Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1015
Plowing continues on snow-covered Pittsburgh streets
Crews with Pittsburgh’s Department of Public Works were still working to clear snowy and icy roads on Friday after the first significant snowfall of the season Thursday evening. Enough city streets remained covered in snow and ice Friday morning to prompt school closures for Pittsburgh Public Schools, which moved to...
Mary Conturo to leave roles with Sports & Exhibition Authority, Pittsburgh Stadium Authority
Mary Conturo said Friday she will be leaving her positions as executive director of the Sports & Exhibition Authority and Pittsburgh Stadium Authority after about two decades on the jobs. “We are enormously grateful to Mary for her 18 years of skilled leadership as the authorities’ facilities were developed,” said...
Sidney Poitier — Oscar winner, groundbreaking star — dead at 94
Sidney Poitier, the groundbreaking actor and enduring inspiration who transformed how Black people were portrayed on screen, became the first Black actor to win an Academy Award for best lead performance and the first to be a top box-office draw, has died. He was 94. Poitier, winner of the best...
Pittsburgh Restaurant Week is an opportunity to try something new
Let someone else do the cooking. Pittsburgh Restaurant Week starts Monday. The semi-annual event runs through Sunday, with some establishments participating through Jan. 23. The restaurants are offering new menu items with some discounting meals from their standard fare. In addition to changing up the menu, some highlight their local...
5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: Jan. 7-9
It’s the weekend. Don’t let the snow stop you from getting out. Pittsburgh RV Show The Pittsburgh RV Show is celebrating its 55th anniversary beginning this weekend at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m....
Weather cancels in-person learning at Pittsburgh Public Schools
Pittsburgh Public Schools students will learn from home Friday because of snow- and ice-covered roads, officials announced. Students can access their lessons in the online platform Schoology. The day will follow the regular bell schedule of each school. Earlier this week, the district closed several schools because of covid-related staffing...
Construction company wants to buy former Tarentum roller rink, use it for equipment storage
A Wexford-based construction company is seeking to buy the old Tarena roller-skating rink in Tarentum and convert it into a storage facility. Representatives of Bridges and Company Inc. appeared before the Tarentum Planning Commission on Wednesday to outline its plan and gain the commission’s recommendation that council approve the project....
1 resident dead, another injured in Beechview house fire
One person died and another was injured early Friday in a fire in Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety officials. Emergency crews responded at about 2 a.m. to the house fire in the 700 block of Sebring Avenue. Authorities said the crews found a woman, 79, and man,...
Teacher shortage stokes covid threat for W.Pa. schools fighting to stay in the classroom
More than 5,000 schools across the country, including in Pittsburgh, spent last week teaching children remotely or delaying their return to the classroom as covid infections continued to skyrocket with the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant. While the vast majority of districts in Southwestern Pennsylvania and elsewhere have...
Worker killed in Fayette County mine collapse
One person has died in a mine collapse in Fayette County. Emergency crews worked for more than eight hours to free the worker at the Laurel Aggregate Lake Lynn Mine on Springhill Furnace Road in Springhill Township near the West Virginia border. Saturday morning, the company that owns the mine,...
Turnpike reopens following crash Thursday night
The eastbound side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike was back open around 11 p.m., following a crash that shut down multiple lanes Thursday night. The crash was reported shortly before 10 p.m. just west of the Pittsburgh/Monroeville exit. 911 officials said three lanes of the Turnpike were closed as crews worked...
Edgeworth man sentenced to federal prison, ordered to repay nearly $2 million for tax evasion
An Edgeworth man convicted of tax evasion has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison and has been ordered to pay nearly $2 million in restitution. In imposing the sentence on Dean Britton, 57, U.S. Senior District Judge Nora Barry Fischer Judge Fischer said the case was one of...
Woodland Hills School District shifts to remote learning the rest of the month due to covid cases, related issues
Woodland Hills School District is moving to virtual learning for the rest of the month due to rising covid cases and related issues, district officials announced Thursday. Teachers and building administration will still need report to their buildings each day while the district is in virtual learning. The shift was...
