Top Stories category, Page 1225
After hearing victim’s mom offer forgiveness, man withdraws plea in fatal McKeesport crash
The plea agreement had already been worked out. Jerry Hardy would plead guilty to homicide by vehicle and driving under the influence — admitting his involvement in a crash that killed his friend as they drove home from Rivers Casino Pittsburgh in September 2019. In exchange for his plea, the...
Kennywood gets roller coasters on track for new season
Spring is a month away, summer is a distant four months away, but work is being done now to ensure the roller coasters and rides at Kennywood are ready for the new season. On Tuesday, the park shared on social media several photos of track being replaced on the Racer...
Possible ‘prank’ prompted lockdown at Latrobe Elementary School, officials say
What police believe may have been a prank 911 call on Wednesday shut down Latrobe Elementary School as authorities investigated a reported threat, according to Greater Latrobe district officials. The situation was cleared just before 2 p.m. and no one was hurt. Anxious parents who gathered outside the police perimeter...
Tarentum body, motorcycle builder takes on New Kensington gymVideo
A Tarentum man couldn’t let the gym he loves go away, so he bought it. Men and women, young and old; those who lift weights or just walk the indoor track have been coming back since Billy Cheesman fixed up the gym in the upper level of the Pittsburgh Ice...
Remember when alligators roamed the city? Pittsburgh council members haven’t forgotten
Before the coronavirus pandemic took over the worldwide zeitgeist, there was the season of the loose crocodilian in Pittsburgh. Alligators, crocodiles and the like aren’t native to these parts because of the harsh wintry weather, but they’re kept as pets by some people. In May and June 2019, authorities responded...
Levin Furniture reopens stores in McMurray, Robinson; soon Mt. PleasantVideo
Jeff Federoff had just been laid off from his job at Levin Furniture & Mattress. The new ownership had gone bankrupt — and then the pandemic hit. “I open my mail and there is a letter and a check from Robert Levin,” said Federoff, a 20-year employee from Canonsburg, as...
Pennsylvania reports 76 new covid deaths, while cases, hospitalizations slow
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Wednesday reported 76 new coronavirus deaths and 2,786 additional coronavirus cases. The total number of deaths in the state because of the coronavirus stands at 23,787. The state’s seven-day average is at 2,569 cases, and the state’s seven-day case total is 17,984, both down...
Allegheny County reports 24 new covid deaths, 250 more cases
Allegheny County on Wednesday reported 24 new coronavirus deaths and 250 additional coronavirus cases. There have been several days scattered in February with a spike in the county data for deaths reported. In the four days before Wednesday, the county data shows a net of zero new deaths reported. During...
FDA says Johnson & Johnson’s 1-dose shot prevents covid; final decision soonVideo
WASHINGTON — Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine offers strong protection against severe covid-19, according to an analysis by U.S. regulators Wednesday that sets the stage for a final decision on a new and easier-to-use shot to help tame the pandemic. The Food and Drug Administration’s scientists confirmed that overall the...
Central Catholic High in Pittsburgh closes again following positive covid case
Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood will be closed until Monday as students take online classes. The school had just reopened after a previous closure that ended this week. The new closure is due to a staff member testing positive for covid, the Diocese of Pittsburgh announced Tuesday....
House Democrats prepare changes to coronavirus relief packageVideo
WASHINGTON — A $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief bill continued to take shape Tuesday, with suspense building over whether a minimum wage increase would survive. House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth has assembled an initial 138-page draft manager’s amendment full of changes to the 592-page version his committee approved on Monday, including...
Seven Springs seeing surge of catalytic converter thefts
Thieves have been hacking parts off cars to sell for scrap in and around the borough of Seven Springs in Somerset and Fayette counties, according to Tribune-Review news partner WPXI. State police spokesman Steven Limani told WPXI about 30 catalytic converters have been stolen off of area vehicles in the...
Johnson & Johnson’s covid vaccine could get green light by the end of the weekVideo
An advisory panel from the Food and Drug Administration will meet Friday to consider approving Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose coronavirus vaccine. The company has applied to the FDA for emergency authorization. The panel is expected to grant that as early as this weekend, after it discusses the effectiveness and safety...
