Deb Erdley stories, Page 5
Man in critical condition after police foot chase in Brighton Heights
An unidentified man was in critical condition Thursday night after he fell down a large hillside in Brighton Heights while attempting to flee from Pittsburgh Police. Police said they came upon the man, whom they described only as “a wanted suspect,” at about 7:20 p.m. while they were patrolling the...
University of Pittsburgh announces indoor mask mandate, other protocols for fall
The University of Pittsburgh announced covid-19 protocols for the fall semester on Thursday. The protocols mandate masks in all indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status, with the exception of enclosed private offices or dwellings. Pitt also said individuals who are not fully vaccinated, as well as those who are or...
SummerSounds returns to Greensburg Friday
The sounds of summer will echo through Greensburg as SummerSounds, one of the region’s longest-running free outdoor concert series, returns Friday for its 21st year. The Steepwater Band, a rock band from Chicago, is scheduled to take the stage at 7 p.m. at the Robertshaw Amphitheater in St. Clair Park....
Murrysville man, former port authority executive, named Westmoreland chamber director
The Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce is bumping up its game with the creation of a new post this month. Chamber officials announced that Dan DeBone, a longtime executive with the Port Authority of Allegheny County, was appointed as its new executive director. DeBone, 54, of Murrysville, will assist Chamber...
Carnegie Mellon reinstates mask mandate
Carnegie Mellon University is reinstating a universal mask mandate for students and staff, effective Aug. 15, CMU Vice President for Operations Daryl Weinert announced Monday. The announcement, effective two weeks before the start of class, comes as colleges and K-12 schools across the country weigh fall safety protocols amid a...
2nd Penn State student dies of covid-19 complications
Students and staff at Penn State are mourning the coronavirus-related death of a second student from the university. Neil Patel, 20, a sixth semester Penn State Honors College scholar from Upper Merion Township, died Sunday at a Philadelphia hospital, where he was taken in mid-April with severe effects of covid-19....
Empty dorm rooms pose financial problems for Pennsylvania public universities
Editor’s note: The original version of this story understated the total cost of the combined projects. This update reflects the higher, actual figures. As the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education finalizes the details of a historic consolidation, officials on the campuses of eight of its 14 universities are struggling...
Westmoreland residents seek input on spending $105M in pandemic funds
Calling $105.3 million in federal funds a potential game changer for Westmoreland County residents, a local grassroots group is preparing to take a lengthy wish list to county commissioners. Diana Steck said the Voice of Westmoreland has scheduled meetings with Commissioners Doug Chew and Gina Cerilli Thrasher to present the...
Fine line divides local public and private universities on vaccine requirements
A fine line is dividing public and private universities in the region with regard to vaccine mandates. While private universities including Carnegie Mellon, Chatham, Seton Hill and Duquesne are requiring vaccinations for those on campus this fall, public universities here are stopping short of adopting mandates that state lawmakers —...
Opioid settlement could funnel $1 billion to Pennsylvania drug prevention, treatment
Pennsylvania could be in line to collect up to $1 billion in two massive multi-state lawsuit settlements with four companies that distributed and/or manufactured prescription opioids. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, one of the lead negotiators in the case, said the settlements call for three of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical...
Westmoreland places ‘leveraged bet on market’ to shore up county pension debt
Westmoreland County’s largest ever bond issue, which will put taxpayers on the hook for $173.6 million, won’t lay water or sewer lines, pave roads, fix aging bridges or set a single steel beam. Instead, debt on the $126.48 million in bonds to be paid by taxpayers over the next 20...
New Cal U interim president to steer consolidation
In their first move toward building a consolidated mega school comprising California, Clarion and Edinboro universities, the board of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education has named Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson interim president of Cal U. Her appointment Wednesday places Pehrsson, who joined the State System as president of Clarion University...
