Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 845
Fusion breakthrough is a milestone for climate, clean energy
WASHINGTON — Scientists announced Tuesday that they have for the first time produced more energy in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it — a major breakthrough in the decades-long quest to harness the process that powers the sun. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California...
Man accused of threatening to kill Allegheny County DA, encouraging mass killing
A Rosslyn Farms man is accused of making threats online to kill Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. and others and threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction. Scott Township police arrested Joshua J. Thompson, 46, on Monday. He was denied bail at an arraignment early Tuesday...
Pittsburgh considers using $1 million from rescue plan to alleviate residents’ medical debt
Pittsburgh City Council will consider legislation that would use $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to help alleviate medical debts for residents. Councilman Bobby Wilson introduced a proposal Tuesday that would allow the city to partner with RIP Medical Debt, a New-York based nonprofit that would buy dischargeable...
Former Letsche Elementary School in Hill District to be converted to mixed-income housing
Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has agreed to sell the former Letsche Elementary School in the city’s Hill District to a developer that will revitalize the historic building as part of a mixed-income housing development. The project, called Letsche School Apartments, will include 42 apartments in the former school building, as...
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander readied for 2023 touchdown
A lunar lander built by Astrobiotic in Pittsburgh has passed a battery of critical tests, moving one step closer to touching down on the moon early next year. The Peregrine lunar lander, which stands a bit more than 6 feet tall and is about 8 feet in diameter, is expected...
Massive U.S. storm brings tornado warnings, blizzard threatVideo
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A massive storm blowing across the country spawned tornadoes that wrecked homes and injured a handful of people in parts of Oklahoma and Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as much of the central United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest braced Tuesday for...
Winter storm watch issued for ice accumulations in higher terrain outside Pittsburgh
Locations in higher terrain outside of Pittsburgh could see ice accumulating Wednesday night into Thursday morning, a National Weather Service meteorologist said Tuesday. With cold air in place, freezing rain will start developing over the area around 10 p.m. Wednesday, meteorologist David Shallenberger said. In lower elevations, Shallenberger said the...
Beaver County man’s death in fall at Acrisure Stadium ruled an accident
A Beaver County man’s death at Acrisure Stadium was an accident, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled. Dalton Ryan Keane, 27, of Center Township died after falling from an escalator at the stadium following an Oct. 2 Steelers game. The medical examiner said Keane died from multiple blunt...
‘Our hearts are broken’: Children killed in Sewickley house fire identified
Less than two weeks before Christmas, the Quaker Valley School District community is mourning the loss of two Edgeworth Elementary School students who died Tuesday morning in a house fire. “Our hearts are broken by the loss of these children. They were treasured members of the Quaker Valley family and...
20 years after daughter’s murder, former Monessen man in court, accused of violating sex offender sentence terms
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani must have had a feeling of deja vu Monday when John Bright stood before him. Two decades ago, Feliciani was a court-appointed attorney representing the Monessen father as the man pleaded guilty to misusing burial funds donated for his murdered 8-year-old daughter. Bright,...
Donors step up as Harrison police investigate theft of 20 bikes from Toys for Tots, Dick’s chips in 25 bikes
The Allegheny Valley Marine Corps Toys for Tots storage space in Harrison was buzzing Tuesday morning. At least a dozen bikes rolled in from donors hoping to lift spirits after thieves made off with 20 bikes overnight Sunday from the group’s storage pod at Heights Plaza. “People are absolutely stepping...
Libyan accused in Lockerbie bombing appears in U.S. courtVideo
WASHINGTON — More than three decades after a bomb brought down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing everyone aboard, a former Libyan intelligence official accused of making the explosive appeared Monday in federal court, charged with an act of international terrorism. The extradition of Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud...
Explainer: Why fusion could be a clean-energy breakthrough
The Department of Energy is planning an announcement Tuesday about a “major scientific breakthrough” at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, one of several sites worldwide where researchers have been trying to develop the possibility of harnessing energy from nuclear fusion. It’s a technology that has the potential to one day...
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in the Bahamas
NEW YORK — The former CEO of failed cryptocurrency firm FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, was arrested Monday in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government, U.S. and Bahamian authorities. Bankman-Fried had been under criminal investigation by the two countries following the collapse last month of FTX. The firm filed...
Derry Township teacher arraigned on child porn charges
A Derry Township man who works as a teacher in Indiana County has been charged with four felony charges related to child pornography. Charles Allen Kirkland, 31, is charged by state police with two counts of child pornography and one count each of disseminating photos or film of child sex...
Joe McAndrew wins Democratic nomination for special election to replace Rep. Tony DeLuca
Following the death of longtime incumbent state Rep. Tony DeLuca, an Allegheny County district has its first nominee to fill that seat. Joe McAndrew of Penn Hills secured the Democratic nomination after winning a nominating session on Sunday. McAndrew prevailed among eight candidates to replace DeLuca, who passed away in...
Police: 16-year-old from South Strabane admits to shooting stepfather outside mall entrance
A Washington County man had to undergo lifesaving surgery after his 16-year-old stepson admitted to shooting him in the stomach and leg with a stolen gun early Monday, according to authorities. Samuel Brian Hoy, 16, of the 100 block of Floral Hill Drive in South Strabane was charged with felony...
Despite midterm losses, Pa. Republicans appear unlikely to abandon combative agenda
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 — Republicans inside and outside Pennsylvania government say that despite a disastrous midterm election, they don’t see signs that the...
Crews remove box covering Columbus statue in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — Crews have removed the plywood box that had been placed over a Philadelphia statue of Christopher Columbus that saw tense standoffs in 2020 between supporters of the monument and opponents who viewed it as a symbol of white supremacy. The box was removed Sunday night, as a small...
Pennsylvania lifts ban on gas production in polluted village
One of Pennsylvania’s largest drillers will be allowed to extract natural gas from underneath a rural Pennsylvania community where it has been banned for a dozen years because of accusations it polluted the water supply, according to a settlement with state regulators. The Department of Environmental Protection quietly lifted its...
Richmond removes its last city-owned Confederate monument
RICHMOND, Va. — The city of Richmond — the capital of the Confederacy for most of the Civil War — removed its last city-owned Confederate statue on Monday, more than two years after it began to purge itself of what many saw as painful symbols of racial oppression. It took...
Pittsburgh’s URA sells Hill District properties to clear way for affordable housing, restaurants, gallery space
Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has sold a dozen Hill District properties to a city-based firm that wants to build a $3.4 million development with affordable housing, restaurants and gallery space. The URA board voted unanimously Thursday to sell the properties to the Pittsburgh-based Studio Volcy for $94,500, plus costs. Studio...
MAWC lifts boil water advisory for Hempfield, Unity
A boil water advisory issued over the weekend to about 4,500 Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County customers in Hempfield and Unity was lifted Monday afternoon. The authority said no contamination was found during tests of water lines affected by a leak that drained a water storage tank serving the area,...
Barb Warwick sworn in as Pittsburgh city councilwoman
Newly elected Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Barb Warwick was sworn in Monday morning, filling a vacant seat on council. Warwick, 45, of Greenfield, handily won a special election in November to fill the District 5 seat left vacant by Corey O’Connor, who now serves as Allegheny County controller. She launched her...
5 things we learned: Steelers running game became an afterthought following Kenny Pickett’s early exit
Five things we learned from Ravens 16, Steelers 14: 1. One-dimensional offense After having five consecutive games with at least 100 yards rushing, the Steelers totaled just 65 on the ground against the Ravens. That is the second-lowest total of the season. The fewest rushing yards came in Week 5...
