UPMC Presbyterian’s billion-dollar tower gets opening date
UPMC’s $1.3 billion hospital tower in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood finally has an opening date. On Jan. 24, 2027, scores of patients at UPMC Presbyterian will be transferred from the existing building to a new, 17-story facility right next door. Once all patients are moved, the old structure will become administrative...
Kraft Heinz names new CEO to oversee its breakup
Steve Cahillane, the food and beverage industry veteran behind Kellogg’s recent split, has been tapped by Kraft Heinz to manage its pending breakup. The packaged food giant with dual headquarters in Pittsburgh and Chicago announced Cahillane’s hire as CEO on Tuesday. He’ll start Jan. 1, replacing Carlos Abrams-Rivera after about...
Highmark loses $69M through 3rd quarter, dragged down by insurance costs
Highmark Health took a $69 million net loss in the first nine months of the year as the Pittsburgh-based company struggled with more frequent and costly health insurance claims. The organization’s insurance arm, Highmark Health Plans, had a $211 million operating loss through September, according to financial results released Monday....
Highmark announces affiliation with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City
Highmark is adding more than 1 million members through an affiliation with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, the health insurers announced Thursday. The deal, which is expected to close next year pending regulatory approval, will make Highmark the third largest Blue Cross Blue Shield-affiliated organization in the country...
Pittsburgh International Airport to offer nonstop flights to Ireland
Pittsburgh International Airport soon will offer direct flights to Ireland for the first time. Irish national airline Aer Lingus will begin nonstop service between Pittsburgh and Dublin in May, local airport officials announced Thursday, further integrating the culturally and economically intertwined cities. Dublin also serves as a connector for flights...
Robert Friedlander, longtime head of neurological surgery at UPMC, steps down
Dr. Robert Friedlander, longtime head of neurological surgery at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh, has stepped down from his post, the hospital system confirmed Tuesday. A UPMC spokesperson offered no additional details about Friedlander’s abrupt departure from his position, which he’s held since 2010. Pitt referred TribLive to UPMC’s...
Expiring Obamacare subsidies prompt thousands to drop Pennie health insurance
For every new enrollment, two Pennsylvanians are dropping Obamacare coverage as steep government subsidies are set to expire at year’s end. About 38,000 people who have Affordable Care Act coverage through Pennie, the state’s health insurance exchange, have opted not to renew their plans for next year. That’s compared to...
U.S. Steel fined for leaking oil into Monongahela River
U.S. Steel must pay $135,000 and establish stronger pollution controls after environmental regulators found the steelmaker’s West Mifflin facility was leaking oil into the Monongahela River. An agreement announced Tuesday between U.S. Steel and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection requires the company to monitor wastewater from the Irvin Works...
Study favors medication, stents over major surgery for clogged neck arteries
Pennsylvania heart specialists welcomed the results of a decade-long study reinforcing their belief in minimally invasive techniques to treat clogged neck arteries versus major surgery. Researchers examined nearly 2,500 patients across five countries and 155 medical centers, including several UPMC hospitals and the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System. The patients...
Driverless cab service Waymo coming to Pittsburgh
Driverless cabs are coming to Pittsburgh. Autonomous ride-hailing service Waymo is expanding into the Steel City along with Baltimore, St. Louis and Philadelphia, the company announced in a blog post Wednesday. Human-led test drives will start this week in Downtown Pittsburgh as Waymo confirms its technology works on the city’s...
Shapiro visits Verona to tout $25M in funding for child care workers
Gov. Josh Shapiro visited a Verona day care Monday to tout $25 million in new state-funded bonuses for industry workers, which he says will help attract and retain staff. The initiative, part of the state budget passed last month after a lengthy legislative impasse, gives about $450 annually per employee...
Unseasonably cold weather to persist in Southwestern Pa.
Get cozy, because frigid temperatures are here to stay in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The National Weather Service expects the cold weather that rolled into the region Wednesday to bring weeks of highs mostly hovering in the 30s. Friday’s forecasted high is 35 degrees. Sunday could offer a short respite, with temperatures...
Pittsburgh doctors cheer removal of black box warning on hormone therapies for menopause
Pittsburgh-area doctors are welcoming the removal of a black box warning — the strongest available to the federal Food and Drug Administration — from hormone therapies used to treat menopause symptoms. The agency announced the change last week, directing drugmakers to remove prominent labels alerting women of increased risks of...
