Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 748
The U.S. is averaging 1 mass killing a week. It might be even worse.
So far this year, 115 people have died in 22 mass killings — an average of one mass killing a week, according to figures from the Associated Press. The statistics include the Saturday killings at a Dallas-area mall where eight people were fatally shot. But those statistics might be even...
Teacher appreciation? Try better pay, more governors say
HARRISBURG — As schools across the country struggle to find teachers to hire, more governors are pushing for pay increases, bonuses and other perks for the beleaguered profession — with some vowing to beat out other states competing for educators. Already in 2023, governors in Georgia and Arkansas have pushed...
Why so many mass killings? Families, experts seek answers
More than five years after his son was gunned down in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, Richard Berger still asks why. Why Stephen Berger was killed the day after celebrating his 44th birthday. Why the gunman rained bullets over the Las Vegas Strip in 2017, turning a...
Morning roundup: Man critically injured in Clairton shooting
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Monday, May 8, 2023: Man critically injured in Clairton shooting Allegheny County police are investigating a shooting that wounded a man Saturday night in Clairton. Shots were reported to county 911 dispatchers shortly after 8 p.m. at Thompson Avenue...
Canine flu cases crop up in Westmoreland
The canine flu is a lot like the human flu, according to Hempfield veterinarian Roman Lamberski. “You get a bunch of kids together in a day care and one has the flu, they’re going to spread it,” Lamberski said. Canine influenza virus, however, affects dogs rather than people. And it’s...
WHO downgrades covid pandemic, says it’s no longer emergency
GENEVA — The World Health Organization said that covid-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency, marking a symbolic end to the devastating coronavirus pandemic that triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions of people worldwide. The announcement, made more than three years after WHO declared the coronavirus an...
Trump rejects last chance to testify at New York civil trial
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump rejected his last chance Sunday to testify at a civil trial where a longtime advice columnist has accused him of raping her in a luxury department store dressing room in 1996. Trump, a Republican candidate for president in 2024, was given until 5...
SUV driver hits crowd at Texas bus stop near border; 8 deadVideo
BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Police are preparing to arrest the hospitalized driver of an SUV that slammed into a crowd, killing eight people waiting for a bus Sunday outside a migrant shelter in the border city of Brownsville, Texas. At least 10 others were injured, authorities said. With no bench at...
North Hills grad Margo Malone wins Pittsburgh Marathon in hometown
Margo Malone was no stranger to running marathons, but Sunday’s 26.2-mile race on the streets of Downtown Pittsburgh was her first in her hometown. Hearing the cheers from the thousands of spectators who lined the course and the loud response heading down the home straightaway, the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team...
Source: Investigators examine ideology of Texas gunman
ALLEN, Texas — Federal officials are looking into whether the gunman who killed eight people at a Dallas-area mall expressed an interest in white supremacist ideology as they work to try to discern a motive for the attack, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official cautioned the...
Teen dies from sand hole collapse in Outer Banks
NORFOLK, Va. — Authorities in coastal North Carolina are investigating the death of a teenager who became trapped in a hole that was dug in the sand, the latest fatality from the scourge of sand holes that continues to claim young people’s lives. The 17-year-old male died Saturday afternoon in...
Yellen: ‘No good options’ if Congress fails to act on debt
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that there are “no good options” for the United States to avoid an economic “calamity” if Congress fails to raise the nation’s borrowing limit of $31.381 trillion in the coming weeks. She did not rule out President Joe Biden bypassing lawmakers and...
Westmoreland students craft metal selfie frames at parks to mark county’s 250th
Visitors to five of Westmoreland’s parks can celebrate the county’s 250th anniversary with student-created selfie photo frames that are being installed by Memorial Day. Eleven juniors at Eastern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center worked on the project for about two weeks. The metal frames are about 4 feet by 4...
Thousands run city’s bridges, hills and streets for the Pittsburgh Marathon
Thousands of runners toured Pittsburgh’s bridges, hills and streets Sunday morning, all as part of the 2023 Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon. To the tune of fireworks, the full 26.2-mile race and 13.1-mile half-marathon kicked off at 7 a.m. Downtown. A slight rain greeted runners as the race began but...
Ultra runners become more in tune with themselves by the mile
South Hills resident Timmy Morgan, 36, was introduced to the sport of ultra running the same way a character in a movie discovers a destined journey. It was a dark and stormy night. Morgan and a friend had decided to set up camp after hiking along the Pacific Crest Trail...
New Vietnamese Kitchen in Hempfield hits diners’ sweet spot
These days, Ten Fox is working seven days a week — but it’s by her own choice. Already the owner of a Unity salon bearing her name, she opened The Vietnamese Kitchen in Hempfield on Jan. 6. “I’m Vietnamese, I grew up eating Vietnamese food, and I always had this...
Former Vandergrift church transformed into new public venue
A former church sanctuary has been transformed into a public event center in Vandergrift. After years of sitting dormant, the worship area of the former Trinity United Presbyterian Church has been transformed by owner Chloe Kruse into a multipurpose rental venue. “There hasn’t been a congregation here in more than...
Jury selection is crucial and complex in death penalty cases, experts say
Jury selection might be a misnomer. In the case of the man accused of killing 11 people at a Squirrel Hill synagogue in 2018, experts say, the process might more aptly be called “jury deselection” or “jury rejection.” Picking the right jury in a capital case is more about taking...
Police: 8 killed in Texas mall shooting, gunman also dead
ALLEN, Texas — A gunman stepped out of a silver sedan and started shooting people at a Dallas-area outlet mall Saturday, killing eight and wounding seven others — three critically — before being killed by a police officer who happened to be nearby, authorities said. Authorities did not immediately provide...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: If the Steelers want a new stadium, they’ll get it
In 1997, 11 counties in Western Pennsylvania voted against new stadiums for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pirates being built via public funding. They were built anyway. Using public funding. The idea of a new stadium for the Steelers will be mooted sooner than you think. Three Rivers Stadium operated from...
King Charles III crowned in ancient rite at uncertain moment for British monarchyVideo
LONDON — King Charles III was crowned Saturday at Westminster Abbey, receiving the bejeweled St. Edward’s Crown in a ceremony built on ancient tradition at a time when the monarchy is striving to remain relevant in a fractured modern Britain. Trumpets sounded inside the medieval abbey and the congregation shouted...
Former Pa. state trooper pleads guilty to federal child porn charges
A former Pennsylvania state police trooper has pleaded guilty to child pornography charges. Sean Ryan McKenzie, 38, of Perryopolis, Fayette County, was arrested in March 2022 and charged in federal court last May. He pleaded guilty on Friday, May 5, 2023. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, McKenzie attempted to...
Westmoreland DA defends summary charges for trooper accused in fatal Salem crash
The Westmoreland County district attorney Friday defended a decision to charge a Pennsylvania State Police trooper with summary traffic offenses for his role in a fatal accident last year. Tyler Strini, 27, of Homer City pleaded guilty Friday to four traffic offenses — speeding, reckless driving, driving at an unsafe...
Proposal to update ailing Pa. rent, property tax rebate program would reverse decade of decline
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 — The number of people getting help from a state program that offsets some housing costs for older and disabled...
Amera Gilchrist sworn in as Pittsburgh’s 1st Black female EMS chief
Amera Gilchrist was sworn in Friday as the city’s first Black female EMS chief. Gilchrist, 49, has served on the city’s Bureau of EMS for nearly 24 years. She assumed the role of acting chief when former EMS Chief Ronald Romano retired. After 45 years of service, Romano’s last day...
