Top Stories category, Page 1574
Police: Man drunk, driving over 100 mph in fatal Whitehall crash
A Pleasant Hills man was driving at 101 mph and with a blood alcohol content more than two times the legal limit when he crashed his car on Brownsville Road in December, killing his girlfriend, Whitehall police said. Whitehall police charged Tyler Jesse DeGraffenreid, 24, Sunday with homicide by vehicle...
Pittsburgh was a sanctuary city 150 years ago. Now racism is a public health crisis
Pittsburgh is a city of contradictions when it comes to race relations. In its infancy, Pittsburgh was a hotbed of abolitionism, and residents provided safe harbor to blacks fleeing slavery in the South. Yet 150 years later, a report on racial disparity in the city prompted two city councilmen to...
Why TV stations and cable providers keep viewers in the dark about their contracts
TV viewers in the Pittsburgh region have been recently warned about losing the ability to watch their local television stations: • DirecTV viewers lose WTAE after negotiations for a new deal fail • WPXI Channel 11 announces PCNC changes • Attention Dish customers: You could lose access to WPXI-TV They’re...
New name can’t change the splendid view from Veltre’s in PlumVideo
It’s a slightly different spelling with the same spectacular view. An iconic venue in Plum affording stunning views of the Allegheny River and surrounding countryside has reopened. Veltre’s Wedding and Event Centre, formerly Veltri’s Restaurant, opened in 2016 after being shuttered for 12 years. Only a vowel separates the surnames...
‘Parasite’ wins best ensemble at Screen Actors Guild AwardsVideo
“Parasite” has officially infected this year’s award season. Bong Joon Ho’s Korean film became the first foreign language film to take top honors from the Screen Actors Guild on Sunday, setting itself up as a legitimate best-picture contender to the front-runner “1917” at next month’s Academy Awards. The win, over...
West Carson Street reopens after water main break at the West End Bridge
Work to fix a water main break on West Carson Street was finished Monday morning and the road has reopened to traffic, a PennDOT spokeswoman said. The break in a 20-inch main was discovered around 7:15 p.m. Sunday. West Carson was closed near the West End Bridge as crews made...
Mark Compton: Safety drives every decision at turnpike commission
Despite the best efforts of the transportation industry nationally working together to reduce fatal and serious-injury crashes, nearly 40,000 people die each year in highway-related incidents; on average, 15 of those occur on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Every year, dozens of roadway workers, first responders and tow-truck operators are killed; we...
Pitt student killed by bus remembered as ‘inquisitive, hard-working’
Barbara Como, the University of Pittsburgh senior struck and killed by a bus Saturday, is being remembered as a bright and promising student by faculty and fellow students. Como, of Chester Springs, Chester County, would have turned 21 next month. She was planning to graduate this spring with degrees in...
Governor: 2 police officers die after Hawaii shootingVideo
HONOLULU — Two police officers were killed in a shooting Sunday in the normally peaceful Honolulu, Hawaii’s governor said in a statement. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports that officers had responded to an assault call when they encountered a male with a firearm, who then opened fire, striking two officers. “Our...
Adam Schiff accuses NSA, CIA of withholding documents on UkraineVideo
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is accusing U.S. intelligence agencies of withholding documents from Congress on Ukraine that could be significant to President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. “They appear to be succumbing to pressure from the administration,” Rep. Adam Schiff said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”...
Blaze destroys Freeport house that was being repaired after a fire 4 months ago
A Freeport home that caught fire in September and was undergoing renovations was destroyed early Sunday when another fire broke out. Firefighters were called to a home at 165 Washington St. shortly after 4 a.m. When they arrived, they found the house fully engulfed. “The fire was already through the...
Ligonier Township couple credits faith, ‘love of family’ for 75 years of marriageVideo
Wilma Riffle Pechart remembers Jan. 21, 1945, like it was yesterday. “There was at least 8 inches of snow on the ground, and it was very, very cold. We didn’t send out a single wedding announcement, either,” Wilma Pechart, 91, recalled Saturday at her home in Ligonier Township, with husband,...
