Top Stories category, Page 488
EPA to Yukon landfill operator: fix violations or face $73,000-a-day fine
Federal environmental regulators have given a Yukon landfill operator a series of deadlines to fix problems in how it treats hazardous materials and stores the treated waste on its property or possibly face a $73,000-a-day fine. MAX Environmental Technologies Inc. of Pittsburgh will be able to continue treating hazardous waste...
Tarentum man gets probation for 145-mph Route 28 crash that killed best friend
A Tarentum man who claimed that a heart condition caused him to pass out and hit 145 mph before he crashed his sports car on Route 28, killing his passenger, was sentenced Monday to five years of probation. Frederick Fattman, 79, could have been sentenced to incarceration, but Allegheny County...
Philips will pay $1.1 billion to resolve U.S. lawsuits over breathing machines that expel debris
Medical device maker Philips, one of Westmoreland County’s largest employers, said Monday it will pay $1.1 billion to settle hundreds of personal injury lawsuits in the United States over its defective sleep apnea machines, which have been subject to a massive global recall. The Dutch manufacturer did not admit any...
Affluent Americans are driving U.S. economy and likely delaying need for Fed rate cuts
WASHINGTON — Since retiring two years ago, Joan Harris has upped her travel game. Once or twice a year, she visits her two adult children in different states. She’s planning multiple other trips, including to a science fiction convention in Scotland and a Disney cruise soon after that, along with...
Pittsburgh to fall short of record-high temperature Monday but could be on track for wettest April
It’s hot outside but not as hot as it could be. The Pittsburgh region won’t break a 125-year-old record for high temperature Monday, but by the end of the day Tuesday, a 123-year-old record for wettest April could be in jeopardy. “This April has brought us a little bit of...
Roof of vacant Sharpsburg duplex collapses during fire; no injuries reported
A brick duplex under renovation in Sharpsburg went up in flames Sunday evening, causing half of the building to be demolished just before midnight. “We had to tear half of it down because the roof had collapsed to the basement,” said Mike Daniher, chief of Southern Allegheny Valley Emergency Services....
Inspection reports shed no light on what was wrong with Kennywood’s Steel Curtain
No inspection report for the Steel Curtain roller coaster was filed with the state this year before Kennywood Park announced it was closing the popular ride for the 2024 season. The last inspection reports the state received from Kennywood about the Steel Curtain were from April, May and June of...
TV Talk: SportsNet Pittsburgh available as subscription streaming app; WPXI back on DISHVideo
Pirates and Penguins fans frustrated with Comcast and Verizon moving the teams’ cable TV home, SportsNet Pittsburgh, to often more expensive tiers, take note: The cable channel is available as a direct-to-consumer subscription streaming service app similar to Netflix or Disney+. The SportsNet Pittsburgh app, called SNP 360, has a...
Pro-Palestine protest near Pitt campus continues
About 100 pro-Palestinian protesters remained at Schenley Plaza Monday evening, a decline compared to the encampment over the weekend. Multiple students at the site Monday declined to speak with TribLive, citing coverage of arrests made the night before when University of Pittsburgh police arrested two people, including a student, on...
Tractor-trailers with no one aboard? The future is near for self-driving trucks on U.S. roadsVideo
On a three-lane test track along the Monongahela River, an 18-wheel tractor-trailer rounded a curve. No one was on board. A quarter-mile ahead, the truck’s sensors spotted a trash can blocking one lane and a tire in another. In less than a second, it signaled, moved into the unobstructed lane...
Ligonier man charged after domestic dispute ends in police standoff
A Ligonier man was arrested after an hourslong standoff with police that started Sunday afternoon, authorities said. On Monday, Ligonier Valley police charged Thomas Crary, 47, with aggravated assault, strangulation, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. Ligonier Valley police responded to the Terrace Road area about 4:15 p.m. for...
Morning Roundup: 2 men surrender in Washington County shooting
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Monday, April 29. Suspects surrender in Washington County shooting Two men charged in a double shooting in Washington County have turned themselves in, Pennsylvania State Police said. Windale “Winnie” Barfield Jr., 19, and Karon Whitlock, 20, both of Washington,...
