Top Stories category, Page 703
Airfares take a dip ahead of summer vacation season
Airfare is down a bit from this time last year for Americans eager to travel again. But it’s still more expensive to pack your bags and board a flight than before the covid-19 pandemic. The overall cost of travel is up 18% compared with April 2019 and up 2% versus...
Ligonier Township supervisors question work done by fellow board member’s company
Two Ligonier Township supervisors are raising concerns after a company co-owned by a fellow board member did about $15,500 worth of work for the municipality over four years. But Supervisor John Beaufort said he was trying to leverage his background in construction and project management in an effort to help...
Giant Eagle no longer king of Western Pa. grocery market as Walmart, other stores draw more shoppers
Shoppers may have more options for where they buy their eggs and butter these days, but two grocers dominate Southwestern Pennsylvania by far. Walmart and Giant Eagle together took nearly half of the grocery dollars in the region last year. Despite O’Hara-based Giant Eagle being the hometown grocer, Walmart has...
Failures aside, banks remain a safe bet for most people’s money
Despite the high-profile failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank this year, most bank deposits are safe because of federal insurance, local bank officials and a financial expert said. “The majority of the deposits are safe because they are insured by the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance...
EPA: New pollution limits proposed for coal, gas power plants reflect ‘urgency’ of climate crisisVideo
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration proposed new limits Thursday on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, its most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change. A rule announced by the Environmental Protection Agency could force power plants to...
Virginia judge says law banning sales of handguns to young adults is unconstitutional
RICHMOND, Va. — A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a law banning licensed federal firearms dealers from selling handguns to young adults under 21 violates the Second Amendment and is unconstitutional. The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Payne in Richmond, if not overturned, would allow...
Authorities: Pittsburgh man arrested while attempting to flee the country
Authorities say a Pittsburgh man, facing charges in Allegheny County, was arrested while attempting to flee the country Wednesday night. 30-year-old Emeka Ukaegbu is facing charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief after allegedly breaking into a North Side apartment and taking several items. Pittsburgh police charged Ukaegbu in December...
House Republicans pass new asylum restrictions as Title 42 ends; Biden promises vetoVideo
WASHINGTON — House Republicans passed a sweeping bill Thursday to build more U.S.-Mexico border wall and impose new restrictions on asylum seekers, creating a hard-line counter to President Joe Biden’s policies just as migrants are amassing along the border with the end of coronavirus pandemic restrictions. The bill has virtually...
Officials ID dead body found along Ohio River shoreline at Neville Island
Officials have identified a man found dead Thursday afternoon along the Ohio River in Ohio Township as a Pittsburgh man who was reported missing in March. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said Brandon Pfeifer Davis, 22, was pronounced dead shortly after 2:15 p.m. Thursday in the 2800 block of...
Norwin grad named head of National Archives and Records Administration
A Norwin High School alumna will take over the National Archives and Records Administration at at time when the agency is embroiled in a controversy with former President Donald Trump. Colleen Shogan, a 1993 graduate of Norwin, was confirmed as archivist Thursday in a 52-45 vote by the Senate. Only...
Prosecutors: Man who choked NYC subway passenger to death will face manslaughter charge
NEW YORK — Manhattan prosecutors said Thursday that they will bring criminal charges against a man who used a fatal chokehold on an unruly passenger aboard a New York City subway train, a death that stirred outrage and debates about the response to mental illness in the nation’s largest transit...
Federal money won’t be enough to solve Pa.’s abandoned oil and gas well problem, advocates say
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Cheryl Thomas first asked Pennsylvania officials to cap old oil wells on her land in 1988. Abandoned by the...
Elon Musk says he’s found a woman to lead Twitter as new CEO
Elon Musk said Thursday he has found a new CEO for Twitter, or X Corp. as it’s now called — and it’s a woman. He did not name her but said she will be starting in about six weeks. Musk, who bought Twitter last fall and has been running it...
McDonald’s found liable for girl’s burns from chicken nuggets. Next up: Jury to determine how much company will pay
McDonald’s is to blame for not warning customers about the dangers of its overheated Chicken McNuggets, one of which fell on a little girl’s lap and left her with second-degree burns on her upper thigh in 2019, a Broward jury ruled Thursday. A second jury will be empaneled to decide...
Carnegie Mellon artificial intelligence institute to receive $20M in federal funding
Carnegie Mellon University will use $20 million in federal funding to establish an artificial intelligence institute that will look for ways to use AI to deal with public health, disaster management and other societal needs. The AI Institute for Societal Decision Making will develop “human-centric AI tools” that can respond...
Pittsburgh’s URA says it spent $12.7M on affordable housing efforts last year
Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority said in its 2022 annual report that it created or preserved more than 500 affordable housing units in the city last year. The authority, which released its annual report this week, said it spent $12.7 million on housing creation and preservation last year, including more than...
West Mifflin man get 15 to 35 years for beating mother to death, leaving her to die
A West Mifflin man was sentenced Thursday to 15 to 35 years in prison for violently beating his 80-year-old mother and leaving her to die in their basement in 2019. Kenneth Burdick, 45, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to third-degree murder in the death of Dolores Burdick. Heath Leff, a...
Are sports a pass-fail proposition? Local coaches, just like Giannis Antetokounmpo, don’t think so
Sam Albert has experienced his fair share of wins and losses after 28 years coaching football. However, it might come as a surprise to learn that for Albert, who enters his seventh season at Kiski Area this fall, determining a successful year vs. one he deems substandard does not have...
Pittsburgh woman charged in fentanyl death of her 7-month-old granddaughter
Allegheny County police charged a second person in connection with the fatal fentanyl poisoning of a 7-month-old Penn Hills infant — the girl’s grandmother. Barbara Ann Dunlap-Toombs, 66, of Larimer, turned herself in to sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday. She is charged with involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of children and...
2023 primary day election guide: Details on races, candidates, issues in Western Pa.
Primary day is today. Here’s a guide to the many local races through Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and anyone in line at 8 p.m. will be allowed to vote. The state has an online tool to let voters find their polling...
What to know about Trump’s CNN town hall: Lies about election and abortion, attacks on accuser
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s primetime return to CNN Wednesday for the first time since 2016 felt like a throwback: Trump with the long, twisting answers; the interviewer at times struggling to fact-check him or return his focus to the question at hand; and then, eventually, both talking over each...
‘Now or never’: Migrants rush to U.S. border ahead of Title 42 expiration
MATAMOROS, Mexico — Migrants rushed across the border hours before pandemic-related asylum restrictions were to expire Thursday, fearing that new policies would make it far more difficult to gain entry into the United States. In a move to clear out overwhelmed holding facilities, Border Patrol agents were told Wednesday to...
As public health emergency ends, pandemic-era support programs have already been fading away
WASHINGTON — The formal end of the national Public Health Emergency on Thursday is largely a symbolic and psychological step, representing the country’s formal emergence from the covid-19 pandemic. But behind the scenes, several core aspects of America’s pandemic-era emergency safety net are also coming to a close, from extra...
Morning Roundup: Man charged in shooting in Pittsburgh’s Strip District
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Thursday, May 11, 2023: Man charged in shooting in Pittsburgh’s Strip District A Pittsburgh man has been charged in a shooting that wounded two others last month in the city’s Strip District. Jaquan Steadman, 24, is charged with two...
‘I’m going to reach all of them:’ Pirates star Andrew McCutchen eyes milestone moments
For all the fanfare that surrounded his return to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Andrew McCutchen passed a major milestone in his baseball career this week with barely a written word or whisper of congratulations. If not for a daily milestone tracker kept by team historian Jim Trdinich as the five-time All-Star,...
