Top Stories category, Page 245
Students, faculty nervous for future of Penn State branch campuses
Gabrielle Green is in it for the long haul at Penn State New Kensington. The 18-year-old from Altavista, Va., is a second-semester freshman at the Upper Burrell campus. She is studying biobehavioral health and plans to obtain a four-year bachelor’s degree at the school. So conversations among university leadership this...
Arnold Palmer Regional Airport bleeds cash as leaders pin hopes for brighter future on terminal project
Westmoreland County directs $2.6 million annually to support Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe, but a drop in commercial flights over the past five years has left the facility “bleeding” money. Today, the once-thriving airport loses money every month it operates. As the new year gets underway, the county airport...
2050 look-ahead: Developments in Pittsburgh driven by tech hubs, housing demands
Editor’s note: One-fourth of the way through this century, TribLive is looking ahead to the next 25 years, using the events of the past 25 as a roadmap of what possibly is to come. This installment of the occasional series looks at Pittsburgh. Where mills once sat along the Monongahela...
Trump’s Palestinian refugee idea falls flat with Jordan and confounds a Senate ally
DORAL, Fla. — President Donald Trump’s push to have Egypt and Jordan take in large numbers of Palestinian refugees from besieged Gaza fell flat with those countries’ governments and left a key congressional ally in Washington perplexed on Sunday. Fighting that broke out in the territory after ruling Hamas attacked...
‘Something for everybody’ at Hempfield antique show
John Mickinak began attending antique auctions with his mother when he was 12. As a 70-year-old, the Greensburg man is a full-time antiques dealer and appraiser. While he’s made a career out of his passion, Mickinak said he’s watched his line of work lose the interest of younger generations over...
Kids learn communication, problem solving, value of hard work through New Kensington program
Kim Louis told the kids gathered at United Presbyterian Church of New Kensington to pretend they were on a tropical island, somewhere green and warm. Then imagine an impending snowstorm threatened to wreak havoc on that island. Snowplows, Louis told the kids, would be key to clearing the snow. But...
Freighter remains stuck in the ice on a frozen Lake Erie
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards on Saturday continued efforts to break up ice and free a freighter that has been trapped in a frozen Lake Erie for days, officials said. The Manitoulin, a 663-foot Canadian vessel with 17 people on board, got stuck in the ice...
Southern Armstrong police settling into Freeport headquarters
The Southern Armstrong Regional Police Department now has a proper headquarters. After two years of performing key functions in a cramped Gilpin basement, the force moved this week to a roomy station at 235 Fifth St. in Freeport. “Finally, we found somewhere that worked, made sense, was big enough for...
Trump uses mass firing to remove independent inspectors general at a series of agencies
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has fired about 17 independent inspectors general at government agencies, a sweeping action to remove oversight of his new administration that some members of Congress are suggesting violated federal oversight laws. The dismissals began Friday night and were effective immediately, according to two people familiar...
Senate confirms Noem as Trump’s homeland security secretary
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary on Saturday, putting the South Dakota governor in charge of a sprawling agency that is essential to national security and President Donald Trump’s plans to clamp down on illegal immigration. Republicans kept the Senate working Saturday to install the...
Some districts turning to classic snow days after depleting virtual learning allowance
Old-fashioned snow days are no longer local superintendents’ first thought when the roads get slick, but they’re not quite a thing of the past, either. That’s mostly due to a code amended by the General Assembly in 2019 to allow public schools to develop a program to meet the 180-day...
Fast food is a staple of American culture, but some of its workers struggle to survive
FRESNO, Texas — The only moment TiAnna Yeldell has to herself is when she’s sleeping, and that doesn’t happen much. The 44-year-old single mom of three works 80-hour weeks to provide for her children, ages 8, 14, and 18. During the day, she is a driver for Pizza Hut, where...
