Top Stories category, Page 1235
Thousands of AHN patients get 1st dose of covid vaccine at PNC Park
More than 2,000 high-risk Allegheny Health Network patients 75 and older on Saturday got the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Health system spokeswoman Candace Herrington said AHN is planning to hold additional clinics as vaccine supply increases. That will include events similar to one...
Westmoreland County reports 72 new covid-19 cases, 6 new deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 72 new cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County, as hospitalizations and case counts decline in the area. The county’s total cases are at 25,202, which is an increase of about 540 cases from the preceding week’s 24,661. The week before had...
Pa. legislature enacted 140 laws last year, only 27 addressed pandemic
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — In 2020, the coronavirus thrust state government into the lives of Pennsylvanians unlike any other time in recent history....
Pittsburgh artist chosen to design Black History Month logo for Yahoo
Sometimes one small thing leads to something bigger. For Janel Young, a direct message from Verizon Media Shop to help design merchandise such as a water bottle, notebook and weekly planner led to her being the first outside artist asked to create a logo to celebrate Black History Month for...
Pennsylvania posts 3,930 new covid cases, 157 deaths
Pennsylvania health officials on Saturday reported 3,930 new coronavirus cases, as hospitalizations and case counts continue to trend downward in the Keystone State. The new data bring the total cases to 865,604. That’s a jump of more than 26,000 additional cases from this time last week. Two weeks ago, the...
Pittsburgh’s Aris Paul Band wins national honor for best rock actVideo
Pittsburgh musician Aris Paul delved deep into family history for his song, “Better Man’s Shoes,” and ended up winning a national award for his band. The Aris Paul Band received best rock song honors in the recent Hollywood Music in Media Awards. “I had no expectations,” Paul said. “I was...
Allegheny County reports 271 covid cases, 30 deaths
Allegheny County on Saturday recorded 271 new coronavirus cases, as recent daily numbers continue to decline. Reports haven’t reached 500 cases in nearly three weeks and the county hasn’t reported any 1,000-case days in the past five weeks, according to data from the Allegheny County Health Department. Thirty deaths were...
Prop bets add fun, whimsy to Super Bowl wagering, though Pa. law limits the fun
Pennsylvanians might not be able to legally bet on what color the Gatorade will be dumped on the winning team’s coach or the length of the National Anthem, but many people likely will make other proposition bets offered during Sunday’s Super Bowl. Prop bets, or side wagers, allow people to...
Abuse survivors and advocates push emergency measure for May ballot
A bipartisan team of Pennsylvania lawmakers will invoke a rare emergency provision of the Pennsylvania Constitution, seeking to restore a constitutional amendment ballot question long sought by victims of child sex abuse. An administrative error by the Department of State, discovered late last month, prevents the question from appearing on...
West Mifflin woman killed in Fayette County crash
A West Mifflin woman was killed Friday in a one-vehicle crash in Fayette County, according to state police and the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. Hope Marie Derry, 29, was a passenger in a vehicle that crashed on Route 51 in Perry Township at about 9:45 a.m., troopers said. Police...
I-70 reopens at Belle Vernon-Speers Bridge after ‘serious’ crash
A few people were hurt in a Saturday morning crash that closed a portion of Interstate 70 on the Belle Vernon-Speers Bridge at the border of Westmoreland and Washington counties, according to a Westmoreland 911 dispatcher. The crash was reported around 6:45 a.m. in the eastbound lanes of I-70. The...
Several Downtown Pittsburgh streets to be closed Saturday morning
Several streets in Downtown Pittsburgh will be closed Saturday morning so crews can install new cooling towers on the roofs of EQT Place and One PPG Place. Public Safety spokesman Chris Togneri said roads closures will occur from 7-11 a.m., weather permitting. Togneri said the operation may be moved to...
Police: Man burned to death in his Penn Hills home
A Penn Hills man burned to death inside his home along Southern Avenue, police Chief Howard Burton reported. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office on Friday identified the victim as Herman Hill, 74. Burton said Hill’s girlfriend had come by the house around 5:10 p.m. Thursday to pick him up...
