Top Stories category, Page 298
Pennsylvania faculty union joins national AFT
The union representing more than 5,000 faculty and coaches across Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities is the latest to affiliate with AFT, a nationwide union of education and other workers. Members of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties approved the affiliation in a three-day election last week. It...
Irwin man pleads guilty but mentally ill to killing girlfriend at Monroeville hotel
An Irwin man pleaded guilty but mentally ill on Monday for killing his girlfriend at a Monroeville hotel nearly three years ago. Matthew Gribschaw, 40, will be sentenced on one count of third-degree murder by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente on Jan. 30. Police say Gribschaw killed...
Witness ID, cellphone left at crime scene lead to charges in Stowe homicide
A cellphone left near the scene of a fatal shooting in Stowe this weekend, along with a witness, helped lead police to the Pittsburgh man they charged with pulling the trigger. Curtis Horne-Baker, 34, of Pittsburgh’s Sheraden neighborhood, remained Monday in the Allegheny County Jail in connection with the shooting...
Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes can proceed, a Pennsylvania judge says
PHILADELPHIA — The $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes that Elon Musk ‘s political action committee is hosting in swing states can continue through Tuesday’s presidential election, a Pennsylvania judge ruled Monday. Common Pleas Court Judge Angelo Foglietta — ruling after Musk’s lawyers said the winners are not chosen by chance —...
Burrell teen gets scholarship for a sport she’s never played
Lilly Householder figured the email she got from the Eastern Michigan University rowing team was a mistake. The Burrell High School girls soccer captain had created an online recruiting account to play soccer at the collegiate level, fulfilling a lifelong dream. She grew up playing soccer with her older sister,...
Pittsburgh police Acting Chief Ragland orders ‘all hands on deck’ for election week
While there’s no indication the final hours of the presidential race will spur unrest in Pittsburgh, city police are prepared for any problems, Acting Chief Christopher Ragland said Monday morning. The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police intelligence unit has not seen evidence of any specific, election-related threats, Ragland said during a...
Democrats, once supreme in Pittsburgh region, now overtaken by GOP
The Southwestern Pennsylvania pendulum has shifted. Democrats once held an iron grip on the eight-county Greater Pittsburgh region during the heyday of steel, but that clutch loosened once the mills collapsed, allowing Republicans increasingly to win over more yinzers as the decades passed. Lew Irwin, a 59-year-old political science professor...
Hikers, bikers travel twisty new North Huntingdon trail
About 40 people went back and forth Sunday afternoon along a trail up a steep hillside in North Huntingdon’s Braddock’s Trail Park. Hikers and mountain bikers were following the painted orange trail blazed from across the parking lot of the park on Robbins Station Road and up the 1¼-mile Switchboard...
High anxiety: 2024 election takes heavy toll on stressed-out voters
World War III. A crippled economy. Unbridled immigration. Civil war, with American democracy in the crosshairs. These are the apocalyptic scenarios preoccupying supporters of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. As election season enters its final hours of the 2024 race for the American presidency, Pennsylvanians find themselves balanced on a...
Republican member of FCC claims Harris’ ‘Saturday Night Live’ appearance could violate equal time rules
A Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission voiced concerns that Vice President Kamala Harris’ appearance on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend may have violated a rule that requires networks to provide equal airtime to both candidates. “The purpose of the rule is to avoid exactly this type of biased...
Oklahoma storms injure at least 11, leave thousands without powerVideo
OKLAHOMA CITY — Severe storms and tornadoes battered Oklahoma early Sunday, tossing cars and ripping roofs off buildings in the middle of the night and leaving tens of thousands of homes and businesses without power. Among numerous injuries, 11 people required hospitalization, authorities said. Much of the damage was reported...
Trump talks about reporters being shot and says he shouldn’t have left White House after 2020 lossVideo
LITITZ, Pa. — Donald Trump delivered a profane and conspiracy-laden speech two days before Tuesday’s presidential election, talking about reporters being shot and suggesting he “shouldn’t have left” the White House after his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden. In remarks Sunday that bore little resemblance to the speech he’s...
