Top Stories category, Page 1568
Threat to shoot up high school closes Plum Borough School District
All Plum Borough School District schools were closed Monday because of a threat against the high school, the district announced on its website. Police chief Lanny Conley said it was a “generalized threat to shoot up the school.” “We couldn’t say with 100% certainty that the threat was eliminated or...
2 injured in head-on crash in Pittsburgh
Two people were injured in a head-on collision in Pittsburgh’s New Homestead neighborhood Sunday evening, according to the city’s Department of Public Safety. The crash happened just before 8 p.m. near the corner of Mifflin Road at Lebanon Road. The drives from each car, a man and a woman, were...
Westmoreland’s political future could hinge on outcome of 58th District special election
A harbinger of Westmoreland County’s political future, with the 2020 presidential election looming, could be the March special election to fill Justin Walsh’s former House seat. The outcome of the race to replace Walsh, a Rostraver Republican who now is a county judge, might be a predictor of local Republican...
Pennsylvania watches as Supreme Court considers public support for parochial schools
Pennsylvanians on both sides of the school choice debate watched the U.S. Supreme Court last week for hints of how it could rule in a pivotal case that has implications for the way K-12 education is funded across the nation. Justices heard arguments in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue,...
A woman’s touch makes Aspinwall’s business district shine bright
Stroll, sip and shop your way around Aspinwall, a tiny historic borough that’s big on supporting its thriving small business district, which encompasses several blocks on two main avenues: Brilliant and Commercial. Aspinwall Chamber of Commerce President Giuseppe Francioni says the “ ‘Wall” is more than just a neighborhood. “We’re...
Billie Eilish tops Grammys in historic, somber nightVideo
LOS ANGELES — Singer Billie Eilish, who gave voice to young people struggling with depression on a do-it-yourself album she made at home with her older brother, is atop the music world. The 18-year-old made history at the Grammy Awards Sunday. Not only did she become the youngest person to...
Report: John Bolton says Trump tied Ukraine funds to Biden probe
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump told his national security adviser he wanted to maintain a freeze on military assistance to Ukraine until it launched political investigations into his Democratic rivals, according to a report in The New York Times on Sunday. The newspaper said John Bolton’s description of his exchange...
Kevin Gorman: Kobe Bryant’s death brings back Pittsburgh memories of his ‘Mamba Mentality’Video
Rick Bell is a hoops junkie, so he was watching the Maryland-Indiana college basketball game when he received a text message from his son, RJ, a junior guard at Geneva. Did you hear about Kobe? No, Bell replied, asking what happened. He was killed in a helicopter crash. That was...
Former Penn-Trafford baseball star who died in Penn Township crash remembered
A star baseball player died Saturday as a result of injuries he suffered when his car collided with a pickup in Penn Township, authorities said. Maclean Peter “Mac” Maund, 18, of Harrison City died at Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, where he had been taken for treatment, according to his obituary....
Bowling fundraiser raises $9K for St. Joseph student battling Ewing’s sarcomaVideo
Bowling is one team that St. Joseph High School senior Eli Swierczewski doesn’t play on. But that didn’t stop the 18-year-old from getting a strike at least once Sunday during a bowling fundraiser to help raise money for his cancer treatment at Wildlife Lanes in Lower Burrell. “I’m having a...
Fire heavily damages house under construction on Bagdad Road, Allegheny Township
Fire caused extensive damage to a house under construction in Allegheny Township on Sunday afternoon. The fire at 1241 Bagdad Road was reported shortly after 1 p.m., a Westmoreland County emergency dispatcher said. Volunteer firefighters from seven or eight departments from the Alle-Kiski Valley responded. No one was in the...
Westmoreland County animal response team hosts training for regional firefighters, EMTsVideo
About two years after the Westmoreland County Animal Response Team formed, its members were called out to fire in Ligonier . CART Coordinator Lori Mozina thought it was odd, since the fire company was equipped with an oxygen mask suited to treat pets. “They had one at the station, but...
