Top Stories category, Page 175
Now boarding: Flights to Myrtle Beach, Fort Lauderdale resume at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport
Shawn and Mary McMullen didn’t expect hoopla Wednesday morning when they arrived at the ticket counter of Arnold Palmer Regional Airport to purchase airfare for an upcoming trip to Disney World. “It is so convenient. This is the easiest place for use to fly out of,” Shawn McMullen said. The...
Judge says U.S. must allow migrants a chance to challenge in court any deportations to Libya
WASHINGTON — Deporting migrants to Libya without a chance to challenge the removals would violate a court order, a federal judge said Wednesday, after immigration attorneys reported that authorities told people they would be sent to the country with a history of human rights violations. U.S. District Judge Brian E....
House GOP backing off some Medicaid cuts as report shows millions of people would lose health care
WASHINGTON — House Republicans appear to be backing off some, but not all, of the steep reductions to the Medicaid program as part of their big tax breaks bill, as they run into resistance from more centrist GOP lawmakers opposed to ending nearly-free health care coverage for their constituents back...
How Penn State trustees’ plan to vote on campus closures could run afoul of transparency law
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for Talk of the Town, a weekly newsletter of local stories that dig deep, events, and more from north-central PA, at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown. The...
3 former Memphis officers acquitted in fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after he fled a traffic stop
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Three former Memphis officers were acquitted Wednesday of state charges, including second-degree murder, in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols after he ran away from a traffic stop in 2023. A jury, which appeared to be all white, took about 8 1/2 hours over two days to...
About 40,000 Pennsylvanians to receive unclaimed property letters this week
More than 40,000 Pennsylvanians are set to receive letters this week indicating they’ll be receiving money because of unclaimed property, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity announced Wednesday. Unclaimed property can include dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, forgotten stocks, insurance policies, tangible property like the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes and...
Grandmother and boyfriend sentenced in Penn Hills infant’s fentanyl death
A grandmother and her boyfriend who both used fentanyl-laced heroin around her 7-month-old grandchild while they were babysitting — leading to the child’s death from fentanyl poisoning — were sentenced on Wednesday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Barbara Ann Dunlap-Toombs, 68, of Larimer, will serve one to two years...
Their brother left New Kensington to serve in Korea and never returned. 75 years later, they have closure
Marjorie Ann “Marjie” Mahar called her brother, Paul Bowser, one afternoon in March and told him to sit down. “I just got a call from Fort Knox,” she told him. On March 24, three hours before she was set to deliver a speech before the Tennessee House of Representatives about...
Little turbulence at Pittsburgh International as Real ID rules take effect
Tracy Moffat experienced only a minor hiccup with her Real ID as she used it for the first time Wednesday to fly from Boston to Pittsburgh. The identification requirement, which went into effect Wednesday, mandates anyone 18 or older present a Real ID or other acceptable identification — like a...
Black smoke pours from Sistine Chapel chimney, indicating no pope was elected as conclave opens
VATICAN CITY — Black smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel chimney on Wednesday, signalling that no pope had been elected as 133 cardinals opened the secretive, centuries-old ritual to choose a new leader of the Catholic Church. The cardinals participating in the most geographically diverse conclave in the faith’s...
Allegheny County Council approves tax diversion for proposed Esplanade development
The developer looking to build a Ferris wheel, housing, entertainment space and other amenities to a sprawling riverside property in Pittsburgh’s Chateau neighborhood cleared a major hurdle Tuesday as Allegheny County Council provided the last needed approval for a critical tax diversion. Cecil-based Piatt Companies has now earned approval from...
Appeals court reinstates Republican mayoral candidate to primary ballot
A state appeals court just two weeks before the May 20 primary has reinstated a Jeannette mayoral candidate to the Republican ballot. The ruling has left Westmoreland County election officials scrambling to reprogram voting machines and send more than 100 new mail-in ballots to Jeannette’s Republican voters. In a ruling...
