Top Stories category, Page 201
Hotel room search leads to $13,000 drug bust in Hempfield
A North Versailles man is awaiting arraignment in connection with a drug bust at a Hempfield hotel, according to the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office. Charges were filed Friday against Brandon Patrick Lewis, 30. County detectives and sheriff’s deputies worked with the Westmoreland County Drug Task Force and agents from...
Solar projects go commercial — growth up, power costs down
A fire hall in downtown Greensburg is going solar this year with rooftop panels to generate electricity, which the city fire chief says will save money on energy costs. “It will be a substantial amount of savings for Hose Company No. 2, and it will generate an excess amount of...
Trump voices anger at Putin for comments about Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and threatens sanctions on Russia
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump voiced anger Sunday at Russian President Vladimir Putin for comments he made about Ukraine and its president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In an early Sunday morning phone interview with NBC News, Trump was referencing comments Putin made Friday about temporarily putting Ukraine under external governance. Trump said...
Rain turns to ice, cuts power in Great Lakes region while Tennessee braces for wild weatherVideo
Freezing rain brought down trees and power lines in Michigan and Wisconsin, cutting electricity for thousands of people Sunday in the upper Great Lakes region, while forecasters said severe weather was on its way to Tennessee. Winds topping 70 mph were possible for the middle of Tennessee, with a chance...
Poetry in motion: National ballroom dancing competition makes Pittsburgh swingVideo
If there’s a more enjoyable form of exercise than ballroom dancing, Joseph Britt hasn’t discovered it yet. “It’s just one of the most fun ways to be active,” he said. Britt, 20, and his dance partner, Sabina Sokol, 19, are students at Georgia Tech University and were among more than...
Pittsburgh DJ, conservative radio host Jim Quinn dies at 82
Friends are recalling longtime radio host Jim Quinn as a force in Pittsburgh media. Quinn died Sunday at 82. A cause of death was not immediately released. The New Jersey native spent decades on Steel City stations, from his start at KQV in the 1960s to WTAE in the late...
Trump says he’s considering ways to serve a 3rd term as presidentVideo
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump said Sunday that “I’m not joking” about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends at the beginning of 2029. “There...
Trump’s promised ‘Liberation Day’ of tariffs is coming. Here’s what it could mean for you
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says Wednesday will be “Liberation Day” — a moment when he plans to roll out a set of tariffs that he promises will free the United States from foreign goods. The details of Trump’s next round of import taxes are still sketchy. Most economic analyses...
Connellsville animal shelter finds ill puppies dumped in the woods
Two of four puppies found dumped in the woods in Connellsville on March 26 have died, according to a nearby shelter that is caring for the other two. Officials from Ninth Life Rescue Shelter in Connellsville received a call about the puppies found in the woods off Sandy Flat Road....
Police: Man fatally shot in McKeesport
County detectives are investigating the death of a man found shot inside a McKeesport home Saturday night. First responders were called to a house on the 1700 block of Abraham Street just before 10 p.m., where they found an adult male who’d been shot, according to Allegheny County Police. The...
From Elvis to Taylor Swift: How concert ticket prices became a luxury expense
It cost $1.50 in advance to see Elvis Presley in 1956; $5.90 to see the Beatles in 1964; $17 to see Nirvana in 1993 (and Kurt Cobain was shocked that artists would charge $50 at the time). Even adjusted for inflation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI...
Luxury personal care home set to open in Unity may be most expensive in Westmoreland County
A personal care home opening in Unity may have the most luxurious — and expensive — suites in Westmoreland County. April 1 will mark the debut of The Fountains at Latrobe, after about 10 months of construction and interior preparations. The Fountains’ flat monthly fee for a standard suite begins...
Interest in online learning, cyber charters increase in wake of covid pandemic
As the covid-19 pandemic eased and Canon-McMillan School District reopened its doors in August 2021, elementary student Camille Postlewaite told her parents she did not want to return to in-person classes. “That was what she wanted to do, and we’re not big on, ‘Well, you’re going to do it this...
