Top Stories category, Page 951
How Doug Mastriano built a grassroots movement in Pa. on election denial, Christianity and Facebook
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 — Two years ago, one Republican operative responded to the thought of a Doug Mastriano gubernatorial run with: “Seriously?” Now,...
Allegheny County continues to count ballots in tight U.S. Senate race
The Allegheny County election return board reconvened Monday to start reviewing and counting about 2,000 provisional ballots that had been submitted for the May primary. While the process plays out each election, with workers slowly reviewing ballots in the Allegheny County elections warehouse in Pittsburgh’s North Side, a closely contested...
Police: Arnold cops find wanted man hiding in closet, 2 charged with hindering his arrest
Two people from Clarion were charged with a felony after Arnold police accused them of hiding a man wanted on a misdemeanor theft charge. Tyler Bennett, 30, and Amber Jane Adamiak, 31, both of Grand Avenue, each face a felony count of hindering the apprehension of a criminal. Bennett also...
Man charged in fatal North Buffalo shooting
State police charged an East Franklin man with homicide after, they say, he got into a dispute with another man on Sunday and shot him to death in North Buffalo. Police charged Nicholas Alexander Fortuna, 24, of the 100 block of Alpine Wood Drive with a felony count of criminal...
Truck driver who spilled hot dog filler on I-70 will be charged, police say
A tractor-trailer driver who crashed on Interstate 70 in Rostraver, spilling more than seven tons of hot dog filler on the highway and snarling traffic for five hours Friday, will receive multiple citations — including one for speeding, police said. Makendy Lachald, 30, of Laurel, Del., was speeding westbound near...
Pa. Turnpike reopens between New Stanton and Breezewood after crash cleared
The Pennsylvania Turnpike reopened Monday afternoon following a lengthy closure in both directions between New Stanton and Breezewood because of an overturned tractor-trailer. The crash happened around 9 a.m. between the Somerset and Bedford exits, according to PennDOT. The road reopened at 2:30 p.m. after the wreckage was cleared. Some...
Pittsburgh gas prices continue climb as $5 per gallon looms in some spots
Average gasoline prices in the Pittsburgh area rose more than 17 cents per gallon in the last week, with the most expensive just a penny shy of the $5 mark, according to price tracking service GasBuddy. GasBuddy reported Pittsburgh’s average at $4.69 per gallon on Monday, up 17.4 cents in...
Former Pa. AG Kathleen Kane sent to treatment after probation violation
NORRISTOWN — Pennsylvania’s former top law enforcement officer, who served jail time for leaking secret investigative files and lying about it, admitted Monday that she violated her probation when she was arrested for drunken driving in March. Kathleen Kane, the first woman and first Democrat to be elected attorney general...
Biden launches Indo-Pacific trade deal, warns over inflation
TOKYO — President Joe Biden launched a new trade deal with 12 Indo-Pacific nations Monday aimed at strengthening their economies as he warned Americans worried about high inflation that it is “going to be a haul” before they feel relief. The president said he does not believe an economic recession...
Pfizer says 3 covid shots protect children under 5
Three doses of Pfizer’s covid-19 vaccine offer strong protection for children younger than 5, the company announced Monday. Pfizer plans to give the data to U.S. regulators later this week in a step toward letting the youngest kids get the shots. The news comes after months of anxious waiting by...
Pa. hopes apprenticeship program can help alleviate skilled-worker shortage
Chad Warhold, owner at Warhold Mechanicals in North Huntingdon, has plenty of business. He just needs to find some additional skilled employees, or those willing to learn. “That’s part of why we got into apprenticeships,” said Warhold, whose company does heating, ventilation and air conditioning, plumbing and gas line work...
ArtFest organizers seek vendors for daylong summer festival in Vandergrift
Artfest organizers in Vandergrift are planning a bigger-than-ever festival this summer on the heels last year’s success. More than 1,000 folks visited a closed-off Grant Avenue last August, during the daylong festival celebrating all things arts. The annual Artfest is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. July 31. Chairperson...
