Top Stories category, Page 337
Westmoreland County fires purchasing managers after payroll irregularities discovered
Westmoreland County commissioners fired the director and assistant director of the county’s purchasing department Thursday over alleged payroll irregularities. Authorities suspended Purchasing Director Kristopher Cardiff and his deputy, Kristen Coyne, on Aug. 15 after allegations surfaced that they approved — without authorization — additional pay for themselves and the department’s...
Border Patrol response to Uvalde school shooting marred by breakdowns and poor training, report says
UVALDE, Texas — U.S. Border Patrol agents who rushed to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022 failed to establish command at the scene and had insufficient training to deal with what became one of the nation’s deadliest classroom attacks, according to a federal report released Thursday. The...
Monroeville officials agree to purchase convention center
Several details need to be finalized, but Monroeville officials have agreed to buy the Monroeville Convention Center from the development group that originally planned to turn it into a Hobby Lobby. Municipal council members adopted a resolution in August to execute a sales agreement and buy the 100,000 square-foot convention...
Ligonier Township posts emergency closure of bridge near Wilpen
A problem discovered during an inspection prompted an emergency closure Wednesday of the Ramsey Road bridge near the Ligonier Township community of Wilpen. Township manager Michael Strelic said township road crews had been keeping an eye on the decades-old steel grate span across Hannas Run and patched the bridge deck...
Franklin Regional adds weapons detection system to stadium entry points
Franklin Regional school officials will add a weapons detection system to entry points at Panther Stadium for events taking place during the 2024-25 school year. “The only new thing is the addition of the weapons detection system, since we didn’t put that into play at our middle school and high...
West Penn Hospital nurses ratify contract with 24% raises
Hundreds of nurses at Pittsburgh’s West Penn Hospital ratified a union contract Wednesday providing significant wage increases and staffing improvements. Nearly 700 nurses at the hospital in the city’s Bloomfield neighborhood voted to accept a three-year contract that will boost wages by an average of 24% and will guarantee at...
Biden jokingly dons Trump hat while meeting with Shanksville families
While meeting with firefighters in Shanksville on Wednesday, President Joe Biden did something quite unthinkable in an election campaign — wear the opposition’s merch. The president was at the fire station near the Flight 93 Memorial, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, while marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks,...
Debate was an ‘eye opener’ in suburban Philadelphia and Harris got a closer look
BRISTOL, Pa. — The presidential debate this week was the final affront to Rosie Torres’ lifelong Republicanism. She said her allegiance to Donald Trump, already strained by his stand on abortion, snapped in the former president’s “eye opener” encounter with Kamala Harris. It’s time to put “country before party,” Torres,...
Roundup: Man shot in Carrick; water main break affected traffic on Parkway East
Here are a few news items for Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. Man shot in Carrick A man was shot in the leg Wednesday evening in Pittsburgh’s Carrick neighborhood. Pittsburgh police said first responders were alerted to reports of a man shot in the leg in the 100 block of Meredith...
Hundreds visit Flight 93 memorial near Shanksville on 23rd anniversary of 9/11Video
Jordan Lyles was 9 on Sept. 11, 2001. Lyles watched events of that day unfold on television at his elementary school in Fort Pierce, Fla. Hijacked planes crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., and a field in Somerset...
Oddballs bar closes on Pittsburgh’s South Side after weekend brawl outside
A nuisance bar in the city’s South Side has voluntarily closed following calls for it to shut down, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. announced Wednesday. Oddballs closed Wednesday after a fight occurred there over the weekend that left a police sergeant with a gruesome leg injury. “We...
Kevin Gorman’s Take 5: Pirates GM ‘not perfect’ but makes a case for continuity over cost
For all of the reactions to Ben Cherington’s public vote of confidence in Derek Shelton returning as Pittsburgh Pirates manager next season, one of the most interesting is the assumption that it really isn’t his to say. The suggestion is that Cherington is only the general manager and answers to...
