Top Stories category, Page 232
Federal funding freeze disrupts rural organizations supporting foster youth, job growth
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After surviving teen homelessness and domestic violence in West Virginia, 23-year-old Ireland Daugherty was finally feeling stable: She had her own apartment, a job and was studying for a four-year degree. Ashley Cain, 36, was celebrating four years of sobriety and working with a nonprofit that trains...
TikTok returns to Apple and Google app stores in U.S.
HONG KONG — TikTok has returned to the app stores of Apple and Google in the U.S., after President Donald Trump delayed the enforcement of a TikTok ban. TikTok, which is operated by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, was removed from Apple and Google’s app stores on Jan. 18 to comply...
Judge dismisses Pittsburgh Public Schools lawsuit aimed at forcing countywide reassessment
A judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit that Pittsburgh Public Schools had brought against Allegheny County in hopes of forcing a countywide property reassessment. The district filed the suit in April 2024 seeking to have the court retain jurisdiction throughout a reassessment process and to set a realistic timetable for...
O’Connor audit details how caseloads overwhelm Allegheny County public defenders
In an audit released Thursday, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor raised concerns that public defenders’ heavy caseloads may make it difficult to provide effective representation. His audit recommended the county improve the way it analyzes and manages attorneys’ caseloads in the Allegheny County Office of the Public Defender. According to...
Lori Falce: Marc Fogel, Saquon Barkley, Donald Trump and rooting for all the right reasons
The Super Bowl is one of the highlights of my year. Even when the Steelers aren’t participating, I revel in the rush. Sometimes not having your team in play can make you appreciate the game more than the score. I have been up front about my absolute loathing of the...
At fire academy, high school students earn class credit while training to be firefighters
Desiree Schramm wasn’t looking to become a firefighter when she was choosing electives during her junior year at North Hills High School. “I was scheduling for classes and, ‘What’s this?’ ” said Schramm, of Ross, now 18 and a senior. “This is actually pretty cool.” What Schramm stumbled across was the...
Westmoreland leaders look to workforce, housing, internet projects for improving ‘State of County’
Westmoreland County’s manufacturers generate $1.3 billion in annual wages and account for 22% of that sector in the seven-county Pittsburgh metropolitan area. While those attending Thursday’s annual State of the County luncheon heard those encouraging statistics, county leaders pointed to the need to attract more people to live and work...
Former Everson secretary-treasurer to fill revamped fiscal director slot for Latrobe
An Everson native who recently served as secretary-treasurer of that Fayette County borough is set to take on a new role: overseeing Latrobe’s city budget. Timothy Pisula is set to start work as Latrobe’s fiscal director March 10 after city council this week unanimously hired him for the revamped position....
Order to drop New York Mayor Adams’ case roils Justice Department as high-ranking officials resignVideo
NEW YORK — Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, and five high-ranking Justice Department officials resigned Thursday after she refused an order to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams — a stunning escalation in a dayslong standoff over the Trump administration prioritizing political aims over criminal...
Judge orders Trump administration to temporarily allow funds for foreign aid to flow again
WASHINGTON — A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily lift a three-week funding freeze that has shut down U.S. aid and development programs worldwide. Judge Amir Ali issued the order Thursday in U.S. district court in Washington in a lawsuit brought by two health organizations that receive...
Under cover: Game commission releases bonus stock of pheasants in Pa.Video
Pheasant hunters aren’t just good at flushing out the birds they’re hunting. They’re pretty adept at figuring out where the Pennsylvania Game Commission is likely to stock them. As Warden Zebulun Campbell and his crew pulled into a small parking lot near Loyalhanna Lake on Thursday morning, a half-dozen hunters...
Weapons, drug charges against former Pagans member dismissed in New Kensington
Weapons and drug charges against a former member of the Pagans motorcycle gang have been dismissed. The charges, including prohibited possession of a firearm, against Bill Robert Rana, 44, of Sharpsburg were dismissed after a preliminary hearing Thursday before New Kensington District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. Rana and three...