State police investigate report of shots fired at vehicle on Route 28
State police are investigating a report of shots fired Saturday at a vehicle traveling on Route 28. In a release, troopers said they responded to an incident in the northbound lanes near Exit 10 (Gamma Drive) in O’Hara at about 8:52 p.m. Saturday. According to police, the victim said he...
SWAT team responds to armed robbery in Hill District
Pittsburgh Police SWAT officers entered a Hill District residence Sunday night after they said a pizza delivery driver was robbed at gunpoint. According to Pittsburgh Public Safety, officers arrived at the scene after dispatchers received a call at about 6:30 p.m. Officers say the robbery victim told them that a...
Report: Top Southern Baptists stonewalled sex abuse victims
Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, stonewalled and denigrated survivors of clergy sex abuse over almost two decades while seeking to protect their own reputations, according to a scathing 288-page investigative report issued Sunday. These survivors, and other concerned Southern Baptists, repeatedly shared allegations with the...
Murrysville Community Library marks 100th anniversary
Nowadays, patrons of Murrysville Community Library can reserve an e-book from the comfort of their own homes, or attend a presentation from an astronaut at NASA by way of the library’s Tech Nook. It’s a long way from the mid-1980s, when former librarian Denise Sticha would return from the grocery...
Former Meadows off-site betting space to house medical equipment manufacturing
The Harmar supervisors have approved the conversion of a former gambling site into a medical equipment manufacturing facility. By a 4-0 vote with Supervisor Bob Exler absent, the supervisors greenlighted the plan of Madison Acquisitions to remake the former Meadows off-track betting site on Anchor Drive into a manufacturing facility...
Motorcyclists seek blessing ahead of spring riding season
George Cunningham knows both the joys and the potential dangers of motorcycle riding. Cunningham, 50, of Derry was among the nearly 100 bikers who gathered late Sunday morning at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Latrobe for the 18th annual Blessing of the Bikes. “I’m on two wheels, so it’s...
78,000 pounds of infant formula arrives in U.S.Video
INDIANAPOLIS — A military plane carrying enough specialty infant formula for more than half a million baby bottles arrived Sunday in Indianapolis, the first of several flights expected from Europe aimed at relieving a shortage that has sent parents scrambling to find enough to feed their children. President Joe Biden...
John Fetterman discharged from Lancaster hospital, returning to Braddock
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee in the state’s high-profile U.S. Senate contest, has been released from the hospital after a stay of more than a week following a stroke, his wife and his campaign said Sunday. “João is headed home — time to rest and recover (and...
Man dead in Washington County police-involved shooting
One man was killed Saturday in a confrontation with Pennsylvania State Police following a traffic stop in Washington County. Police said troopers responded to a retail theft call at 6 p.m. at the Rural King store at the Washington County Mall, identified the suspect’s vehicle and later located it in...
3 shot on Pittsburgh’s South Side
Three people were shot early Sunday on Pittsburgh’s South Side. Police said they were directed to the 1700 block of East Carson Street to respond to a call just before 3 a.m. that shots were fired. One man was wounded in the leg. A woman sustained multiple gunshot wounds to...
Magazine gives Alle-Kiski Valley’s high schools wildly varied grades; Pitt prof says stats don’t tell whole story
Five of the Alle-Kiski Valley’s high schools ranked in the top 25% of the best high schools in the state, according to a recent U.S. News & World Report, and three are ranked in the bottom quarter. Freeport Area High School ranked among the Valley’s highest in the state at...
What went wrong with Conor Lamb’s U.S. Senate campaign?
On paper and in person, U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb looked like the perfect candidate to take the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat in the fall. He checked all the boxes: smart, accomplished, former prosecutor, Marine Corps veteran, young, attractive, previously tested in a tough race. “His profile...
How the Pa. Republican establishment broke itself trying to stop Doug Mastriano
On a rainy Friday earlier this month, several leading Republican candidates for governor drove to Westmoreland County for former President Trump’s rally that evening. With less than two weeks before the primary election, State Sen. Doug Mastriano was leading in the polls, and some of the candidates and their aides...
