Paul Guggenheimer stories, Page 31
Indiana Twp. man charged with defrauding Highmark of over $50K in security clothing
An Indiana Township man was taken into custody Tuesday amid criminal allegations he defrauded Highmark Health of more than $50,000 in connection with the purchase of clothing for security personnel. Derek Robert Dowiak, 37, has been charged with 11 counts of forgery, two counts of theft by deception, one count...
Pennsylvania bill to legalize cocktails to-go stalls, on hold for summer
Cocktails to-go will remain a no-go in Pennsylvania until at least the fall, when state lawmakers are scheduled to return from their summer break. The state Senate decided to shelve a measure regarding to-go drinks because the House removed a provision championed by state Sen. Mike Regan, R-York County, that...
Google launches new ‘Find Food Support’ interactive site
One in nine people in Pennsylvania face hunger, according to the Feeding America Network, which claims to be the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. With that in mind, Google has created a new site called “Find Food Support.” The site launched Monday. The idea behind it is to make it...
Alt-rock band Cracker happy to be back on the road, heads to Harmar this week
It’s a long way from performing socially distant, one-man private acoustic shows in driveways to being back on stage with a full six-piece band. But that’s the road David Lowery, front man for the classic alternative rock group Cracker, has traveled in just one month of pandemic time. Cracker, led...
A wild weather week in store for Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania residents won’t need to go to Kennywood to feel like they’re on a roller coaster this week: A weather roller coaster, that is. The week begins with blistering heat. The average for this time of year is 82 degrees, but we could be hitting at least 90 degrees...
Date set for new Abe Lincoln statue dedication in WilkinsburgVideo
A date has finally been set for the official dedication of a newly sculpted, life-size 400-pound statue of Abraham Lincoln in Wilkinsburg. Following a series of unforeseen logistical delays, the new statue of the 16th president of the United States will be erected on July 24 at 10 a.m. at...
New Homestead neighborhood tour offers 20 stops with unique access
Homestead historically is noted for two things: the Homestead Strike of 1892, and the extraordinarily talented Homestead Grays baseball team of Negro League fame. And, perhaps, more recently for the Waterfront shopping mall. Now, a nonprofit organization called Doors Open Pittsburgh, dedicated to building appreciation of the area’s architectural history,...
Pittsburgh Public Schools cut 1,000 students from summer programs amid staffing problems
Staff shortages have led the Pittsburgh Public Schools to cut roughly 1,000 students from its Summer BOOST program, a program designed to mitigate covid-19 related learning loss. Some 2,500 students from kindergarten through 11th grade had signed up for the program. The district on Thursday said 1,500 will now participate...
Pitt project addresses teen mental health through lens of high school studentsVideo
When Ayala Rosenthal first learned that a teenage girl in her Orthodox Jewish community committed suicide, she was devastated. She didn’t know the girl personally but they had mutual friends. “It was really an eye-opener for me,” said Rosenthal. “First of all, my heart ached for her and her family,...
‘PulpFest’ returns to Pittsburgh in August
Ask most people what “pulp fiction” is and the likely reply would be that it’s a movie about two hit men played by Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta. While that is essentially correct, it’s also true that decades before pop culture content was consumed digitally, it came in the...
‘Dorm Doctors’ to provide laundry pickup and delivery to Pitt, PSU students
The prospect of being away from the watchful eyes of their parents seems exciting to college students. That is until they realize that mom and dad are no longer around to clean up after them, make meals and do their laundry. Some students will let their laundry pile up until...
Friends, admirers remember Kara Leo, Mt. Lebanon baker killed by tree branch
The small Beverly Road storefront of Kara Kakes in Mt. Lebanon was dark on Tuesday morning. Normally it would have been open by 10 a.m. and illuminated more than anything else by Kara Leo’s constant smile. It’s the overwhelming memory people have of her. The woman who brought the bakery...
Cultural Trust JazzLive series returns to in-person performances
A popular staple of the summer arts scene in Pittsburgh is returning to the Cultural District next month. The BNY Mellon Presents JazzLive program is bringing jazz musicians back for a 10-week series of live concerts Downtown. This year, they will be performed at the new Allegheny Overlook Pop-Up Park,...
