Top Stories category, Page 1224
Pennsylvania adds fewer than 3,000 covid cases 7 days in a row
Pennsylvania has reported fewer than 3,000 additional cases of covid-19 each day for a week. The state on Thursday added 2,356 coronavirus cases to bring its total to 922,990 since the start of the pandemic, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The seven-day average of new cases in the...
Chief: Capitol assault much bigger than intel suggested
WASHINGTON — The acting U.S. Capitol Police chief was pressed to explain Thursday why the agency hadn’t been prepared to fend off a violent mob of insurrectionists, including white supremacists, who were trying to halt the certification of the presidential election last month, even though officials had compelling advance intelligence....
Westmoreland County adds fewer than 100 daily covid cases for 3 weeks
Westmoreland County on Thursday reported fewer than 100 new covid-19 cases for the 22nd straight day. The county reported 53 additional cases to bring its case total to 26,550 since the pandemic began nearly a year ago, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Of the new cases, 39 are...
West Mifflin women honored for talking woman off Homestead Grays Bridge
Tanikka Pinnix and her daughter weren’t actually supposed to be on the Homestead Grays Bridge on a chilly Thursday morning last month. Pinnix and her teenage daughter, Layla Gooden, took an unplanned detour across the bridge on Jan. 28. There they saw a woman beginning to climb over the rail...
Former Mt. Lebanon nursing home administrator indicted on health care fraud charges
As part of an ongoing state and federal investigation into the activities at long-term care facilities owned by Comprehensive Healthcare Management Services LLC, the former administrator at its Mt. Lebanon skilled nursing home was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury. Susan Gilbert, 60, of Lawrence, is the only defendant....
Latrobe police: 9-year-old believed to have made prank call reporting school shooting
Latrobe police say they identified a 9-year-old who is accused of making a prank 911 call Wednesday, causing a lockdown at Latrobe Elementary School and prompting a response by multiple emergency and police units. “We were able to positively identify the juvenile who made the call, but, unfortunately at this...
Disease expert Dr. Paul Offit talks about vaccines, variants and a year of pandemicVideo
The U.S. is approaching one year since the covid-19 pandemic became a nationwide problem, shutting down almost all of American society as we know it. The covid-19 vaccines that have been developed are giving people hope that things may soon return to normal. But coronavirus variants are creating uncertainty about...
Allegheny County adds fewer than 300 covid cases for 12th day in a row
Allegheny County on Thursday reported fewer than 300 additional cases of covid-19 for the 12th consecutive day. The county added 224 cases to bring its total to 75,724 since the pandemic began last March. Of the additional cases, 174 are confirmed via 1,065 new PCR tests and 50 are recorded...
Sun Dawg Cafe owners plan new Greensburg nanobrewery
The owners of Sun Dawg Cafe in Greensburg are planning to enter the nanobrewery business. Ray and Rachel Flowers have purchased a building at 503 New Alexandria Road in Greensburg that formerly housed the Underground Grappling sports training facility. The new El Diablo Brewing Co. & Wood-Fired Kitchen is planned...
Straight outta Vandergrift, ‘Banshee’ comes to HBO Max
It’s time to go back to Banshee, Pa. — if you dare. The Cinemax action series, which filmed its fourth and final season in the Alle-Kiski Valley and Pittsburgh area, is now available for streaming on HBO Max. “We are home,” actor Matt Servitto, who portrayed Banshee sheriff Deputy Brock...
Republicans rally solidly against Democrats’ coronavirus relief package
WASHINGTON — Republicans rallied solidly against Democrats’ proposed $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief bill as lawmakers awaited a decision by the Senate’s parliamentarian that could bolster or potentially kill a pivotal provision hiking the federal minimum wage. Despite their paper-thin congressional majorities, Democratic leaders were poised to push the sweeping package...
Pfizer studying effects of 3rd vaccine dose
NEW YORK — Pfizer announced Thursday that it has begun studying a third dose of its covid-19 vaccine, part of a strategy to guard against mutated versions of the coronavirus. Health authorities say first-generation covid-19 vaccines still protect against variants that are emerging in different parts of the world. But...
