Top Stories category, Page 1473
Recovered from covid-19, Rep. Mike Kelly donates plasma to help sick patients get better fasterVideo
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly is grateful that he beat covid-19 without getting so sick or short of breath that he had to be hospitalized. But the affliction was not like any flu or illness the Butler Republican he’d experienced before. For weeks, Kelly, 72, felt debilitatingly exhausted. He had persistent...
Coronavirus physical distancing also helped stop flu in Allegheny County, officials say
Physical distancing measures put in place to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus also likely helped to knock out flu season in Allegheny County, data from the Allegheny County Health Department show. The number of lab-confirmed flu cases in the county dropped off by late March, decreasing from about 300...
Trump presses for schools to reopen, makes dig at Dr. FauciVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump called on governors across the nation Wednesday to work to reopen schools in their states, pointedly taking issue with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s caution against moving too quickly in sending students back to class. The president accused Fauci of wanting “to play all sides of the...
Man who died in Kiski Township lake identified
The Armstrong County coroner said the man whose body was recovered Wednesday evening from a lake at the Apollo-Spring Church Sportsmen’s Club in Kiski Township died from a heart attack. County Coroner Brian K. Myers said Timothy W. Brueggeman, 56, of Apollo died from a cardiac event while on the...
Online group plans Harrisburg protest over continued covid closures
A private Facebook group that has gained more than 90,000 members in the past month is planning a protest Friday in Harrisburg against Pennsylvania’s quarantine measures to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. ReOpen PA, described as a non-partisan group “for residents of Pennsylvania to organize and work towards...
Convicted felon obsessed with Nazis pleads guilty to having guns, including AR-15 style
A convicted felon who authorities say has an obsession with Nazis and mass shootings has pleaded guilty to having guns when he wasn’t allowed to, federal officials said. Dennis Alan Riggs, 51, of Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill neighborhood, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of firearms and ammunition by a...
Details emerge of how police charged Fox Chapel man with 2nd homicide in 3 months
Lured to his friend’s house to play video games and smoke marijuana, Christian Moore-Rouse didn’t even make it up the long driveway leading to Adam Rosenberg’s place in Fox Chapel. Instead, he was shot in the back of his head and dragged into a ditch, lifeless — and left to...
North Huntingdon man survives ‘battle’ with covid-19, cheered by Excela hospital staffVideo
With a wave, a few tears and a honk of the horn, Mark Nicholas was finally heading home. Wednesday marked the first time in seven weeks that the North Huntingdon man and his wife, Karyl Nicholas, were able to touch each other. Mark, 62, tested positive for the coronavirus in...
Police: Penn Hills man accused of stealing $19,500 outside Kennedy ATM
A Penn Hills man was arrested Wednesday morning on charges of stealing $19,500 on Dec. 30 in Kennedy from a vehicle parked by an automated teller machine, police said. Luis Carde, 48, is accused of smashing a window of the vehicle and stealing the cash. The vehicle belonged to a...
Peduto backs controversial sand dumping in Pittsburgh skateboard park
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said Wednesday that he still supports the decision to dump sand into a neighborhood skateboard park despite the negative backlash that followed. The controversy began after Public Works Director Mike Gable ordered a crew to dump sand in the West Penn Skate Park in Polish Hill...
Whistleblower: U.S. could face coronavirus rebound ‘darkest winter’
WASHINGTON — America faces the “darkest winter in modern history” unless leaders act decisively to prevent a rebound of the coronavirus, says a government whistleblower who alleges he was ousted from his job for warning the Trump administration to prepare for the pandemic. Immunologist Dr. Rick Bright makes his sobering...
Pittsburgh mayor trying to avoid city layoffs as revenue dips
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said Wednesday that he is not yet considering employee layoffs as the city’s government revenue dwindles during the coronavirus pandemic. The city reported revenues since March decreased by 25% when compared to the same time period in 2019. Citing data provided by the Office of Management...
