Western PA Local News category, Page 829
Winter storm warning for higher elevations in Southwestern Pa.
Residents living in higher elevations of Southwestern Pennsylvania region are under a winter storm warning until 10 a.m. Tuesday. The Pittsburgh office of the National Weather Service has issued the advisory for Somerset County, as well as eastern sections of Indiana, Westmoreland and Fayette counties, where higher elevations in the...
The Stroller, Dec. 19, 2023: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your non-profit’s community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least two weeks in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15084. Please include a daytime telephone number. Monthly Breaking Bread dinner planned at Knead Community Cafe Knead Community...
Unity passes 2024 budget with no tax increase
Unity supervisors passed the township’s 2024 budget with no tax increase. Chairman Mike O’Barto said township hasn’t had a property tax increase in about 40 years. The spending plan totals about $8 million. Unity’s general fund tax will continue to stand at 2.2 mills, and its fire tax will continue...
TribLive’s 2023 Year in Photographs
TribLive’s photojournalists have captured a year of stark contrasts, vividly documenting our region and the people who call it home. The North Shore witnessed a takeover by Swifties as globally renowned pop sensation Taylor Swift brought her Era’s tour to Pittsburgh. An explosion in the Rustic Ridge community in Plum...
Independence Health: Hospitals post positive operating revenue but health system losses remain
Independence Health System’s five hospitals posted positive operating revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, hospital officials said Monday, even as the former Butler and Excela health systems individually lost millions of dollars in that 12-month period. Latrobe Area Hospital topped all the other health system hospitals — Butler...
Pittsburgh bans foie gras, pauses efforts to bar fur sales, horse-drawn carriages
Pittsburgh City Council on Monday voted to ban the French delicacy foie gras. The measure — sponsored by council members Bruce Kraus, D-South Side, and Erika Strassburger, D-Squirrel Hill — bans the sale of force-fed animal products. Foie gras is created by forcing a foot-long tube down a bird’s throat...
Pittsburgh City Council opposes re-upping lease for North Side police headquarters
In a preliminary vote Monday, Pittsburgh City Council opposed extending a lease for the city’s police headquarters, which expires at the end of January. Council could take a final vote on the measure next week. A proposal before council would extend the city’s lease on the North Side police headquarters...
U.S. Steel workers in Western Pa. unsure what Nippon deal means for local mills, their future
Third-generation steelworker Don Jackson said he’s seen how mill owners weathering an economic downturn can cripple a city. In Pittsburgh in 1984, a year after Jackson graduated from high school, J&L Steel shuttered the 140-year-old South Side mill that sat just a mile from Jackson’s Arlington home. At its peak,...
Guards hired to ease staff crunch at Westmoreland County Prison
Westmoreland County’s Prison Board on Monday approved the hiring of 13 corrections officers who, officials said, will ease a staffing crunch that has impacted the operations at the lockup in Hempfield. “This helps our staffing tremendously,” interim Warden Steve Pelesky said. “Once these folks start, we’ll have just 14 or...
Westmoreland juvenile detention center on track to fully reopen soon
Westmoreland officials said Monday hiring efforts could result in a full-scale reopening of the county’s juvenile detention center next month. The 16-bed secure detention center at the Regional Youth Services Center in Hempfield was closed in June amid staffing shortages and state inspections critical of employment levels and training. It...
Pittsburgh City Council approves 2024 budgets, taxes remain unchanged
Budgets adopted Monday by Pittsburgh City Council won’t result in a tax increase next year. The $686 million operating budget and $158.7 million capital budget have been largely unchanged since Mayor Ed Gainey formally introduced them last month. Council made a series of tweaks last week, including giving themselves a...
Plum High School prepares for annual Make-A-Wish telethon
For more than 20 years, students in the Plum School District have staged a telethon benefiting Make-A-Wish. After collecting about $57,500 last year and topping a lifetime collection of $1 million in 2021, they’re anticipating collecting less this year, said Rick Berrott, a TV production teacher and co-sponsor of the...
