Top Stories category, Page 755
Editorial: Pain, panic and fear: the fallout of a faked school shooting report
How dare you? This short sentence — equal parts earnest question, alarmed utterance and angry interjection — is directed at the person or persons, organization or movement behind computer-generated “swatting” calls made Wednesday reporting active shooter situations. Allegheny County 911 received calls about Central Catholic and Oakland Catholic. Both schools...
Morning Roundup: SWAT response in Allentown
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Thursday, March 30, 2023: SWAT response in Allentown A police SWAT team responded to a home in the 600 block of Eureka Street in Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood just before midnight Wednesday. A police spokeswoman said the response was for...
Westmoreland courthouse garage rebuild nears completion
A parade of 49 trucks hauling nearly 2,000 tons of concrete will travel through Greensburg on Saturday morning as part of a final push to complete construction of a two-story underground parking garage at the Westmoreland County Courthouse. Main Street will be closed to traffic in front of the courthouse...
Inflation is declining, but health premiums and medical costs are heading higher
WASHINGTON — During the pandemic, health care costs — usually a main driver of U.S. inflation — remained surprisingly stable, rising just about 2% annually even as prices for many goods and services soared more than three or four times that rate. But signs are emerging that medical inflation is...
How ‘swatting’ hoax threats cause chaos and panic
As Quaker Valley School District’s police chief, Aaron Vanatta is responsible for the well-being of 1,900 children. But, on Wednesday, he needed to tend to a student outside his jurisdiction: his daughter, a seventh grader 40 miles away in Washington County. A morning flurry of hoax threats that triggered lockdowns,...
On 50th anniversary of Vietnam War’s end, veterans remember those who didn’t come home
March 29, 2023, marked the 50th anniversary of the last U.S. troops leaving Vietnam, ending combat operations in what Americans know as the Vietnam War. But it’s the names — the 58,000 or so of them etched into black stone on a wall in Washington, D.C. — that linger in...
Entering 4th season as manager, Derek Shelton expects that Pirates ‘have a team that’s better’
CINCINNATI — Derek Shelton sat in the visiting dugout at Great American Ball Park on the eve of Opening Day, believing his fourth season managing the Pittsburgh Pirates finally will bring progress. If that’s received with a shrug, it’s because Shelton’s first three seasons have been a bit of a...
Tennessee man gets 25 years in roadside killing of Butler County native
NASHVILLE — The man who shot and killed a Tennessee nurse as she was driving to work two years ago was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Wednesday, according to the Nashville district attorney’s office. In January, a jury found Devaunte Hill guilty of murder in the death of...
Fetterman expected back to Senate in April
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman will return to the Senate in April, two months after the freshman Democrat sought inpatient treatment for clinical depression, a person close to Fetterman said Wednesday. The person, who was not authorized to discuss Fetterman’s plans and spoke on condition of anonymity, said...
Pittsburgh to get $1.5M for electric vehicles, natural gas trucks
Pittsburgh is slated to receive more than $1.5 million in state grant money for new electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and compressed natural gas trucks. Three separate grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will provide the cash, pending approval from Pittsburgh City Council. Council members unanimously supported...
‘I’m a very flawed man’: Man who forged letters to court gets 6½ years
One letter described a scene where the defendant was so kind that, for an afternoon, he took in a one-legged man standing outside in the cold in the Strip District. They stopped at a shop, and Randy Frasinelli bought the man a hoodie and sweatpants, then he took him home,...
Lottery officials present Mt. Pleasant man with $1 million ‘check’ at North Huntingdon pharmacyVideo
Nick Pletcher stopped by the pharmacy to get a prescription filled. He left with $1 million. Well, technically he left with a winning Pennsylvania Lottery ticket. On Wednesday morning, he was joined by lottery officials at AccuServ Pharmacy in North Huntingdon, where he bought the winning Millionaire Maker scratch-off ticket....
Active shooter calls send panic across Western Pa. before deemed a hoax by investigators
Panic, confusion and then relief spread across the region Wednesday morning after two Pittsburgh Catholic schools received what investigators deemed were hoax active shooter threats that prompted evacuations, lockdowns and large responses from police. Families raced to Oakland Catholic and Central Catholic high schools as the news unfolded, but soon...