Western Pa. hospitals juggle worsening medication shortages
Briefings on medication shortages are part of Dr. Arpit Mehta’s routine. As director of pharmacy at Allegheny General Hospital, Mehta sits down with his team for an hour every week to talk about medications the hospital may have difficulty keeping in stock. “Our list is 100-ish medications that we are...
Arrests made at pro-Palestinian protest on University of Pittsburgh campus
After nearly a week of relative calm, pro-Palestinian protesters in Pittsburgh’s university district sparked minor conflict with police on Sunday night, resulting in two arrests. The arrests came after a group of about 200 protesters reneged on a verbal agreement to stay off university property. Protesters who last week had...
Police officer hiring in U.S. increases in 2023 after years of decline, survey shows
PHILADELPHIA — Police departments across the United States are reporting an increase in their ranks for the first time since the covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 killing of George Floyd, which led to a historic exodus of officers, a survey shows. More sworn officers were hired in 2023 than in...
Senators wary of sending National Guard to quell campus protestsVideo
WASHINGTON — U.S. senators dismissed House Speaker Mike Johnson’s suggestion to send the National Guard to college campuses to quell growing protests against the war in Gaza and U.S. support for Israel. “I don’t know if you need to call in the National Guard, maybe you just call in the...
Tornadoes kill 4 in Oklahoma; governor issues state of emergency for 12 counties amid power outagesVideo
SULPHUR, Okla. — Tornadoes that tore through Oklahoma have flattened buildings across one rural town, killing at least four people, causing widespread power outages and leaving a trail of destruction, Gov. Kevin Stitt said Sunday. Nearly 30,000 people remained without power after tornadoes began late Saturday night. The damage was...
Thousands of employees at federal contractors do not have whistleblower protections despite 2013 law
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. As she read the memo explaining why she was being fired, Kierra Varcos felt her cheeks burn and blood pound in her ears. She had...
Tim McGraw draws country music fans to Pittsburgh for ‘Standing Room Only’ tourVideo
Pittsburgh’s country music fans were out in full force Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena — all for 56-year-old singer Tim McGraw’s “Standing Room Only” tour. Sporting a V-neck maroon T-shirt and skinny jeans, McGraw entered from under the stage following a sequence of silhouettes that were projected on the...
9 area men were killed in rarely discussed Exercise Tiger drill for D-Day invasion
Les Mlakar knew his uncle Albert was killed during World War II. But when his other uncles discussed it — which was rare, if ever — they only did so in Slovenian. For quite a long time, most Americans did not know the truth of what happened April 27 and...
‘One of the lucky ones’: A change in how transplant recipients are evaluated is changing the lives for many Black patients
Alva Smith received a letter with surprising news last fall: She was suddenly moving up on the kidney transplant waiting list. It wasn’t because of a change in her medical status. It was because the test used to evaluate prospective kidney transplant candidates began taking race out of the equation....
‘Perfect storm’: Property tax crisis threatens suburban Allegheny County school districts
Throughout Allegheny County, waves of mall owners, hoteliers, office park operators and big-box retailers are stampeding to slash taxes by challenging their property assessments. But as property owners keep winning big breaks, they’re also creating big headaches. The more the owners succeed, the more they’re choking off critical revenue for...
Tim Benz: Our annual ‘What the Steelers didn’t get in the draft’ recap
Pittsburgh Steelers fans are basking in the sunset of a draft that is largely deserving of applause — and here I come with your yearly rain cloud of discontent. It’s my annual I don’t want to write it, you don’t want to hear it, but someone has to say it,...
Steelers conclude NFL Draft by loading up on age, experience among college prospects
If it was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ intention to increase the overall team age, mission accomplished in the NFL Draft. On Saturday’s third day, the Steelers continued a trend that began Thursday when they selected tackle Troy Fautanu in the first round. They collected three more players who, while not quite...
Tim Benz: Our annual ‘What the Steelers didn’t get in the draft’ recap
Pittsburgh Steelers fans are basking in the sunset of a draft that is largely deserving of applause — and here I come with your yearly rain cloud of discontent. It’s my annual I don’t want to write it, you don’t want to hear it, but someone has to say it,...
