Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1231
Pa. covid case average drops to October level
The start of May has seen covid case numbers decline in Pennsylvania. With the declining figures, a key statistic has also dropped to a level it hadn’t been since October. Cases Pennsylvania reported 2,385 additional covid cases (1,669 confirmed, 716 probable) to its total Tuesday, according to the state Department...
Pa. Senate bill would give parents option of having child repeat grade
Allowing parents to hold back their child from being promoted to the next grade in 2021-22 due to learning loss during the covid-19 pandemic is now on track for consideration by the full Pennsylvania Senate. The Senate Education Committee voted unanimously to advance this legislation that also gives parents of...
Study finds 8 of 10 hospitalized covid patients have neurological symptoms
Neurological symptoms are frighteningly common among hospitalized covid-19 patients, and the symptoms are associated with a greater risk of death, a new study shows. A paper published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open outlines a project studying patients from around the globe. Scientists, including several at the University...
U.S. job openings soar to highest level on record
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers posted a record number of available jobs in March, illustrating starkly the desperation of businesses seeking to find new workers as the economy expands. Yet total job gains increased only modestly, according to a Labor Department report issued Tuesday. The figures come after the April jobs...
Poll: Most in U.S. who remain unvaccinated need convincing
Fewer Americans are reluctant to get a covid-19 vaccine than just a few months ago, but questions about side effects and how the shots were tested still hold some back, according to a new poll that highlights the challenges at a pivotal moment in the U.S. vaccination campaign. Just 11%...
Police: McKees Rocks man flees hospital after leading officers on 90 mph chase in Penn Hills
Police are searching for a McKees Rocks man who fled from a hospital after leading officers on a chase and crashing his SUV in Penn Hills on Saturday. Mark Clements III, 19, is charged with reckless driving, careless driving, fleeing or attempting to elude police, resisting arrest and five related...
1.4B but no more? China’s population growth closer to zero
BEIJING — China’s population growth is falling closer to zero, government data showed Tuesday, adding to strains on an aging society with a shrinking workforce as fewer couples have children. The population rose by 72 million over the past 10 years to 1.411 billion in 2020, the National Bureau of...
Inside Arizona’s election audit, GOP fraud fantasies live on
PHOENIX — On the floor of Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where NBA stars like Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan once dunked basketballs and Hulk Hogan wrestled King Kong Bundy, 46 tables are arrayed in neat rows, each with a Lazy Susan in the middle. Seated at the tables are several dozen...
Westmoreland officials seek answers for Mt. Pleasant Township ballot error
Westmoreland County elections officials on Monday continued to piece together how the race for a district judge’s seat was excluded from mail-in ballots sent to voters last week in four Mt. Pleasant Township precincts. “It’s my responsibility,” Elections Bureau Director JoAnn Sebastiani said of the oversight that led to 189...
‘Adopt a Senior’ program brings joy to Springdale 12th-gradersVideo
An ordinary Monday turned into a day of special recognition for Springdale High School seniors who were taken by surprise when they received gift packages as part of a first-year program called “Adopt a Senior.” The warm-hearted trinkets in the gift packages reflected what teachers, staff and coaches had learned...
Pfizer covid-19 shot expanded to U.S. children as young as 12Video
Covid-19 vaccines finally are headed for more kids as U.S. regulators on Monday expanded use of Pfizer’s shot to those as young as 12, sparking a race to protect middle and high school students before they head back to class in the fall. Shots could begin as soon as a...
2 decades after being sentenced to death, Richard Baumhammers remains in prison
Twenty years ago this month, a jury in Western Pennsylvania had an important question to answer: should Richard Baumhammers be put to death for what he did? “Sentencing someone to death, that’s not an easy decision,” said Ron Frew on a recent rainy day in May. Frew, 67, lives in...
Former Mt. Pleasant police officer sentenced to prison for sexual assaults
A Westmoreland County prosecutor argued in court Monday that a former part-time Mt. Pleasant Borough police officer who used an escalating level of violence in sexual attacks against three women should spend up to 50 years in prison. “Law enforcement officials carry badges. If you look at it, it’s a...
