Deb Erdley stories, Page 7

Ligonier Democrat Mariah Fisher, Unity Republican Leslie Baum Rossi and Ligonier Libertarian Robb Luther will square off Tuesday in a special election to fill the vacancy in the 59th Legislative District created by the Jan. 2 death of state Rep. Mike Reese. Reese, a 42-year-old Republican rising star from Mt....

Mt. Pleasant Township voters will be sending a new face to the three-member board of supervisors this fall for the first time in years with the retirement of Jack Rutkowski. Five candidates — four Republicans and one Democrat — are seeking nomination to run for the post and an opportunity...

Representatives of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Steelers and Penguins joined U.S. Sen. Bob Casey on Friday to reiterate their commitment to help educate and facilitate vaccination of people who remain hesitant to get the covid-19 vaccine. The teams were among the first organizations in the region to open venues to host...

Westmoreland County Community College trustees froze tuition for the coming year. That means tuition for Westmoreland County residents will remain at $1,995 plus fees per semester for 12–18 credits. “We know our students have had a challenging year and we want to show our support of their pursuit of their...

Saint Vincent College went into lockdown status Thursday evening as the number of covid-19 cases on campus surged. College President the Rev. Paul Taylor ordered the campus community to shelter in place and all classes to be conducted remotely as of 3 p.m. Thursday. His order came as the campus...

Plans to consolidate six struggling state-owned universities into two mega schools with six campuses were approved for public comment Wednesday morning. The board of governors of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education voted to begin a 60-day comment period on a plan to consolidate and rename California, Clarion and...

A spokesman for the owners of Live! Casino and Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen + Bar denied a former employee’s allegations of racial discrimination at the restaurant located inside the Hempfield casino at Westmoreland Mall. “Live! Casino Pittsburgh and Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen + Bar are proud of the jobs we...

California, Clarion and Edinboro universities will get a new name under a consolidation plan likely to be approved Wednesday for a 60-day public comment period. The necessity for a single name as well as a pledge to keep all three campuses open and fully operational are among the points made...

A former line cook at celebrity chef Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen + Bar filed suit with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying he was subjected to racial discrimination, harassment and workplace retaliation at the popular restaurant at Live! Casino Pittsburgh in Westmoreland Mall. Speaking at a protest in the...

Community college enrollment booms when the economy busts. That was an accepted fact, proven time and again during the cycles that characterize the U.S. economy. But the covid-19 pandemic, which sent the world into a series of lockdowns, shattered that pattern. Although the region’s community colleges were expecting an enrollment...

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Financing Authority on Wednesday approved more than $48 million for 116 new multi-modal transportation infrastructure projects in 45 counties, including a dozen in Allegheny, Armstrong and Westmoreland counties. The authority approved two Alle-Kiski Valley projects, including a $200,000 Rankin Street revitalization project in Arnold and $375,000 for...

Susan Adams won’t take offense if anyone refers to her as an accidental scientist. The 24-year-old native of Smock, a tiny Fayette County village near Uniontown, never imagined herself immersed in any kind of science, let alone geology. She graduated from Uniontown Area High School and the masonry class at...

Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities will hold the line on tuition for an unprecedented third consecutive year. That means in-state students at schools that charge flat-rate tuition will pay $7,716 a year for basic undergraduate tuition. At Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the only local university in the state system that assesses...

Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities will hold the line on tuition for an unprecedented third consecutive year. That means in-state students at schools that charge flat rate tuition will pay $7,716 a year for basic undergraduate tuition. At Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the only local university in the state system that...

Point Park University’s board of trustees Monday announced the appointment of Donald J. Green as the school’s eighth president. Green, who is president of Georgia Highlands College, a multi-campus state college in the University System of Georgia, will take the helm at Point Park this summer, officials said. He succeeds...

Jessie Delio was thrilled when she learned Seton Hill University would welcome students back to classrooms at its hilltop campus in Greensburg last fall. Like millions of other college students across the country, the Erie woman gathered her books, packed her bags and headed home in spring 2020 when schools...

As elementary and high schools plot strategies to combat lost learning over the pandemic year, colleges and universities across the region are preparing to support a freshman class unlike any they have ever welcomed. Thousands of high school students poised to attend college next fall likely will be stepping out...

Getting shots into the arms of the state’s most vulnerable elderly and minority residents remains a challenge, even as vaccine begins a steady flow into Pennsylvania, state officials said Tuesday. It took the combined efforts of three managed care giants tasked with reaching out to the marginalized and those most...

Henry John Heinz III was a man in his prime. The 52-year-old U.S. senator and heir to the H.J. Heinz food empire had everything going for him April 4, 1991, the morning he climbed aboard a small, twin-propeller plane in Williamsport. The short flight to Philadelphia was for him to...

Steve Adams was a graduate student studying journalism at the University of Montana when a call came in from the New York Times on April 3, 1996. The FBI was on the verge of arresting a reclusive mountain man believed to the infamous Unabomber. The paper wanted to hire a...

When FBI agents arrested Ted Kaczynski at his remote Montana cabin 25 years ago today, they knew a lot about the famous recluse whose 17-year string of bombings killed three people and injured 24. Much of what they knew, right down to the bomber’s unusual linguistic stylings, came from the...