Top Stories category, Page 1309
Latrobe counselor accused of paying teen girl to see nude photos
Police arrested a Latrobe therapist on accusations he paid a girl he was counseling in order to see nude photographs of her, according to court papers. Gregory Patrick Miscik, 59, of Salem, was charged Friday with trafficking, sexual abuse of children, child pornography, corruption of minors, indecent assault and harassment....
WQED combines events for a kindness trifecta on Cardigan Day
November’s Friday the 13th will be a lucky day, as World Kindness Day coincides with King Friday the XIII’s birthday, making it the ideal time for WQED to celebrate its third annual Cardigan Day. “King Friday’s birthday is celebrated every Friday the 13th, no matter how many there are every...
25 Airbnb properties in Allegheny County suspended or removed for violating party rules
More than two dozen Allegheny County Airbnb hosts have been suspended or removed from the rental website for violating covid-19 party restrictions put in place earlier this year. According to the Monday announcement, 25 listings either received complaints or “otherwise violated” Airbnb’s policies on parties and events. “We’ve banned parties...
Westmoreland debates how to count mail-in ballots that arrived minutes late on Election Day
Westmoreland County election officials said Monday that 375 mail-in ballots delivered to the courthouse nine minutes late on Election Day will not initially be added to the vote totals. County commissioners, acting as the elections board, approved the start of the process to review and count all 816 ballots that...
Pennsylvania adds over 6,300 new covid cases in 2 days
Since Saturday, Pennsylvania has added more than 6,300 new cases of coronavirus, the state’s Department of Health said Monday. On Sunday and Monday, there were 6,311 new cases of covid-19 — 2,909 on Sunday, 3,402 on Monday — making for 22,300 new cases in the past week. Since the beginning...
Westmoreland County adds no new covid deaths for 1st time in nearly a month
Westmoreland County’s 24-day streak of at least one covid-related death has been broken. The county added no new deaths Sunday or Monday, something that has not happened since Oct. 14. In that time span, the county has recorded 54 deaths. The county’s death total stands at 118. Westmoreland saw 199...
Peduto: Without federal aid, Pittsburgh will cut over 630 jobsVideo
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto introduced a $564 million operating budget for 2021 on Monday that doesn’t include a tax increase. But he said cuts will be required if federal relief for cities impacted by the coronavirus pandemic isn’t approved soon. “It never should have come to this — and it...
Allegheny County adds 530 new covid cases in 2 days
The Allegheny County Health Department announced the area added 530 new cases of coronavirus over the past two days. Of those new cases, 260 were added Sunday, 270 added Monday. The county’s seven-day total of new cases hit a record high 1,596 — a 200% increase since the beginning of...
5 employees at Brentwood Borough School District test positive for tuberculosis
Five employees of the Brentwood Borough School District have tested positive for tuberculosis, officials announced over the weekend. In a letter to district families, Superintendent Amy Burch said the employees are not infectious. Their illness was discovered as a result of extended testing implemented after a high school student tested...
Stocks rally worldwide with hopes for a return to ‘normal’
NEW YORK — Brimming hopes that people will again return to office buildings, shopping centers and normal life sent markets rallying worldwide on Monday, following encouraging data about a potential coronavirus vaccine. The S&P 500 rose 41.06, or 1.2%, to 3,550.50 after Pfizer said an early peek at its vaccine...
Suspect captured after North Huntingdon standoffVideo
A police standoff Monday in North Huntingdon, which impacted Norwin schools and brought tactical equipment to a residential neighborhood, ended when authorities found the suspect at a nearby home. Randolph Eugene Dillinger, 54, was being sought by state parole agents in connection with a 2008 case out of Allegheny County,...
Referendum on Trump shatters turnout records
With votes still being counted, turnout in the 2020 presidential election has hit a 50-year high, exceeding the record set by the 2008 presidential election of Barack Obama — an extraordinary engagement in what amounted to a referendum on President Donald Trump’s leadership. As of Sunday, the tallied votes accounted...