Nearly 40 inmates at Allegheny County Jail test positive for covid
Terrell Leonard is being held at Allegheny County Jail on a probation violation. In late January, he learned that one of the correctional officers who worked on his pod, 2D, tested positive for covid-19. A short time later, he said in a court declaration, pod workers and then inmates on...
Officials: More than 600 Pa. nursing homes have received 2nd covid vaccine doses
State officials said they have surpassed an “important milestone” in the mission to vaccinate long-term care residents in Pennsylvania. As of last week, Walgreens has conducted first-dose clinics in nearly 100 locations, while CVS Health has conducted both first- and second-dose clinics at all of its participating skilled nursing facilities....
Temps fall, but Western Pa. power plants, gas lines built to operate during big chills
As some Western Pennsylvanians awoke Sunday morning with temperatures close to zero, they got the heat and power they needed from their natural gas service and electric power plants to keep warm. Meanwhile, millions of Texans were freezing in flooded homes. That catastrophe did not happen in the Northeast and...
Ed Gainey floats plan to resume battle with UPMC as mayoral candidates tout endorsements
State Rep. Ed Gainey, who’s running for Pittsburgh mayor in May’s Democratic primary, released an economic policy agenda that would renew Pittsburgh’s legal challenge to UPMC’s nonprofit status in an attempt to collect more city and school district taxes. “City investments and strong unions gave previous generations of Pittsburghers an...
Capitol defenders blame bad intelligence for deadly breachVideo
WASHINGTON — Faulty intelligence was to blame for the outmanned Capitol defenders’ failure to anticipate the violent mob that invaded the iconic building and halted certification of the presidential election on Jan. 6, the officials who were in charge of security declared Tuesday in their first public testimony on the...
ATI, Steelworkers continue talks as extended contract’s end nears
A one-year contract extension for Allegheny Technologies Inc.’s 1,300 United Steelworkers members expires Sunday, but there has been no talk of a strike or lockout, according to the union local president representing workers at ATI’s Brackenridge facility in Harrison. “We all want to get this wrapped up,” said Todd Barbiaux,...
Officials moving forward with ban on evictions in Pittsburgh during covid pandemic
Pittsburgh City Council members are moving forward with legislation to prevent evictions in the city during the covid-19 pandemic. At its committee hearing on Wednesday, council will further discuss the ordinance that puts into place a moratorium on evictions as long as the city’s pandemic emergency is in place. It...
Pittsburgh officials change language of hairstyle law to remove protection for beards
Despite a last-ditch plea from the leader of the city’s Commission on Human Relations, Pittsburgh City Council members Tuesday approved a revision to a law protecting city residents from discrimination because of their hairstyles. The revision removes language that extends protection to beards and other facial hair. “We must value...
Pa. reports nearly 1.5 million at least partially vaccinated for covid
Pennsylvania reported 2,830 additional covid cases and 97 deaths Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health. Total cases in the state are now 917,848, with 74,624 cases reported in February. Total deaths in the state are now 23,711, with 2,050 deaths reported this month. As of Tuesday, the state...
Westmoreland County covid averages continue decline, lowest since October
Covid case averages continue to decline in Westmoreland County, according to new data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. As of Tuesday, the seven-day average of cases was 62 and seven-day case count was 436 in the county. Those numbers are the lowest since October, when the seven-day average was...
Allegheny County reports 10th straight day with covid cases below 300
Allegheny County on Tuesday reported 274 additional covid cases, the 10th consecutive day reported cases have been below 300. Tuesday’s reported cases (149 confirmed and 125 probable) were the second most among that 10-day span, with the most (285) coming Feb. 20. Cases range in age from 2 months to...
‘Gruesome scene’ in Ambridge home where police say mother shot, killed 2 children
Police in Beaver County described a “gruesome scene” at an Ambridge home where they said a woman shot and killed her two children Monday afternoon before unloading the gun, placing it on her dining room table and calling police to tell them what she’d done. Krisinda Ann Bright, 48, called...
