Top Stories category, Page 1404
Chestnut Ridge golf resort near Blairsville sells for $2.4 million at auction
Chestnut Ridge Golf Resort & Conference Center sold to an online bidder Saturday for $2.4 million. But the winning bidder’s identity will not be available until paperwork and payment is finalized, said Sherman Hostetter, owner of Hostetter Auctioneers of Beaver Falls. The auction of the 345-acre golf course and resort...
Fleetwood Mac blues guitarist Peter Green dies at 73
LONDON — Peter Green, the dexterous blues guitarist who led the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac in a career shortened by psychedelic drugs and mental illness, has died at 73. A law firm representing his family, Swan Turton, announced the death in a statement Saturday. It said he died “peacefully...
PennDOT extends expiration dates on driver licenses, ID cards, learner permits
PennDOT has again extended the expiration dates on driver licenses, identification cards and learner permits because of covid-19, the agency announced Friday. Driver licenses, photo identification cards and learner permits scheduled to expire from March 16 through Aug. 31 have been extended until Aug. 31. The extensions are in addition...
Pennsylvania reports 1 million negative virus test results, 13 new deaths
A week after reaching the milestone of 1 million tests administered, the state of Pennsylvania has reported 1 million negative tests for the coronavirus. Saturday’s report shows a total of 1,016,705 tests have come back with negative results for the new virus in the Keystone State. The commonwealth also reported...
Allegheny County reports 146 new coronavirus cases, 1 new death
Allegheny County Health Department officials reported 146 new covid-19 cases Saturday and one new death. The death total now stands at 222. The latest numbers reflect 1,631 tests spanning from July 7 to July 24 — a nearly 9% infection rate of those who were tested. To date, Allegheny County...
Blairsville man killed in Derry Township crash
A Blairsville man died Friday after a motorcycle crash in Derry Township, according to state police. Christian F. Shugars, 22, was speeding on a Yamaha R6 on Pizza Barn Road at 10 a.m. when he lost control around a curve in the road. Troopers said the motorcycle hit gravel and...
Week in Review: Turnpike hike, Ligonier chase and Derry homicideVideo
A Derry woman was killed in an apparent case of mistaken identity, turnpike drivers without an E-ZPass are facing a major price hike, and Allegheny County is inspecting businesses to make sure they’re following coronavirus rules. Here’s a look back at some of the week’s top stories: Turnpike Hike Turnpike...
More people willing to share location data for contact tracing, new study shows
A new study shows more people across the country choosing to share their phone’s location data during the pandemic, allowing entities to more easily track the pandemic. Researchers from three universities hoped to gauge the public attitude toward digital contact tracing using smartphones, which have always gathered location data on...
Idlewild & SoakZone curtails summer schedule to 3 days per week
Idlewild & SoakZone announced it will be open only three days per week for the remainder of the 2020 season. Beginning the final week of July, the Ligonier Township amusement park will be open only Fridays through Sundays. It also will be open on Labor Day, Sept. 7. After a...
Fire at Springdale plant sends firefighter to hospital
A firefighter was taken to a hospital for possible heat exhaustion Friday after battling a fire at the Cheswick Generating Station in Springdale. Multiple fire and EMS companies responded to the plant along the 100 block of Porter Street around 5:40 p.m. Springdale fire Chief Kevin Wilhelm said insulation on...
Searchers find body of 13-year-old girl who went missing in Monongahela River in West Mifflin
The body of a 13-year-old girl who went missing in the Monongahela River on Friday has been found, West Mifflin police said Saturday. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner identified her as Kristina Rai. The search began at about 6 p.m. Friday when the girl was reported missing in the water...
New AHN Cancer Institute-Allegheny General opens Monday
Allegheny Health Network plans to open its new 90,000-square foot AHN Cancer Institute-Allegheny General on Monday morning. It’s the centerpiece of Highmark and AHN’s $300 million expansion of cancer care throughout Western Pennsylvania, according to an AHN statement. The institute will serve as a hub for Allegheny Health Network’s community...
