Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 178
$8M Burrell High School heating and cooling project awarded; Bon Air work on hold
Burrell School District officials are moving forward with a roughly $8 million heating and cooling project for Burrell High School but will go back to the drawing board for a similar project at Bon Air Elementary. The contract for the HVAC improvements at Burrell High School, awarded Tuesday by the...
Las Vegas tourism is down. Some blame Trump’s tariffs, immigration crackdownVideo
LAS VEGAS — Tourism in Las Vegas is slumping this summer, with resorts and convention centers reporting fewer visitors compared to last year, especially from abroad, and some officials are blaming the Trump administration’s tariffs and immigration policies for the decline. The city known for lavish shows, endless buffets and...
Years after abuse reports, ex-coach at renowned U.S. gymnastics academy arrested by FBI
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The U.S. gymnastics world was only just recovering from a devastating sexual abuse scandal when a promising young coach moved from Mississippi to Iowa to take a job in 2018 at an elite academy known for training Olympic champions. Liang “Chow” Qiao, the owner of Chow’s...
Hurricane Erin forecast to churn up dangerous swells, wind from Florida to New EnglandVideo
RODANTHE, N.C. — Hurricane Erin chugged slowly Tuesday toward the eastern U.S., stirring up treacherous waves that already have led to dozens of water rescues and shut down beaches along the coast in the midst of summer’s last hurrah. While forecasters remain confident the center of the monster storm will...
Oklahoma to screen would-be teachers from N.Y., Calif. to keep ‘leftist propaganda’ out of schools
For now, Pennsylvanians looking to land a teaching job in Oklahoma won’t have to take a test designed to weed out “woke indoctrinators” seeking classroom work in the conservative Sooner State. Oklahoma soon will begin administering what Ryan Walters, the state’s elected superintendent of public instruction, calls the “America First”...
6 taken to hospitals after 2-vehicle crash in Youngwood
Six people were transported to local hospitals Tuesday afternoon following a two-car crash in Youngwood, according to emergency officials. First responders were called for a crash near the intersection of Burton Avenue and South Third Street (Route 119) in Youngwood. Mutual Aid Ambulance took the two adult drivers and one...
Riverhounds announce planned expansion to stadium on Pittsburgh’s South ShoreVideo
Paul Heisley had a vision in 1999. It was not only to bring professional soccer to Pittsburgh but give it a home that would be a center for the sport in the city. He had blueprints. Even a place on the Monongahela River in Homestead to make his vision a...
Ragweed near full bloom in Western Pa. as fall approaches
Blessings to each and every one with allergies. And tissues. And nasal spray. And eye drops. And neti pots. And Claritin or Zyrtec or Allegra. Or if sleep is desired, Benadryl. “‘Tis the season,” said Dr. Thomas Mertz of Allergy and Asthma Associates of Pittsburgh, a practice based in Harmar....
Allegheny County Jail guard union seeks to overturn ban on use of leg shackles for medical visits
When Allegheny County voters approved a referendum in 2021 eliminating the use of solitary confinement at the county jail, they also barred use of leg shackles by corrections officers there. As a result, jail staff cannot restrain the legs of incarcerated people being transported to the hospital for medical appointments...
Reward offered in case of Greensburg man missing for 3 weeks
A reward is being offered for information on the location of Ruben Carranza, a Greensburg man who has been missing for three weeks. “I don’t think my son is hiding, so all of the things that come into my mind (are) bad things,” said his mother, Dawn Rose. “Somebody knows.”...
Feds working to thwart southern invasion of New World Screwworm
The latest threat to the southern border has wings and lays eggs that hatch into flesh-eating maggots that can kill people. At least five Central Americans have died from myiasis of the New World Screwworm this year. Myiasis is the term used when maggots infest human flesh and cause an...
Police arrest Monroeville man in Downtown Pittsburgh daylight shooting
A Monroeville man has been arrested for wounding two people earlier this month in a daylight shooting in Downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. Pittsburgh police say Jaraye McLaughlin, 28, opened fire Aug. 1 near the end of the work day on Penn Avenue, near the Barcelona Wine Bar. A woman was...
