Top Stories category, Page 1265
Nancy Pelosi narrowly reelected speaker, faces difficult 2021Video
WASHINGTON — Nancy Pelosi was narrowly reelected Sunday as speaker, giving her the reins of Democrats’ slender House majority as President-elect Joe Biden sets a challenging course of producing legislation to tackle the pandemic, revive the economy and address other party priorities. The California Democrat, who has led her party...
Woman sues Gateway School District, claiming interracial marriage cost her athletic director job
An athletic director at a small college claims she was passed over for a similar job with the Gateway School District because she is married to a Black man, according to a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed Jan. 1 by Pittsburgh attorney Todd Hollis, claims that Korie Morton-Rozier experienced “race...
Trump, on tape, presses Georgia official to ‘find’ Trump votesVideo
ATLANTA — President Donald Trump pressured Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state’s presidential election, repeatedly citing disproven claims of fraud and raising the prospect of “criminal offense” if officials did not change the vote count, according to a recording...
Impact of Pennsylvania casino closures remains to be seen, though industry was surging this fiscal year
After more than a decade of continued growth for Pennsylvania’s gaming industry that has pumped billions of tax dollars into state coffers and local communities, the casino industry — and that cash flow — were largely upended in 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic. But the industry was on the rebound...
Biden’s strategy for a predecessor who won’t go away: Ignore him
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden faces historic challenges when he enters the White House on Jan. 20: a raging pandemic, persistently high unemployment, simmering tensions with China and Russia — and a predecessor who won’t go away. Aware of the chaos and distraction Donald Trump has proved he can muster, the...
U.S. coronavirus death toll hits 350,000; surge feared
BALTIMORE — The covid-19 death toll in the United States has surpassed 350,000 as experts anticipate another surge in coronavirus cases and deaths stemming from holiday gatherings over Christmas and New Year’s. Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University shows the U.S. passed the threshold early Sunday morning. More than 20...
Independent chefs say pandemic has aided businessVideo
What’s for dinner? During covid times, that question became challenging for many as restrictions, lockdowns and mandated restaurant closures occurred more than once. Meet three Pittsburgh-area chefs — not affiliated with restaurants — providing home-cooked meals delivered to your door. JSMenusPGH Jake Stewart works out of a kitchen in Springdale...
Pandemic plagued schools in 1st semester, likely to continue after holidays
While the end of a tumultuous first semester is in sight, school districts plagued with uncertainty and ever-changing situations brought on by the coronavirus pandemic are far from in the clear as record-breaking cases are continually reported, leaving no set plans going into the spring months. As the first semester...
Errors in covid data reveal unreliable tracking system for nursing homes
For three or four hours a day, Shelly Kennedy sees nothing but spreadsheets. She has two computer screens at her desk at Presbyterian SeniorCare Network. On one monitor is a spreadsheet tracking covid-19 cases, deaths, personal protective equipment — the list goes on — for each of the network’s facilities,...
More than 1,200 species and counting, free pocket field guide developed for Buffalo Creek watershed
The Buffalo Creek watershed might not be a national park, but it has enough wildlife and varieties of plants — more than 1,200 species — to warrant a pocket field guide developed by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. Audubon, government agencies and other nonprofits have been working for years...
Editorial: Why is vaccine distribution slowed?
The federal government planned for 20 million coronavirus vaccinations by the end of 2020. That has proved to be a bit of an overestimation. The actual totals of about 3 million “certainly are not at the numbers we wanted to be at the end of December,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said...
More GOP lawmakers enlist in Trump effort to undo Biden win
WASHINGTON — A growing number of Republican lawmakers are joining President Donald Trump’s extraordinary effort to overturn the election, pledging to reject the results when Congress meets next week to count the Electoral College votes and certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Saturday announced a...
PWSA truck falls in hole in Lawrenceville
Mintwood Street in Lawrenceville was closed for a few hours after a Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority truck fell into a hole Saturday afternoon. PWSA workers were working on a nearby project earlier in the day. A private contractor was working on a sewer line for a private property in...
