Top Stories category, Page 661
‘False narrative’ on South Side violence is bad for the neighborhood and business, councilman says
Brianna Cobb believes all the talk about violence on Pittsburgh’s South Side is the reason why Urban Tap isn’t packed late on Friday and Saturday nights anymore. Cobb, a manager, bartender and server at the East Carson Street bar and restaurant, said she doesn’t feel like the surrounding area is...
5 seek Westmoreland commissioner’s seat vacated by Thrasher
Five men are interested in completing the remainder of departing Westmoreland County Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher’s term when she moves on to a new job in a few weeks. Friday afternoon was the deadline for county Democrats to submit an application in hopes of being appointed to the remaining five...
How DOJ made different death penalty decisions in the Pittsburgh synagogue and Texas mall massacres
CHICAGO — Two separate shootings 2,000 miles apart. One killed 11 at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The other killed 23 at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Both were motivated by hate. Both involved gunmen who later claimed mental illness. But earlier this year, the Justice Department authorized the death penalty...
Weekend turnpike closure set in New Stanton, Breezewood
The Pennsylvania Turnpike will be closed between the New Stanton and Breezewood interchanges this weekend to clear a tractor-trailer crash that occurred Monday night. According to a report from the Pennsylvania State Police, the tractor-trailer crashed near mile marker 103.5 westbound in Somerset County. The report states that the vehicle...
Wilkinsburg merger with Pittsburgh must be approved by voters, court affirms
A state court on Thursday said that if residents of Wilkinsburg want to pursue annexation with Pittsburgh, there must be a referendum approving it by both communities. The Commonwealth Court issued a 17-page opinion affirming a lower court ruling by Allegheny County Common Pleas Senior Judge Joe James last year....
Mt. Pleasant Township market sells $1 million Match 6 lottery ticket
Southwestern Pennsylvania saw another $1 million lottery winner on Thursday, when a Mt. Pleasant Township store sold a $1.06 million Match 6 Lotto ticket. The ticket, sold at S&S Corner Market on Apollo Street, matched all six winning numbers: 4-10-11-19-20-45. The store earns a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket....
TV Talk: Western Pa. natives Billy Gardell, David Conrad, Jonathan Adams talk SAG-AFTRA strike
Actors’ union SAG-AFTRA is now on strike, joining members of the Writers Guild of America picketing against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents Hollywood’s major studios. It’s the first film and TV actors’ strike since 1986 and the first time both actors and writers have been...
Frazer police accuse Ohio man of shoplifting $22K worth of perfume, clothing
Frazer police accused an Ohio man of stealing $22,000 worth of perfume and designer clothing from Macy’s after they arrested him in the parking lot with a garment bag altered to stop security scanners from going off at the registers. Angelo Aaron Dowdell, 25, of Warren was arrested Tuesday and...
Mark Cuban rules out running for president in 2024
And for those reasons, he’s out. Mt. Lebanon native Mark Cuban, who’s fond of using that line when he declines to invest in a pitch on “Shark Tank,” has decided he will not mount a third-party campaign for president in 2024. “No. My family would disown me,” Cuban wrote in...
Jeannette becomes 1st municipality to provide direct support to Mutual Aid EMS
Jeannette became the first municipality to provide direct financial support to Mutual Aid EMS, a move ambulance officials hope will spread. Council on Thursday approved a proposal from Mutual Aid to be the city’s ambulance provider for the rest of 2023 in exchange for $1,000 monthly. “Getting assistance from the...
Morning roundup: Bethel Park man, 71, dies in motorcycle crash
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, July 14: Motorcyclist from Bethel Park dies in Washington County crash A Bethel Park man died Thursday afternoon after a crash on Interstate 70 in in South Strabane, Washington County, according to state police. State police said Fred...
Westmoreland County unveils 1st phase of opioid settlement spending plan
A plan to spend the first installment of Westmoreland County’s cut of a national settlement of opioid lawsuits — $2.5 million — includes boosting peer- support resources and funding a medication-assisted treatment program at the county jail. Tim Phillips, director of the new Department of Community Relations and Prevention, said he...