Linda McMahon says Trump’s plan to close Education Department would need Congress’ approval
WASHINGTON — Linda McMahon, the former CEO of a professional wrestling and entertainment juggernaut and Donald Trump’s pick as Education secretary, told senators Thursday that the president’s plan to dismantle the Education Department would need congressional approval. “We’d like to do this right,” she said. “We’d like to make sure...
Woman dies after being found shot in crashed car in Sheraden
A 26-year-old woman has died after being shot Thursday morning in Pittsburgh’s Sheraden neighborhood, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said. The victim, Taylor Hall, was pronounced dead at an area hospital Thursday morning after the shooting in the 3100 block of Kelvin Street, the medical examiner said. Pittsburgh police...
Allegheny County property tax bills lack new payment deadlines
Allegheny County residents will begin receiving 2025 real estate tax bills this week, but deadline information in the enclosed bulletins is wrong because of last-minute changes, according to County Treasurer Erica Rocchi Brusselars. On Tuesday night, Allegheny County Council voted to extend property tax deadlines by about a month, including...
Closing of Salem’s Market in the Hill District leaves residents shocked, disappointed
Salem’s Market and Grill is temporarily pausing its operations in the Hill District location. The grocery store at 1850 Centre Ave. has been open for a little over a year and came as a great relief for the predominantly Black neighborhood, which had been without a grocery store since the...
Child welfare agencies are buckling under staffing shortages as Pa. debates using opioid money to help
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania counties are tapping into opioid settlement money to support child welfare programs as they face staff shortages, increased risks for children, and other challenges. Most of these initiatives have received approval from a powerful state oversight board — including efforts to train staff, support parents in treatment,...
Mon View Heights owner from New York, charged in $580K theft, surrenders in West Mifflin
One of three men from New York accused of stealing $580,000 related to the Mon View Heights housing complex in West Mifflin surrendered to authorities on Thursday. Jonathan Liani, 39,was arraigned and is free on $250,000 unsecured bail, according to court records. Allegheny County detectives said in court papers filed...
Bird flu cases on the rise in Pa. as the state expands testing, containment efforts
BELLEFONTE — Pennsylvania has given $13.5 million to hundreds of farmers over the past three years to help them pay for bird flu testing, recover lost revenue, and implement biosecurity measures. These are the tentpoles of the state’s special grant program helping farmers respond to the aggressive virus, which is...
FBI tries new tack to thwart crypto crimes
The thousands of investors had different goals for growing their money last year, from paying for cancer treatments to helping loved ones, to just making a good return. But all had one thing in common: they were victims of cryptocurrency scams that totaled an estimated $5 billion in potential losses....
Heroin or litter box: Arnold stabbing suspects don’t agree on cause of fight
Two men who police say stabbed each other in an Arnold apartment Sunday morning were fighting over either heroin or a dirty kitty litter box, according to a criminal complaint. Police charged Michael James Holliday, 43, of Arnold and William Johnson, 54, of Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood each with felony aggravated...
Shapiro sues over Trump administration spending freezes on grants and loans
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday sued agencies under President Donald Trump, saying they are illegally and unconstitutionally withholding billions in federal aid from the state that had already been approved by Congress. Shapiro, a Democrat, filed the lawsuit despite the fact that federal courts have repeatedly rejected...
Vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sworn in as Trump’s health chief after close Senate vote
WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in Thursday as President Donald Trump’s health secretary after a close Senate vote, putting the prominent vaccine skeptic in control of $1.7 trillion in federal spending, vaccine recommendations and food safety as well as health insurance programs for roughly half the country....
U.S. egg prices hit a record high of $4.95 and are likely to keep climbing
OMAHA, Neb. — Egg prices hit a record high as the U.S. contends with an ongoing bird flu outbreak, but consumers didn’t need government figures released Wednesday to tell them eggs are terribly expensive and hard to find at times. The latest monthly consumer price index showed that the average...
Breakfast is booming at U.S. restaurants. Is it also contributing to high egg prices?
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade...
