Top Stories category, Page 1319
Wall Street ends higher after shaking off a wobbly startVideo
Stocks shook off an early slide and closed broadly higher Thursday as the market steadied after its worst drop in more than four months. The S&P 500 rose 1.2%, bouncing back from a drop of 0.3% in the early going. Traders welcomed encouraging data on the pace of layoffs and...
Duquesne suspends all Greek Life activity after covid protocol violations
Duquesne University has canceled all fraternity and sorority activity for the rest of the semester after officials said Greek organizations repeatedly violated covid-19 precautions. In a letter to students, Senior Vice President for Student Life Douglas Frizzell said that several Greek organizations had committed “repeated and egregious violations of the...
Self-driving trucks from Pittsburgh deliver food to needy in Ohio, Michigan
Two self-driving trucks delivered more than 40,000 pounds of food last week from the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank to needy families in Toledo, Ohio. The delivery was part of a test drive featuring two human-guided, self-driving trucks produced by Locomation, an autonomous convoying startup located on Pittsburgh’s North Side....
Westmoreland elections officials: ‘Number of residents’ have not received mail-in, absentee ballots
While nearly 50,000 mail-in ballots from Westmoreland voters have been returned to the county’s Election Bureau, a number of residents have not received the mail-in or absentee ballot they requested. County officials said as of Wednesday, 71,852 of 74,648 ballots had been delivered to the U.S. Postal Service to be...
French prosecutor: Nice killer of 3 got to France from ItalyVideo
PARIS — A man armed with a knife attacked people inside a French church and killed three Thursday, prompting the government to raise its security alert to the maximum level hours before a nationwide coronavirus lockdown. The attack in Mediterranean city of Nice was the third in two months that...
Trump to make campaign stop at Butler County airport on Saturday
President Donald Trump will make three stops in Pennsylvania on Saturday, including an appearance at a rally in Butler County in the final weekend before the Nov. 3 election. Trump’s campaign announced that he will deliver remarks at 1:30 p.m. in Bucks County, followed by rallies at 4 p.m. at...
Biden lead holds steady at 6 points in latest Franklin & Marshall College Poll
Former vice president Joe Biden continued to hold a six-point lead among likely voters in Pennsylvania last week as the number of undecided voters declined, a poll Franklin & Marshall College Poll found. The poll of 558 likely Pennsylvania voters, which was conducted from Oct. 19-25, contained a margin of...
California-Kirkbride house condemned after vehicle crashes into it
A 24-year-old man was in stable condition after crashing his car into a house in Pittsburgh’s California-Kirkbride neighborhood Wednesday, according to police. The crash happened near Brighton Road and Brighton Place shortly before 5 p.m. Police said the driver crashed into a home where Brighton Place branches off Brighton Road,...
Postal Service ordered to increase late trips for election mail
WASHINGTON — Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was ordered to immediately begin expanding mail delivery with extra trips and later deliveries after the U.S. Postal Service failed to improve performance less than a week before the election. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan late Tuesday in Washington granted an emergency request to...
Pittsburgh Public Schools extends remote learning for most students until Jan. 4
Some Pittsburgh Public School students will return to face-to-face instruction Monday, Nov. 9 under a phased hybrid approach approved by the school board Wednesday evening. But the majority will stay in remote learning until at least Jan. 4, 2021. Under the school’s new plan, students are broken into four groups,...
Highlands High School closes because of covid-19 case with ‘significant’ quarantines
All Highlands High School students will learn remotely through next Friday, Nov. 6, because officials said a covid-19 case resulted in a “significant” number of required quarantines. The move to all remote learning took effect Thursday. “The high school building will be closed and all after-school activities that are scheduled...
Ivanka Trump near Portersville: U.S. ‘much more capable of combating this virus as we wait for the vaccine’Video
The United States and its public health leaders are “much more capable” of confronting the next waves of coronavirus cases than they were when covid-19 first struck last spring, Ivanka Trump said while stumping for her father, President Donald Trump, Wednesday on a Lawrence County farm. Ivanka Trump, 38, whose...