A week after severe storm, nearly all have power restored
Almost everyone who lost power a week ago during a wave of severe storms has had power restored. Almost. Duquesne Light, the biggest power supplier to Allegheny and Beaver counties, said a “small subset” of households still were in the dark but should have their electric service restored Wednesday. The...
Western Pa. universities work to address antisemitism on campuses as incidents soar nationally
The Anti-Defamation League asserts college campuses have become an “epicenter of American antisemitism,” with nearly 1,700 incidents of antisemitic harassment, vandalism and violence occurring on campuses last year alone. Western Pennsylvania’s two largest universities — the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University — say they have been working to...
Pennsylvania Senate votes to ban transgender athletes in girls’ sports, but bill faces uphill battle
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s state Senate on Tuesday approved a bill to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls’ sports at the collegiate and K-12 levels, although the Republican-penned bill is unlikely to get a vote in the state’s Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. The bill passed, 32-18, with five...
State attorney general charges 9 with organizing multi-county drug ring
The state Attorney General’s Office has charged a Beaver County man with heading up a drug operation spanning multiple counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Korrtezz M. Martin, 34, of Rochester, was charged with racketeering, conspiracy, weapons violations, multiple counts of drug possession, manufacturing and delivery, in connection with an illegal drug...
Pennsylvania governor’s residence to get an ‘anti-climb’ fence
HARRISBURG — A barrier described as an “anti-climb fence” is in the works for the Pennsylvania governor’s official residence, the state police chief said Tuesday, less than a month after a late-night intruder jumped the existing fence, broke into the home and started a damaging fire. Col. Christopher Paris’ letter...
Blue backpack flagged by private eye as key to solving Cherrie Mahan’s disappearance
A private investigator claims a blue backpack carried by Cherrie Mahan at the time of her disappearance 40 years ago from a Winfield school bus stop could be key to cracking the case. “I am convinced through some fairly recent testimony and input that Cherrie’s book bag was very likely...
Pitt to pay millions to settle pandemic learning lawsuit, but each student will get hundreds
Several universities in the Pittsburgh area have settled lawsuits stemming from the switch to online classes during the 2020 covid-19 pandemic, including, most recently, the University of Pittsburgh for nearly $8 million. Although the settlement amounts range from $1 million to $17 million — bigger schools owe more — the...
What to expect at Pittsburgh airport with (or without) Real ID
Travelers arriving at Pittsburgh International Airport Wednesday without a Real ID or another acceptable form of identification should prepare for possible additional screening. Starting Wednesday, federal Real ID requirement goes into effect and will be enforced by TSA agents at airports across the country. Anyone 18 years of age or...
India fires missiles into Pakistani territory in what Islambad calls ‘act of war’Video
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — India fired missiles into Pakistani-controlled territory in several locations early Wednesday, killing at least eight people including a child, in what Pakistan’s leader called an act of war. India said it was striking infrastructure used by militants linked to last month’s massacre of tourists in the Indian-controlled...
Trump says the U.S. will stop bombing Yemen’s Houthis after rebels say they’ll stop targeting ships
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s ordering a halt to nearly two months of U.S. airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthis, saying that the Iran-backed rebels have indicated that “they don’t want to fight anymore” and have pledged to stop attacking ships along a vital maritime corridor. “We’re going...
Supreme Court allows Trump ban on transgender members of the military to take effect, for now
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to enforce a ban on transgender people in the military, while legal challenges proceed. The court acted in the dispute over a policy that presumptively disqualifies transgender people from military service and could lead to the expulsion of...
Fetterman on article about staffer concerns: ‘It’s a one-source story’
Sen. John Fetterman on Tuesday dismissed a news report detailing staff concerns about his health as a “hit piece” and “one-source story.” A New York Magazine story last week raised new concerns about the senator’s health. The article quoted Fetterman’s former chief of staff Adam Jentleson, who wondered whether Fetterman...
Recreational cannabis would be sold at state-run stores under bill advanced by Pa. Democrats
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — Democrats in the Pennsylvania House have advanced a bill that would permit the sale of recreational cannabis to adults at state-run stores, an...
