Top Stories category, Page 1266
New stimulus checks likely not enough for those facing financial crisis
A new round of stimulus checks may seem like a boost as covid-19 continues to cause widespread economic struggles — but these checks may be too little, too late for people who have faced significant financial hardship throughout the pandemic. The checks have been hotly debated, with Senate Majority Leader...
Laurels & lances of 2020
Laurel: To a life lived in service to others. On the last day of 2020, Pennsylvania lost a bedrock political figure. Dick Thornburgh, a two-term governor of Pennsylvania and U.S. attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, died at the age of 88. He left behind a legacy of work...
Police: North Braddock detective allegedly brandished weapon at New Year’s Eve party
A North Braddock detective faces charges of assault and harassment for allegedly pulling out his gun and pressing it into a man’s side at a New Year’s Eve party early Friday morning, court records show. Craig Gibson, 43, allegedly showed up uninvited, unannounced and intoxicated to a party on Sixth...
GOP torn over Trump’s Electoral College challenge of Biden
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s extraordinary challenge of his election defeat by President-elect Joe Biden is becoming a defining moment for the Republican Party before next week’s joint session of Congress to confirm the Electoral College results. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is urging Republicans not to try to overturn...
1st Alle-Kiski Valley baby of 2021 is a Verona boy
The first baby from the Alle-Kiski Valley born in 2021 is a boy from Verona. Carter Magee made his debut at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital at 12:54 a.m. Friday, weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces and measuring 19.5 inches long. Baby Carter’s parents are Jennifer Celender and Patrick Magee of Verona. Mom...
In a first, Congress overrides Trump veto of defense bill
WASHINGTON — Congress on Friday overrode President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense policy bill, a first by lawmakers since he took office nearly four years ago, ensuring that the measure becomes law despite Trump’s rejection. In an extraordinary New Year’s Day session, the Republican-controlled Senate easily turned aside the...
U.S. hits 20 million mark in coronavirus cases
BALTIMORE — The number of confirmed U.S. coronavirus cases has surpassed 20 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That’s nearly twice as many as the No. 2 country, India, and nearly one-quarter of the more than 83 million cases globally. The U.S. continued to surpass other countries in...
It’s a boy! First New Year’s baby born to Greensburg woman
Siearra Pantojas of Greensburg received an early New Year’s Day surprise. A healthy baby boy. Pantojas, 21, was out shopping when she went into labor early on New Year’s Eve. After about five hours of hard labor, she welcomed son Bentlee Cole, the first 2021 baby born at Forbes Hospital...
Federal buildings vandalized in Philadelphia, 6 arrested, devices found
PHILADELPHIA — Six people were arrested after a group vandalized several federal buildings in Philadelphia’s Center City on New Year’s Eve, police said. Officers spotted about 50 people, all dressed in black, at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the historic U.S. Customs House, where windows were smashed, police said. Three...
Study: U.S. covid patients face more mental health issues; Excela Health bracing for uptickVideo
Researchers at the University of Oxford published a study reporting the first large-scale evidence that covid-19 survivors are at increased risk of anxiety or depression. The study looked at electronic health records for 69 million U.S. residents, including more than 62,000 covid-19 cases. In the three months following a positive...
Looking back, looking ahead: 2020 was a trying year, what’s in store for 2021?Video
Americans would have to go back several decades at least to find a year as hellacious as 2020. Perhaps not since 1968, when the United States was fighting a war in Vietnam, when police were clashing with young people protesting that war, and when Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby...
Editorial: Prioritizing problems for 2021
It’s 2021! Everything is going to change, right? Well, let’s not put too much pressure on the healing power of flipping a page on a calendar. The New Year is definitely a time of hope and optimism. Even when things are good, there’s something about New Year’s Day that just...
What turns 100 in 2021? Here are a few century-old items
Everything gets older. It’s just a fact of life. And this year — that would be 2021 — there are a few things that are turning 100. And we’re kind of blown away by how old they are. For instance: Cheez-It On March 31, 1921, the Dayton, Ohio-based...
