Top Stories category, Page 972
Allegheny County Executive Fitzgerald back at work after covid isolation
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald is back in the office five days after testing positive for covid-19. Fitzgerald, who is vaccinated and boosted, had no symptoms, said county spokeswoman Amie Downs. He was tested last week after he’d been in close contact with someone who had the virus, and he...
Hunters could see boom in turkeys in Pa. forests this year: Game Commission
Hunters should find the largest wild turkey population they’ve seen at any point in the past few years when they head out into the Pennsylvania forests for the upcoming spring gobbler hunting seasons, according to Pennsylvania Game Commission turkey biologist Mary Jo Casalena. Recruitment of new, young turkeys into the...
Relentless attacks pound last defenders holed up in Mariupol
KYIV, Ukraine — Relentless Russian attacks pounded the last Ukrainian stronghold in the besieged city of Mariupol as a fighter apparently on the inside issued a video plea for help, saying defenders holed up in a giant steel plant “may have only a few days or hours left.” Another attempt...
Jeannette man surrenders after 11-hour standoff with police
A Jeannette man surrendered Wednesday morning after an 11-hour standoff that police said began when Westmoreland County sheriff’s deputies attempted to serve him with a protection-from-abuse order. Sheriff James Albert said the order directed deputies to evict Jesse McCurdy, 49, from his home on Good Street. They were also authorized...
West Leechburg halts consideration of merger with Allegheny Township
West Leechburg officials have decided not to pursue a merger with Allegheny Township. The decision comes after council reviewed the study conducted by the state Department of Economic and Community Development. The study looked at the impact of consolidation. “It was very nonspecific, and it didn’t show it would be...
UPMC disputes report challenging its community benefits
Health care giant UPMC is disputing a report from a health care think tank that gives it low marks on what it spends on charity care and community investment compared to the tax exemptions it receives. The report from the Massachusetts-based Lown Institute says Pittsburgh-based UPMC is the 5th worst...
Pedestrian hit by Port Authority bus in Oakland
A pedestrian was struck by a Port Authority bus Tuesday evening in Oakland, officials confirmed. Crews responded to the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard around 7:20 p.m., said Port Authority spokesman Adam Brandolph. The person, who was not identified, was taken to nearby UPMC Presbyterian hospital with a...
Police: 2 killed, 1 wounded in Wilkinsburg shooting
Two people are dead and another was injured Tuesday night after a shooting in Wilkinsburg, Allegheny County Police said. Allegheny County dispatchers were notified of a shooting in the 700 block of Midland Street around 8:25 p.m. On scene, first responders found two unidentified people dead inside a home from...
Sheriff’s deputies arrest Olive Garden shooting suspect in Pitcairn apartment complex
Allegheny County Sheriff’s deputies had a hunch that the girlfriend of a wanted fugitive was lying to them Tuesday morning, sparking an apartment complexwide search in Pitcairn that ended in an arrest, authorities said. Accorie Wilder-Mack, 22, has been wanted since March 21 in connection with the robbery and shooting...
Police: Man shot multiple times in McKees Rocks
A man was taken to a hospital in critical condition after being shot multiple times in McKees Rocks, according to Allegheny County Police. Police said the shooting occurred shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday at the corner of Helen and Ella streets. Emergency responders found a 26-year-old man who had been...
Feds will appeal mask ruling only if mandate still needed
The Justice Department said Tuesday it will not appeal a federal district judge’s ruling that ended the nation’s federal mask mandate on public transit unless the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the requirement is still necessary. In a statement released a day after a Florida judge ended the...
Travelers happy, weary after end of mask mandates at Pittsburgh-area airports
With the mask mandate for public transportation and air travel lifted, many travelers showed their faces Tuesday at Pittsburgh International Airport. The majority of travelers were mask-free while at the baggage claim, while in security lines, and at check-in locations. On Monday, a federal judge in Florida struck down the...