Cash 5 winning ticket worth $825,298 sold in Bridgeville
Someone who bought a Pennsylvania Lottery ticket in Bridgeville is going home richer. A winning Cash 5 ticket worth $825,298 was sold Feb. 20 at CoGo’s along Station Street, according to Lottery officials. The ticket matched all five numbers — 8-24-34-39-43. Store owners will get a $5,000 bonus for selling...
Sinkhole partially swallows Shaler street sweeper
A sinkhole partially swallowed a street sweeper in Shaler Plaza early Thursday, according to Tribune-Review news partner WPXI. Roads have since reopened in the area where a waterline break happened about 2 a.m. and caused water to gush along Butler Street and Saxonburg Boulevard. The street sweeper was in a...
Bonds, scars remain 30 years after missile struck Hempfield’s 14th Quartermaster unit in Gulf WarVideo
A sudden blast jolted Neal Gouker awake. The explosion from an Iraqi Scud missile slammed him against a wall in his barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. “The place was on fire, and bullets were going off,” recalled Gouker, 50, formerly of Glassport. “For 5 miles around, there were broken windows....
Chief: Capitol Police were warned of violence before riotVideo
WASHINGTON — Capitol Police knew armed extremists were primed for violence at the iconic building on Jan. 6 and even provided officers with assault rifles to protect lawmakers, the acting chief acknowledged Wednesday. But the wild invasion of the Capitol was far worse than police expected, leaving them unprepared to...
Part owner of Donora convenience store fatally shot
A Donora man was fatally shot Wednesday while working at the Donora convenience store where he was part owner, the Washington County Coroner’s Office said. The victim, Nicholas Tarpley, 28, was shot at Lee’s Convenience Store, at 501 Allen Ave., where he was pronounced dead, Deputy Coroner Matthew Yarosek stated...
Pa. GOP meets to discuss Toomey, impeachment vote
HARRISBURG — Republican Party committee members in Pennsylvania were meeting remotely Wednesday night, for hours, in what involved a discussion of whether to censure U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey for his vote to convict Donald Trump during the former president’s second impeachment trial. Toomey’s vote — and his earlier assessment that...
Federal judge denies Port Authority request for stay pending appeal on Black Lives Matter masks
A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request by Port Authority of Allegheny County to stay his decision allowing employees there to wear Black Lives Matter masks at work. U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan ruled in January that a policy implemented last summer by the authority banning political speech...
Carrick man pleads to 2019 fatal crash in Pittsburgh’s Polish Hill neighborhood
A Carrick man pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter stemming from a 2019 crash in Pittsburgh’s Polish Hill neighborhood. Lila Tiwari, 47, of Carrick, will be sentenced for manslaughter and four counts of reckless endangerment by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski on May 20. According to the criminal...
Biden nominations suggest course shift for Postal Service boardVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced three nominations to the board of the U.S. Postal Service, signaling confidence in voting by mail and a possible change of course after months of turmoil over slowed delivery under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Biden named Ron Stroman, a former deputy postmaster general; Anton...
Allegheny County officials ask for vigilance as 3 cases of UK variant identifiedVideo
Allegheny County officials said there are at least three cases of the U.K. covid-19 variant in the county — but they remain optimistic about overall case numbers and the increasing rate of vaccination. “We continue to see good levels of drop,” county Executive Rich Fitzgerald said. “There’s a lot of...
AHN covid vaccination clinic targets marginalized patients in New KensingtonVideo
Getting a needle stuck in her arm felt like normalcy coming back for Doris Hardy. Hardy, 69, of New Kensington was one of about 350 people who received their first dose of the Moderna covid-19 vaccine during a clinic Wednesday at Allegheny Valley Hospital’s outpatient center in New Kensington, the...
White House aims to distribute masks to millions in ‘equity’ pushVideo
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden plans to distribute millions of face masks to Americans in communities hard-hit by the coronavirus beginning next month as part of his efforts to ensure “equity” in the government’s response to the pandemic. Biden, who like Donald Trump’s administration considered sending masks to all Americans,...
Small pet turtles linked to Pennsylvania salmonella outbreak
Tiny turtles have sparked a salmonella outbreak that killed one person and sickened at least eight others, state health officials said Wednesday. The outbreak has been linked to small pet turtles purchased from street vendors, said Acting Secretary of Health Alison Beam. She said a majority of the cases have...
