Top Stories category, Page 1354
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a diminutive yet towering women’s rights champion who became the court’s second female justice, died Friday at her home in Washington. She was 87. Ginsburg died of complications from metastatic pancreatic cancer, the court said. Her death just over six weeks before...
Fox News to feature Trib editor on ‘America’s News HQ’ on Saturday
The Fox News program “America’s News HQ,” with anchors Arthel Neville and Eric Shawn, will include a Tribune-Review editor as a guest on Saturday’s broadcast. John Allison, the Trib’s director of content, will appear on air in the 5 p.m. segment. The likely topics will be the swing-state role of...
GNC sold to Chinese pharmaceutical group
GNC Holdings Inc., the Pittsburgh-based international health and wellness chain, has been for sold for $770 million to a Chinese pharmaceutical firm in a deal approved Thursday in bankruptcy court in Delaware. Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Holding Co., an affiliate of GNC’s largest shareholder that owns 40% of the company, also...
Gov. Wolf’s on-site alcohol sales order extended an hour to 11 p.m.
Alcohol sales at bars and restaurants won’t have to end until 11 p.m. starting Monday, according to orders for on-site alcohol consumption from Gov. Wolf and state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine. Wolf had earlier said that alcohol sales would be required to end at 10 p.m. Alcoholic beverages must...
Presidential town hall a deciding factor of some undecided voters
Currying favor with Pennsylvania voters such as Laura Galvas, Alexandra Stehman and Flora Cruceta could prove crucial in the battle to claim Pennsylvania’s 20 Electoral College votes this fall. Like the other participants in ABC’s Philadelphia Town Hall — where they had an opportunity to question President Trump last week...
DA: Police justified in killing shotgun-wielding man in New Kensington
Police who fatally shot a man wielding a shotgun in New Kensington in March were justified in the killing, Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck ruled Friday. Marc Morgan, 62, of Upper Burrell, threatened to shoot Black people March 13 and refused to put down the shotgun, lobbing expletives at...
Wolf administration asks schools to voluntarily enforce gathering limits
The updated guidance for high school sports and spectators promised by Gov. Tom Wolf was a no-show Friday. Instead, the state Department of Education released an afternoon statement encouraging schools “to voluntarily enforce the 25-person indoor and 250-person outdoor gathering limitations while all of us wait for the court to...
Schenley Park’s Columbus statue ‘erases history,’ Pitt professor says
The Pittsburgh Art Commission held a special hearing Thursday to gather public comment on the future of the 62-year-old Christopher Columbus statue in Schenley Park. The statue has been the subject of debate as the city determines whether to remove or replace it. An online petition has garnered more than...
Jonah Goldberg: Scrapping Electoral College is a bad idea
Let’s squarely face an ugly possibility: President Trump could get elected a second time without winning the popular vote. Indeed, according to most experts, that’s the only way he could be reelected. This would surely prompt another chorus of calls to scrap the Electoral College. I think that would be...
State police make another large marijuana bust on turnpike in Westmoreland County
For the third time since April, state troopers on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Westmoreland County stopped a driver for traffic violations and ended up seizing more than 100 pounds of marijuana. Chui Jiang of Oklahoma City and Guangzhang Ye of San Antonio, both 41, were charged with manufacture, delivery and...
CDC drops controversial testing advice that caused backlashVideo
NEW YORK — U.S. health officials on Friday dropped a controversial piece of coronavirus guidance and is now advising anyone who has been in close contact with an infected person get tested. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention essentially returned to its previous testing guidance, getting rid of language...
Brentwood restaurant defies order to close for covid-19 violations, faces court action
A Brentwood restaurant that continues to violate the state’s covid-19 mitigation orders — and whose owner spoke at a Harrisburg rally bragging about it — is facing action in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court as the health department attempts to prohibit it from operating. The Crack’d Egg, at 4131 Brownsville...
