Asteroids are smacking Earth twice as often as before
WASHINGTON — Giant rocks from space are falling from the sky more than they used to, but don’t worry. For the past 290 million years, large asteroids have been crashing into Earth more than twice as often as they did in the previous 700 million years, according to a new...
California storm moving out after battering state for 3 days
SAN FRANCISCO — The storm that pummeled much of California for three days began moving east Thursday after causing at least six deaths, forcing wildfire victims threatened by floods to flee their homes and plunging nearly 300,000 utility customers into darkness. The winter storm is forecast to drop heavy rain,...
Britain’s Prince Philip, queen’s husband, in car accident
LONDON — Buckingham Palace says the 97-year-old husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, has been in a car accident but wasn’t injured. The palace said the two-vehicle accident happened Thursday afternoon near Sandringham Estate, the queen’s country retreat in eastern England. The Norfolk Constabulary says officers responded to...
Fans buy Melissa Gilbert’s ‘Little House on the Prairie’ memorabilia
GENOA TOWNSHIP, Mich. — More than 200 items belonging to “Little House on the Prairie” star Melissa Gilbert and her husband, Emmy-winning actor Timothy Busfield, have been purchased in an estate sale in Michigan. Items sold in the American Eagle Auction & Appraisal Co. online auction this month included a...
CDC sees possible link between opioids and birth defect
NEW YORK — Health officials are looking into a possible link between prescription opioids and a horrific birth defect. Babies born with the defect have their intestines hanging outside the stomach, due to a hole in the abdominal wall. Surgery is often needed to fix it. Roughly 1,800 such cases...
Additional water system costs upset some Springdale officials
Unforeseen costs on the $7.5 million Springdale water system renovations are leaving some Springdale Council members unhappy. Change orders totaling nearly $41,000 were brought to council this week. Of that amount, at least $29,000 were unexpected costs. In addition, another unforeseen turn of events may result in council having to...
LA teachers, district to resume negotiations amid strike
LOS ANGELES — Teachers walked rainy picket lines Thursday at Los Angeles schools for a fourth day ahead of a new round of contract negotiations that a union leader said is unlikely to quickly end the walkout. “After 21 months of negotiations I think it would be an unrealistic expectation...
Tarrs woman accused of forging prescriptions for oxycodone pills
A Tarrs woman is accused of forging two painkiller prescriptions at an East Huntingdon doctor’s office where she worked as a medical assistant, according to court papers. Davina Lee Potoka, 44, allegedly wrote the prescriptions for herself for 120 oxycodone pills each, state police said. Potoka is charged with acquisition...
Lawsuit: Woodland Hills substitute head-butted student
The Woodland Hills School District is being sued in connection with an incident involving a substitute teacher who allegedly head-butted a student in October. Richard Novak is accused of head-butting a 10th-grade student Oct. 24 while serving as a substitute teacher, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed by Pittsburgh...
Unity bank robbed, state police search for suspect
State police at Greensburg are searching for a man who robbed the First National Bank on Route 30, east of the Route 981 intersection, in Unity on Thursday. The man entered the bank just before 11 a.m. and gave a teller a threatening note that demanded money, police said. He...
Costa calls for state no-interest loan fund for federal workers
Pennsylvania’s top Democrat in the state Senate could get support from a Westmoreland County Republican in setting up a no-interest loan fund for federal employees and contractors in the state affected by the partial government shutdown. Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa Jr., D-Forest Hills, on Thursday began circulating a memo...
Kiski Valley sewage pump stations getting ready for upgrade
The design is complete for the upgrade of Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority pump stations. All but one pump station has been designated for upgrades and modernization. Some of the pump stations haven’t been updated in 40 years or more. The pump stations are located in East Vandergrift; Elder...
Police: 2 killed in shooting at IHOP in Alabama
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — An employee and a customer at an IHOP restaurant in northern Alabama were killed in a Wednesday night shooting that also injured another employee. Huntsville Police Lt. Michael Johnson told news outlets the shooting happened shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday after a male customer argued with a...
Police: 3 suspects identified in Pa. Walmart arsons; 3 hurt
HANOVER — Police say they have identified three suspects in a pair of arsons at a Walmart store in central Pennsylvania that injured three people. West Manheim Township police say two fires were set inside the South Hanover store during store hours Tuesday night. Three Walmart employees reported smoke inhalation...
Pittsburgh seeking input on how to improve, expand parks
The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and city officials have scheduled a series of meetings over the next four months in each of Pittsburgh’s 90 neighborhoods to gather input on enhancing city parks. Officials want to develop an equitable approach to investing in the park system, which includes 165 parks, parklets and...
Springdale residents could experience low water pressure, discolored water on Friday
Springdale Borough residents may experience low water pressure and discolored water on Friday. The changes could occur between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. as crews continue to work on the borough’s water improvement project. The $7.5 million project includes upgrades to the borough’s water treatment plant and replacing aging waterlines....
Allegheny Township to push for state, federal consensus on stormwater
Allegheny Township officials want the state and federal governments to decide what agency should be contacted about problems with stormwater. The idea, they say, is to give local officials a central resource to tap for a quick resolution when dealing with drainage problems and issues that often create flooding. The...
U.S.-led coalition airstrikes pound IS areas in eastern Syria
BEIRUT — Syrian activists are reporting intense airstrikes on the last area held by the Islamic State group in the country’s east where the extremists’ control has been shrinking over the past weeks. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday the airstrikes hit the 5.8 square miles controlled...
9 dead in car bombing at police academy in Colombia capital
BOTOGA, Colombia — At least nine people were killed and dozens more injured in a car bombing at a police academy in Colombia’s capital on Thursday, recalling the high-profile attacks associated with bloodiest chapters of the country’s drug-fueled guerrilla conlfict. The scene outside the General Santander police academy in southern...
Police: Trucker in deadly Indiana bus crash was removing jacket
Indiana State Police say the driver of a truck that rear-ended a school bus in December, killing one student, was removing a jacket and a sweatshirt just before the collision. A crash report released Wednesday says the truck driver was traveling behind the bus Dec. 5 when he “pulled the...
Remains of Monongahela airman who died in WWII identified
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Military authorities have announced the identification of remains of a Pennsylvania airman and two other servicemen who died in Europe during World War II. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Thursday that 19-year-old Air Forces Sgt. Vernon L. Hamilton of Monongahela was accounted for last month. On...
Man charged in Penn Hills abduction was on probation for similar incident last year
A man on probation for assaulting a Penn Hills teenager broke into the girl’s home Wednesday and forced her into his car, prompting a statewide Amber Alert and search before she was found relatively safe in McKeesport, authorities said. Police arrested Jermaine LaQuay Rodgers, 19, after a standoff at a...
Recalls of romaine, Goldfish are only the tip of the contamination iceberg
If it feels like you’re reading about a new food recall practically everyday, it’s not all in your head — or stomach. A report released Thursday by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund found that recalls of food have increased 10 percent since 2013, with meat and poultry incidents soaring 67...
Droves of shoppers line up for grand opening of Aldi near Mt. PleasantVideo
A festive atmosphere pervaded the grand opening of the newest Aldi grocery store in Westmoreland County, as dozens of eager shoppers lined the sidewalk and braved temperatures in the low 20s early Thursday morning. The Aldi fans were there not only to see the gleaming new store in East Huntingdon...
Pa. police department overwhelmed by response looking for volunteers to get drunk
Sorry, you’re too late. After a police department in central Pennsylvania posted to social media that they were looking for people to get drunk — for testing purposes, of course — the post quickly went viral. The Kutztown Police Department posted to Facebook Wednesday that they were looking for 3...