The Home Stretch: Here’s the election news for Nov. 3
We’re on the 48-hour countdown to Election Day. While everyone’s day may be jam-packed with errands, football and family dinners, the candidates are still criss-crossing the battleground states in a last-ditch effort to reach every swing voter. Here’s what’s going on today. Where is everyone? Republican presidential nominee former President...
Kamala Harris campaign event moved to Carrie Blast Furnaces; Donald Trump set for PPG Paints Arena
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign rally originally scheduled for Point State Park on Monday has been moved to the Carrie Blast Furnaces in Rankin. The evening rally was originally to be held at Point State Park, but the Harris campaign’s website now lists the new location. Harris’ campaign on Sunday...
When polls close in battleground states on Election Day
WASHINGTON — The results on Election Day will come down to seven states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have visited them the most. Together, these states are likely to deliver the Electoral College votes needed for the...
Jason Kelce slams phone of Penn State fan who hurled homophobic slur at him before game
Jason Kelce threw a Penn State fan’s phone to the ground after the fan taunted him and directed a homophobic slur at him on Saturday before the Nittany Lions’ matchup against Ohio State at Beaver Stadium. Viral clips of the encounter outside of the stadium played out throughout the evening...
Democrats once dominated Westmoreland County. Here’s how Republicans won over the region
Bill Bretz had few options to further his political interests while a senior majoring in political science at Saint Vincent College. It was 1993. He was a Republican. “My professor told me that if I wanted to do anything in politics, I would have to change my party registration,” said...
‘Those lost lives can help prevent future lost lives’: Western Pa. schools are rethinking security, experts say
Door locks. Secure entrances. Ballistic window film. Security cameras. Metal detectors. As threats and incidents of violence become more common at schools across the country, educators are seeking out building upgrades to enhance student safety. But to school safety and security expert Aaron Skrbin, talking is the more important first...
Aging American Legion leaders look to pass torch to younger veterans
The American Legion of Pennsylvania is hoping to attract more veterans who served in the Gulf War of the 1990s and 2000s and the War on Terror. Its aging leaders want to be able to pass the torch onto the next generation to continue to fight for programs and benefits...
Organizers of Tarentum’s 2nd chance Halloween: ‘Kids deserved trick-or-treat re-do’
Dawn Wyble doesn’t live in Tarentum, but that didn’t stop her from helping borough children cheated out of trick-or-treating Thursday after a chilling dog mauling. Three pit bulls got loose just before 6 p.m. on Halloween in the area of East Sixth and Seventh avenues at lower Ormond Street. The...
Tarentum dog-attack victim was pinned to her front door
Faith Valasek was setting up for trick-or-treaters on Thursday when she noticed two dogs walking toward her East Sixth Avenue house in Tarentum. “I went up on my front porch to get a chair and I turned around there they were, at my feet,” said Valasek, 69. “I love dogs....
Crews rescue man from 30-foot-ravine in Harrison
A man was rescued Saturday after a medical emergency left him stranded in a 30-foot-deep ravine in Harrison. Emergency crews responded at about 11:15 a.m. to Cherry Bark Drive, off Oak Manor Drive near Harrison Hills Park, for a man stuck about 200 yards in the woods. “He was working...
‘Patience is the watch word’ on Election Day as votes are counted, expert says
Voters throughout the nation may have to wait days to learn whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump wins Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes, election officials say. But Pennsylvania is literally the keystone state to decide who wins the White House once Tuesday’s votes are counted. “Please be...
Western Pennsylvania’s importance in presidential election evident in both Harris, Trump coming Monday
Pittsburgh will be the center of the American political universe the night before Election Day, when both candidates for president hold Downtown rallies less than 2 miles from one another. And you thought Steelers traffic was bad. Former President Donald Trump will be at PPG Paints Arena. But just a...
Voters view one another across partisan divide with increasing animosity
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden tried to explain this week that he doesn’t really think Donald Trump’s supporters are “garbage,” but that doesn’t mean that other people don’t believe the label occasionally fits. “I would say that some of them are garbage,” said Samantha Leister, 32, who went to see...