Police: Two girls accused of breaking into cars after escape from Derry Twp. group home
Two teenage girls who escaped from a group home in Derry Township last week are being held in Westmoreland County’s juvenile detention center after their arrests for allegedly breaking into multiple cars in an apartment complex, state police reported. The girls, ages 14- and 16-years-old, escaped late Monday from Adelphoi...
No give: Trump’s impeachment defense, prosecutors dig in
WASHINGTON — Advocates for and against President Donald Trump gave no ground Sunday on his Senate impeachment trial, digging in on whether a crime is required for his conviction and removal and whether witnesses will be called. But even as Trump’s defense team and the House prosecutor s pressed their...
Gun industry gathers amid slumping sales, rising tensions
LAS VEGAS — Gun companies are gathering for their annual conference and trade show this week in Las Vegas at a pivotal moment for the industry amid slumping sales, a public increasingly agitating for restrictions on access to firearms and escalating tensions over gun control efforts. The event, held by...
Excela Latrobe introduces improved surgical robotVideo
Students from Greater Latrobe and Ligonier Valley school districts joined other local residents Friday in trying out the controls of an improved surgical robot introduced during an open house at Excela Latrobe Hospital. Seventeen Excela surgeons use the robot and one like it at Excela Westmoreland Hospital to perform precision...
Couple together for nearly 65 years die on the same day
ARNOLD, Mo. — A couple who had been together for nearly 65 years have died on the same day at a St. Louis-area nursing home. Jack and Harriet Morrison’s beds were placed next to each other in their final hours, allowing them to hold hands, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported....
No escape: Senators to be quiet, unplugged for Trump trial
WASHINGTON — No cellphones. No talking. No escape. That’s the reality during the Senate’s impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, which will begin each day with a proclamation: “All persons are commanded to keep silence, on pain of imprisonment.” After that, 100 senators will sit at their desks for hours...
National Archives ‘wrong’ to blur images of anti-Trump signs
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The National Archives said Saturday it made a mistake when it blurred images of anti-Trump signs used in an exhibit on women’s suffrage. The independent agency is charged with preserving government and historical records and said it has always been committed to preserving its holdings...
State Rep. Adam Ravenstahl challenged by progressive attorney Emily Kinkead
Pittsburgh attorney Emily Kinkead will join a wave of progressive Democrats who in recent years have challenged establishment incumbents in Allegheny County’s Democratic Party. Kinkead will take on sitting state Rep. Adam Ravenstahl for the District 20 seat in the April 28 Democratic primary. Ravenstahl, the brother of former Pittsburgh...
Prohibition thinned ranks of Western Pa. distilleries, breweries — but some survivedVideo
Southwestern Pennsylvania’s whiskey industry overflowed with more than 100 distilleries making rye whiskey between the 1880s and early 1900s, but they went dry when Prohibition took effect a century ago. “The distilleries had to close and most did not reopen” when Prohibition was lifted in 1933, said Samuel Komlenic, a...
War on alcohol: An experiment that was a ‘catastrophic failure’
The United States was a battleground before World War I — with armies of people opposed to liquor and saloons lobbying politicians and marching on Washington, D.C., in their mission to outlaw what they considered a scourge on nation’s morality — alcohol. “Prohibition had been a long time in coming,...
One woman’s marathon journey to a perfect fit in the classroomVideo
Vicky Krug was determined to become a teacher. Her resolve only grew during nearly two decades she spent as a social worker, substance abuse therapist, substitute teacher and tutor earning multiple degrees and certifications along the way. A brain injury she suffered when her car and a truck collided on...
Scouts — both boys and girls — clash at Pinewood Derby in IrwinVideo
Cub Scout Pack 293 leader Daryl Muzy admits technology has improved significantly in the 50-year history of the North Huntingdon-area Cub Scout pack’s annual pinewood derby race. Instead of eyeballing the finish line, as was once done by the scoutmasters, the speedy wooden cars now cross a laser beam that...
Westmoreland bus authority pays $12,500 in overtime in 1st week of running service
Westmoreland Transit Authority paid out about $12,500 in overtime wages for the first week in January after it assumed control over bus and paratransit services from a private contractor. Officials said scheduling procedures that had been in place for years as well as a driver shortage required the agency to...