Pittsburgh man charged with felony aggravated assault, his 4-month-old child in ‘grave condition’
A Pittsburgh man was arrested Wednesday and charged with multiple felony counts of aggravated assault a day after his 4-month-old child was hospitalized in grave condition, according to court papers. Seth F. Williams, 28, of Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood, was arrested Wednesday and charged with five felony counts of aggravated assault...
Wildfires in Southern California torch dozens of homes, force thousands to evacuateVideo
WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. — Three major wildfires in Southern California’s mountains east of Los Angeles torched dozens of homes and forced thousands of people to evacuate, officials said Wednesday. At least a dozen people, mainly firefighters, were treated for injuries that were mostly heat-related, authorities said. One person from Orange County...
Speaker Johnson postpones vote on bill to avoid a partial government shutdown
WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson postponed a vote Wednesday on a temporary spending bill that would keep federal agencies and programs funded for six months as opposition from both parties thwarted his first attempt at avoiding a partial government shutdown in three weeks. The legislation to continue government funding when...
18-year-old dies after car collides with box truck in North Versailles
An 18-year-old man died after his car collided with a box truck in North Versailles early Wednesday evening, according to Allegheny County Police. Emergency officials were dispatched to the intersection of Lincoln Highway and Isaac Street just after 5:30 p.m. for a two-vehicle collision, police said. According to county detectives,...
Trump falsely accuses immigrants in Ohio of abducting and eating petsVideo
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday amplified false rumors that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were abducting and eating pets, repeating during a televised debate the type of inflammatory and anti-immigrant rhetoric he has promoted throughout his campaigns. There is no evidence that Haitian immigrants in an Ohio...
WCCC, Penn State expand transfer options for students
Westmoreland County Community College students pursuing two-year degrees in 11 high-demand fields could have an easier path to a bachelor’s degree under an agreement inked with Penn State University. Specifically, the pact outlined this week by Penn State and WCCC covers 14 of the university’s 19 Commonwealth campuses statewide, a...
Jury acquits woman in alleged Scottdale vehicular assault
Nicole Louise Moore doubled over and let out a cry of joy as a Westmoreland County jury acquitted her Wednesday of allegations that she drove over and severely injured a woman two years ago in a Scottdale parking lot. Following two days of testimony and more than two hours of...
Neighbors, hotel owners spar over planned event venue in Ligonier
A fight is brewing in Ligonier between the future and the past. Owners of the historic Thistledown at Seger House, just two blocks from the Diamond, received a building permit to erect a 2,000-square-foot pavilion that its owner says will host large events and bring new visitors to the borough....
Allegheny County Council, executive settle lawsuit over Shuman Center contract
Allegheny County Council on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to settle its lawsuit against the county and the nonprofit running the newly reopened Shuman Juvenile Detention Center. The 13-1 vote, with one abstention, brings to an end a power struggle between council and the county executive over who gets to call the...
Pittsburgh drew highest TV rating in Trump-Harris debate
An estimated 65 million viewers tuned in to watch the debate between former President Trump and Vice President Harris, preliminary overnight television ratings revealed Wednesday. The estimate, based on results in the nation’s major TV markets, is 28% bigger than the number of viewers who saw Trump face off against...
Bad blood between USW, Nippon Steel may have doomed U.S. Steel deal from the start, emails show
On July 12, Takahiro Mori of Nippon Steel, the Japanese firm knee-deep in what increasingly appears to be a doomed acquisition of U.S. Steel, met with United Steelworkers President David McCall for the second time this year. A few days later, the Nippon executive vice president emailed McCall to thank...
Francine weakens moving inland from Gulf Coast after hurricane winds cause power outagesVideo
MORGAN CITY, La. — Francine weakened Thursday after striking Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, sent storm surge rushing into coastal communities and raised flood fears in New Orleans and beyond as drenching rains spread over the northern...
Local musicians react to closing of South Side venue Club Cafe
Opus One Productions, owners of longtime South Side concert venue Club Cafe, have announced that the venue will close its doors at the end of the year. “It’s been an incredible run, and it felt like the perfect time to move on to other endeavors,” said Michael Sanders, founder of...