Medical forum cites holes in child abuse prevention programs
A sweeping slate of child protective services laws adopted 10 years ago in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal stretched the state’s safety net, creating areas for vulnerable children to fall through, a report released Monday concluded. The report, from the Keystone State Child Abuse Medical Forum,...
Tarentum taxes hold steady; utility costs climb
The good news for Tarentum residents is that property taxes will remain the same for the 20th consecutive year. The bad news is utility costs are going up. That includes garbage, water and electricity. Councilwoman Carrie Fox said the increases mostly are because of rising supply costs and contractual obligations...
Westmoreland municipal authority issues mandatory water conservation order
The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County on Monday ordered more than 56,000 customers served through Beaver Run Reservoir to reduce water use by 10%. The mandatory conservation order impacts about half of the authority’s water customers, including most who live north of Route 30. Those locations, along with some in...
7 scammers who victimized Western Pennsylvanians indicted by federal authorities
Seven people have been indicted in a $3 million sweepstakes scam federal authorities said targeted people older than 75 in the western half of Pennsylvania and elsewhere across the country. The money ultimately made it to Jamaica, where it was withdrawn by people who are accused of being part of...
Burger King to reopen in Harrison
Anyone craving a Whopper soon will be able to have it their way again — and in a familiar Harrison location. Burger King at 1509 Freeport Road, in the heart of the Natrona Heights business corridor, is opening in the same location that formerly operated as a Home of the...
Comprehensive Healthcare nursing homes found guilty of fraud, but executives acquitted
A federal jury on Monday found two nursing homes guilty of health care fraud but exonerated all five of their executives charged in the scheme. The mixed verdict was returned at 11:15 a.m. in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh following a five-week trial that featured 29 government witnesses. The two...
Separate vehicle crashes over the weekend in Penn Hills — 1 of them sends 9 to hospitals
There were two significant vehicle crashes in Penn Hills over the weekend. On Saturday evening, a crash sent nine people to area hospitals, according to Penn Hills EMS. The crash occurred at the intersection of Allegheny River Boulevard and Sandy Creek Road. TribLive news partner WTAE reported that Allegheny County...
‘More than just a class’: Westmoreland Performing Arts offers support, community through special ability theater group
Isaac Klimchock knew what to do when his castmates missed their cue. He had just finished a scene with Chris Henderson, and audience applause echoed off the walls of Science Hall Theater at Westmoreland County Community College. Klimchock and Henderson waited, and waited, for fellow actors to join them for...
WATT Fuel Cell extends lease at former Lenox plant in Mt. Pleasant Township
A company that makes advanced fuel cells has signed an extended lease agreement with the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. to continue operations at the Mt. Pleasant Glass Centre. WATT Fuel Cell Corp. has leased space in the park in 2014 and this month agreed to remain at its more...
Jeannette groups unite for revitalization effort
Four entities are creating a partnership aimed at revitalizing Jeannette. City council approved a measure Thursday to join the Jeannette Redevelopment Authority, Jeannette Business Association and Jeannette Initiative in creating the partnership. Having the partnership in place will help with applications for assistance from the state Department of Community and...
In brief: Monroeville area happenings, week of Dec. 18, 2023
Christmas community dinner Christ the Divine Shepherd Parish will host a free Christmas community dinner on Dec. 25 in the Lourdes Center at 245 Azalea Drive, Monroeville. Dinner will be served from 12:30 to 3 p.m., or until the food is gone. Ballot security presentation At the regular monthly meeting...
U.S. Steel to be bought by Japanese company for $14.9B, but will keep name, Pittsburgh HQVideo
U.S. Steel would retain its name and headquarters in Western Pennsylvania under a $14.9 billion deal announced Monday with Japan’s largest steelmaker, but ownership of the venerable Pittsburgh company would be shipped overseas. The deal comes after months of speculation and U.S. Steel weighing multiple offers from suitors. In the...
Snow showers expected across Pittsburgh region
Forecasters say winter travel conditions are expected Monday afternoon across Southwestern Pennsylvania. Winter weather alerts will start around 1 or 2 p.m., according to TribLive news partner WTAE, with the heaviest snowfall expected along the Interstate 80 corridor and the Laurel Highlands in the eastern sections of Fayette, Indiana and...
