Top Stories category, Page 44
East Deer joins Lower Valley Ambulance Service
The future of emergency medical service in East Deer is no longer up in the air after the township commissioners agreed to use Lower Valley Ambulance Service. According to Commissioner’s Chairman Tony Taliani, East Deer was considering two options for EMS services. The other was the proposed paid EMS authority...
Tull Family Foundation awards over $2M to boost high school athletics
Augustine Hanover spent last season with the Obama Academy boys soccer team practicing on a beat-up baseball field pocked with holes. “We have 10-year-old jerseys and not enough soccer balls,” said Hanover, a Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy student. On Friday, the 16-year-old joined dozens of student-athletes in the school’s...
Hempfield business owner gives back with 50 turkey donations this Thanksgiving
When Hempfield business owner Kris Wilkins was a child, holidays were a financially stressful time of year for his family. That’s why Wilkins, owner of Beautiful Kitchens along North Greengate Road, is donating 50 turkeys to local families in need — no questions asked. “I didn’t have much money growing...
Faces of the Valley: Giuseppe Lopreiato of Brackenridge credits old-school work ethic — and wine — for success
Giuseppe Lopreiato immigrated from Italy in 1960 with nothing but a strong work ethic and a knack for making wine. His wife, Maria, came first, settling with family in Brackenridge. Lopreiato stayed behind in his native Sant’Onofrio, working as a farmer and saving money to eventually follow. “It’s good here,”...
Judge blasts ‘off the wall’ statement by wife stabber before sending him to prison
A former actor and movie producer from South Fayette was ordered this week to serve 7½ to 15 years in state prison for attempting to kill his wife as she slept. John Mowod, 61, pleaded guilty in August to attempted homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and stalking stemming from the...
Trump and Mamdani meet Friday in the Oval Office. They’ve cast each other as adversaries for months
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has called New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and a “total nut job.” Mamdani has called Trump’s administration “authoritarian” and described himself as “Donald Trump’s worst nightmare.” So their first-ever meeting, scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m. at the White House,...
Putin says U.S. plan for Ukraine could form the basis for a final peace settlement
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday cautiously welcomed a U.S. proposal to end Moscow’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine, saying it “could form the basis of a final peace settlement.” Putin said Moscow had received the plan, which he called “a new version” and “a modernized plan,”...
Station Square bought by Massachusetts-based real estate firm
The core of Station Square — the struggling restaurant, entertainment and office complex on Pittsburgh’s South Shore — is under new ownership. Massachusetts-based WS Development announced Friday it purchased a huge chunk of the center along the Monongahela River from New York-based Brookfield Properties. “Station Square is an iconic place...
Mark Madden: The chase replaces the catch for the Pirates
ESPN’s Jeff Passan is one of MLB’s most respected journalists. But most of what he reported about the Pittsburgh Pirates this week is totally full of excrement. Passan knows better. But there’s so little content about a franchise as moribund as the Pirates, so he’ll take what’s leaked. Even if it’s...
Pittsburgh police sergeant charged with 2nd DUI offense
A Pittsburgh police sergeant has been charged with DUI for the second time in less than five years. Both incidents occurred in Plum, the hometown of Sgt. Tariq Jamal-Francis, 44. The latest incident happened Nov. 10, just before midnight, when Plum police said they found Jamal-Francis asleep at the wheel...
Education leaders applaud state budget that adds $900M in new funding for school districts
Education is the centerpiece of Pennsylvania’s 2025-26 budget. At least that’s what Laura Boyce took away from the funding plan for the state’s 500 K-12 public schools, approved last week after a 4½-month impasse. “There were a lot of hard decisions that had to be made as the governor’s original...
Norwin students: giving so others can share a similar holiday experience
A group of Norwin High School students gave of money that students raised and gave of their time Thursday to shop for and shelve groceries at an Irwin food pantry to help less fortunate families. “The food bank is really important,” said Lizzy Martina, a junior who is her class’...
