Tom Davidson stories, Page 4
‘Betrayal of veterans’: Deluzio rips proposed Trump cuts to VA clinical trials
Pittsburgh-area veterans are being treated like pawns in a game played by the Trump administration as cuts and a hiring freeze threaten medical treatment, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio said Friday. Providing this treatment is the cost of waging war, said Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, as he blasted the administration for keeping...
‘Broken everything’: Kavan Markwood hasn’t watched his fall from Clemente Wall during Pirates game
Kavan Markwood told TribLive on Wednesday he hasn’t watched the video of his 21-foot plunge April 30 from the Clemente Wall to the right field warning track at PNC Park. Markwood fell while celebrating an Andrew McCutchen double. Under treatment at Allegheny General Hospital, he called TribLive before a physical...
Gainey: Overcrowding complaint, not bias, prompted inspection at Pittsburgh gay bar
A weekend compliance check at P*Town, a gay bar in Bloomfield, was prompted by an overcrowding complaint — not to target the LGBTQIA+ community, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said Monday. In explaining the city’s actions, Gainey appeared to be responding to social media commentary that sprang up after police officers...
WESA, WYEP, WQED will persist despite Trump’s executive order, their leaders say
President Donald Trump’s attempt to defund NPR and PBS may remove about 5% from the budgets of television and radio stations contributed by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. All things considered, it also would represent a minuscule cut in the federal budget, said Terry O’Reilly, president and CEO of Pittsburgh...
Prayers pour in for Pirates fan hurt in fall from PNC Park stands
A 20-year-old Pirates fan who fell 21 feet from the Clemente Wall in right field of PNC Park during Wednesday’s win against the Chicago Cubs remained in critical condition Friday. Friends and family of Kavan Markwood, who has ties to several Mon Valley towns including McKeesport and Liberty, didn’t respond...
Popes rise to challenges of their times, Pittsburgh-area Catholic experts say
The next pope will have the weight of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on his shoulders. That’s how the Rev. Daniel Carr, 40, pastor of St. Regis Parish in Trafford, sees it. Carr, a priest for six years, has only served under Pope Francis. He has taken Francis’ message of...
Faithful remember Pope Francis as ‘pilgrim of hope’
Pope Francis’ message to listen more, preach less and show mercy to all resonated, even among those who lacked faith. Francis, who died Monday at 88, was remembered by Western Pennsylvanians as a man who led by his actions. The South American Jesuit had a 12-year papacy marked by humility,...
Pittsburgh’s Lou Astorino designed Vatican chapel used by Pope Francis
Pittsburgh’s connection to the Vatican was spotlighted for all the world to see this week. Pope Francis’ initial resting spot in death was the chapel of the Holy Spirit. It’s the work of Louis Astorino, the Pittsburgh architect who also designed PNC Park, PPG Paints Arena, UPMC Children’s Hospital of...
Tariffs spark fireworks order cancellations as America’s 250th looms
Steve Kubrick believes he might have dodged a bullet for buying his fireworks for an Independence Day display in New Kensington last year before the U.S. tariffs on China came in. “I bought mine last year,” said Kubrick, owner of the AK Valley Park in New Kensington. “That might have...
How will he be judged? Pope Francis’ legacy pondered across religious and social lines
Just a few months into his papacy, Pope Francis made a statement that drew global attention. Chatting with reporters in July 2013, on the plane back from his first foreign trip, he posited, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I...
Masses to be offered for Pope Francis as Pittsburgh area Catholics, including Bishop Zubik, mourn pontiff
Pittsburgh Roman Catholic Bishop David A. Zubik remembered Pope Francis as a merciful pastor Monday morning as he joined others around the world in mourning Francis, who died at 88. “He really had a beautiful way of respecting every single individual,” Zubik said. The pontiff will be remembered for the...
No answers in Rostraver woman’s killing as family, friends, investigators release few details
A week has passed since Jennah Marie Seibert was found dead in the Rostraver home she shared with her fiancé, but authorities have not publicly revealed any new details surrounding her killing. The 24-year-old died from a gunshot wound April 11 in what the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office is...