Station Square bought by Massachusetts-based real estate firm
The core of Station Square — the struggling restaurant, entertainment and office complex on Pittsburgh’s South Shore — is under new ownership. Massachusetts-based WS Development announced Friday it purchased a huge chunk of the center along the Monongahela River from New York-based Brookfield Properties. “Station Square is an iconic place...
Targeted ultrasound gives Pittsburgh-area doctors new tool against prostate cancer
Men diagnosed with prostate cancer have traditionally faced two choices: Do nothing and hope the tumor doesn’t grow between scans or start aggressive treatment. Those with certain types of medium-risk cancers have lacked tailored care, caught between a surveillance strategy geared toward slow-growing tumors and drastic measures known for their...
Trump administration to take stake in battery maker Eos Energy
Industrial battery maker Eos Energy Enterprises announced Tuesday the federal government will buy 570,000 cut-rate shares in the company, which is relocating its headquarters to Pittsburgh. The Department of Energy has the right to buy the shares at a penny apiece within the next five years, according to financial disclosures...
Strip District housing, grocery store project wins planning approval
A proposal to bring hundreds of housing units and a grocery store to Pittsburgh’s Strip District earned approval Tuesday from the city’s Planning Commission. Six commissioners voted in favor of New York City-based Midwood Investment and Development replacing a produce warehouse at the corner of 21st and Railroad streets with...
Allegiant pilots picket for higher pay outside new Pittsburgh airport terminal
Allegiant Air pilots picketing outside the new Pittsburgh International Airport terminal said they’re fed up with sluggish union contract talks and pay well below industry standards. Jumping to another carrier, including other budget airlines like Spirit or Southwest, could bring more than double the hourly pay, they said. “All we’re...
Pa.’s independent home care workers get pay raise in state budget but agencies miss out
Pennsylvania lawmakers granted $21 million in additional funding to a sliver of in-home caregivers in the state budget passed Wednesday. Workers directly hired by the people they care for will see their per-hour state payments rise to more than $15 from $13.51, an increase that could make a small dent...
Roundup: Pittsburgh’s Christmas tree spurs Downtown road closures; Cabot residents face water issues
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, Nov. 14: Road closures set for Christmas tree transport Lawrenceville’s Leslie Park will supply a towering Norway Spruce for the annual Christmas display outside of the City-County Building in Downtown Pittsburgh. The 40-foot tree will make its journey...
1 man dead, another charged after Hill District stabbing
One man is dead and another charged with criminal homicide after a stabbing Thursday night in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. Robert Tillman, 50, is accused of fatally stabbing Eddie Murrell, 53, in a fight that spilled out of their shared home in the 2700 block of Webster Avenue. Police were called...
Eat’n Park on southbound McKnight Road closing
Ross’ days as a two-Eat’n Park town are numbered. On Dec. 1, the Homestead-based chain will close its restaurant along southbound McKnight Road after 46 years of business, company spokeswoman Courtney Koch told TribLive. Another Eat’n Park, on the northbound side of McKnight Road just half a mile away, is...
Pittsburgh airport sees flight disruptions abating in time for new terminal opening
Pittsburgh International Airport officials expect flight cancellations and delays caused by the government shutdown, which ended Wednesday, to taper off in time for the new terminal’s opening Tuesday. Flight reductions ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration at 40 airports — not including Pittsburgh’s — remain in place and have had...
Starbucks union strikes stores in Pittsburgh area on Red Cup Day
Starbucks union organizers said Thursday they’ve shut down five stores across Southwestern Pennsylvania in the first day of what they’re calling an “open ended” strike over stalled contract talks. Thursday isn’t just any day in Starbucks-land. It’s Red Cup Day, a key sales day for the Seattle-based coffeehouse chain where...
Coroner identifies 3 killed in Fayette County crash
The Fayette County Coroner’s office has identified all three people killed Monday in a wreck along Route 40 in Henry Clay Township. Delroy Henry, 66, of Hollywood, Fla., was named Wednesday as the deceased driver of a tractor-trailer that police say started a three-way, chain reaction crash. Pickup driver Nikki...