Inadequate payment for services nudges small health systems like Independence toward merger, officials say
The merger of smaller regional hospital systems such as Independence Health with a larger health system — this one from West Virginia — is likely being driven, in part, by hospitals hurting from insufficient reimbursement for the cost of treating patients, a Pittsburgh-based health care consultant said. West Virginia University...
Chris Deluzio’s Western Pa. offices targeted with bomb threats
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio’s district offices in Carnegie and Beaver County’s Center Township were targeted with bomb threats Friday afternoon, a spokesperson reported. The threats came a day after President Donald Trump accused Deluzio and five other Democratic lawmakers of engaging in “seditious behavior” by releasing a video telling servicemembers...
9 injured after 5-vehicle crash in Wilkinsburg
A 37-year-old man is facing multiple felony charges after allegedly causing a five-vehicle accident in Wilkinsburg that injured nine people Thursday night, authorities say. Pittsburgh police said several police cars and ambulances responded to the area near Penn Avenue and East Swissvale Avenue around 10 p.m. One vehicle could be...
Trump plan to end Ukraine war would cede territory to Russia
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s plan for ending the war in Ukraine would cede land to Russia and limit the size of Kyiv’s military, according to a draft obtained Thursday by the Associated Press. The proposal, originated from negotiations between Washington and Moscow, appeared decidedly favorable to Russia, which started...
Monessen couple charged in 2-year-old’s overdose
A couple is facing felony charges after a 2-year-old overdosed from cocaine and fentanyl in Monessen. According to the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office, Monessen police reported to a home on Oct. 4 after receiving reports of a child overdosing. Police said they interviewed Sable Ford, 36, and Travis Holmes,...
FAA bonuses to air traffic controllers with perfect attendance during shutdown leave thousands out
Only 776 of the more than 10,000 air traffic controllers who had to work without pay during the shutdown will receive the $10,000 bonuses that President Donald Trump suggested because the Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday that only controllers with perfect attendance will get the checks. A number of controllers...
Coast Guard set to change policy to call swastikas, nooses ‘potentially divisive’
WASHINGTON — The Coast Guard is poised to change some of its language and policies surrounding the display of hate symbols like swastikas and nooses as well as how personnel report hate incidents. The service stressed, however, that the symbols will remain prohibited. The updated policy is seen by the...
Mistrial declared in Pittsburgh shooting death of girl, 4, and her mom
After deliberating for less than five hours, a jury on Thursday said it was hopelessly deadlocked in deciding whether a Wilmerding man was responsible for the shooting deaths of a woman and her 4-year-old daughter. The judge on the case declared a mistrial, sending the jurors home while at the...
Layoffs possible as commissioners seek to reduce $30M deficit from 2026 budget
Westmoreland County commissioners said additional spending cuts and layoffs could be implemented to trim a nearly $30 million deficit from the proposed 2026 budget. Commissioners unveiled a preliminary spending plan Thursday that calls for more than $463 million in expenses, an $11 million increase over this year. About 30% of...
CDC website changed to contradict scientific conclusion that vaccines don’t cause autism
NEW YORK — A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website has been changed to contradict the longtime scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism, spurring outrage among a number of public health and autism experts. The CDC “vaccine safety” webpage was updated Wednesday, saying “the statement ‘Vaccines do...
Trump administration announces plan for new oil drilling off the coasts of California, Florida
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production. The oil industry has been...
Federal prosecutors dismiss charges against woman shot several times by Border Patrol agent in Chicago
CHICAGO — Federal prosecutors moved Thursday to dismiss charges against a woman who was shot several times by a Border Patrol agent last month during the federal immigration crackdown in the Chicago area. Prosecutors had accused Marimar Martinez, 30, and Anthony Ruiz, 21, of using their vehicles to strike and...
Retired Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik finds new calling in volunteer service
David Zubik may have retired as bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, but he hasn’t stepped away from serving others. On Thursday morning, he slipped into a volunteer’s seat at a charity dental clinic in Pittsburgh, greeting each patient, guiding them through paperwork and pausing long enough to hear...