From technology to learning loss to mental health, covid’s impact on education still felt today
Wayne Walters can still recall the enormous logistical challenge of handing out thousands of paper packets of classwork to Pittsburgh Public Schools students in 2020. The covid-19 pandemic had taken hold in the region. Schools closed buildings, students were left to learn online, and educators scrambled over how best to...
Drama on Grant Street sparks widespread concerns about Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey
As Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey faces a critical primary showdown in May, turmoil has engulfed his administration. Personnel shakeups, public outbursts, pushback by a newly rebellious City Council — all the drama is making some political observers question whether Gainey may be vulnerable to rival Democrat Corey O’Connor. Among critics’...
As PSNK’s future teeters, New Kensington business leaders stress the importance of The Corner Launchbox
Jim Radeshak was about 75% prepared to open a business with his wife, Christine, when he took a free course at The Corner Launchbox in New Kensington around two years ago. The course, which met over about 12 weeks, was a “how-to business course” where attendees learned about starting a...
IUP reaches deal with Torrance hospital for clinical training, addressing crisis in rural health care
Four years from now, there could be a dozen or so students from Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s medical school doing some of their clincal training at Torrance State Hospital near Blairsville. The experiences these IUP students from the proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine would face at the state hospital in...
Hundreds turn out for fundraiser supporting longtime police officer, mentor Willie Weber
Carl Bayne recalled training with Arnold firefighter Willie Weber more than 45 years ago. Bayne had signed on to be a junior firefighter in the city’s volunteer department. “From (age) 14 to 17, you can only do so much until you hit 18 and get into the regular department,” Bayne...
New Kensington residents, church leaders hold anti-drug, anti-violence rally
Melanie Schuler of New Kensington knew she could not sit idly by after what she suspected were drug overdoses in her apartment building earlier this month. She has lived in the city for decades and is one of many residents in the Kensington Manor Central Towers high-rise along Fourth Avenue....
Norwin Elks host annual Vietnam Veterans Luncheon
Robert and Joseph Tanyer weren’t even legally allowed to drink yet when the two brothers from Jeannette signed up for the Army and shipped out to Vietnam in the late 1960s. “I turned 21 while I was over there,” Joseph Tanyer said. “I didn’t think too much about it. I...
One-day closure set for Old William Penn Highway below Parkway East in Monroeville
Old William Penn Highway will be closed Monday, March 31 between Evergreen Drive and Duff Road as work crews conduct demolition work on the Parkway East bridge that runs over the road. Old William Penn will be closed from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. to accommodate the work. East of...
Westbound Route 422 reopens following fatal crash in Butler County
The westbound side of Route 422 has reopened following a fatal crash Saturday morning in Summit Township, police said. First responders were called to the highway just west of Mitchell Hill Road around 11 a.m., according to Butler County 911 officials. Ronald Litzinger, 43, of Butler, was found dead at...
Morning Roundup: Pittsburgh teen charged with robbing, assaulting delivery driver
Here are a few morning news items from across the region for Saturday, March 29, 2025. Teen charged with robbing delivery driver Pittsburgh Police arrested a teenager Thursday, charging him with assaulting a pizza delivery driver earlier this week in the city’s Elliott neighborhood. Police said Nae’Pear Clark, 16, of...
Derry’s former Porcelain Park could be revamped as new commercial space
Brian Lawrence can see a light at the end of the tunnel when he looks over the 19 acres of empty land in Derry once known as Porcelain Park. Decades ago, 200 people came there to work for the borough’s main employer, a plant that produced ceramic insulators. If the...
‘Absolutely a miracle’ — Driver recounts harrowing Buffalo Township crash, help of good Samaritans
Christy Dray-Blackham says she must have had divine help when the minivan she was driving plunged 50 feet into a ravine and then a creek Thursday afternoon in Buffalo Township. That intervention came in the form of two nurse “angels” who happened by in separate cars and a slew of...
