Top Stories category, Page 983
Jon Batiste tops Grammy Awards, winning 5 trophies
LAS VEGAS — Jon Batiste won album of the year honors for “We Are” at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, giving him five trophies on a night that saw the ’70s funk of Silk Sonic take record of the year and song of the year and newcomer Olivia Rodrigo take...
South Carolina educator buys building in hopes of housing private school in Arnold
An elementary school teacher from South Carolina is planning to open a private, nonprofit middle school in Arnold starting in the fall of 2025. Matt DeHart, 26, a fifth grade teacher in Greenville County, S.C., founded the nonprofit Teach from DeHart Foundation in January 2021. He and his wife, New...
Biden cites economic gains, but voters see much more to do
WASHINGTON — Seven months before he faces a critical test from voters in the midterm elections, President Joe Biden is turning his focus to kitchen-table issues as he struggles to get credit for a recovering economy. Since Biden took office last year, job growth has been vigorous and steady —...
Ukraine accuses Russia of massacre, city strewn with bodiesVideo
BUCHA, Ukraine — Bodies with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture lay scattered in a city on the outskirts of Kyiv after Russian soldiers withdrew from the area. Ukrainian authorities accused the departing forces on Sunday of committing war crimes and leaving behind a “scene from a...
California mass shooting: 6 dead, 10 injured in SacramentoVideo
SACRAMENTO, Calif — Six people were killed and 12 injured in a mass shooting early Sunday as bars and nightclubs were closing in downtown Sacramento and police in California’s state capital were searching for at least one suspect. Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said at a news conference that police...
Estelle Harris, ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Toy Story’ actor who grew up in Tarentum, dies at 93
NEW YORK — Estelle Harris, who hollered her way into TV history as George Costanza’s short-fused mother on “Seinfeld” and voiced Mrs. Potato Head in the “Toy Story” franchise, has died. She was 93. As middle-class matron Estelle Costanza, Harris put a memorable stamp on her recurring role in the...
Lawsuit settled against Fayette County, state police in wrongful conviction of man imprisoned for 26 years
David Munchinski spent nearly 26 years incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. He then waited nearly a decade more to go to trial in the federal lawsuit he filed against the men he said wrongfully convicted him on two counts of first-degree murder. In December, Munchinski, who had long...
Lawyer: No plea deal offered before trial of Greensburg man convicted in Vandergrift woman’s murder
The lawyer for an Export man awaiting trial for his role in the 2017 murder of a Vandergrift woman whose remains were burned beyond recognition in a wooded area near Keystone State Park claims his client did not have a plea deal in place when he testified last summer in...
Region’s school districts leading the way in opportunities for female superintendents
Women long have played a central role in education, but they often are left out of central administration. Women make up up 3 in 4 public school teachers nationwide but account for only about 1 in 4 superintendents, both in Pennsylvania and nationwide. Still, there have been inroads over the...
How $10 million Pressley Ridge donation will benefit Westmoreland locations
Pressley Ridge’s Westmoreland County locations will feel the impact of a $10 million donation gifted to the social service. Last week, Pressley Ridge announced it received the gift from MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist and ex-wife of Jeff Bezos. The McCandless-based organization offers services related to mental health, foster care, crisis stabilization...
Deterioration under Pittsburgh’s Charles Anderson Bridge raises concerns; city says bridge already in rehab process
Squirrel Hill resident William Markley lives just a few blocks away from the site of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in Pittsburgh. He is understandably concerned about the state of the region’s bridges. During his daily commute to his case manager’s job at a recovery clinic in the North Side,...
Documentary chronicles Lower Burrell veteran’s Vietnam War experiences
Hal Shaffer knows first-hand about the sacrifices and suffering war can bring. Now the 74-year-old Lower Burrell man is sharing his story about serving and being wounded during the Vietnam War as part of a documentary series being produced by John Bailey, “Duty, Courage, Honor: Southwestern Pennsylvania Goes to War.”...