Pennsylvania reports 760 new coronavirus cases, 21 new deaths
Pennsylvania on Friday reported 760 new coronavirus cases to raise the state’s total to 148,683 since March. There were 11,530 new negative cases reported, making the daily positivity rate 6.18%. The state’s seven-day average of new cases is 828. There were 172,682 tests administered in the past seven days with...
Barstool’s Dave Portnoy hits 3 Pittsburgh-area pizzerias, tries Turner’s tea
Famed Boston-based pizza reviewer Dave Portnoy descended upon Pittsburgh recently to review three pizza places, Beto’s Pizza and Fiori’s Pizzaria in Pittsburgh and Juliano’s in Robinson. He came away impressed by all three. Portnoy is well known as the celebrity founder of the sports and pop culture website Barstool Sports...
‘Today’ show heads to McKeesport where students get laptops from ComcastVideo
The band was playing, cheerleaders were chanting and football players were huddled on the football field when they heard the news. On national television via NBC’s “Today” show, students, teachers and staff members in the McKeesport Area School District found out they would receive free laptops. The McKeesport Tigers truly...
Ladles restaurant in Springdale closes, possibly for good
The future is uncertain for the popular Springdale eatery Ladles. The storefront on busy Pittsburgh Street still looks inviting, but the restaurant is closed. And while a sign on the front door reads, “We plan on reopening very soon,” Ladles’ future actually remains very much in doubt. “The future is...
Antwon Rose Jr.’s mother sees ‘common ground’ with Steelers’ Maurkice Pouncey, Alejandro Villanueva
When Michelle Kenney read Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey’s Instagram post in which he indicated he would remove her son’s name from his football helmet, she initially was offended and disappointed. “But when I read to the bottom of it,” said Kenney, the mother of Antwon Rose Jr., “I was...
15 people displaced following McKees Rocks fire
More than a dozen people were displaced from their McKees Rocks home following a fire Thursday afternoon, according to the American Red Cross Greater Pennsylvania. Eight families, totaling 15 people, and a dog were forced to evacuate an apartment building in the 100 block of George Street. When crews arrived...
73 cats rescued from North Huntingdon home up for adoption at New Kensington shelterVideo
More than 70 cats rescued from a house in North Huntingdon are being cared for at Frankie’s Friends, a cat rescue in New Kensington. It did not appear anyone was living in the house on Leger Road where the cats were found, Dr. Becky Morrow, medical director and president of...
New Kensington-Arnold may go to hybrid schedule if too many students want to return to schools
New Kensington-Arnold School District will be forced to go to a full hybrid schedule if too many students now learning from home choose to come back to school next month, Acting Superintendent Jon Banko said. Under a hybrid schedule, students would be in school only two days a week, Banko...
Trump’s vaccine ambitions contradict his own health expertsVideo
President Donald Trump once again promised that a covid-19 vaccine for Americans could be ready within weeks, a timeline faster than has been deemed possible or likely by the scientific agencies overseeing the effort and the companies developing the products. Trump’s optimistic promises have left him in a battle with...
Court denies petition to reinstate pay for suspended Allegheny County judge
The Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline on Thursday denied a request from an Allegheny County judge charged with misconduct to be paid during the pendency of his suspension. In a one-sentence order, the petition by Judge Mark V. Tranquilli was denied. Tranquilli was suspended without pay on Aug. 26, two...
Allegheny County to open new elections offices for ballot drop-offs, voting help
Allegheny County voters now have more options to vote early and submit ballots without relying on the mail or visiting a polling place on Election Day, officials announced Thursday. Concerns raised about voting during the covid-19 pandemic prompted the county’s Board of Elections to unanimously approve a proposal to open...
Why the ruling against Wolf’s covid-19 restrictions faces long odds on appeal, explained
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 — A federal judge sent a shockwave through Pennsylvania politics this week when he ruled that several actions taken...
Post-Gazette accuses its unions of ‘bad-faith’ bargaining as possible strike looms
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s leadership is accusing the news organization’s unions of violating bargaining rules as the newsroom prepares for a possible strike. The P-G’s Tennessee-based legal team filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board against five unions representing about 200 employees, including reporters, photographers, copy editors, pressmen and...
