Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 76
How cold is it? Pittsburgh is breaking records
It was as cold as it’s ever been on this date in Pittsburgh Friday morning. Temperatures sank to minus 6 degrees around 7:50 a.m. at the National Weather Service’s offices in Moon, according to meteorologist Jason Frazier. That slightly edges out today’s previous record low of minus 5, set in...
Faces of the Valley: PR director leaves Allegheny Valley School District after 3 decades
To Jan Zastawniak, it’s a great thing to be a Dynamo. The Springdale alumna and longtime borough resident retired in December from Allegheny Valley School District, where she worked as public relations director for more than 30 years. But Zastawniak was never lacking for other responsibilities at Allegheny Valley. She...
Retired Fox Chapel attorney ranks 3rd in nation for niche sport of stair climbing
Retired Fox Chapel attorney Harrison Lauer is at the top of his game — literally. A long-time runner, Lauer hung up his shoes after a knee injury in 2020 but decided it was a detour, not a full stop. The 68-year-old turned to stair climbing, or tower running, which while...
What is the fate of some 2 dozen ICE bills before Pa. state lawmakers?
About two dozen proposals related to immigration enforcement are percolating in the state legislature in response to the Trump administration’s crackdown and tactics – including increased reliance on county jails and local police departments. Lawmakers acknowledge it’s a long shot to enact reforms in a federally-governed arena and with a...
PNC Foundation to give Pittsburgh $2M for snow removal equipment
As Pittsburgh crews struggle to plow and salt roads after a massive snowstorm, officials Thursday announced the PNC Foundation will give the city $2 million to buy new snow removal equipment. The foundation’s contribution will fund 15 new vehicles this year for the city’s Department of Public Works. “Last weekend’s...
Senate leaders scramble to save bipartisan deal and avert partial government shutdown at midnight
WASHINGTON — Senate leaders were scrambling to save a bipartisan spending deal and avert a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday as Democrats have demanded new restrictions on federal immigration raids across the country. Democrats struck a rare deal with President Donald Trump Thursday to separate funding for the Homeland...
Trump’s choice of Warsh to lead Fed could reshape the world’s most influential central bank
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to chair the Federal Reserve could bring about sweeping changes at a central bank that dominates the global economy and markets like no other. Warsh, if approved by the Senate, will be under close scrutiny from financial markets and Congress given...
What to know about police cooperation with ICE in Pennsylvania
Jaime Martinez has mourned with Pittsburgh’s immigrant community since he saw 14 people arrested at a Mexican restaurant in Marshall. Since those June arrests, he has witnessed four additional detainments by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As executive director of the immigrant advocacy group Frontline Dignity, he’s seen tensions escalate...
New cold snap adds urgency to winter storm recovery across the SouthVideo
BELZONI, Miss. — Hundreds of National Guard troops in ice-stricken Mississippi and Tennessee mobilized Thursday to clear debris and assist people stranded in cars or stuck at homes still without electricity as Southern states raced to recover from a crippling winter storm before another blast of dangerous cold hits. The...
4 people injured in explosion at metal fabricating plant
Four people were taken to the hospital in Washington County following a reported explosion Thursday afternoon at a metal fabricating plant. A hazardous materials team was called to the Langeloth Metallurgical Co. facility in Smith Township, according to TribLive news partner WTAE. The incident was reported at about 6:15 p.m....
Larry Cervi, beloved arts director and founder of East End Kids, dies
Larry Cervi, who spent decades shaping students and stages as an educator and performing arts director across the Pittsburgh region, was a people person at heart. Cervi, of Churchill, died Thursday, after a yearlong battle with bladder cancer, only two days after his 90th birthday. He founded the Larry Cervi...
Pittsburgh woman dies after car careens off Parkway East into Monongahela River
A Pittsburgh woman is dead after her vehicle went off the Parkway East and into the Monongahela River on Thursday afternoon. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner identified her as Jacinta Stevens, 31, of Pittsburgh’s West End. Stevens’ car landed in the river in the 900 block of Second Avenue, between...
Lawsuit claims parents allowed ‘party house’ that led to fatal dirt bike crash of Norwin teens
Families of two Norwin High School students killed in a 2024 dirt bike crash have filed wrongful death lawsuits against the parents of two other teens, claiming they allowed and enabled underage drinking that led to the fatalities. In two separate court filings in Westmoreland County Court, the parents of...