Biden administration moves to ease student loan debt burden
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is taking further steps to ease the burden of student loans, but new actions announced Tuesday were well short of what many Democrats want to see. The Education Department is estimating that the action will provide “immediate debt cancellation for at least 40,000 borrowers” who...
Murrysville squirt gun ‘assassin’ game results in multiple police responses
A teen squirt gun game has resulted in several calls to Murrysville police in the past week. The “FR Assassins” game, which has its own Twitter feed, involves teens “eliminating” one another by ambushing a randomly chosen participant with a squirt gun. A video on the group’s Twitter page shows...
Pittsburgh council looks to quickly implement Airbnb rental regulations after shooting
Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday introduced legislation to quickly regulate short-term rental properties, days after a shooting at a North Side Airbnb left two teenage boys dead and eight others wounded. Legislation introduced would require anyone operating an Airbnb or similar short-term rental unit to get a license from the...
Expert on masks and flying: ‘It is not one size fits all’
On Monday, the mandate for passengers to wear masks on airplanes, in airports and on public transportation was lifted after a federal judge in Florida struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s authority. The ruling has been met with celebration from some — as many passengers on planes...
Video: Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate debateVideo
Trib Total Media, in partnership with Spotlight PA and its founding members, will co-host debates this month featuring candidates for Pennsylvania governor and the state’s open U.S. Senate seat ahead of the spring primary. The gubernatorial debate featured Republican candidates Jake Corman, Joe Gale, Charlie Gerow, Melissa Hart and Nche...
Pittsburgh chief: Officer who responded to noise complaint at Airbnb party prior to shooting saw ‘nothing unusual’
A Pittsburgh police officer who responded to a noise complaint at a North Side party less than two hours before a fatal shooting saw nothing that caused concern, Chief Scott Schubert said Tuesday morning. “There was nothing unusual to indicate that something was wrong,” Schubert said. “We have some information...
More details emerge in Pittsburgh party shooting
Police were there just 90 minutes before the shooting started. At the party on Pittsburgh’s North Side where more than 200 people were gathered in an Airbnb rental, it was crowded and loud, witnesses said. People waited in line to get into the party, which was being held in one...
Russia pours in more troops and presses attack in eastern Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia assaulted cities and towns along a boomerang-shaped front hundreds of miles long and poured more troops into Ukraine on Tuesday in a potentially pivotal battle for control of the country’s eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories. If successful, the Russian offensive in what is...
Pa. casinos reach new heights with $462.7M in March wagers
Pennsylvania casinos shattered another monthly record, generating more than $462.7 million in March, state regulators said. That’s $30.2 million more than in November, which held the previous revenue record at $432.3 million, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Last month’s revenue also was up 14%, or $59.6 million, compared...
Friends, family grieve loss of 2 teens killed at North Side house party
The steady all-day rain on Monday could have been representative of the tears being shed at the loss of Mathew Steffy-Ross and Jaiden Brown. The two 17-year-olds died on Easter Sunday after a shooting at a party in a rented house on Pittsburgh’s North Side. People mourned the teens as...
TSA lifts mask mandate for airports; no masks for buses, Port Authority says
The mandate for passengers to wear masks on airplanes, in airports and on public transportion was lifted Monday as a result of a ruling by a federal judge in Florida that the Centers for Disease Control overstepped its authority in instituting a mask mandate. The Transportation Security Administration said in...
Norwin School Board approves policy that guides teaching of controversial issues
Norwin School Board on Monday approved guidelines for instructing students on controversial issues, including race relations, by employing what the district termed a balanced approach to presenting those issues, without inserting opinions or indoctrinating students to a particular viewpoint. The initiative to develop a policy on teaching controversial issues such...
Pittsburgh City Council looks to regulate Airbnb, other short-term rentals after deadly weekend shooting
Legislation that will be introduced to Pittsburgh City Council Tuesday aims to regulate Airbnb and other short-term rental units in the city, after two teenage boys were killed and eight others were injured in a shooting at an Airbnb rental property in the city’s North Side over the weekend. The...
