Top Stories category, Page 958
Parents swap, sell baby formula amid nationwide shortage
WASHINGTON — A baby formula shortage in the United States is driving parents to swap, sell and offer leftover supplies to each other, while President Joe Biden plans to speak with manufacturers and retailers Thursday about the plight facing families. The problem is the result of supply chain disruptions and...
Reports show fatal crashes increased in Pennsylvania in 2021
Traffic crashes in the U.S. are increasing at a record pace, according to the latest data estimates from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. NHTSA estimates of the first nine months of 2021 project that more than 31,700 people died in vehicle crashes from January to September 2021. That’s an...
Ukrainian refugee finds new home in Pittsburgh
When 2022 began for Daria Zhuravska, she was feeling good about her life in Ukraine. The 27-year-old Kyiv resident had landed a job as an office manager for an information technology company. She was living with her boyfriend, not far from her family and friends, and enjoyed taking dance and...
Jake Corman drops out of Pa. governor’s race, backs Barletta as primary nears
HARRISBURG — Jake Corman, Pennsylvania’s ranking state senator and a Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor said Thursday that he was ending his campaign and endorsing rival Lou Barletta, a move that comes as GOP leaders warn that leading candidate Doug Mastriano is too far right to win in a general...
Police: 2 Allegheny Valley Hospital patients attacked medical staff, hospital police
Two people who were patients at Allegheny Valley Hospital face multiple felony charges after police charged them with attacking medical staff during separate incidents. Lea Ashley Slusar, 28, of the 1400 block of Fifth Avenue in Arnold, was charged May 6 by Highmark Health Police with three felony counts of...
Richland man tells cops he stole car to deliver food
A Richland man accused of stealing a car told police that he took the vehicle so he could earn some money delivering food for restaurants. Robert Proehl, 38, of the 100 block of Chowning Court, was charged by Northern Regional Police with felony counts of theft and receiving stolen property....
Biden urges world to renew covid fight as U.S. nears 1M deaths
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden appealed to world leaders on Thursday for a renewed international commitment to attacking covid-19 as he led the U.S. in marking the approaching “tragic milestone” of 1 million deaths at home from the virus. He ordered flags lowered to half-staff and warned against “complacency” around...
Animal Friends of Westmoreland has new name, but its mission is the same
The sign on the door has changed, but the mission remains the same. Animal Friends of Westmoreland, a Youngwood-based, no-kill animal adoption and sanctuary organization, is now called Heal Animal Rescue. The name change had been under discussion for several years for several reasons, according to executive director Kelli Brisbane....
Arnold Palmer airport expansion plans unveiled
The Westmoreland County Airport Authority on Tuesday got its first formal views of the proposed expansion of the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport terminal in Unity that would double its size to about 90,000 square feet. “It really looks impressive,” authority Chairman Janice Smarto told Ethan J. Hine of KTH Architects...
Internet access funds could boost connections for low-income families
Mandy Zalich knows just how important internet service has become in Westmoreland County. For many low-income residents, the rising costs of the service has left them more than just disconnected. This week’s announcement from the Biden administration of a plan to provide $30 monthly subsidies for high-speed internet access is...
Westmoreland gets grant to buy mobile 911 dispatch units
Five mobile consoles will be purchased this year to serve as a temporary backup system for Westmoreland County 911 emergency dispatch operations, officials said. A $529,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice will pay for the mobile units that will be like the hardware used by dispatchers at the...
Public database significantly undercounts former drug labs in Pa.
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 only online federal database that allows people to see whether their home or property was contaminated with toxic...
Man released from hospital after falling into Hempfield mine shaft
A man who fell 25 feet into a mine shaft Wednesday was released from the hospital at 2 a.m. Thursday with only “bumps and bruises,” according to Crabtree fire Chief Bill Watkins. Rescue crews from four Westmoreland County fire companies helped rescue the man shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday in...