Big Tech wants to plug data centers right into power plants. Utilities say it’s not fair
HARRISBURG — Looking for a quick fix for their fast-growing electricity diets, tech giants are increasingly looking to strike deals with power plant owners to plug in directly, avoiding a potentially longer and more expensive process of hooking into a fraying electric grid that serves everyone else. It’s raising questions...
He’s emboldened, he’s organized and he’s still Trump: Takeaways from the president’s opening days
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s first week in office isn’t over yet, but already it offers signals about how his next four years in the White House may unfold. Some takeaways from the earliest days of his second term: He’s emboldened like never before Within hours of being sworn in,...
Plans underway for transformation of 19th Street in Sharpsburg
A thriving community is possible only through engagement, according to Sharpsburg councilman Corey Ochai. He is urging residents to participate in a recently launched survey to help shape portions of the Main Street streetscape and access to the riverfront. “Community engagement is the best solution for us to find a...
Editorial: Will Pittsburgh’s mayoral election continue electoral trends?
It’s time to think about elections. There’s a sentence no one was ready to hear. The effects of the 2024 election are just barely becoming reality. The inauguration happened Monday. Confirmation hearings for Cabinet members have only begun. Congress still is finding its footing. The state House needs a special...
National reproductive health care resource website goes dark
When Elizabeth Ringstad found out that the national reproductive health care resource website www.reproductiverights.gov had been taken down, she felt fear. “I feel like taking down such a major research tool for women is kind of removing our ability to educate ourselves on our bodies and our rights,” said Ringstad,...
‘AI-driven’ cyber charter school wants to teach Pa. kids core academics in 2 hours per day
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — A cyber charter school network that says it will use “AI-driven” technology to allow students to learn all the core academics they need...
Johnstown man sentenced to life without parole in 2020 fatal shooting of IUP student
A Johnstown man will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole in the October 2020 shooting death of an Indiana University of Pennsylvania student at an off-campus apartment. Terrion Gates, 22, was convicted in September of second-degree murder, robbery and conspiracy to robbery in the incident at the...
Woman identified who died in Braddock house fire
A woman died at the scene of a house fire in Braddock on Friday afternoon. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office reported that the victim was Natalie Stecki, 77. The fire occurred around 2:30 p.m. along the 400 block of Mills Avenue. State police and a fire marshal are investigating....
Hegseth confirmed as Trump’s defense secretary in tie-breaking vote despite turmoil over his conduct
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth as the nation’s defense secretary Friday in a dramatic late-night vote, swatting back questions about his qualifications to lead the Pentagon amid allegations of heavy drinking and aggressive behavior toward women. Rarely has a Cabinet nominee faced such wide-ranging concerns about his experience...
‘I’m going to beat her.’ Texts show how sisters tortured Oakmont girl, 3
“I made her nose bleed,” one message read. “Good. I’m going to beat her,” came the response. Those were just two of hundreds of text messages between Alexis Herrera and her sister, Laura Ramriez, in early 2020 in the months leading up to their arrest for criminal homicide. According to...
Franklin Regional cheers on special-needs athletes in annual Clelian Heights game
Franklin Regional Senior High School Principal Ron Suvak loves to see the joy on the faces of Clelian Heights school basketball players during the annual game the Panthers host for the Catholic educational, vocational and residential facility that serves people with developmental disabilities. But even more than that, he loves...
Steel-processing furnace confirmed as source of Lower Burrell explosion, but details remain scant
Few details have been released about a Lower Burrell steel plant explosion that killed a Tarentum man. Brennan Sites, chief of Lower Burrell No. 3 Fire Company, confirmed a steel-processing furnace was the source of the explosion. Daniel R. Vakulick, 20, died from injuries sustained in the blast just before...
What JFK assassination files are still classified? Trump’s order could bring them to light
DALLAS — Millions of documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas have already been made public, but President Donald Trump has ordered the release of thousands of still-classified files. Trump signed the executive order Thursday as part of a flurry of executive actions taken...