Scene75 in Edgewood Towne Center closing permanently
Scene75, a large indoor entertainment center, appears to be the latest victim of the covid-19 pandemic, as its Edgewood Towne Center location is closing permanently. The Ohio-based company opened the Edgewood location at the site of a former Kmart in 2018. Scene75 offered an array of entertainment, ranging from an...
High school graduations: With covid-19 restrictions set to end, some schools are changing plans
The coronavirus pandemic almost took out all the pomp and circumstance out of graduation again this year. Now, with covid-19 mitigation efforts about to end, some schools are scrambling to change graduation plans in the hopes of giving seniors as traditional a commencement as possible. Some schools are allowing more...
15-year-old charged as an adult in connection with Hill District homicide
One teen is charged with killing another as a group of friends were hanging out last month in Pittsburgh’s Bedford Dwellings, according to court paperwork. Deron Darby, 15, is charged as an adult in connection with the April 24 death of 17-year-old Isaiah Freeman. Witnesses told police a group of...
Uniontown man raises over $57K for new liver thanks to Facebook group that mocks baby boomers
Gary Rider of Uniontown needed a liver transplant. But he couldn’t afford the medical bills. So he did what many people in similar situations do and started a GoFundMe page. He also started selling his possessions, one of which was an air compressor. He put an ad up for the...
State posts lowest number of new covid cases in 7 months
Not since early October has the daily covid case report for Pennsylvania been so low. New case numbers were down across the state, with Allegheny and Westmoreland counties posting their lowest numbers of the year — marks not seen for seven months. On Monday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health posted...
2 accused of boarding Jeannette school bus; driver hurt during attack
Two people are accused by police of boarding a Jeannette school bus, with one of them attacking the driver, according to court papers. Aaron Blocker Jr., 40, of Jeannette, is wanted on an arrest warrant. He is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, unauthorized school bus entry and harassment. Lacy...
2nd winning ‘Strike It Rich’ lottery ticket, worth $360K, sold in Westmoreland County
Someone will be able to finance quite the summer vacation after purchasing a prize-winning lottery ticket worth more than $360,000 in Murrysville. A progressive top-prize ticket worth $360,832 for the Pennsylvania Lottery’s “Strike It Rich” game was sold at the Sunoco fuel station and Choice Cigarette Discount Outlet at the...
Wendy Bell out of WJAS lineup
Wendy Bell is no longer in the weekday lineup on talk radio station WJAS. “All I can tell you is it’s a personnel matter and it’s currently being handled by the company,” said Michele Bradac, a spokeswoman for St. Barnabas, which owns the radio station. The radio station posted a...
Pittsburgh’s mayoral election features 2 established candidates and 2 novices
Pittsburgh’s mayoral race pits two political insiders, the incumbent and a longtime state representative, against two outsiders, a retired cop and an Ivy League-educated math tutor/ride-hailing driver. Talk of equity and reform unite the men, but each have different approaches to the subject. The May 18 Democratic primary likely decides...
2 charged in Jeannette break-in, assault of resident
A Jeannette man is being held without bail after police said he broke into a city home and attacked a sleeping woman, according to court papers. Police said Jamar Abdul McIntosh, 42, pointed a gun at the woman and punched her several times. He was arrested Thursday. Police said the...
Drenched: Steady rainfall sets records in Western Pa.
May showers bring May flowers? Yes they do. The steady rains the area has received in the early part of this month are setting records. The seven straight days of precipitation that fell in the Pittsburgh-area from May 3 through May 9 brought an unprecedented total of 2.32 inches of...
U.S. trashes unwanted gear in Afghanistan to be sold as scrap
BAGRAM, Afghanistan — The twisted remains of several all-terrain vehicles leaned precariously inside Baba Mir’s sprawling scrap yard, alongside smashed shards that were once generators, tank tracks that have been dismantled into chunks of metal, and mountains of tents reduced to sliced up fabric. It’s all U.S. military equipment. The...