Charges filed in traffic crash that led to Jefferson Hills policeman’s death
A Homestead man whose June car crash led to the death of a Jefferson Hills police officer has been arraigned on three homicide-related charges, borough police Chief Gene Roach said Wednesday. Zachary W. Foltz, 23, of Homestead was taken into custody and arraigned Wednesday on charges of homicide by vehicle,...
Hurricane Zeta hammers Gulf Coast with rain, wind, outagesVideo
NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Zeta slammed into the storm-weary Gulf Coast on Wednesday, pelting the New Orleans metro area with rain and howling winds that ripped apart buildings, knocked out power to thousands and threatened to push up to 9 feet of sea water inland in a region already pounded...
Driver injured after car crashes into Delmont chiropractic office
One person was injured after a car exited Route 66, jumped a guardrail and crashed into a Delmont chiropractor’s office on Wednesday afternoon. Delmont VFD Chief Don Cline said a female driver on Route 66 hit a pick-up truck, jumped the guardrail at the Greensburg Street intersection and crashed through...
Justices deny fast, new look at Pennsylvania ballot deadline
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would not grant a quick, pre-election review to a new Republican appeal to exclude absentee ballots received after Election Day in the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania, although it remained unclear whether those ballots will ultimately be counted. The court’s order...
PLCB waives $27.7 million in alcohol licensing fees for businesses
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board voted 2-1 Wednesday to waive an estimated $27.7 million in license fees for retail businesses most impacted by the pandemic. The decision covers holders of restaurant, retail dispenser, club, catering club and hotel licenses. Gov. Tom Wolf requested the relief last week during a visit...
Allegheny County officials: There is ‘no pattern’ in new cases
Covid-19 cases in Allegheny County are tied to a variety of sources, officials said — but most are tied to individuals conducting everyday business. “I’m asking you all to be careful, especially when you’re around people you know well, like family and friends,” said Health Director Debra Bogen at a...
IUP restructuring plan to close 5 fine arts programs, reduce faculty
Indiana University of Pennsylvania will close five fine arts programs as it works to restructure in the face of a decade of declining enrollment and a projected $16 million budget shortfall, officials said Wednesday. University President Michael Driscoll, who has dubbed the effort the IUP NextGen plan, said the university...
Social media CEOs get earful on bias, warning of new limits
WASHINGTON — With next week’s election looming, the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google received a hectoring from Republicans at a Senate hearing Wednesday for alleged anti-conservative bias in the companies’ social media platforms — and were warned of coming restrictions from Congress. Lawmakers of both parties, citing the companies’...
S&P 500 sinks 3.5% as surging coronavirus cases threaten shutdownsVideo
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 943 points Wednesday as surging coronavirus cases forced more shutdown measures in Europe and raised fears of more restrictions in the United States. The S&P 500 slid 3.5%, its third straight loss and its biggest drop since June. The benchmark index is already down...
Steelers, Pitt broadcaster Bill Hillgrove to serve probation to resolve Murrysville DUI case
Pittsburgh Steelers and University of Pittsburgh football and basketball radio broadcaster William T. “Bill” Hillgrove will serve two years on probation after he was arrested in June for a drunken driving incident in Murrysville. Police said Hillgrove, 79, of Murrysville, was intoxicated when he crashed into the front windows at...
Pittsburgh Art Commission votes to remove Columbus statue; legal challenge continues
An Allegheny County judge will likely decide the fate of the Christopher Columbus statue in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park. Judge John T. McVay Jr. has set a virtual status conference on a lawsuit filed by the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, for 1 p.m. Thursday. The lawsuit seeks to halt...
Former DHS official says he wrote ‘Anonymous’ Trump critique
WASHINGTON —A former Trump administration official who penned a scathing anti-Trump op-ed and book under the pen name “Anonymous” revealed himself Wednesday as a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security. The official, Miles Taylor, said in a tweet six days before Election Day that Donald Trump...
Germany, France look to more limits to curb rebounding virus
BERLIN — French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a second lockdown in France from Friday, to try to combat a strong resurgence of the coronavirus. With over 520 deaths recorded Tuesday, the French leader said that a new nationwide lockdown would be the only possible way to successfully fight covid-19....
