Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 21
Pittsburgh Water reports lowest-ever lead levels in city water supply
Pittsburgh Water’s 2025 report highlights a continued drop in lead levels detected in the city’s drinking water supply. “2025 was yet another year of Pittsburgh Water turning our commitments into real results for our customers,” CEO Will Pickering said in a statement accompanying the report, released March 2. The organization’s...
Kennedy Aderogba to be Pitt marching band’s first Black woman drum major
Kennedy Aderogba had simple goals when she joined Pitt’s marching band two years ago: to have fun, learn more, and grow as a person and musician. She grew up playing instruments, but joined Pitt’s marching band with no prior marching band experience: her high school, The Ensworth School in Nashville,...
Pittsburgh Regional Transit CEO Katharine Kelleman gets $55K bonus
Pittsburgh Regional Transit CEO Katharine Kelleman is getting a $55,000 bonus, but exactly how the extra pay bump was determined is unclear. The transit agency’s board on Friday unanimously approved the performance bonus with no discussion. Under the terms of Kelleman’s contract, the board could’ve given her up to $62,400....
Back in black: UPMC reverses recent losses with $286M operating income in 2025
UPMC’s operating income hit $286 million last year, snapping a two-year streak of red ink. A rebound from UPMC’s health insurance division helped the organization return to positive margins after operating losses of $339 million in 2024 and $198 million in 2023, according to a financial report released Friday. Insurance...
Fort Pitt Museum unveils ‘Pittsburgh’s Revolution’ exhibit ahead of America’s 250th anniversary
A new exhibition exploring Western Pennsylvania’s role in the Revolutionary War was unveiled Sunday at the Fort Pitt Museum. The museum, part of the Senator John Heinz History Center’s family of museums, had been closed since the start of the year as the new display was prepared. “Pittsburgh’s Revolution” uses...
Pete Hegseth insists the Iran conflict is ‘not endless’ while warning more casualties are likely
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke Monday to widening concerns that the U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran could spiral into a protracted regional conflict by declaring, “This is not Iraq. This is not endless,” even as he warned that more American casualties are likely in the weeks ahead. Hegseth, along...
FBI investigates Texas bar shooting that killed 2 and wounded 14 as possible terrorist act
AUSTIN, Texas — A gunman wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and the words “Property of Allah” killed two people and wounded 14 early Sunday at a Texas bar, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The FBI is investigating the shooting, which erupted a day after the...
Temps to touch 70s this week, but rain awaits
It may be a soggy but warmer week ahead for Western Pennsylvania, according to local meteorologists. The Pittsburgh region could see anywhere between 1 to 4 inches of rain this week, with temperatures in the upper 60s to low 70s on Friday and Saturday, WTAE meteorologist Ashley Dougherty said in...
War widens to include Iranian-backed militias as Israeli and American planes pound Iran
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran and Iranian-backed militias fired missiles at Israel and Arab states Monday, apparently hitting the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait, while Israel and the United States pounded targets in Iran as the war expanded with statements of defiance and increasing casualties. At least 555 people...
Freeze-thaw cycle leaves region scrambling to fill potholesVideo
If you’re seeking the culprit behind that crater you have to avoid on your morning drive, look past the local road crew — and blame Mother Nature. That’s because of a process called the freeze-thaw cycle, something particularly present in Western Pennsylvania’s wet climate and varied topography. It’s a recipe...
WTAE’s Elena LaQuatra: How a cochlear implant helped new Pittsburgh morning anchor rise to the top
As the clock in the WTAE studio counted down, Elena LaQuatra’s bubbly personality turned serious. She scanned scripts behind the anchor desk and made quick adjustments to her hair and dress. With a hand signal from show control operator Taylor Jones, LaQuatra’s face was broadcast live on televisions around Pittsburgh....
Jeannette native Jasmine Jones returns home with Olympic bronze
Jasmine Jones, the Jeannette native who competed in this year’s Winter Olympics in Italy, remembers the moment a childhood dream 15 years in the making came true. Jones, 29, was on her first Olympic journey last month with the U.S. women’s bobsled team. German athletes were dominating the first three...
