Jack Troy stories, Page 3
‘Firing on all cylinders’: Natural gas producer EQT Corp. posts $407M profit
Pittsburgh-based natural gas heavyweight EQT Corp. posted a $407 million third-quarter profit, bolstered by a smooth integration with newly acquired competitor Olympus Energy. “Strategically, when we look at what we’re doing, it’s really simple: getting access to the best markets and supplying the best energy,” EQT CEO Toby Rice said...
Highmark plans to offer free subscriptions to weight-loss app Noom for 2M members
Highmark will start covering a version of Noom — a subscription-based app that claims to enable weight loss by harnessing psychological research — at no cost for nearly 2 million members next year. The health insurer announced the partnership Monday, touting it as a way for members to make lasting...
Facing burnout, stress and shortages, Pa. nurses push to limit patient workload
Some days, Ashley Grieco feels behind the moment she steps into the neonatal intensive care unit at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital. On those difficult occasions, three critically ill babies might need her attention — all at once. Ideally, Grieco would spend more time with each infant, nurturing language skills by reading...
Facing burnout, stress and shortages, Pa. nurses push to limit patient workload
Some days, Ashley Grieco feels behind the moment she steps into the neonatal intensive care unit at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital. On those difficult occasions, three critically ill babies might need her attention — all at once. Ideally, Grieco would spend more time with each infant, nurturing language skills by reading...
Report claims Heritage Valley Sewickley, St. Clair hospitals perform needless back surgeries
Two Pittsburgh-area hospitals and one near State College are being called out by a health care think tank for performing what it calls unnecessary back surgeries. A report released earlier this month by the Massachusetts-based Lown Institute says around 38% of spinal fusions performed at Heritage Valley Sewickley weren’t warranted,...
AHN signs deal to pull Heritage Valley hospitals into its network
Allegheny Health Network and the much smaller Heritage Valley Health System have signed a merger agreement, marking the latest push by the Pittsburgh region’s biggest hospital systems to expand their reach. Officials on Thursday announced the deal, which requires state and federal government approval. It would bring Heritage Valley hospitals...
Study questions value of beta-blockers for heart attack patients
Doctors are reassessing decades of standard treatment for patients who have had heart attacks after new research shows beta-blockers may be anywhere from useless to harmful in certain cases. The research was conducted in Spain and Italy and hit medical journals only in August, but it’s already started to impact...
Sticker shock: Pennie expects Obamacare premiums to soar even more than first feared
The end of enhanced Obamacare subsidies could be even more costly than initially feared for Pennsylvanians who use the health insurance program. Pennie, the state’s Affordable Care Act health insurance exchange, now estimates the average enrollee will see premiums climb 102% if Congress lets the subsidies expire at the end...
UPMC enters takeover talks for Ohio’s Trinity Health System
UPMC is looking to absorb Trinity Health System and its four hospitals in eastern Ohio. CommonSpirit Health, the parent organization of Trinity Health System, said in a joint release Wednesday its has a nonbinding deal with UPMC to pursue a takeover agreement. “Over the next several months, both entities will...
Giant Eagle wades into pharmacy benefit management, promising transparency
As Giant Eagle expands its pharmacy business by absorbing customers from the failed Rite-Aid chain, it quietly has been making a bigger push into a more obscure sector of the industry: pharmacy benefit management. After dabbling for at least a decade in pharmacy benefit management, serving as the go-between among...
Soaring gold prices spell payday for some, but economic uncertainty for all
Now might be a golden opportunity to empty out the jewelry box. A palmful of gold necklaces, rings or other jewelry could fetch about $10,000 at precious metals dealers as gold’s price-per-ounce continues its record-breaking rise. “People cry, like shaking — they can’t believe the amount they’re getting,” said Jenn...
Meijer eyes Cranberry for superstore, gas station
Midwestern grocery chain Meijer is eyeing Cranberry as it pushes into Western Pennsylvania. A proposed development would give Meijer a 159,000-square-foot supercenter in the township, according to Ron Henshaw, Cranberry’s director of planning and development services. The store would offer groceries, apparel, garden supplies, drive-through pharmacy service and curbside pickup,...
