Top Stories category, Page 668
Drivers line up to get Sheetz $1.776 Independence Day gas deal
Drivers pounced on the chance to get gas at a steep discount on the Fourth of July, waiting in long lines at Sheetz convenience stores to fill up at just $1.776 per gallon. The Altoona-based convenience store announced Monday it would sell gasoline at that price to commemorate the year...
Shots fired into a crowd of hundreds after a holiday festival in Texas leaves 3 dead, 8 injured
DALLAS — Three people were killed and eight others injured when shots were fired into a crowd of hundreds following a festival in a Texas neighborhood, authorities said. The shooting in the Fort Worth neighborhood of Como happened at about 11:47 p.m. Monday, and police said a chaotic scene followed...
Latrobe parade brings large crowds to celebrate Fourth of July
Large crowds gathered on Tuesday morning in downtown Latrobe to celebrate Independence Day at the town’s annual Fourth of July parade. During this year’s Greater Latrobe 4th of July Celebration, which began at 10:30 a.m., children caught candy tossed from parade floats, and families cheered in red, white, and blue...
Retailers, beware: Resumption of student loan payments could lead some buyers to pull back
WASHINGTON — The reprieve is over. Just as the American economy is struggling with high inflation and interest rates, the coming resumption of student loan payments poses yet another potential challenge. The suspension of federal student loan payments, which took effect at the height of the pandemic in 2020, expires...
In a polarized U.S., how to define a patriot increasingly depends on who’s being asked
Millions of Americans will attend parades, fireworks and other Independence Day events on Tuesday, celebrating the courage of the nation’s 18th century patriots who fought for independence from Great Britain and what they considered an unjust government. Those events also will honor the military and those who sacrificed in other...
The American flag wasn’t always revered as it is today. At the beginning, it was an afterthought
PHILADELPHIA — In the bedroom of the Betsy Ross House, a reconstruction of where the upholsterer worked on her most famous commission, a long flag with a circle of 13 stars hangs over a Chippendale side chair and extends across the floor. Over the weeks in 1776 needed to complete...
Meat-free dining available at multiple sites in Pittsburgh
With summer in full swing, some are planning a traditional summer grill with the family but for vegetarians and pescetarians (who also enjoy seafood), these gatherings can mean limited options and the possibility of going home with a grumbling tummy. Here are five restaurants in the Pittsburgh area that have...
Tim Benz: Kyle Dubas getting lots of benefit of the doubt points following Tristan Jarry signing
This is probably a tough hypothetical for Penguins fans to embrace, but work with me on this one. What if it had been ex-Penguins general manager Ron Hextall who had signed goaltender Tristan Jarry to a $5.3 million contract over five years? What if that had been his parting shot?...
Springdale considers zoning tactic ‘to encourage new things over what is already there,’ with eye on former power plant site
Springdale Council is moving to create a “mixed-use overlay” in its zoning ordinance that will not change current zoning districts. However, the proposed overlay could allow for uses not specified in the current districts — including the 54-acre site of the defunct Duquesne Light power generating station, according to Carolyn...
5 dead in Philadelphia-area shooting spree that’s nation’s worst violence yet around July 4Video
PHILADELPHIA — A 40-year-old man with a rifle, a pistol, a bulletproof vest, extra magazines and a police scanner fatally shot four men in a Philadelphia neighborhood and chased and killed a fifth man inside a house, police said. A 2-year-old boy and a 13-year-old were also wounded in the...
Any progress made toward settling Pa.’s state budget dispute? It’s hard to tell
Pennsylvania enters the Fourth of July holiday with a budget agreement still a work in progress — if there is even any progress. The state Capitol was a near-ghost town on Monday, the third day of the new fiscal year. Neither spokeswomen for the Democratic-controlled House nor Republican-controlled Senate offered...
Maternal deaths in the U.S. more than doubled over two decades. Black mothers died at the highest rate
Maternal deaths across the U.S. more than doubled over the course of two decades, and the tragedy unfolded unequally. Black mothers died at the nation’s highest rates, while the largest increases in deaths were found in American Indian and Native Alaskan mothers. And some states — and racial or ethnic...
Pittsburgh synagogue attacker has high IQ, problems with social cues, expert says
The man who killed 11 people in a Squirrel Hill synagogue has an IQ in the top 10% but has deficits in some areas of cognitive function, including his brain’s processing speed, recognizing faces and social cues. Those characteristics, a defense expert said Monday, can be consistent with schizophrenia, a...
