges gun control laws as another mass shooting alters his pandemic-relief tour
WASHINGTON — For the second time in a week, President Joe Biden’s campaign to broaden public awareness and support for his pandemic relief benefits has been overshadowed by a mass shooting, thrusting the fraught issue of gun control to the fore. On Tuesday, he was set to travel to Ohio,...
Officials: Gun in Colorado supermarket shooting bought 6 days earlierVideo
BOULDER, Colo. — Police on Tuesday identified a 21-year-old man as the suspect who opened fire inside a crowded Colorado supermarket, and court documents showed that he purchased an assault weapon less than a week before the attack that killed 10 people, including a police officer. Supermarket employees told investigators...
Schumer vows vote on background checks after latest shooting
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats say they are pushing toward a vote on expanded gun control measures as the nation reels from its second mass shooting in a week. But prospects for any major reform are dim, for now, in the closely divided Congress. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed Tuesday...
Pittsburgh council passes ban on gators, crocodiles and certain turtles
Most people who acquire an alligator, crocodile or similar reptile don’t realize the care and caution that must be used to keep them as a pet, Pittsburgh police Officer Christine Luffey told City Council members Tuesday. Luffey was one of the authorities who responded to a spate of reptile complaints...
More than 100,000 educators in Pa. vaccinated through state initiative
More than 100,000 educators have been vaccinated through a Pennsylvania initiative using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, state officials announced Tuesday. A total of 102,161 school teachers and staff have gotten the vaccine since the initiative got started across Pennsylvania. “Vaccinating more than 100,000 teachers and staff in less than...
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...