Police: Woman in critical condition after she was shot in neck in Wilkinsburg
Police are investigating a shooting that occurred on the 1200 block of Morrow Street in Wilkinsburg. Wilkinsburg Police got the call just before 3 p.m. First responders found a woman who had been shot in her neck. She was transported to a hospital where she was listed in critical condition....
Pittsburgh schools delay in-person instruction
Students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools will remain in remote instruction Monday, upon their return from winter break. Superintendent Anthony Hamlet announced Friday on the district’s Facebook page that he and the district’s board of directors are still finalizing plans to bring students back to buildings. A small number of...
Ziccarelli asks state Senate to overturn Brewster victory
New Kensington lawyer Nicole Ziccarelli will ask the Republican-controlled state Senate to reject state certification and overturn the re-election of incumbent Democrat Jim Brewster in the 45th District. The district includes parts of Westmoreland and Allegheny counties, and that fact is central to the disputed election results. According to official,...
McConnell, Pelosi homes vandalized after $2,000 relief fails
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Vandals lashed out at the leaders of the U.S. House and Senate over the holiday weekend, blighting their homes with graffiti and in one case a pig’s head as Congress failed to approve an increase in the amount of money being sent to individuals to help cope...
Westmoreland County closes in on 20,000 covid cases, adds 6 deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 473 new cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County during the past 48 hours, as cases continue to dip in the area. The numbers represent 118 new cases reported New Year’s Day and 355 on Saturday. The county’s total cases are at...
State Rep. Mike Reese of Mt. Pleasant Township dead at 42
State Rep. Mike Reese, elected in November to his seventh term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, died Saturday at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg following an apparent brain aneurysm. Reese, 42, of Mt. Pleasant Township, was a 12-year House veteran representing Westmoreland and Somerset county residents in the...
Allegheny County surpasses 55,000 covid cases, draws closer to 1,000 deaths
Allegheny County on Saturday recorded a 48-hour total of 1,601 new coronavirus cases. Officials reported 553 cases on New Year’s Day and 1,048 cases the day after. The county has reported nine days of 1,000 or more new cases. Twenty-two new deaths were reported Saturday, lifting the county’s toll at...
Massachusetts policeman pays for shoplifting suspects’ holiday dinner
SOMERSET, Mass. — A Massachusetts police officer declined to charge two women accused of trying to steal groceries for the children — and instead bought them Christmas dinner. Somerset Officer Matt Lima responded to a report of shoplifting Dec. 20 at Stop & Shop, where two women with two young...
Pennsylvania hits 650,000 coronavirus cases, adds 261 deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 16,967 new coronavirus cases over the past 48 hours, as the Keystone State hurtled over the 650,000-case mark. Officials said 7,714 additional cases were reported New Year’s Day, while 9,253 were reported Saturday. The new data bring the total cases to 657,292. That’s a jump of...
100 years ago, KDKA gave birth to religious radio broadcasts at Calvary Episcopal in Pittsburgh
Before Jerry Falwell, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Joel Osteen, Archbishop Fulton Sheen and famous radio evangelists such as Father Charles Coughlin and Aimee Semple McPherson, there was Edwin Van Etten. It was the Rev. Edwin Van Etten, far from a household name, who helped popularize the live radio sermon....
New Kensington woman takes traditional pierogi further, offering 20 flavorsVideo
New Kensington’s Patti Mazza Bieranowski has been pinching up a pierogi storm since 1984. Her homemade pierogies are sold and gifted to friends and family. More than 20 flavors are offered. including shepherd’s pie, buffalo chicken, kielbie kraut, sweet kraut, loaded baked potato and cottage cheese with chives. Her passion...
White Oak restaurant donating Tuesday eat-in proceeds to servers
Thousands of restaurant servers like Kelly Matey lost a third of their wages and months worth of tips last year because of the state’s ban on indoor dining for almost three months in the spring and then again three more weeks over the busy Christmas and New Year’s holidays. “It...