Kobe Bryant, daughter Gianna, 7 others killed in California chopper crashVideo
LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant, the 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died in a helicopter crash Sunday. He was 41. Bryant died near Calabasas, Calif., about 30 miles...
Who can topple Trump? Dems’ electability fight rages in Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa — The urgent fight for the Democratic presidential nomination was raging across Iowa on Sunday as the party’s leading candidates and their allies fanned out across the state to deliver closing arguments centered on the defining question of the 2020 primary: Who is best positioned to defeat...
Defense resumes in key impeachment week; Dems seek witnesses
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial enters a pivotal week as his defense team resumes its case and senators face a critical vote on whether to hear witnesses or proceed directly to a vote that is widely expected to end in his acquittal. The articles of impeachment charge Trump...
Trump peace plan could boost embattled Israeli leader
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to Washington on Sunday vowing to “make history” as he prepared to meet President Donald Trump for the unveiling of the U.S. administration’s much-anticipated plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the high-profile meeting in Washington looks set to serve mostly as...
Trump suggests Adam Schiff ‘has not paid the price’ for prosecuting impeachmentVideo
President Donald Trump lashed out at Rep. Adam Schiff in a series of tweets on Sunday, saying the California Democrat has “not paid the price, yet” for his role in the impeachment process, a statement Schiff said he viewed as a threat. “Shifty Adam Schiff is a CORRUPT POLITICIAN, and...
Police: Pittsburgh man attacked medics, threw furniture at officers during hours-long standoff
A Pittsburgh man who sparked a three-hour standoff when he attacked two paramedics Saturday also threw a dresser and air conditioning unit at the SWAT officers charged with getting him out of his Windgap house, according to the charges against him. Joseph Sadar, 51, called 911 about 3:45 p.m. Friday...
Outbound Liberty Tunnel reopens following crash
The outbound lanes of the Liberty Tunnel have reopened following a crash on Sunday morning, according to PennDOT. The crash occurred just after 9:45 a.m., according to an Allegheny County 911 dispatcher. One person was taken to a hospital, the dispatcher said. Additional information was not immediately available....
Arizona, California cases push U.S. tally of new virus to 5
LOS ANGELES — The U.S. has five confirmed cases of the new virus from China, all among people who traveled to the city at the center of the outbreak, health officials said Sunday. Two new cases were reported Sunday — one in Los Angeles County in California and the other...
Newly accessible records tell story of Holocaust, journey of survivorsVideo
Steven Fenves and his family were swept up from their Yugoslavian home during World War II, when they were split up and forced into ghettos, then German concentration camps. That included Auschwitz, where his grandmother and then his mother died, caught in the Nazi death machine that slaughtered an estimated...
Liberating Dachau concentration camp uncovered horrors, area veteran saysVideo
At age 23 in the spring of 1945, Guy Prestia was in the Army fighting his way across southern Germany when his unit walked into hell on earth — the Nazi death camp at Dachau. “It was terrible. I never saw anything like those camps,” said Prestia, 97, who still...
Farmers, conservation districts applaud rollback of Obama-era clean water rule
Not long after he took office, President Trump issued an executive order asking the EPA to review a clean water rule that he said exemplified federal government overreach in the Obama years. The 2015 Waters of the United States regulation increased the number and types of waterways — reportedly 60%...
SWAT use on the rise in Pittsburgh, across Western Pa.
As the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police has used its SWAT team more in recent years, critics are questioning whether that’s improving public safety. City officials say the department is taking precautions to keep situations from escalating, which protects officers and the public. “We understand that a SWAT callout can be...
SWAT response ends after man accused of attacking Pittsburgh paramedics taken into custody
Two Pittsburgh paramedics were injured while responding to a call Saturday afternoon, prompting a SWAT team response, authorities said. The paramedics were responding to a medical call about 3:30 p.m. at a home on Windgap Avenue in the city’s Windgap neighborhood, according to Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV. The initial call...