Westmoreland DA files suit against opioid companies for costs of overdoses
The Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office this week filed a lawsuit against nearly two dozen opioid distributors and manufacturers as part of a legal action that seeks financial restitution for addiction and overdoses attributed to the drugs. The lawsuit mirrors litigation filed in 2017 by county commissioners and is now...
What the spike in covid-19 hospitalizations means in Allegheny County
Health officials had predicted it, and now it’s here. Following several weeks of high daily case counts, hospitalizations in Allegheny County have steadily increased, with a record 22 hospitalizations reported Friday. In the past 19 days, the county has topped 200 new cases eight times, averaging 182 cases per day....
PNC to close 52 branches, including 9 in Western Pa.
PNC Financial Services plans to permanently close 52 branch offices. In a filing with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the financial powerhouse said it intends to close nine branch offices in Western Pennsylvania, including offices in downtown Greensburg, Indiana, North Versailles, Elizabeth, Mt. Lebanon, West Mifflin, Bridgeville...
Legal experts: Mask requirements likely don’t violate Americans with Disabilities Act
Cries from across the country claiming constitutional rights are being stripped away by mask requirements might not be as valid as some people think. Mask requirements, put in place to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, are being challenged with lawsuits claiming they violate the Americans with Disabilities Act....
Wolf calls on General Assembly to raise minimum wage in Pennsylvania
Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday called on lawmakers to raise the minimum wage in Pennsylvania, which has not been increased in 11 years. The state’s minimum wage was set at $7.25 on July 24, 2009, the last time the federal government raised wages. Prior to that, the minimum wage was...
For young adults with nowhere to go after foster care, federal program offers hopeVideo
Leibrynn Russell doesn’t know where in Allegheny County she’ll be living soon, but she knows it will be in a house and not on the streets — a place where a quarter of the 20,000 teenagers who age out of the foster care system each year will end up within...
Pennsylvania schools setting in-person teaching rules as pandemic spreads
HARRISBURG — The many Pennsylvania school districts that have not settled on how and when they will restart instruction this fall will be making decisions in the coming weeks, and the pandemic plans that have been produced so far are all over the map. That’s by design, the state education...
Kennywood to go dark Mondays, Tuesdays through the summer
Kennywood Park announced Friday it will operate only five days a week through the remainder of the 2020 season. The West Mifflin amusement park will be shut down Mondays and Tuesdays, Kennywood said via its social media. Some important calendar updates to share: Going forward, Kennywood will be closed on...
Westmoreland County covid-19 new case counts trending downward
For the fourth time in the past week, Westmoreland County’s count of new covid-19 cases was under 20. The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s latest report adds 18 new cases to the county’s total, with one additional death being reported. Of those new positive cases, all have been confirmed. The total...
Pennsylvania reports highest new covid-19 case count in over 2 months
The Pennsylvania Department of Health posted its highest number of new cases of covid-19 in two and a half months on Friday. The day’s report of 1,213 new cases was the highest new daily total since May 10, when 1,295 new cases were counted. The state has amassed a total...
New covid-19 cases, hospitalizations rise for 3rd straight day in Allegheny County
The Allegheny County Health Department announced a record 22 new hospitalizations for covid-19 on Friday, along with 198 new cases. Both figures represent the third straight day those numbers have gone up. With Friday’s report, Allegheny County surpasses the 7,000 case mark, with a total of 7,015 cases since the...
Five-alarm apartment fire displaces residents in BellevueVideo
Meredith English says he didn’t even know the Bellevue apartment house in which he lives was on fire Friday morning until a neighbor burst through his door. “I didn’t smell any smoke, didn’t know there was anything going on,” said English, 72, who lives in an attic apartment of the...
Let’s go Bucks: Gov. Wolf’s tweet to Pirates wished good luck with gaffe
Gov. Tom Wolf wished the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies good luck for the MLB season. Or at least tried to. Wolf tweeted the message Thursday afternoon, but included the wrong spelling of the Pirates’ nickname, writing “Bucks” instead of Bucs. @GovernorTomWolf That’s a swing and a miss, sir! But...