North Korea raises alarm after confirming 1st covid-19 case
North Korea announced its first coronavirus infection more than two years into the pandemic Thursday as leader Kim Jong Un called for raising covid-19 preventive measures to maximum levels. The Korean Central News Agency said tests from an unspecified number of people in the capital Pyongyang confirmed they were infected...
Police: 1 shot, 1 injured in Pittsburgh’s Uptown neighborhood
A man was shot and a woman injured Wednesday evening in Pittsburgh’s Uptown neighborhood, according to police. Police and EMS were called to Fifth Avenue and Seneca Street just after 6 p.m. for an initial report of two people who’d been shot. Officers located a man and a woman. The...
Police: West Allegheny High School student brought loaded AR-15 to school parking lot
An 18-year-old student at West Allegheny High School is facing charges after police say he brought a loaded AR-15 rifle when he drove to the school Tuesday morning. North Fayette police were initially called to the high school after a school resource officer was notified that the student, Ja’Shon Spencer,...
Crews battle fire spread over multiple houses in Homestead
Fire crews spent hours on the scene of a three-alarm fire on West Street in Homestead after the blaze broke out Wednesday evening. A three-story structure was reportedly engulfed in fire, according to an Allegheny County 911 supervisor. The initial call came in at 6:30 p.m. for a building on...
Pa. GOP gubernatorial candidate Jake Corman to drop out of race, source says
Pennsylvania’s Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman is expected to announce Thursday that he is dropping out of the governor’s race and will be endorsing Lou Barletta to be the Republican gubernatorial nominee, according to a source familiar with the campaign. Corman, whose rankings in the polls have been lagging...
Man’s goatee leads to arrest during Greensburg traffic stop
A Greensburg police officer said he immediately knew the man sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle pulled over during a February traffic stop wasn’t who he claimed to be. Police said the man initially insisted he was an 11-year-old named Billy Irwin and gave multiple dates of birth....
Democrats’ effort to secure Roe v. Wade falls to filibusterVideo
WASHINGTON — The Senate fell far short Wednesday in a rushed effort toward enshrining Roe v. Wade abortion access as federal law, blocked by a Republican filibuster in a blunt display of the nation’s partisan divide over the landmark court decision and the limits of legislative action. The almost party-line...
Lawyers in suit over Surfside collapse reveal staggering legal settlement: $997 million
MIAMI — In a surprise development, the class-action litigation over the collapse of Champlain Towers South has been settled, a federal judge was told Wednesday, with plaintiffs expected to receive just under $1 billion. The comprehensive settlement announced in Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Michael Hanzman’s courtroom effectively closes the litigation...
Keystone Oaks music teacher accused of having child porn on his cellphone
A Keystone Oaks teacher accused of having child pornography on his cellphone turned himself in to police Wednesday morning, authorities said. Thomas Duxbury, 32, of Wilkins, is charged with four counts of child sex abuse after police said he possessed and disseminated child pornography. He also faces one count of...
Hempfield area road paving slated to begin
Hempfield crews are gearing up to start a $1.8 million paving program next week. The work is expected to start Monday, and will include streets in the township and Hempfield Park, as well as roads in neighboring Adamsburg. It comes months after supervisors approved a contract with Derry Construction. At...
Pittsburgh city government to provide support for this year’s Juneteenth festivities
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said Wednesday that the city will provide in-kind services to support Juneteenth celebrations hosted by Stop the Violence Pittsburgh. Stop the Violence Pittsburgh last month unveiled plans to celebrate the holiday from June 17 through June 19, with events including a parade, a music festival and...
Pittsburgh’s Colfax K-8 closed after covid-19 cases spike
Colfax K-8 in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill will be closed until Friday because of a spike in covid-19 cases, school district officials said. The school closed Tuesday after covid-19 cases exceeded the school’s 5% threshold for closing, disinfecting and masking. As of Monday, there were 33 cases among Colfax students and...
