Top Stories category, Page 240
Western Pennsylvania musicians strive to preserve polka tradition
Chris Bogdon was in first grade in his native Carnegie when he started taking accordion lessons. Steve Novosel, while growing up in Murrysville, took up the instrument at 9 years old. Both were raised in families where polka music was a regular part of the family soundtrack, and both are...
Scholarship, memorial to honor Domenico Schiano di Cola’s memory at St. Joseph High School
The Schiano di Cola family wants to give back to the school and community that’s meant so much to them. The family is establishing a scholarship in the late Domenico Schiano di Cola’s memory that will run in perpetuity at St. Joseph High School in Harrison. It’s his alma mater...
Punxsutawney Phil predicts 6 more weeks of winter after seeing shadow
The largest Groundhog Day crowd to date greeted the news from Punxsutawney Phil with a chorus of boos Sunday. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club declared the famous rodent saw a shadow at sunrise and predicted six more weeks of winter. The prediction at 7:25 a.m. came as thousands who gathered at...
Less money, more coverage: Regional police forces becoming more attractive
The Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department’s budget increased by 5% this year — but it still costs its member communities less than what they were paying for their individual departments years ago. Cheswick, East Deer and Springdale Township each will pay about $272,000 toward the regional police force this year....
Historical society marks 65th anniversary of Southern lunch-counter protests
Kelton Edmonds doesn’t just know the history of the “Greensboro Four,” the group of Black freshman students at North Carolina Architectural & Technical State College, who staged the first lunch-counter sit-in protest. He got a firsthand account of it from Jibreel Khazan, who was known then as Ezell Blair Jr.,...
Trump imposes tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, raising prospect of higher costs for US consumers
PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump on Saturday signed an order to impose stiff tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China — fulfilling one of his post-campaign commitments to voters that also carries the risk of sparking higher inflation and disrupting businesses across North America. Trump declared an...
Democrats elect Ken Martin, the party leader in Minnesota, as their national chair
OXON HILL, Md. — Democrats on Saturday elected Ken Martin, the party leader in Minnesota, as the national chair, turning to a low-profile Midwestern political operative to coordinate their resistance to Donald Trump’s presidency. Martin succeeds Jaime Harrison of South Carolina atop the Democratic National Committee. Harrison did not seek...
U.S. military conducts airstrikes against Islamic State operatives in Somalia
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has conducted airstrikes against Islamic State operatives in Somalia, the first attacks in the African nation during President Donald Trump’s second term. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that the strikes by U.S. Africa Command were directed by Trump and coordinated with Somalia’s government. An...
Donegal man accused of scamming insurance companies out of $30,000
A Donegal man faces multiple counts of insurance fraud and theft on accusations that he scammed two insurance companies on separate occasions with false claims totaling more than $30,000. Walter A. Smith Jr., 45, was charged on Friday by the state Attorney General’s Office. Smith faces eight counts of insurance...
Move over, Punxsutawney Phil: Woodstock Willie brings Groundhog Day spirit to Illinois
Western Pennsylvania has its beloved Punxsutawney Phil, but in Illinois, there’s a lesser-known contender for the groundhog throne: Woodstock Willie. Home of the popular “Groundhog Day” movie starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, Woodstock, Ill., attracts a bustling crowd hoping to catch a glimpse of Willie’s weather prediction every Feb....
Freeze-thaw cycle wreaks havoc on road surfaces
Greensburg Public Works Director Tom Bell took a good bit of verbal abuse this week about a road he’s not even responsible for maintaining. “Next time, leave your phone number, and I can explain to you why and who maintains that roadway and takes care of those potholes,” Bell wrote...
Relic of ‘God’s Influencer’ visits Saint Joseph High School in Harrison
Carlo Acutis was much like the typical teen boys of today: He was a fan of soccer and spent a lot of time on his computer. He also was deeply religious and, in April, is expected to be the first person from the millennial generation to be canonized as a...
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s chief of staff resigns
Jake Wheatley, chief of staff to Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, has resigned, the mayor’s office said Saturday. A statement sent to the media Saturday evening did not list a reason for the departure. Wheatley’s resignation was effective Jan. 29. “Jake has made extremely important contributions to my administration and the...
WVU scraps Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Division office
West Virginia University in Morgantown has scrapped its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Division and is replacing it with a new initiative, keeping in line with the state’s governor who declared an end to DEI offices. State-owned WVU said the move was in compliance with Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s executive order prohibiting...
Child patient from Mexico, her mother on plane that crashed in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — A medical transport jet with a child patient, her mother and four others aboard crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood shortly after takeoff Friday evening, exploding in a fireball that engulfed several homes. All six people aboard were from Mexico. The child had been treated in Philadelphia for a...
Taco Bell manager who killed employee testifies he feared victim
Zairyre Simmons was abused as a child and grew up in the foster care system. He watched a person get shot while playing basketball at a Homewood playground and later lost his best friend and older brother to violence. All of those circumstances — along with a 2018 incident when...
Experts warn Trump tariffs could depress U.S. economy
Bill Mohler can see hard times coming. Co-owner of Sendell Volkswagen, east of Greensburg, Mohler said President Trump’s expected 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada will have a dramatic impact on his business. “It will mean the price of cars and parts could go up 25%,” Mohler said...
Monroeville Mall sold for $34 million; buyer not disclosed but store employees, shoppers hopeful
The Monroeville Mall and its annex have been sold for $34 million in cash, the mall owner said Friday. CBL Properties of Chattanooga, Tenn., did not disclose the buyer. In a statement, CBL said the sale will allow it to focus its efforts on properties with a higher productivity than...
Lawsuit accuses Allegheny County, McCandless police of civil rights violations in DUI arrestVideo
An Allegheny County Jail corrections officer taunted a handcuffed Hampton man while shocking him with a Taser last year, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit. “That feels good baby,” the lawsuit claims a corrections officer said to plaintiff Brian Estep, 30, who was being processed at the lockup on...
Author of book rejected by Pine-Richland School Board plans to visit district in late February
Randi Pink, an Alabama-based author, said she will visit Northern Tier Library on Feb. 22 after the district’s school board voted not to include her novel, “Angel of Greenwood,” in its ninth grade language arts classes. The novel, a young adult romance set during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, was...
Carol Ann Banaszak, a Woodland Hills coach and pioneer, dies
Carol Ann Banaszak was everyone’s biggest cheerleader. As an ardent supporter of the initial “no cuts” policy for athletics and extracurricular activities, she believed that all students should have an opportunity to participate and represent Woodland Hills School District, where she was one of the first coaches in the inaugural...
Philly DA: Local officials don’t have to comply with Trump administration’s immigration crackdown
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Friday local elected officials and law enforcement cannot be forced to comply with the Trump administration’s “Nazi stuff,” referring to the president’s planned crackdown on immigration. “Local law enforcement can volunteer to do Nazi stuff,” said Krasner, a Democrat. “I’m sure I...
Clubhouse restaurant in Richland getting new owner and new name
The Clubhouse, the beloved longtime restaurant and sports bar in Richland, soon will be under new ownership. While his status as sole owner is new, Mark Baranowski is not new to the Clubhouse. He and Greg Maggio founded the Clubhouse in 1995 after the two had previously established the North...
What can the black box tell us about plane crashes?
It’s one of the most important pieces of forensic evidence following a plane crash: The so-called “black box.” There are actually two of these remarkably sturdy devices: the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. And they’re typically orange, not black. Federal investigators on Friday recovered the black boxes...
New York doctor indicted for prescribing abortion pill in Louisiana
BATON ROUGE, La. — A New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury on Friday for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country. Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish...