FBI seizure of Georgia ballots reflects pursuit of Trump’s 2020 election grievanceVideo
ATLANTA — In an extraordinary scene this week, FBI agents pulled box trucks up to a warehouse south of Atlanta and drove away with hundreds of boxes containing ballots and other documents related to the 2020 election in Georgia’s most populous county. Fulton County, which votes overwhelmingly Democratic, has been...
Ice forces closure of Allegheny River traffic, disrupting Pittsburgh shipping
The Allegheny River in Pittsburgh is shut down to all traffic through March 1. The U.S. Coast Guard made the announcement Thursday afternoon after several inches of ice accumulated in the wake of last weekend’s snowstorm. “I’ve been referring to this as a once-in-a-decade freeze,” said Shane Checkan, navigation chairman...
Democrats, White House strike spending deal that would avert government shutdown
WASHINGTON — Democrats and White House have struck a deal to avert a partial government shutdown and temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security as they negotiate new restrictions for President Donald Trump’s surge of immigration enforcement. As the country reels from the deaths of two protesters at the hands...
Pollution control equipment breaks down at Clairton Coke Works
The Allegheny County Health Department has found no indication of a long-term health emergency after U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works experienced a breakdown of pollution control equipment this week. A breakdown occurs when equipment stops working properly and releases more pollution than usual, county health officials said in a statement...
West Deer house fire kills homeowner and dog as exploding ammunition hampers firefighters
Fire crews attempting to knock down a West Deer blaze Wednesday were hampered by heavy rounds of ammunition exploding in the back of the home, authorities said. “When we got on scene, there was heavy fire — about 60% involved — and a solid half-hour of ammunition going off,” said...
Allegheny County GOP Chairman Jason Richey to run for lieutenant governor
A Sewickley attorney who serves as Allegheny County’s GOP chairman said Thursday that he is running for lieutenant governor with the endorsement of the presumptive Republican nominee for the state’s highest office, Stacy Garrity. Jason Richey, 54, said he arrived at the decision to run over the past two weeks...
Parkway East’s ‘bathtub’ area reopens after water main break
A stretch of the Parkway East known as the bathtub is reopened Thursday afternoon after a water main break had forced a closure. The portion of I-376 inbound between Grant Street and the Fort Pitt Bridge and the on-ramp from Grant Street to westbound I-376 reopened before 3 p.m., the...
Veteran prosecutor who helmed Pittsburgh synagogue shooting case named U.S. Attorney for Western Pa.
A prosecutor who helped convict the gunman now on death row for fatally shooting 11 congregants in a Squirrel Hill synagogue in 2018 is officially at the helm of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh. U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi has appointed longtime prosecutor Troy Rivetti as U.S. Attorney for...
Watershed association awaiting response on proposed lease with Ligonier Country Market
Susan Huba, executive director of the Loyalhanna Watershed Association, is in waiting mode after Ligonier Township officials told the environmental nonprofit and the organizers of the Ligonier Country Market this week to figure out a solution on their own for the 2026 season. The Country Market, launched about 50 years...
Man who led police on hours-long chase up frozen Allegheny River remains jailed
Police say a Pittsburgh man who shouted to them that he wasn’t “going back to jail” as he led officers on a slow, 5-mile foot pursuit on the frozen Allegheny River on Wednesday is, in fact, back in jail. Gary Cawley, 47, is facing felony charges of burglary and criminal...
UPMC gives $10M to Pittsburgh for ambulances, freeing up money for snowplows
UPMC on Thursday donated $10 million to Pittsburgh for new ambulances, freeing up money for the city to also buy additional snowplows. Mayor Corey O’Connor joined UPMC President and CEO Leslie Davis at a Downtown medic station — standing in front of a 31-year-old ambulance that has been driven over...
Trump’s border czar suggests a possible drawdown in Minnesota, but only after ‘cooperation’
MINNEAPOLIS — The Trump administration could reduce the number of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota, but only if state and local officials cooperate, the president’s border czar said Thursday, noting he has “zero tolerance” for protesters who assault federal officers or impede the ongoing operation in the Twin Cities. Tom...
