Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1229
State police investigating crash near Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer
State police are investigating a crash Thursday night along the Route 28 overpass near the Pittsburgh Mills mall. Troopers said the two-vehicle crash occurred shortly after 9 p.m. and both vehicles had to be towed from the scene. No injuries were reported. The crash remains under investigation....
Congress provided $28 billion to save restaurants. It’s running out
WASHINGTON — Restaurants and bars desperate for a lifeline during covid-19 swarmed to apply for a new government grant to help them pay for rent, utilities, supplies and payroll. In just 10 days, the Small Business Administration has received 266,000 applications asking for $65 billion in aid, more than twice...
Western Pa. businesses grapple with mask policies after CDC, state updates guidance
Pennsylvania’s covid-19 mask mandate will update to fall in line with new federal guidance released Thursday, meaning those who are fully vaccinated can go unmasked in most of their daily activities. Those who are fully inoculated against covid-19 can go maskless in most situations, the Centers for Disease Control and...
Westmoreland officials say voters who receive mail-in ballots this weekend should use drop boxes
Westmoreland County elections officials said Thursday that all 18,000-plus mail-in ballots requested for Tuesday’s primary have been sent. Election Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said the last batch of ballots, requested in the final days before the May 11 deadline, were mailed Wednesday and should arrive by this weekend. As of...
Westmoreland to get $105M in covid relief funds, could use money for capital improvements
Westmoreland commissioners said the county will receive $105.3 million in federal coronavirus relief funds that will be used to fund a variety of needed capital improvements and ultimately negate the need for a tax hike. Commissioners on Thursday formally applied for the money allocated through the $1.9 trillion American Rescue...
Irwin fire chief calls firefighter’s arrest on arson charges ‘beyond disheartening’
Irwin fire Chief Justin Mochar said he told North Huntingdon police about firefighter Shawn Mann’s possible involvement in a suspicious April 27 blaze. Mann, 25, of North Huntingdon was arraigned on charges of arson, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment filed by township police in connection with the 11:16 p.m. fire...
CDC: Masks no longer needed for fully vaccinated people in most settings
WASHINGTON — In a striking move to send the country back toward pre-pandemic life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday eased indoor mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people, allowing them to safely stop wearing masks inside in most places. The new guidance still calls for wearing masks...
Police: New Castle man killed mother, neighbor
A Lawrence County man is charged in connection with the slayings of his mother and a neighbor in their homes. New Castle Police said 59-year-old Louis Esposito also shot and wounded another neighbor near his home on Dewey Street. Investigators wrote in a release that he later confessed to the...
Covid cases in Pennsylvania, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties continue to slow
Covid cases in Pennsylvania, as well as Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, have continued to slow. The Allegheny County Health Department reported 142 additional cases — 126 confirmed and 16 probable — on Thursday, with the county’s total reaching 99,709. The seven-day average of cases was 168, a 28.5% drop from...
Colonial Pipeline paid hackers nearly $5 million in ransom
Colonial Pipeline Co. paid nearly $5 million to Eastern European hackers on Friday, contradicting reports earlier this week that the company had no intention of paying an extortion fee to help restore the country’s largest fuel pipeline, according to two people familiar with the transaction. The company paid the hefty...
Vintage Grand Prix returns to Schenley Park after 2020 cancellation
The Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix is ready to get back on track at Schenley Park this summer after the pandemic forced its cancellation a year ago. Presented by the Greater Pittsburgh Automobile Dealers Foundation, events are scheduled to begin on July 16 and run through Race Weekend in Schenley Park...
Ohio offers shot at $1 million through covid vaccines
Get a covid vaccine. Win $1 million. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Wednesday that the state will award five vaccinated adult residents $1 million as an incentive to get more people vaccinated. About half of Ohio’s 8.4 million adults have at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccination. Two weeks...
St. Clair man accused of leading police on chase while his license was suspended
A St. Clair man was arrested Tuesday after township police said he led them on a chase while his license was suspended, according to court papers. Shane Robert Hillegas, 25, is charged with fleeing from police, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest and summary traffic offenses. Police were on patrol at 4:30...
