Top Stories category, Page 1542
County leaders across Western Pennsylvania endorse Joe Biden
A coalition of 12 Democratic county leaders from across Western Pennsylvania came forward Monday to endorse Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential race. The group includes Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli, along with 10 Democratic commissioners from Armstrong, Beaver, Butler,...
More testing sheds light on how coronavirus is spreading in U.S.; death total hits 6Video
SEATTLE — An increase in testing for the coronavirus began shedding light Monday on how the illness has spread in the United States, including among nursing home residents in one Washington state facility. U.S. health officials updated the number of COVID-19 cases to 91 in 10 states after Oregon and...
United Steelworkers agree to continue working under expired ATI contract
Members of the United Steelworkers union will continue working at Allegheny Technology Inc. facilities as talks for a new contract continue, an update from the union states. The last contract, covering about 1,300 workers at nine ATI locations, including the hot rolling and processing facility in Harrison, expired Saturday. About...
Dow notches largest-ever point gain as stocks surge on hopes for central bank help
The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared nearly 1,300 points, or 5%, Monday as stocks roared back from a seven-day rout on hopes that central banks will take action to shield the global economy from the effects of the coronavirus outbreak. The huge gains clawed back some of the ground lost...
Belle Vernon Area teachers issue strike notice over unresolved contract
Belle Vernon Area teachers put the district on notice that they intend to strike beginning March 13 if officials haven’t agreed on a new labor contract by then. According to President Daneen Watson, a Spanish teacher with 20 years of service, the Belle Vernon Area Education Association has been in...
Carnegie Mellon tops list of U.S. universities pulling in foreign cash
What a difference a generation and a billion dollars or so can make. Four decades ago, when economist Robert Strauss landed at Carnegie Mellon University, the Pittsburgh school Andrew Carnegie launched as a training center for the children of mill workers in 1900 was a small, well-regarded private research university....
League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh seek to intervene in voter-roll lawsuit
Four groups on Monday requested to intervene in a federal lawsuit accusing Allegheny County officials of failing to maintain county voter rolls. The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and of Pittsburgh, along with One Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, filed a motion in...
Klobuchar is ending her presidential bid, will endorse BidenVideo
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar ended her Democratic presidential campaign on Monday and plans to endorse rival Joe Biden in an effort to unify moderate voters behind the former vice president’s White House bid. She is flying to Dallas and plans to join Biden at his rally Monday night, according to...
Trump to make first visit of 2020 to Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — President Donald Trump is making his first visit this year to the presidential battleground state of Pennsylvania, in a town hall-style event hosted by Fox News in Scranton on Thursday. The one-hour event will be at the Scranton Cultural Center. The location is important for this year’s presidential...
Police: Fayette man claimed to chase ‘demon dog’ into neighbor’s home, choked occupants
A Fayette County man who told police he had been using crystal methamphetamine for days is accused of breaking into a neighbor’s home Sunday and choking two people, according to state police. Terry Lee Murphy, 31, of Luzerne Township, reportedly yelled “that he was chasing a demon dog into their...
Allegheny County health officials emphasize calm with eye on likely spread of coronavirusVideo
Health officials continue to prepare locally for the likely spread of the coronavirus that has killed more than 3,000 worldwide, but they cautioned that there are still no known cases in the region. “We expect to see some (cases) as we expand testing,” said Dr. Kristen Mertz, an epidemiologist with...
Warm, rainy March likely for Pittsburgh region
Southwestern Pennsylvania is enjoying some unseasonably warm temperatures in the first week of March. Temperatures Monday are about 10 degrees higher than average — though nowhere near 1972’s record-setting high of 72 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. “The average for now is around the mid-40s, and we’re sitting...
Don’t succumb to stock market panic, advisers caution
Stocks tumbled, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged and the S&P 500 index fell dramatically — all over bad news out of China. That was a little more than a year ago — when Apple announced that iPhone sales in China were slumping. This year, the bad news out of...
Supreme Court to decide fate of Obama health care lawVideo
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide a lawsuit that threatens the Obama-era health care law, a case that will keep health care squarely in front of voters even though a decision won’t come until after the 2020 election. The court said it would hear an appeal by...
Allegheny County health officials to give update on coronavirus prep
Allegheny County health officials will give an update Monday on preparations for what experts say is the inevitable spread of the coronavirus into the Pittsburgh region. The 10:30 a.m. news conference will include remarks by Allegheny County Health Department officials. Allegheny County and Pittsburgh public safety officials will also be...
Cops: $350 sewing machine stolen in Hempfield
State police are looking for the person who stole a $350 sewing machine from the Joann Fabrics in Greengate Centre, Hempfield. According to police, the unknown person took the machine from the store’s Husqvarna Viking Sewing Gallery sometime between Feb. 14-22. The machine was a Husqvarna Viking Emerald 118. Further...
Authorities announce 2nd coronavirus death in U.S.
SEATTLE — Health officials in Washington state said Sunday night that a second person had died from the coronavirus — a man in his 70s from a nursing facility near Seattle where dozens of people were sick and had been tested for the virus. Researchers said earlier the virus may...
Alle-Kiski Valley ambulance companies struggle to keep up with call volume, community needVideo
The patient was cold and shaking, so the paramedic clutched her hands in his, warming them as they rode in an ambulance to Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. Her hands were limp and icy. She had just suffered a stroke. Hayden Geisweidt loves being a paramedic. He enjoys taking care of...
Welcoming vibe, good coffee await at Oakmont’s Moonbeam CafeVideo
A new coffee shop in Oakmont is brewing up friendly vibes. “I hate going into cafes and restaurants and the wait staff is not warm and welcoming,” says owner/barista Nina Komaniak. “No coffee snobs here.” Perhaps the youngest business owner in Oakmont, 21-year-old Oakmont resident Komaniak replaced the typical collegiate...
South Korean military: North Korea fires unidentified projectiles
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles from a coastal area Monday as it resumed weapons demonstrations following a monthslong hiatus. The launches came two days after North Korea’s state media said leader Kim Jong Un supervised an artillery drill aimed at testing the combat readiness of...
New York confirms 1st positive test of new coronavirus
NEW YORK — New York confirmed Sunday the state’s first positive test of the new virus that has sickened tens of thousands of people across the globe. A woman in her late 30s contracted the virus while traveling in Iran, according to a statement from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. She...
Police: 5-year-old stable after hit-and-run in East Hills
Pittsburgh police are investigating a hit-and-run in the city’s East Hills neighborhood involving a five-year-old boy. Police and EMS responded to the scene in the 2100 block of Park Hill drive around 5 p.m. Sunday. The boy, who had been struck by a gray sedan that fled the scene, was...
Leap year baby times two for Unity coupleVideo
What’s the likelihood of twins being born on leap day? How about 1 in 50,000 — slightly better odds than the 1 in 7 million for winning the Pennsylvania Lottery’s Cash for Life jackpot. Amanda and Brian Newcomer of Unity got a “prize” more valuable than any jackpot Saturday: the...
Pete Buttigieg ends historic presidential campaign, urges unity
WASHINGTON — Pete Buttigieg, who rose from relative obscurity as an Indiana mayor to a barrier-breaking, top-tier candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, ended his campaign on Sunday. The decision by the first openly gay candidate to seriously contend for the presidency — and among the youngest ever — came...
As stocks tumble amid spread of coronavirus, can central banks fix the crisis?
NEW YORK — As stocks around the world tumble on worries about a fast-spreading coronavirus, investors have been clamoring for the superheroes of the financial world to ride to the rescue once again. Yet this time, there are doubts: Can central banks really fix this crisis as they have so...