Heinz Field could be covid-19 vaccine distribution site, but not enough doses available yet
Heinz Field has been offered up as a possible site for a mass covid-19 vaccine distribution — but there are no imminent plans to do so as Pennsylvania scrambles to get enough vaccine doses to people in top-priority groups. “We previously offered Heinz Field for use as a vaccination site...
Voters to decide fate of reducing governor’s emergency powers
Pennsylvania voters will be able to decide in the May 18 primary election the fate of the Republican-backed proposed constitutional amendment to rein in the governor’s power to extend future emergency disaster declarations beyond 21 days without approval by state legislators. The General Assembly on Friday gave its final approval...
Upper Burrell Fire Co. teams with Port Vue for $15,000 cash ‘Luck of the Irish’ drawing
As the pandemic continues to hammer traditional fundraising, Upper Burrell Volunteer Fire Company is teaming up with a fire company from Allegheny County for a Luck of the Irish raffle offering a $15,000 cash prize. “The pandemic has caused us to find new and innovative ways to do business,” said...
Route 65 to be shut down for hours after tree topples onto tractor-trailer near Sewickley
A stretch of Route 65 near Sewickley reopened Friday night after being closed for about 6½ hours because of a tree that toppled onto a tractor-trailer. The southbound lanes of the busy highway parallel to the Ohio River reopened at about 9:30 p.m., while the traffic on northbound lanes was...
Republican group pressures GOP senators to convict Trump in impeachment trial
WASHINGTON — A Republican group plans to run ads in the home states of nearly two dozen GOP senators during next week’s impeachment trial, pressuring them to vote to convict former President Donald Trump and bar him from holding office again. The Republican Accountability Project is spending a half-million dollars...
Pa. district attorney charged with sex assault vows to remain in office
TOWANDA — A Pennsylvania district attorney vowed Friday to remain in office while he fights sexual assault charges, maintaining his innocence and complaining that he was handcuffed and “paraded in front of television cameras” by the state attorney general. Bradford County District Attorney Chad Salsman, who took office a year...
Visiting therapist coerced woman into sex, New Kensington police allege
A visiting therapist twice took a woman to a New Kensington hotel where he coerced her into having sex, city police allege. William Francis Denney, 62, of North Huntingdon was arraigned Thursday on charges of institutional sexual assault and criminal coercion. He was released on an unsecured $25,000 bond. Denney’s...
Harrison native to keep streak alive of attending every Super Bowl
Harrison native Tom Henschel will make a short, 15-minute drive from his home to Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium on Sunday to continue a remarkably long streak. Henschel, 79, has attended all 54 Super Bowl games. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, attendance at this year’s Super Bowl, the 55th, will be...
Port Authority asks to stay injunction permitting Black Lives Matters masks while it seeks appeals
The Port Authority of Allegheny County on Friday filed a motion seeking to stay a federal court injunction while it appeals the decision that found prohibiting employees from wearing Black Lives Matter masks was unconstitutional. In the filing, the agency wrote that the court “disregarded Port Authority’s interest in protecting...
Oscar-winner, ‘Sound of Music’ star Christopher Plummer dies
NEW YORK — Christopher Plummer, the dashing award-winning actor who played Captain von Trapp in the film “The Sound of Music” and at 82 became the oldest Academy Award acting winner in history, has died. He was 91. Plummer died Friday morning at his home in Connecticut with his wife,...
Gov. Wolf to sign $912M pandemic relief bill
HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Wolf will sign legislation approved Friday by lawmakers that carries over $900 million in pandemic-driven aid for hard-hit hospitality businesses, private schools and people struggling to pay rent or utility bills. Both chambers passed the bill unanimously Friday and Wolf’s office said he will sign it....
Pa. Republicans mostly support Marjorie Taylor Greene in House committee ouster
Eight out of nine Pennsylvania Republicans in the House of Representatives stood with U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, as Democrats led a successful move to strip committee assignments from the controversial Georgia Republican with a history of supporting conspiracy theories and making racist comments. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents a...
