Top Stories category, Page 1308

Construction of a multibillion-dollar ethane cracker plant in Beaver County is about 70% complete, a Shell Global executive said Tuesday during the Shale Insight conference. Hilary Mercer, Shell Global’s vice president of Pennsylvania Chemicals, spent about a half-hour during the virtual conference describing the development of the facility, work on...

ORLANDO, Fla. — Squeezed by limits on attendance at its theme parks and other restrictions due to the pandemic, The Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday it planned to lay off 28,000 workers in its parks division in California and Florida. Two-thirds of the planned layoffs involve part-time workers but they...

UPMC doctors on Tuesday addressed the race for a covid-19 vaccine, calling it “this generation’s moonshot,” but warned that a vaccine by year’s end is pie in the sky. “This is simply not going to happen,” said Dr. David Nace, chief medical officer of UPMC’s senior communities. “We’re hopeful that...

A former Westmoreland County probation officer has a preliminary hearing Oct. 19 for allegedly having inappropriate contact with a man she was supposed to be monitoring after his release from the county prison in 2018, according to court documents. Mary Jo Borelli, 57, of Jeannette, is charged with one count...

Pennsylvania has 988 new covid-19 cases Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health. There were also 16 new coronavirus-related deaths reported. Total cases are now 157,814 and total deaths are now 8,123. Of the 16 deaths reported Tuesday, 13 are from September, one from August, one from July and...

The attorney for Judge Mark V. Tranquilli, accused of misconduct and scheduled for trial before the Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline, said that allegations his client spoke in Ebonics should be stricken from the case. Matt Logue, who represents Tranquilli, filed pretrial motions in the case late Monday. Logue asks...

Allegheny County had 71 new covid-19 cases Tuesday, according to the county’s Health Department. In addition, 11 new hospitalizations and no new deaths were reported. Tuesday marked the fourth consecutive day without a coronavirus-related death. The county now has 12,305 cases, 1,211 total hospitalizations and 380 deaths. New cases came...

This sounds like a winning combination at Live! Casino Pittsburgh — a restaurant owned by Guy Fieri. An Emmy-award winning chef, restaurateur, New York Times best-selling author and television personality, Fieri is opening American Kitchen + Bar sometime this year, as was first reported by the Tribune-Review. “There is nothing...

Access to the outbound Fort Pitt Tunnel was blocked for about three hours Tuesday morning because of a jackknifed tractor-trailer on the lower level of Pittsburgh’s Fort Pitt Bridge. The crash was reported around 4:15 a.m., an Allegheny County 911 dispatcher said. The truck was removed and the lanes were...

An Eastern Pennsylvania man was arrested three times in three days in Allegheny County, capping off a suspected crime spree Monday afternoon by leading police on a car chase that spanned three states, court records show. Shad Bocella, 24, was released from the Allegheny County Jail about 11:25 a.m. Monday...

Reports claiming President Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years aren’t likely to sway voters toward Democratic challenger Joe Biden, former U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta said Monday in Monroeville. “Oh, ho hum, here we go again. It’s election time. He’s had four years of...

The business owners who filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. Tom Wolf over his covid-19 shutdown orders are asking the court to award them attorney fees. In a motion filed Monday before U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV, the plaintiffs ask for $135,790 in attorneys fees and costs. That amount,...

The Pennsylvania Superior Court, in a strongly worded decision, ruled that a lawsuit filed by the parents of a 13-year-old Mt. Pleasant boy who was killed accidentally when his friend fired a gun at him can move forward. It is the first appeals court in the country to find that...

Former Vice President Joe Biden will visit Western Pennsylvania by train Wednesday, fresh off his first in-person 2020 election debate against President Trump. Locally, the Democratic nominee and his wife, Jill, will stop in Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Latrobe and New Alexandria. The tour is scheduled to culminate in a 7:30 p.m....

Allegheny Valley School District’s involvement with an initiative aimed at connecting underserved students to the internet is bringing it national attention. The ABC-TV morning show “Good Morning America” sent a crew to record interviews in Springdale and Cheswick on Monday, including a stop at Springdale Free Public Library to highlight...

The Park House, a North Side fixture for decades and a longstanding spot for live bluegrass, is up for sale. The East Ohio Street watering hole has been owned for 16 years by Zamir Zahavi, who said in a statement he is looking ahead to new adventures but hopes someone...

Allegheny County’s covid cases increased by 133 over the past two days, the Health Department reported Monday. On Sunday, the county added 61 new cases, with all but one being confirmed. On Monday, there were 72 new cases added, with all but three being confirmed. In total, there were 1,867...

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 weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — It is the nightmare scenario Pennsylvania election officials have fretted over for months: a knock-down, drag-out fight over...