2nd driver in high-speed crash that killed Serra Catholic teen gets prison time
A man who police said was racing another driver across a Dravosburg bridge nearly two years ago, leading to a crash that killed a Serra Catholic High School student, will serve at least 16 months in state prison. Andrew Voigt, 56, of Penn Hills was taken into custody immediately following...
VA shuffles top leaders in Pittsburgh as agency upends ‘status quo’
The top two officials overseeing care for Pittsburgh-area veterans have been pulled from their posts and reassigned. Donald Koenig is out as director of the Pittsburgh VA, a role he took in 2019 after more than two decades as a private health care executive. His tenure stopped a carousel of...
Police say Wilkinsburg care worker stole $64,000 from woman with dementia
An in-home care worker is accused of stealing $64,000 from an elderly woman with severe dementia by making fraudulent check deposits, according to Allegheny County Police. Brittany Miller, 37, of Wilkinsburg was a caretaker for a 70-year-old woman whose condition had rendered her nonverbal and dependent on around-the-clock care, according...
Air Canada reaches deal with flight attendant union to end strike, operations to gradually restart
TORONTO — Air Canada said Tuesday it will gradually restart operations after reaching an agreement with the union for 10,000 flight attendants to end a strike. The union first announced the agreement early Tuesday after Air Canada and the union resumed talks late Monday for the first time since the...
Love triangle turned deadly inside Washington County home, police say
One man is dead and another behind bars after what police described as a love triangle turned violent Sunday night inside a Washington County home. Christopher Harper, 18, of Ellsworth is accused by Pennsylvania State Police of breaking into a residence along Walnut Street in Ellsworth and shooting Elijah Johnson,...
Mold remediation continues at Norwin High School
Crews continued to clean mold at Norwin High School on Monday, and maintenance and custodians helped teachers and staff clean district and personal items in preparation for the first day of school this week, the district superintendent said. Superintendent Natalie McCracken told the school board Monday a disaster restoration contractor,...
Staffing woes, economics threaten future of Westmoreland Manor
Westmoreland Manor has seen better days. County leaders this month issued a warning that persistent nursing shortages and a dwindling number of residents have created economic pitfalls that could endanger the facility in the years to come. The six-story nursing home in Hempfield has served Westmoreland County’s aging and disabled...
When the ground gives way, homeowners are often left with the bill. Pa. lawmakers propose safety net
A version of this story first appeared in Talk of the Town — a daily newsletter from the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown. BELLEFONTE — When landslides and sinkholes damage Pennsylvania houses,...
3 more GOP governors authorize deployment of National Guard troops as part of Trump show of forceVideo
WASHINGTON — Three more Republican governors authorized the deployment of National Guard troops to Washington on Monday, part of President Donald Trump’s escalating show of force that he says is designed to crack down on crime and boost immigration enforcement in the nation’s capital. The announcements by Mississippi, Tennessee and...
Report: Billionaire businessman a ‘serious contender’ to buy Penguins
A billionaire businessman who owns an ECHL hockey team in Florida has emerged as a “serious contender” to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins from Fenway Sports Group, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.ca reported Monday. According to the report, David Hoffmann and his family are trying to buy the team for about $1.75...
Trump vows to change how elections are run. The U.S. Constitution doesn’t give him that power
President Donald Trump on Monday vowed more changes to the way elections are conducted in the U.S., but based on the Constitution there is little to nothing he can do on his own. Relying on false information and conspiracy theories that he’s regularly used to explain away his 2020 election...
Justice Department to begin giving Congress files from Jeffrey Epstein investigation, lawmaker says
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has agreed to provide to Congress documents from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, a key House lawmaker said Monday in announcing a move that appears to avert, at least temporarily, a potential separation of powers clash. The records are to be turned over starting...
Authorities name Pittsburgh man fatally shot last month in Penn Hills
A man who was fatally shot in Penn Hills last month has been identified as a 31-year-old resident of Pittsburgh’s Sheraden neighborhood. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office on Monday publicly identified the victim as Austin Lamont Turner. He was found by police on July 7 in the 11000 block...