Probe of Pa. chocolate factory blast focuses on gas pipeline
Federal safety officials are investigating the role of a natural gas pipeline in a fatal blast at a Pennsylvania chocolate factory, the National Transportation Safety Board announced Tuesday. Friday’s powerful explosion at R.M. Palmer Co. killed seven people, sent 10 to the hospital and damaged several other buildings in West...
Nashville shooting highlights security at private schools
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An alarm blared and lights flashed as a heavily armed assailant stalked the hallways of The Covenant School. Surveillance footage of the shooting Monday at the private Christian school in Nashville showed many familiar security measures, including the double set of locked glass doors the killer shot...
Westmoreland primary election on track as legal challenge progresses
Uncertainty about whether two Republicans can remain on the ballot in the race for Westmoreland commissioner is not expected to impact the county’s preparations for the spring election. “Our schedule is intact right at this second. We have until April 5 to get answers,” election bureau Director Greg McCloskey said...
Morning Roundup: Squirrel Hill tunnel crash snarls traffic, man found shot in Stanton Heights
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Wednesday, March 29, 2023: Parkway East traffic snarled A multivehicle crash inside the Squirrel Hill tunnel has snarled traffic on the Parkway East. The crash in the outbound direction was reported about 7:45 a.m., PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said....
Women brewers highlighted at Craft Beverage Expo in Pittsburgh
When it comes to the craft brewing industry, it’s no longer just a man’s world. “There are more women in the industry than people realize,” said Jen Walzer, owner of Inner Groove Brewing in Verona and Allentown and a board member of the Pittsburgh Brewers Guild. “There are head brewers...
$12 million expansion of Allegheny Valley Hospital radiology will combine services in one place
People who use a satellite radiology center on Freeport Road in Harrison will instead receive services at Allegheny Valley Hospital beginning this summer. A $12 million hospital expansion project is underway to enhance the imaging department and will feature a broader range of services under one roof. The project won’t...
PennDOT projects in Westmoreland, neighboring counties part of $585M construction budget
Replacement of the Route 356 bridge over Pine Run in Allegheny Township and resurfacing of an 8-mile stretch of Route 136 are set to get underway in Westmoreland County in the months ahead. They join 64 other highway and bridge construction projects PennDOT has awarded or intends to advertise for...
State police: Trooper tried to stop wrong-way driver before Rostraver crash
A Pennsylvania state trooper who spotted a wrong-way motorist on Route 51 in Rostraver on Tuesday night tried to stop the SUV before a crash that injured the driver, according to a news release. Police said they saw Rebecca Stevenson, 71, of Belle Vernon driving the SUV north in the...
Debt ceiling impasse: Kevin McCarthy presses Biden to negotiate
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Tuesday he’s increasingly concerned about President Joe Biden’s unwillingness to negotiate on lifting the nation’s borrowing authority, saying in a letter to the president that the White House position could “hold dire ramifications for the entire nation.” Rather than open direct talks...
Lawyer for New Kensington man accused of killing son asks for more time to prepare for trial
The lawyer for a Brackenridge man accused of killing his 9-year-old son told a Westmoreland County judge on Tuesday he needs additional time to prepare for trial. Assistant Public Defender Michael Garofalo said he needs about six months to prepare his defense of Jean J. Charles, 41, who was charged...
Bicyclist shot and killed in Bloomfield identified as former Pittsburgh city intern
Pittsburgh officials on Tuesday mourned the loss of a former city intern who was shot and killed while riding his bike through Bloomfield. Alexander Yerkey, 26, whose home address was listed as Bethel Park, died shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday after being shot in the head, the Allegheny County Medical...
Nashville shooter, who was ‘under doctor’s care for emotional disorder,’ used 3 guns, police sayVideo
New details have emerged from the shootings Monday in Nashville that left three children and three adults dead when an assailant targeted a Christian school, making it the latest American community to be rocked by the despair and trauma of gun violence, as police search for a motive. At a...