3 U.S. troops killed, 5 seriously wounded during Iran attacks, military says
WASHINGTON — Three American service members have been killed and five others seriously wounded during the U.S. attacks on Iran, the military announced Sunday, marking the first American casualties in a major offensive that President Donald Trump said could likely lead to more losses in the coming weeks. U.S. Central...
What to know about the latest U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran
The U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggered retaliatory strikes on multiple countries in the region and is reverberating around the world. Related violence expanded Sunday to a growing number of places, with a rising death toll. Israeli strikes targeted Tehran. Iran fired drones...
Trump, the self-declared peace president, goes to war seeking regime change
(News Analysis) WASHINGTON — When he first ran for president in 2016, Donald Trump disavowed the military adventurism of recent years, declaring that “regime change is a proven, absolute failure.” He promised to “stop racing to topple foreign regimes.” When Trump ran for president in 2024, he boasted of starting...
Shapiro vows to block ICE detention centers, warns of devastating impact on local Pa. communities
This story was produced by the Berks County bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom. READING — Gov. Josh Shapiro says he will use “every tool at his disposal” to stop planned ICE detention centers in Berks and Schuylkill Counties, though he stopped short of discussing what levers his...
At least 22 people killed in Pakistan as protesters try to storm U.S. Consulate
KARACHI, Pakistan — Violent clashes between protesters and security forces in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi and in the country’s north left at least 22 people dead and more than 120 others injured as demonstrators supportive of the Iranian government attempted to storm a U.S. Consulate on Sunday, authorities...
Iran vows revenge after the killing of its top leader and trades strikes with Israel in widening war
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran vowed revenge Sunday after the killing of its supreme leader and traded strikes with Israel as part of a widening war prompted by a surprise U.S. and Israeli bombardment a day earlier. Blasts in Tehran sent a huge plume of smoke into the sky...
Man who climbed to top of Gulf Tower in Downtown Pittsburgh caught after returning to get hoodie, police say
A Beaver County man who recorded himself atop the Gulf Tower in Downtown Pittsburgh returned the next day to get a hoodie he left behind, according to police. Pittsburgh police charged Austin Gene Seik, 27, of Frankfort Springs and Mariah Lynn Barnes, 33, of Munhall on Friday with felony counts...
Suspect in Texas shooting wore ‘Property of Allah’ clothing and Iranian flag emblem
AUSTIN, Texas — The gunman who killed two people early Sunday at a bar in Texas in a mass shooting that left 14 others wounded was wearing a sweatshirt that said “Property of Allah,” and another shirt with an Iranian flag design, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press....
Israeli strikes rock Tehran as Iran’s counterattacks widen after the killing of its supreme leader
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An explosion rocked Iran’s capital Sunday as Israel said it would carry out “non-stop strikes” against its leaders and military. Iran meanwhile fired more missiles at Israel and Gulf Arab states in retaliation for the killing of its supreme leader in the surprise U.S. and...
What to Know About the U.S. Attacks on Iran
Joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the nation’s supreme leader for almost 37 years, the Iranian government said Sunday, raising the prospect of a power vacuum in an already turbulent region. The Iranian state news agency confirmed the supreme leader’s death as another wave of U.S. and...
Who could take over for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?
Before the American and Israeli bombs started falling Saturday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the authoritarian center of the theocratic regime for nearly 40 years, had planned for a transition of power in the event of his death. Khamenei, 86, had led Iran since 1989, and held sweeping powers...
Woman dies in 3-vehicle crash on Liberty Bridge
A three-vehicle crash on the Liberty Bridge early Sunday morning killed a passenger in one of the cars. According to Pittsburgh Police, officers responded to the crash just before 1 a.m. One of the three vehicles was engulfed in flames with three people pinned inside, police said. Officers put out...
Trump’s ‘America First’ campaign battle cry gives way to military strikes abroad
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, whose fierce denunciation of military adventurism abroad fueled his unlikely rise to the top of the Republican Party, risks becoming ensnared by that very type of conflict. The U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran Saturday cemented Trump’s decade-long transformation from a candidate who in 2016...