Experts see huge appetite for new supermarket chains in Western Pa. as Meijer, Wegmans move in
Western Pennsylvania shoppers will have their appetites for new grocery stores put to the test once supermarket chains Wegmans and Meijer arrive in the region. Experts believe customers have room to spare. “You still have one of the most acute shortages of supermarket chains anywhere in the continental United States...
Grocery wars heat up as Midwestern chain Meijer pushes into Western Pa.
Meijer, the Michigan-based grocery chain known for its sprawling supercenters, is coming to Western Pennsylvania. Fresh off its expansion in Northeast Ohio, Meijer is pushing across the state line and acquiring properties in Western Pennsylvania, spokeswoman Erin Cataldo confirmed Tuesday to TribLive. The stores do not have opening dates. “Our...
Older, disabled Pennsylvanians bear brunt of home care staffing crisis
Lisa Sprague does what she can on her own, but nerve damage caused by multiple sclerosis means she needs help getting out of bed, bathing and completing other daily tasks. The state pays for 13 hours of care every day at her Harmar home, a bungalow retrofitted with a wheelchair...
Fed-up Starbucks baristas stage ‘practice picket’ in Pittsburgh
Unionized Starbucks baristas say sudden store closures last weekend, including three in Pittsburgh, prove they need a contract with the coffeehouse chain. Lack of a contract leaves little legal recourse to hold the company accountable for closings and layoffs, said Cas Borowitz, a Workers United staff organizer and barista at...
$100M recycling facility to replace ‘primitive’ slag pits at U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson plant
U.S. Steel’s notoriously outdated Edgar Thomson Works handles the molten substance left behind by smelting iron ore the same way it did 150 years ago: by dumping it into slag pits. They’re as low-tech as they sound. First, molten iron comes flowing from the blast furnaces. The slag, which rides...
Giant Eagle plans to invest $100M in strategic push amid heavy competition
Flush with cash after selling GetGo for $1.6 billion, Giant Eagle is prepared to spend more than $100 million to renovate stores and show customers it’s serious about lowering prices. The investment spree started Thursday and will run through 2026, marking the start of a “new era” for Giant Eagle,...
Pa., wary of federal guidance, turns to medical groups for vaccine advice
Pennsylvanians should get vaccine advice from professional medical associations, not Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Department of Health and Human Services, state officials said Monday. The Pennsylvania Department of Health is telling patients and doctors to consult three organizations for guidance on shots: the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy...
Leo Gerard, United Steelworkers’ longest-tenured leader, dies at 78
Leo Gerard spent nearly two decades running the United Steelworkers, a Pittsburgh-based union with profound ties to American industry, but it was his frequent gaze abroad that labor figures say best defined his leadership. He set the tone early in his tenure, backing Liberian rubber workers in their fight for...
Bracing for the worst: Allegheny County agencies, nonprofits fear further federal cuts
Already hamstrung in numerous ways by the Trump administration, state and local government agencies as well as nonprofits are bracing for the worst in the upcoming federal funding bill. “Everything has been destabilized with the work that we do,” Jordan Golin, president and CEO of Jewish Family and Community Services...
Experts weigh in on new federal childhood vaccine guidance
A federal recommendation against giving youngsters a single catchall shot for measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox falls in line with existing practices, medical experts told TribLive Friday. The combined vaccine, abbreviated as MMRV, should no longer be given to children under 4 years old, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices...
Fetterman breaks with party over tactics to keep Obamacare subsidies
Congressional Democrats won’t get any help from U.S. Sen. John Fetterman as they risk a government shutdown in a bid to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies. The Braddock Democrat, who has a habit of breaking with his party at inopportune times, said Tuesday his philosophical opposition to shutdowns comes before his...
Chat with Trump at wrestling match helped salvage U.S. Steel deal, McCormick says
Just days after being sworn into office, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick had lunch with a group of U.S. Steel workers who favored the company’s sale to Nippon Steel. That January meeting convinced the Pittsburgh Republican of the controversial deal’s merits, McCormick said Wednesday at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C....
Highmark study: Surgery beats drugs like Ozempic for those looking to lose weight
Weight loss surgery is a cheaper and more effective way than medications like Ozempic for obese patients to shed pounds, according to a Highmark Health study released Wednesday that tracked thousands of people. Patients with severe obesity lost 28% of their weight on average, compared to just 10% with the...