Harrison fire captain: Hoarding contributes to stubborn house fireVideo
Firefighters spent more than two hours knocking down a fire that broke out Thursday night at a Harrison home because of “very heavy hoarding conditions,” Harrison Hills Fire Captain Jules Beer said. No one was seriously injured in the fire that ripped through the house, according to Beer. Two firefighters...
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, other Pa. House Republicans pledge to oppose Electoral College tally
In what is almost certain to be another doomed effort to disenfranchise the votes of millions of Pennsylvania residents, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly is taking his unending challenge of the results of the presidential election to the halls of Congress. The Butler Republican, whose 16th Congressional District includes Erie, said...
Dick Thornburgh remembered by Western Pa. dignitaries for leadership, empathy, intellect
Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all state and American flags at public buildings statewide to fly at half-staff Thursday upon learning of the death of former U.S. Attorney General and Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh. Wolf, a Democrat, described Thornburgh, a Republican, as “an unequaled public servant.” “He guided Pennsylvania through a...
Port Vue man charged in fatal North Braddock shooting
Police have arrested a Port Vue man in the fatal shooting of a North Braddock resident and are working to identify other people involved in the Nov. 7 incident. Allegheny County Police have charged Duwan Carey, 18, with criminal homicide, burglary and conspiracy. He was apprehended Thursday morning with the...
Dogs, cats greeted with fanfare for opening of new $1.8 million Animal Protectors shelter in New Kensington
Puppy dog tails wagged, cats meowed and the staff and volunteers of Animal Protectors of Allegheny Valley rejoiced on Thursday afternoon for the opening of its new $1.8 million animal shelter along Church Street in New Kensington. The facility is the lower Alle-Kiski Valley’s first major, large-scale animal shelter. In...
Butler house fire claims 3-year-old boy, sends others to hospitals
A 3-year-old boy died Thursday in a house fire in Butler County, and three other family members were taken to area hospitals as a result of the blaze, authorities said. A state police fire marshal is investigating the cause of the fire that was reported just before noon at a...
Pittsburgh homicides tick upward after lowest level in 20 years
Homicides in Pittsburgh increased in 2020 a year after dropping to the lowest level in two decades, data from the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office shows. Across the city, 51 people – nine women and 41 men – were killed by others over the course of the year. Four victims...
Dick Thornburgh, ex-Pa. governor and U.S. attorney general, diesVideo
Dick Thornburgh, who as Pennsylvania governor won plaudits for his cool handling of the 1979 Three Mile Island crisis and as U.S. attorney general restored credibility to a Justice Department hurt by the Iran-Contra scandal, has died. He was 88. Thornburgh died Thursday morning at a retirement community facility outside...
Penn Township man accused of assaulting teenager during food delivery
An 83-year-old Penn Township man was accused this week of sexually assaulting a teenage girl who made a food delivery to his home earlier this month. Clifford B. Wareham was charged Tuesday by township police with harassment and indecent assault in connection with the Dec. 21 incident that occurred at...
Friends, family hold out hope for answers in disappearance of Pittsburgh artist
A Pittsburgh artist has been missing for one year, and family and friends say they are still holding out hope for answers. Tonee Turner was last seen Dec. 30, 2019. On that day, she went to Dobra Tea on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill and later got on a bus...
Westmoreland County finishes year with 19,000 covid-19 cases, 423 deaths
Westmoreland County ended the year with a total of 19,333 coronavirus cases and 423 deaths since the first cases were reported in March. The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Thursday reported 263 additional coronavirus deaths and added 14 deaths to the year totals for the county. December saw 10,072 cases...
Pennsylvania records 640,000 covid-19 cases, nearly 16,000 deaths in 2020
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Thursday reported 8,992 additional coronavirus cases and 306 deaths attributed to the coronavirus, closing the year with 640,325 cases and 15,978 deaths since the pandemic began here in March. December recorded the highest number of cases for the year: 278,861. November had 153,437 recorded...