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh challenges kids to read 5 books this summer
The idea of having an entire summer to relax and read five books probably sounds pretty appealing to most adults. However, it might be a little more of a challenge to coax kids to do it, especially when they’ve been itching to get out and run, swim and jump around...
Rachel Levine answers Sen. Rand Paul’s criticism in CBS interview
In one of her first on-camera interviews with a national news outlet since being confirmed as U.S. assistant secretary of health in late March, Rachel Levine discussed Sen. Rand Paul’s criticism of her during her confirmation hearing. Speaking on “60 Minutes Plus” on CBS’s streaming service Paramount Plus, Levine discussed...
‘I heard it huffing and puffing’: Black bear spotted in Gilpin
Waylon Walker was riding his ATV on his family’s property — Habes Nursery — in Gilpin on Thursday night when he had quite a scare. He heard an animal grunting nearby. It was about 10:30 p.m. Walker usually carries a flashlight with him at night, but he left it at...
Leaning Cask Brewing Co. in Springdale opens outdoor beer garden
How about a beer garden party to celebrate the first day of summer? Springdale’s Leaning Cask Brewing Company is holding a grand opening of its new outdoor beer garden, “The Courtyard,” on Sunday. The entrance to the beer garden is directly through the pub on Pittsburgh Street and has seating...
Rivers Casino resumes construction of ‘Landing Hotel Pittsburgh’
It sat for a year, idled by the pandemic. But now, with an end to the covid-19 crisis seemingly in sight, construction on Rivers Casino Pittsburgh’s $60 million, “The Landing Hotel Pittsburgh” resumed this week. Cranes from local general contractor Massaro Corp. have returned to the site. Steel beam framing...
EQT Pittsburgh 10 Miler race returns to in-person event Nov. 7
The Pittsburgh Marathon may have been canceled as in-person event for 2021, but the EQT Pittsburgh 10 Miler is a go for Nov. 7. Runners will have the option of showing up at the starting line or running virtually, organizers say. The 2020 version of the race was a virtual...
CMU language technology professor a finalist for $250,000 prize
English-speaking people sometimes take certain things for granted. For example, when they ask a question or give a command to Alexa and Siri, they can expect to get a desired response because those cloud-based voice services work great in English. But what happens when someone who speaks one of the...
Pa. Senate passes bill to legalize cocktails-to-go, sends to House with modifications
Cocktails-to-go are one step closer to becoming a permanent part of Pennsylvania’s bar, restaurant and hotel scene. On Wednesday, the Senate passed legislation to make permanent the sale of mixed drinks-to-go by restaurant or hotel licensees for off-premises consumption. Originally, cocktails-to-go was a temporary measure allowed during the covid-19 disaster...
Alternative rock/roots band Cracker to play Harmar
It’s been 27 years since the alternative rock band Cracker enjoyed a big break through on rock radio and MTV with their album “Kersosene Hat.” It charted hit songs and videos from that disc including “Low,” “Euro-Trash Girl” and “Get Off This.” Nearly three decades later, Cracker is still touring...
Wolf urges Senate to keep cocktails-to-go, some Pa. bar owners lukewarm
Gov. Tom Wolf is urging the Senate to pass a bill that would enable the cocktails-to-go law to remain in place. The bill would amend the state’s liquor code to allow bars, restaurants and hotels with liquor licenses to sell mixed drinks for off-premises consumption. Just over a year ago...
Trib talks with Brazilian music pioneer Sergio Mendes about new PBS documentaryVideo
The 1960s are remembered as a decade with dramatic cultural changes taking place to a rock music soundtrack. But psychedelic rock wasn’t the only music shaking up the U.S. pop scene in the swinging ’60s. Perhaps Eartha Kitt said it best when she introduced a pioneering Brazilian jazz musician and...
Train hits pickup truck carrying watercraft on Cheswick railroad tracks
A pickup towing a Sea-Doo watercraft was struck by a Norfolk Southern freight train at a railroad crossing in Cheswick shortly after 11:30 a.m. Monday. No one was injured, but trains were stalled for about three hours. The truck and the watercraft were totaled. The GMC pickup was parked unoccupied...