Jeannette EMS shuts down after 63 years
Jeannette EMS announced that the ambulance service was shutting down Monday night after 63 years. The department ceased operations at 7 p.m., citing poor reimbursement rates from insurance companies, according to a Facebook post on the service’s page. The post added that Jeannette EMS is “sadly not the first service...
Effort underway to restore 99-year-old WWI memorial outside Pittsburgh’s Obama Academy
Local leaders are raising money to restore a World War I memorial outside Obama Academy in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood. The memorial features a more than 6-foot-tall bronze sculpture by Pittsburgh sculptor Frank Vittor. It depicts several figures, including a statue of Columbia, a mother and son, a returned soldier...
Allegheny County overdose deaths dropped 5% last year, data show
Drug overdose deaths in Allegheny County dropped 5% last year compared to the year before, according to data released by the medical examiner’s officer. Overdoses killed 689 people in 2022, down from 719 in 2021, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Karl Williams said. Deaths in 2020 also totaled 689, the county...
More than 2 pounds of suspected fentanyl found in minivan bumper on Pa. Turnpike, police say
More than 2 pounds of suspected fentanyl was found hidden Thursday in the front bumper of a minivan traveling on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Mt. Pleasant Township, according to court papers. Ernesto A. Lantigua-Arias, 39, of Massachusetts, is being held at the Westmoreland County Prison on $250,000 bail. He is...
TSA says it stopped Ohio man from boarding plane in Pittsburgh with 9mm handgun
Transportation Security Administration officers at Pittsburgh International Airport stopped an Ohio man from bringing a loaded handgun onto a flight Friday, a record-setting day as travelers flew ahead of the Independence Day holiday. Officers at the Findlay-based airport detected the 9mm handgun in the Lima, Ohio, man’s carry-on backpack as...
Harmar beer distributor sells $1 million scratch-off ticket
It’s not unusual for owner Linda Wilson to sell scratch-off lottery tickets to customers at Willy’s Beer and Beverage in Harmar. What is unusual? Having a million-dollar winner. That’s exactly what happened June 22, when one of Wilson’s regulars scratched off a “$1 Million? Seriously” ticket at the store. “I...
Ligonier Township man wielded machete before being fatally shot by police, detectives say
Ligonier Valley Police were responding to a domestic disturbance Sunday afternoon when they fatally shot a machete-wielding man at a Ligonier Township home, according to Westmoreland County detectives. Robbie Thomas Saunders, 59, was armed with a machete when officers arrived just before 4 p.m. at a Gravel Hill Road home....
Oakmont woman found guilty of 1st-degree murder in starvation death of 3-year-old stepdaughter
An Oakmont woman was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder in the starvation death of her partner’s child. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Bruce R. Beemer also found Laura Ramriez, 31, guilty of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child, unlawful restraint and conspiracy to commit homicide in connection...
2 dead in fire in Pittsburgh’s Beltzhoover
Two people died Monday morning after a two-alarm fire in Pittsburgh’s Beltzhoover neighborhood. Firefighters responded to a residential fire around 5:40 a.m. in the 400 block of Cedarhurst Street, Pittsburgh Public Safety said. The first crews arrived within four minutes to find “an active fire with possible entrapment,” officials said....
Wait for U.S. passports creates travel purgatory, snarls summer plans
WASHINGTON — Seeking a valid U.S. passport for that 2023 trip? Buckle up, wishful traveler, for a very different journey before you step anywhere near an airport. A much-feared backup of U.S passport applications has smashed into a wall of government bureaucracy as worldwide travel rebounds toward record pre-pandemic levels...
Fleeing suspect fatally shot by state trooper after chase in Indiana County
A Pennsylvania State Police trooper shot and killed a Center Township man following a miles-long car chase through Indiana County Sunday night, state police said in a press statement. At about 11:55 p.m., police said the trooper initiated a traffic stop near Yankeetown and Lockard avenues in Center Township, Indiana...
1 hospitalized after vehicle slams into Beltzhoover house
One person was hospitalized early Monday after Pittsburgh police said a vehicle they were pursuing crashed into a house in Beltzhoover. Police from Zone 3 said they tried to pull over a car around 3 a.m. but the driver of the car refused to stop. The driver of the car...