Pfizer says early data signals its covid-19 vaccine 90% effective
Pfizer says an early peek at its vaccine data suggests the shots may be 90% effective at preventing covid-19, indicating the company is on track later this month to file an emergency use application with U.S. regulators. Monday’s announcement doesn’t mean a vaccine is imminent: This interim analysis, from an...
Pitt issues shelter-in-place order to students due to covid surge
The University of Pittsburgh has issued a shelter-in-place order effective midnight Sunday for students at the Oakland campus. During the two-week shelter-in-place period, students are being told to only leave their dormitory rooms or apartments to attend classes or the library, pick up food, exercise, work and shop for essentials....
Steelers rally to beat Cowboys, move to 8-0 for 1st time in franchise history
ARLINGTON, Texas — Just when it looked like the Steelers would add another chapter to the ledger of road stinkers against teams with losing records, they used some fourth-quarter fortitude to extend the best start in franchise history. Trailing by 10 entering the final quarter, the Steelers scored 15 unanswered...
North Hills reports 2 new covid-19 cases at high school, still plans return to hybrid learning
Two additional teachers at North Hills High School have tested positive for covid-19, but the high school still plans to return to hybrid learning on Monday. The teachers were last in school on Friday, Oct. 30, district officials said in a statement. Though the cases were announced at the same...
Trump faces calls to work with Biden team on transitionVideo
WILMINGTON, Del. — President Donald Trump is facing pressure to cooperate with President-elect Joe Biden’s team to ensure a smooth transfer of power when the new administration takes office in January. The General Services Administration is tasked with formally recognizing Biden as president-elect, which begins the transition. But the agency’s...
Trump, who never admits defeat, mulls how to keep up fight
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump never admits defeat. But he faces a stark choice now that Democrat Joe Biden has won the White House: Concede graciously for the sake of the nation or don’t — and get evicted anyway. After nearly four tortured days of counting yielded a victory for...
Eta expected to be hurricane and strike Florida KeysVideo
HAVANA — A strengthening Tropical Storm Eta sliced across Cuba on Sunday and was aimed at the southern tip of Florida, where officials braced for a storm that could hit at hurricane force after leaving scores of dead and over 100 missing in Mexico and Central America. The U.S. National...
Red wave threatening 3 Western Pennsylvania state lawmakers
Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Pennsylvania may be overshadowing a red wave in Southwestern Pennsylvania threatening to wash away three Democrats with more than 60 years’ combined experience in the General Assembly. Preliminary returns showed the last resident Democrat in the Westmoreland County legislative caucus, state Rep. Joe Petrarca, a...
Alex Trebek, long-running ‘Jeopardy!’ host, dies at 80Video
LOS ANGELES — Alex Trebek, who presided over the beloved quiz show “Jeopardy!” for more than 30 years with dapper charm and a touch of schoolmaster strictness, died Sunday. He was 80. Trebek, who announced in 2019 that he had advanced pancreatic cancer, died at his Los Angeles home, surrounded...
Message of Election 2020: Trump lost, but Trumpism did not
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump lost. But Trumpism did not. It won in the parts of the country and with the voters whom Trump catered to over four years, constantly jabbing the hard edges of almost every contentious cultural issue into Red America, on the bet that fear and anger...
What’s next? Saturday’s election verdict isn’t last step
WASHINGTON — Saturday’s election verdict isn’t the last step in selecting an American president. Under a system that’s been tweaked over two centuries, there is still a weekslong timeline during which the 538-member Electoral College picks the president. A look at the key steps: — When American citizens vote for...
Jim Carrey, as Biden, mocks Trump loss on ‘SNL’Video
LOS ANGELES — It didn’t take long for “Saturday Night Live” to come up with its comedic take on the presidential election results — complete with Maya Rudolph donning a white suit like Vice President-elect Kamala Harris wore for her acceptance speech. Jim Carrey played President-elect Joe Biden, taking the...
Biden says it’s ‘time to heal in America’ in 1st address as President-elect
WASHINGTON — Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Trump to become the 46th president of the United States on Saturday and offered himself to the nation as a leader who “seeks not to divide, but to unify” a country gripped by a historic pandemic and a confluence of economic and social...