Coraopolis man charged with attempted bus stop kidnapping
Police have charged a 40-year-old Coraopolis man with attempting to kidnap a 9-year-old Cornell Elementary student on Thursday morning. William Goring, 40, is charged with attempted kidnapping, attempting to interfere with custody of a child, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and aggravated assault. Police said Goring approached a young girl at...
PennDOT lifts speed limit restriction on major roads
Speed limit restrictions were lifted Friday morning after a snowy, slippery night across Western Pennsylvania. The reductions were put in place Thursday night and PennDOT urged motorists to avoid unnecessary travel as crews cleared major roads in the area. Around 7 a.m. Friday, the restrictions ended on Interstates 70 and...
Allegheny County courts suspend jury trials for January amid dramatic spike in covid-19 cases
Owing to the recent dramatic increase in covid-19 cases in Allegheny County, the county’s Court of Common Pleas ordered that no jury trials will take place for the remainder of the month in any division. Beginning Dec. 23, daily positive case counts for Allegheny County began outpacing its worst previous...
Murrysville Democrats hold vigil on anniversary of attack on Capitol, call for federal voting lawVideo
On the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Bill Hohlweg of Murrysville said he’s disturbed by the lack of acknowledgement, particularly by the Republican political class, about what happened in Washington, D.C. “To me it was a disgrace,” Hohlweg said. Murrysville Export Democratic Club President...
Warrant: 5-year-old might have started deadly Philly blaze
PHILADELPHIA — Investigators are looking into whether a 5-year-old who was playing with a lighter set a Christmas tree on fire, sparking a conflagration that killed 12 family members in a Philadelphia rowhome, officials revealed Thursday. That disclosure was included in a search warrant application as city and federal investigators...
Off-duty trooper alerts Unity family to house fire
Jeffrey and Michelle Miller had just gone to sleep Wednesday when they were awakened by someone pounding and kicking at their front door along Donohoe Road in Unity. “He was actually kicking through the door, and, when I got dressed and down there, he pointed around the back toward the...
Advocates: Allegheny County Jail violating solitary confinement ban
A referendum banning the use of solitary confinement at Allegheny County Jail took effect Dec. 5. Yet, according to the Jail Oversight Board Segregation Report dated Wednesday and posted online, nearly 300 people were locked down in the jail throughout the month. Many of those people spent the entire month...
Gunfire at North Versailles custody exchange injures 2, including 6-year-old girl
A custody exchange in the North Versailles police parking lot ended in gunfire Wednesday, leaving one man and a 6-year-old girl wounded, according to police. Shawn Coles-Lundy, 29, is charged with two counts of aggravated assault and five counts of reckless endangerment after police said he fired into an SUV...
Pittsburgh City Council reintroduces legislation on single-use plastic bags
Legislation calling for a ban on most single-use plastic bags was reintroduced to Pittsburgh City Council Tuesday. The measure, originally introduced by Councilwoman Erika Strassburger in November, did not pass before the end of the 2021 legislative cycle because council members were seeking to address questions about equity, enforcement and...
2 Pa. children found after police say biological parents took them from placement, fled state
Two children were found Thursday evening after state police said they were endangered when their biological parents removed them from a placement through Greene County Children and Youth Services. Trooper Forrest Allison said the children — ages 5 and 3 — were in the agency’s custody at a home placement...
Hempfield man accused by police of fathering child with 2nd 15-year-old girl
A man arrested last month on state police accusations that he fathered a child with a Hempfield teen was charged Wednesday in connection with a child born to a 15-year-old Connellsville girl in 2020, according to court papers. Tristin Michael Huffine, 21, of Hempfield remains in the Westmoreland County Prison....
Cause undetermined in Philadelphia house fire that killed 12
PHILADELPHIA — Investigators worked Thursday to determine the cause of a fire that tore through a Philadelphia rowhome, killing 12 people, including two sisters and several of their children. Specialists from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives took photos and then entered the charred, three-story brick duplex,...