Plum woman’s life saved by quick work from her husband, Allegheny County dispatch and first responders
Kristen Frederick is grateful to be alive. The Plum resident suffered a cardiac arrest around 11 p.m. Feb. 5 after heading to bed in her Holiday Park home. Her husband, Rob, an Army sergeant who served in Iraq, heard a weird snoring sound that night and found Frederick gasping for...
U.S. cities see surge in deadly street racing amid pandemic
Jaye Sanford, a 52-year-old mother of two, was driving home in suburban Atlanta on Nov. 21 when a man in a Dodge Challenger muscle car who was allegedly street racing crashed into her head-on, killing her. Sanford was remembered by friends as kind and thoughtful, but now she will also...
Israel threatens Gaza ground invasion despite truce effortsVideo
JERUSALEM — Israel on Thursday said it was massing troops along the Gaza frontier and calling up 9,000 reservists ahead of a possible ground invasion of the Hamas-ruled territory, as the two bitter enemies plunged closer to all-out war. Egyptian mediators rushed to Israel for cease-fire efforts but showed no...
Kittanning man’s police confrontations lead to 5-year prison sentence
A Kittanning man will serve up to five years in prison for two incidents last year in Allegheny Township and Vandergrift in which police said he became physical with arresting officers. Jacob John Zoeller, 27, pleaded guilty to charges of burglary, child endangerment and resisting arrest in connection with a...
3 candidates vie for state Rep. Jeff Pyle’s seat in special election
Three candidates will vie for the seat of former state Rep. Jeff Pyle, R-Ford City, in a special election being held in the 2021 municipal primary election on Tuesday, May 18. Pyle, in his ninth term, stepped down in March for health reasons. The winner of the special election will...
3 candidates vie to fill vacancy in 59th district special election
Ligonier Democrat Mariah Fisher, Unity Republican Leslie Baum Rossi and Ligonier Libertarian Robb Luther will square off Tuesday in a special election to fill the vacancy in the 59th Legislative District created by the Jan. 2 death of state Rep. Mike Reese. Reese, a 42-year-old Republican rising star from Mt....
2-story Duquesne building evacuated as crews battle fire
Occupants were evacuated safely Wednesday night as crews battled flames in a two-story building in Duquesne, WPXI-TV reported. However, some pets may have perished, the station said. The two-alarm fire was reported just before 10 p.m. in the 400 block of Grant Avenue, according to an Allegheny County 911 dispatch...
Man taken from scene of 6-hour SWAT standoff in Baldwin Township
A man was handcuffed and taken in an ambulance from the scene of a SWAT standoff Wednesday night in Baldwin Township, according to WPXI-TV. According to the station, township police said a mental health warrant was issued for the man, who barricaded himself in an apartment on McNeilly Road after...
Western Pa. gas prices creep up by 6 to 9 cents; demand likely to climb even as Colonial pipeline reopensVideo
Western Pennsylvania gasoline prices have crept up by 6 to 9 cents in the past week, and drivers should expect a sustained climb in prices as the nation rebounds from pandemic-spurred shutdowns and more people hit the road for vacations this summer. Analysts say the uptick can be attributed primarily...
UPMC study finds tubes have no lasting benefit over antibiotics for kids with ear infections
When a young child has chronic ear infections, a common form of treatment is to surgically place tubes in their ears for two years. But researchers from UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh have found no long-term benefit to the tubes compared with the alternative: giving...
Drivers scrambling for fuel as hacked pipeline restartsVideo
CLEMMONS, N.C. — Drivers waited in long lines Wednesday at gas stations in the Southeast after a hack of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline led to distribution problems and panic-buying, draining supplies at thousands of gas stations. Although there was no gasoline shortage, there was a problem getting the fuel...
Pittsburgh officials showboat new River Rescue vesselVideo
Pittsburgh city and public safety officials unveiled a new River Rescue boat Wednesday, one equipped with advanced lifesaving equipment and a sonar system for searching underwater. The advanced capabilities mean that River Rescue personnel — trained dive paramedics and police — will be more equipped not only to get people...