Weather service confirms tornado with gusts of 120 mph hit Armstrong County
A tornado with peak wind gusts reaching up to 120 mph traveled a 9-mile path in Armstrong County on Thursday, the National Weather Service confirmed. The EF2 tornado — a strong system with winds between 111 mph and 135 mph — traveled for almost 10 minutes, damaging several trees and...
World War II veteran from Hempfield honored for his service as he turns 100
Joseph Folino, a World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, never expected the community to rally around him as he celebrated his 100th birthday. Saturday afternoon, however, Folino found himself draped in a red, white and blue knit blanket as members of the Army, those...
Ukrainian forces retake areas near Kyiv amid fear of traps
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian troops moved cautiously to retake territory north of the country’s capital on Saturday, using cables to pull the bodies of civilians off the streets in one town out of fear that Russian forces might have booby-trapped them before leaving. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in his...
Schramm Farms in Harrison City holds auction after closing popular market
Some of the first pieces of farm equipment from Schramm Farms & Orchards in Harrison City were auctioned off Saturday morning, marking an end to the Schramm family’s four generations of plowing fields and planting crops in Western Pennsylvania. Despite being a chilly spring morning, more than 300 bidders registered...
Carnegie Mellon to build Moonshot command center to monitor space missions
Anyone old enough to remember those static shots of the men in button-down shirts and ties sitting in front of computer screens during NASA’s Mercury and Apollo endeavors likely understands the importance of having a mission control for space flights. Carnegie Mellon University certainly does. That’s why the school is...
Arnold building demolitions could create room for new development
The demolition of 10 buildings this spring could lead to new developments in Arnold. The city is seeking bids to tear down the buildings. Most are located on Third and Fourth avenues, with one on Leishman Avenue and another on Victoria Avenue. All are vacant residential buildings except for 1905...
Excela Health receives $1.5 million donation toward Latrobe Surgical Institute
Excela Health Latrobe Hospital has received a $1.5 million donation toward its recently established Surgical Institute, the health system said Friday. The Katherine Mabis McKenna Foundation made the donation, the foundation’s largest single grant to Excela. The donation will help Excela relocate its lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancer programs...
U.S. to require greater fuel efficiency for new vehicles
DETROIT — New vehicles sold in the U.S. will have to average at least 40 miles per gallon of gasoline in 2026, up from about 28 mpg, under new federal rules unveiled Friday that undo a rollback of standards enacted under President Trump. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said its...
$1M scratch-off lottery ticket sold at Lower Burrell store
A Lower Burrell shopper is $1 million richer after purchasing a winning scratch-off lottery ticket at a local supermarket. Pennsylvania Lottery officials said Friday the $1,000,000 Cash King ticket was sold at the Community Supermarket in the Hillcrest Shopping Center off of Leechburg Road. $1 million is the top prize...
Woman pleads guilty to 2019 kidnapping, murder of Penn Hills toddlerVideo
Nalani Johnson’s family wants the world to know that the not-quite-2-year-old was smart and rambunctious with a contagious laugh. “She was surrounded by a village that adored and doted on her. She was loved and cherished,” said her grandmother, Lisha Logan. “She was not a piece of garbage to be...
Man to stand trial for Hempfield arson that caused $1 million damage, killed 3 dogs
The day before a Hempfield family departed for a Christmas vacation to the Caribbean, a Greensburg man who did household chores for them showed up unexpectedly “with a plate of brownies” as a departing gift, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing Friday. State police allege 9 days after the...
Conor Lamb votes for federal marijuana decriminalization, after opposing it in 2020
U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, voted Friday to support a bill that would decriminalize marijuana on the federal level and allow for some marijuana-related convictions to be expunged. It’s a change of course for Lamb, who in 2020 was one of only four House Democrats to vote against the...
Allegheny County judge scolds double homicide suspect for firing 6 attorneys in 7 years
An Allegheny County judge scolded a man who has gone through a half-dozen defense attorneys in the five years he’s been awaiting trial on double homicide charges, saying he could find himself in the position of having to represent himself in a death penalty case. “Words get around quickly,” Common...