Western Pa. shooting ranges to reopen Friday
The Pennsylvania Game Commission announced it is reopening shooting ranges on state game lands Friday in counties being upgraded to yellow in the easing of pandemic restrictions. Regular hours of operation will resume on rifle, shotgun, pistol and archery ranges in Allegheny, Armstrong, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Fulton, Greene,...
2 hurt when train strikes van in Cheswick
Two occupants of a van were taken to UPMC Presbyterian hospital Wednesday morning after a train clipped the vehicle at the Blockdale Street crossing off Pittsburgh Street in Cheswick. The incident happened just before 7:30 a.m. The Norfolk Southern crossing remained closed late Wednesday morning as authorities investigated. Allegheny Valley...
Pennsylvania receives $523.8M to support schools during pandemic
Pennsylvania will receive $523.8 million in federal funding to help schools respond to the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Wednesday. The money from the U.S. Department of Education is available through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund. The Pennsylvania Department of Education applied for a grant last...
State police say they will continue to enforce closures through education
With multiple counties, including Beaver, vowing to rebel against Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order — some with the backing of local district attorneys — state police maintained Wednesday that “a county doesn’t have the authority to supersede a governor’s order.” However, state police Lt. Col. Scott Price, deputy commissioner, said...
No new coronavirus cases, deaths reported in Westmoreland County
Health officials on Wednesday reported no new coronavirus cases and no new virus-related deaths in Westmoreland County. The case count stands at 419, and state data has caught up with the county coroner’s count of virus-related deaths: 32. Of those deaths, 25 individuals previously tested positive for covid-19, according to...
Pennsylvania reports 137 more coronavirus deaths, 707 new cases
Another 137 Pennsylvanians have died from the coronavirus, state health officials said Wednesday, as the statewide death toll nears 4,000. Officials recorded 707 new cases of the virus between 12 a.m. Tuesday and 12 a.m. Wednesday, bringing the total to 58,698 cases since the first covid-19 cases in the state...
Pittsburgh Public Schools brace for up to $82 million in revenue losses
Pittsburgh Public Schools have spent more than $2.6 million because of the covid-19 pandemic and the district is projecting a loss of as much as $82 million in revenue this year. “As we do not know the effect covid-19 will have on state and federal budgets, it is too soon...
Charges filed in Greater Latrobe junior high hazing incidents
Two Greater Latrobe Junior High School wrestling coaches were charged Tuesday with child endangerment and failure to report January hazing incidents that were captured on surveillance video, according to court papers. Cary James Lydic, 29, of Greensburg was the head coach and David Francis Galando, 44, of Youngstown was his...
Allegheny adds 12 more coronavirus deaths, 19 cases
Allegheny County added 12 more deaths related to the coronavirus Wednesday, bringing the countywide death toll to 139. While that’s among the highest numbers of deaths reported in a single day, those deaths could have occurred any time since March 14, when the first case of the coronavirus was reported....
Western Pa. liquor stores will reopen for in-person sales with some restrictions
More than 100 state liquor stores across Allegheny, Westmoreland and the surrounding counties will open for in-person sales Friday as the region moves into the yellow phase of its tiered reopening. The 155 Fine Wine and Good Spirits stores will open across the dozens of counties that have seen or...
Pittsburgh-area nurse meets physical, emotional needs of coronavirus patientsVideo
Kristy Lewis is a registered nurse who works directly at the bedside of patients in the intensive care unit at Allegheny Health Network’s Jefferson Hospital, including those diagnosed with covid-19. The majority of her patients are in need of advanced medical support such as mechanical ventilators and dialysis. They also...
Emails: Trump nominee involved in shelving CDC coronavirus guide
WASHINGTON — A former chemical industry executive nominated to be the nation’s top consumer safety watchdog was involved in sidelining detailed guideline s to help communities reopen during the coronavirus pandemic, internal government emails show. Now the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is questioning the...
Pittsburgh-area music, event promoters bide time during covid-19 pandemic
As most southwestern Pennsylvania counties prepare to begin loosening covid-19 restrictions and reopening their economies, event producers suspect it will be a while before they can resume staging events for large groups. “I think that the numbers of infected have to go down and the curve stays flattened and people...