Plan approved to continue with consolidation of California, Clarion and Edinboro universities
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education will move forward to consolidate California, Clarion and Edinboro universities into a single university in Western Pennsylvania, the state schools’ board of governors decided unanimously Wednesday. Work also is underway to combine Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield universities into a single unit in...
Pitt hikes tuition, room and board costs for fall 2021
The cost of Pitt education is increasing this fall as the university prepares to resume routine operations after more than a year of pandemic restrictions. The increases, adopted Tuesday, call for a 2.5% bump to the lowest base tuition at Pitt’s Oakland campus, taking the cost for Pennsylvania residents from...
R.K. Mellon gifts Duquesne $2 million for new college of medicine
Duquesne University’s long-planned college of medicine received a financial boost Tuesday with a $2 million gift from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. University officials said the grant will help build the foundation of a new college of medicine designed to graduate primary care doctors to help alleviate the shortage of...
Convention celebrates collectors of all things retro in Irwin
Collin Scott’s passion for movie props began small. He acquired his first movie prop, a replica of a revolver from the movie “Hellboy,” in 2008. In the interim, the 31-year-old Penn Township man has gone onto bigger movie memorabilia. He’s built a replica of the famous “Ghostbusters” proton pack backpack...
Ligonier bounces back with region’s largest farmer’s market, return of Fort DaysVideo
More than a year after the pandemic closed summer festivals far and near, Ligonier is enjoying a comeback unlike any other. The town’s resurgence is fueled in part by the one festival market that continued to operate last summer — the Ligonier Country Market — and the news that its...
New life sciences building to go up this fall on Pitt-Greensburg campus
Officials at the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg are preparing to break ground for a new life sciences building this summer, following official action on the proposal by Pitt’s Properties and Facilities Committee. The project, years in the making, calls for the construction of a $19.3 million, 32,000-square-foot facility at the school’s...
Pennsylvania to open dementia unit at Rockview prison
Acknowledging the challenge of a rapidly aging prison population, Pennsylvania will open its first unit devoted to inmates with dementia and associated memory loss diseases later this year, Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel said this week. Wetzel said the new neurocognitive care unit at the State Correctional Institution at Rockview,...
Nurse shortage is crippling hospitals, centers that provide care in Western Pa.
A long-predicted shortage across the continuum of nursing and direct care workers has come home to roost in the coronavirus pandemic. Shortages are rippling across the country, fueled in part, experts say, by pandemic trauma and burnout. The issue is critical in Western Pennsylvania. In a region characterized by a...
Advocates for changes to reapportionment and the statute of limitations vow to fight on
State lawmakers left Harrisburg for the summer last week, but the advocates who clamored unsuccessfully for legislative changes say they aren’t giving up. Two of the most vocal groups — the organizations that promoted legislation on congressional and legislative reapportionment and those who pushed for the adoption of a window...
Westmoreland struggles to give away pandemic cash grants to bars, restaurants, hotels
Like many in the hospitality industry, it was a rough year for Brady’s. The family-owned Acme restaurant that has operated in the Laurel Highlands since 1964 was closed for a while during the pandemic lockdown last year and has operated under pandemic restrictions for most of the latter part of...
Voice of Westmoreland launches survey on priorities for county’s Rescue Plan spending
Westmoreland County’s first installment of $107 million in American Rescue Plan money already hit the bank. It wasn’t quite like winning the lottery, with 3,069 counties nationwide sharing $65.1 billion. And that has left some wondering just how local officials will set their priorities. According to the National Association of...
New Pitt Lab to combat digital disinformation
The University of Pittsburgh is staking a claim in the battle against false narratives and conspiracy theories that spread online with the speed of light. Pitt officials said they hope to tap a new venture — the Pitt Disinformation Lab in the Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security —...
Pa. lawmakers threaten university funding over statute of limitations deadlock
A pair of state lawmakers who sponsored a bill to give adult survivors of child sexual abuse the right to sue their assailants beyond the statute of limitations say they will block state appropriations for Pennsylvania’s public research universities if Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward continues to stall a vote...