Pirates president offers replica brick as reparation for beleaguered Bucco Brick buyers
Pittsburgh Pirates President Travis Williams continued the beleaguered organization’s attempt to repair the damage done when it removed memorial bricks from PNC Park before opening day. Fans who bought the bricks noticed and decried the move. “There are no excuses. I am sorry,” Williams wrote in a letter to donors....
Police seek pair who parachuted from PPG Place rooftop
Two men who parachuted off the roof of PPG Place in Market Square last week could face trespassing charges if police identify them, a police spokeswoman said. Security cameras recorded the men entering One PPG Place near Stanwix Street and Third Avenue about 4:45 a.m. April 9 wearing dark hooded...
Arson at Pa. Governor’s Residence universally condemned
Western Pennsylvania’s elected officials and others joined their colleagues across the state and country in condemning Sunday morning’s arson at the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence. Here’s a roundup of the comments: “We should all be shocked at the reported act of arson at the residence of Gov. Josh Shapiro and his...
Key security questions remain unanswered in arson at Governor’s Residence
It remained unclear how a man evaded security to firebomb the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence in an attack that has been decried by elected officials and religious leaders. But the attack is merely the latest in what appears to be a rising tide of violence against elected officials. Recent incidents include...
Why ‘The Pitt’ hits home: Show resonates as fictional measles episode mirrors real life
Locals watching “The Pitt” already have reason to think the Max television series hits close to home with its portrayal of an emergency room in Pittsburgh. A recent episode also fits in with current events, although tariffs weren’t mentioned. The subject was measles, and whether an ER physician would recognize...
New Pittsburgh Airport terminal cost now pegged at $1.7B as project nears completion
The $1.7 billion Pittsburgh International Airport modernization project is hundreds of millions more than initially planned. Inflation isn’t solely to blame for the rising cost of the project, Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis said in a statement. Instead, the authority is performing other maintenance and improvement work at...
Rob Gronkowski returns to Woodland Hills to break in new fitness center
Rob Gronkowski remembers contending with rust on the bar when doing clean lifts 15 years ago at Woodland Hills High School. “It was dirty in here,” Gronkowski told a crowd of excited Woodland Hills student athletes Tuesday as he helped open the school’s renovated fitness center. Gronk, as the now-35-year-old...
Pittsburgh aerospace company considers pausing orders as tariff threats rise
A Pittsburgh-based aerospace company that makes parts used on passenger jets may stop taking orders because of tariffs, according to a report from Reuters. A spokesman for Howmet Aerospace declined comment to TribLive, but they did not refute the story based upon a letter viewed by Reuters. Howmet was invoking...
After nearly 2,000 hours in office, Trump’s W.Pa. supporters all-in for tariffs, tough talk
President Donald Trump revels in the populism and nationalist rhetoric that riles up his base. This was evident on Wednesday. “This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in America’s history. It’s our declaration of economic independence. My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day,” Trump said as...
Pitt, CMU, among 20 schools Forbes dubs ‘New Ivies’
The University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon are among the country’s finest schools of higher education, according to a new list from Forbes that identifies 20 colleges as “New Ivies” — schools that produce quality graduates without the pretension and liberal political baggage that comes with an Ivy League pedigree....
Mass firing of federal health workers includes Pittsburgh region
More than 200 federal employees who work at the Bruceton Research Center, a research facility south of Pittsburgh, will lose their jobs by June 30, they were told this week. They work at the Pittsburgh Mining Research Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the...
New Oakland Catholic principal was on faculty of Murrysville, McKeesport schools
The new principal of Oakland Catholic High School has more than three decades of experience as an educator and has proven leadership skills, said Pittsburgh Catholic Bishop David Zubik. Karen Kolenik will start the job on July 1. “She is not only a strong academic leader, but also a faithful...
Pittsburgh nonprofit working to help Myanmar earthquake survivors
A Pittsburgh-based relief organization is among those trying to assist survivors of the earthquake in Myanmar that’s left more than 2,000 people dead. The quake could exacerbate hunger and disease outbreaks in a country that was already one of the world’s most challenging places for humanitarian organizations to operate because...
