Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 648
Plan ahead when ‘packing’ to avoid steep fines, potential loss of gun carry permit
A renewed statewide initiative aimed at getting airline passengers to stop bringing guns to airport checkpoints by asking county sheriffs to revoke concealed carry permits will add to the stiff fine gun owners already face when caught. Depending on circumstances, the federal penalty for bringing weapons to a security checkpoint...
Who approves concealed-carry permits in Pennsylvania? And what does that entail?
More than 1.6 million Pennsylvania residents are licensed to carry a gun concealed on their body or vehicle, according to state police. But who approved those licenses? And what goes into the determination process? Citizens who are 21 or older can apply for a concealed-carry permit at their county sheriff’s...
Self-driving vehicle testing in Pittsburgh area shifting gears to focus on trucking industry
Not long ago, cars topped with a futuristic apparatus could regularly be seen cruising along Pittsburgh’s streets, testing technology that allowed the vehicles to get around without a person steering the wheel. But such car sightings have become rare as the autonomous vehicle sector has refocused from the hype of...
Does the 2010s stink bug invasion hold any spotted lanternfly lessons?
Tracy Leskey remembers when the brown marmorated stink bug became “explosively invasive” in the early 2010s. “We had significant crop losses, some homeowners had thousands trying to overwinter in their houses,” said Leskey, a research entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Appalachian Fruit Research Station in West Virginia. Leskey...
Government shutdown averted with little time to spare as Biden signs funding before midnight
WASHINGTON — The threat of a federal government shutdown suddenly lifted late Saturday as President Joe Biden signed a temporary funding bill to keep agencies open with little time to spare after Congress rushed to approve the bipartisan deal. The package drops aid to Ukraine, a White House priority opposed...
Pittsburgh Brewing Co. celebrates new East Deer facility with Oktoberfest
The brewery known for regional classics such as Iron City and IC Light finally got a chance to show off its new, state-of-the-art brewery to the public on Saturday during an Oktoberfest celebration. Pittsburgh Brewing Co. relocated its operations from Latrobe to East Deer last year and this weekend held...
Sewickley Bridge to close tonight from 8 until about midnight
The Sewickley Bridge will shut down in both directions for about 4 hours tonight while repairs are made, PennDOT announced at about 4:45 p.m. this afternoon. The bridge will closed 8 p.m. to about midnight. All bridge traffic will be detoured: From Sewickley • Motorists will take Route 65 southbound;...
Future of Pittsburgh Mills mall property unclear after last-minute cancellation of sheriff sale
After the last-minute cancellation of the sheriff’s sale of the Pittsburgh Mills mall, the future of the property remains uncertain. On Friday, owner Namdar Realty Group paid more than $11 million in special assessment bills, averting a sheriff sale that was scheduled for Monday. The sale was canceled once the...
Smoky fire damages abandoned building in Arnold, tentatively considered ‘suspicious’
A fire ripped through an abandoned two-story building in Arnold on Saturday morning with such power that neighbors described windows being blown out by the flames. “It was so hot that the windows broke open,” said Ed Taylor, 63, who lives across the street from the structure on Fourth Avenue....
On the brink of a federal shutdown, House passes a 45-day funding plan and sends it to Senate
WASHINGTON — On the brink of a federal government shutdown, the House on Saturday swiftly approved a 45-day funding bill to keep federal agencies open as Speaker Kevin McCarthy dropped demands for steep spending cuts and relied on Democratic votes for passage to send the package to the Senate. The...
Pitt police searching for robbery suspect in Oakland
University of Pittsburgh and city police are seeking information about a man who robbed two people early Friday in the city’s Oakland neighborhood. Campus police posted a crime alert to their X (formerly Twitter) account at 1:50 a.m. Friday alerting students to a robbery that occurred on the 300 block...
1 dead, 1 rescued from Allegheny River after jumping incident
A man died after jumping into the Allegheny River early Saturday, and a second man who dove in after him was rescued, according to Pittsburgh police. First responders were called to the Ninth Street Bridge around 3:30 a.m. on Saturday for reports of witnesses who saw a man run from...