Thieves unsuccessful in removing 1,800 pounds of stolen copper from shuttered ATI plant in Gilpin
Police are investigating two separate incidents of theft and trespassing at the shuttered ATI plant in Gilpin. Southern Armstrong Regional Police Lt. John Arce said Thursday that police were notified by ATI security around 9:45 p.m. Sunday of three people entering the locked Bagdad plant. According to police, the three...
Plan to convert former New Derry elementary school into treatment center brings opposition
A Uniontown-based drug and alcohol treatment provider’s rumored plan to convert the former elementary school in New Derry into a rehabilitation facility has received a wave of backlash from residents and public officials. Westmoreland Commissioners even approved a resolution Thursday to oppose the project. Residents and township officials say Angel’s...
Planning commission OKs student housing development in downtown New Kensington
A proposed downtown New Kensington student housing development took a first step toward reality by gaining approval from the city’s planning commission. The commission voted, 4-0, Tuesday to approve a plan put forth by Jake Lydick, a downtown businessman. The plan would convert three vacant Fifth Avenue properties — 713,...
‘Farm to Tap’ initiative more than doubles acreage of local grains for area craft brewers
Hempfield farmer Alquin Heinnickel is happy to be a link in the local production chain for craft brewers in Western Pennsylvania. Last year, he and other Westmoreland County farmers grew about 40 acres of barley that ultimately was converted into about 75,000 pounds of malt in nearby Butler County. Attendees...
More storms could be in store for Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania could see some severe thunderstorms heading into Saturday afternoon and evening, but the potential for serious storms should dissipate by Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Meteorologist Timothy Cermak said the region can expect “low end strong to severe thunderstorm potential” in the late afternoon Saturday, he...
One-third of Americans under heat alerts as blistering weather spreads from Southwest to CaliforniaVideo
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — More than a third of Americans were under extreme heat advisories, watches and warnings Thursday as a blistering heat wave that’s been baking the nation spread further into California, forcing residents to seek out air conditioning or find other ways to stay cool in triple-digit temperatures....
New Kensington Bridge underpass in East Deer to close Monday
The underpass under the New Kensington Bridge in East Deer will close Monday, according to PennDOT. Northbound Freeport Road under the New Kensington Bridge will close at 7 a.m. and remain closed through late September. Travelers headed north on Freeport Road, toward Tarentum, will use the ramp up to the...
Palace Theatre director named Cultural Trust interim CEO
The Westmoreland Cultural Trust has named the operations and programming director for The Palace Theatre in Greensburg as its interim chief executive. Teresa Baughman, who has worked for the Trust since 1995, will lead the Trust in the role as interim CEO, in the wake of its former CEO leaving...
Soda sweetener aspartame now listed as possible cancer cause. But it’s still considered safe
The World Health Organization’s cancer agency has deemed the sweetener aspartame — found in diet soda and countless other foods — as a “possible” cause of cancer, while a separate expert group looking at the same evidence said it still considers the sugar substitute safe in limited quantities. The differing...
Police: 1-year-old child nearly drowns in Etna
A one-year-old child was hospitalized in critical condition Thursday afternoon after almost drowning in Etna, Allegheny County Police said. First responders performed life-saving measures on the child, who was reported unresponsive at about 3:40 p.m. in the 30 block of Sycamore Street, police said. The preliminary information suggests the child...
Penn Hills construction worker’s death in fall through Pine-Richland High School roof ruled accidental
A construction worker from Penn Hills died after falling through the roof at Pine-Richland High School, the school district confirmed Thursday. Joseph Gazzo, 44, died at a hospital Thursday morning after falling, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. The medical examiner’s office announced late Friday that death was...
First over-the-counter birth control pill gets FDA approvalVideo
U.S. officials have approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill, which will let American women and girls buy contraceptive medication from the same aisle as aspirin and eyedrops. The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it cleared Perrigo’s once-a-day Opill to be sold without a prescription, making it the first...
Snakes still loose in Ross spark interest, but not much fear
It’s been an anxious week for Ross residents since a 3-foot albino python was first seen slithering through the outfield grass near the baseball diamond at Ross Community Park on the Fourth of July. Though pythons are nonvenomous, the U.S. Geological Survey says the snakes can be dangerous because they...