Steelers 4 Downs: Analytics suggest Najee Harris has been better than raw stats show
1. Better than you think Najee Harris has taken his fair share of heat. From fans, from media and even from advanced analytics. But it’s time to look at the brighter side of what Harris has done through three games for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The starting running back is rating...
Pitt trustees OK $100 million in campus renovations
University of Pittsburgh trustees on Friday elected a new chairman, received their first full report from Chancellor Joan Gabel on university progress and approved $100 million in campus building renovation projects. Board members meeting in the William Pitt Union in Oakland also encountered protests. They ranged from a boisterous but...
Federal jury convicts 2 Las Vegas men of committing wire fraud targeting elderly in Western Pa.
Following a five-day trial in Pittsburgh federal court, a jury convicted two Las Vegas men of defrauding elderly residents in Western Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Roderick Feurtado, 56, and Tarek Bouanane, 47, of Las Vegas and evidence at trial established that they traveled to the Pittsburgh area in September 2021 intending...
Gainey’s proposed Pittsburgh 2024 budgets include no tax increases
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s proposed operating and capital budgets for next year, released late Friday afternoon, do not call for any tax increases. The preliminary budgets prioritize “investment in key neighborhood projects, core constituent services, expanded capacity to care for our city-owned bridges and enhanced public safety,” Gainey’s office said...
Sheriff’s sale of Pittsburgh Mills mall canceled
Ownership at the Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer won’t change, after all. A sheriff’s sale on the property was scheduled for Monday, but the delinquent debt on the mall was paid in full Friday. Owner Namdar Realty Group had owed about $11.5 million in special assessment bills. “Our office was...
Pedestrian injured after PRT bus hits her on South Side’s East Carson Street
A woman was hospitalized Friday after a Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus hit her in South South Flats. The “roughly college-aged” woman, who Pittsburgh Regional Transit did not name, suffered a head injury, neck pain and scrapes on her elbow after the 83-Bedford Hills bus hit her around 3 p.m., transit...
2 midwives, 3 doulas and no pulse: Fast-acting Mutual Aid crew help save Hempfield baby
Samantha Kindelberger was confident that the two midwives and three doulas she selected for her home birth would bring her new son into the world successfully. She and her husband, Roy, would become parents to a second child to join their 2-year-old daughter, Ivah. She did not expect to be...
Top Shapiro staffer was accused of sexual harassment before resigning
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds the power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — A top official and longtime ally of Gov. Josh Shapiro who abruptly resigned this week had been accused months earlier of sexually...
DA: Pittsburgh police justified in using deadly force in Allentown incident
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said Friday that Pittsburgh police were justified in using deadly force against a woman in February incident. Responding officers shot Adrienne Arrington, 39, of Homestead, five times on Feb. 24 in Allentown. Zappala said she fired multiple shots at the officers from...
Riders protest Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s plan to shorten 4 routes
A group of bus riders on Friday protested Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s plan to shorten four bus routes starting Sunday, saying the changes will adversely affect city residents, particularly in Uptown and Downtown. The transit agency said the routes are being shortened because of the University Line bus-rapid transit construction project...
Coroner identifies 1 of 2 people killed in I-79 tractor-trailer crash
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office on Friday afternoon identified one of the two people killed in Thursday’s tractor-trailer crash on Interstate 79 as Butler County resident Frank L. Tupper, Jr. Tupper, 54, of Butler City, died at 12:50 a.m. Thursday at the scene of the crash, I-79’s northbound lanes...
2-year-old fatally struck by vehicle in Penn Hills identified
A 2-year-old girl died after being hit by a vehicle in Penn Hills on Thursday morning, Allegheny County police said. The incident on the 100 block of Lynnwood Drive was reported shortly before 8 a.m., police said. “The preliminary investigation determined a parent was leaving the residence and struck the...
How a government shutdown would impact Western Pa.
Time is running out for the federal government to avert a shutdown. The Republican-controlled House had been unable through Friday afternoon to pass funding bills that accommodate the demands of the party’s far-right faction, and a Saturday deadline looms. If a funding bill package is not reached and approved by...
