Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1249
Months after hack, U.S. poised to announce sanctions on Russia
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is preparing to announce sanctions in response to a massive Russian hacking campaign that breached vital federal agencies, as well as for election interference, a senior administration official said Wednesday night. The sanctions, foreshadowed for weeks by the administration, would represent the first retaliatory action...
J&J vaccine to remain in limbo while officials seek evidenceVideo
Johnson & Johnson’s covid-19 vaccine will remain in limbo for a while longer after government health advisers declared Wednesday that they need more evidence to decide if a handful of unusual blood clots were linked to the shot — and if so, how big the risk really is. The reports...
Profane anti-Biden sign in Allegheny Township is ‘over the line,’ supervisor says
Allegheny Township Supervisor Mike Korns said he avoids driving along a section of the township’s Markle Road when his grandchildren are with him because a resident there has placed vulgar flags in his front yard. One of the anti-President Biden flags contains obscenities. “I strongly support free speech, but that’s...
Arnold shooting victim identifies defendant in attempted homicide trial
Malcolm Dunem didn’t hesitate when asked in court on Wednesday who shot him just yards from his Arnold home three years ago. “Nick comes out from behind a fence with a gun pointed at me,” Dunem testified in a Westmoreland County courtroom during the second day in the attempted homicide...
Allegheny Health Network opens clinic to treat covid long-haulers
The migraines came first. Two or three weeks after she recovered from covid-19 in August, Jennifer Gorzock said she started experiencing the intense headaches, along with fatigue and disorienting mental fog. She noted her experience with the covid illness itself was relatively mild. She needed medications to get through it...
More than half of Allegheny County’s adult population is partially vaccinated, officials sayVideo
More than 50% of Allegheny County’s adult population has been partially vaccinated for covid-19, local officials said Wednesday. Among residents older than 65, more than 78% have gotten at least one dose. County officials encouraged people to sign up for appointments and get the vaccine as soon as possible. “The...
Stinging report raises new questions about Capitol securityVideo
WASHINGTON — Shields that shattered upon impact. Weapons too old to use. Missed intelligence in which future insurrectionists warned, “We get our president or we die.” As Congress pushes for a return to normalcy months after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, a damning internal report about the deadly...
‘Mt. Pleasant’s answer to George Bailey’: Robert Levin reopens family’s flagship furniture storeVideo
When Robert Levin inked a deal last spring to acquire 17 of his former family furniture and mattress stores from a bankrupt Michigan-based chain, it was cause for celebration. But something was missing. On Wednesday, the final piece of the puzzle fell into place when Levin — along with business...
Unaccompanied children from border arrive in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG — About 150 unaccompanied children found at the southern border of the U.S. have arrived in northwestern Pennsylvania and will be housed at a dormitory at the Pennsylvania International Academy. The children landed Tuesday night at Erie International Airport and were screened by a physician, dentist and nurse, the...
Pitt law professor Jerry Dickinson will run for seat held by Rep. Mike Doyle in 2022
A Swissvale attorney and law professor who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle in the 2020 Democratic primary will run for the seat again in 2022 when Doyle’s term expires. Jerry Dickinson, 34, announced his candidacy for the seat Doyle has held since 1995. A constitutional law professor at the...
Round and round: PNC Carousel reopens in Oakland’s Schenley PlazaVideo
The eagle’s wing was cracked. There were dents in the rabbit’s face. The giraffe’s ear was scraped. Those damages have been repaired — and the animals on the PNC Carousel are ready to go. Over the course of the past year, they’ve been refurbished in anticipation of the 15th anniversary...
Attorney says Aaron Donald beat up his client on South Side, seeks investigationVideo
Authorities have been asked to investigate a man’s claims that he was beaten up by Aaron Donald, the Pittsburgh native who was chosen as the top defensive player in the NFL last year. It happened in an alley outside Cosmo on Carson on the city’s South Side, either late Saturday...
Cardiac arrest and drugs, not low oxygen, caused Floyd’s death, defense expert says
MINNEAPOLIS — A pathologist testifying for the defense in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin told the court Wednesday that George Floyd died of a cardiac arrest combined with drug use, and not low oxygen as several prosecution witnesses have claimed. Dr. David Fowler also testified...
Lab’s 3-month data delay leads to abnormally high daily covid total in Allegheny County
On paper, Allegheny County on Wednesday recorded its second-highest total of newly reported coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, according to state Department of Health data. In reality, the county’s daily new case total was largely in line with what it has reported since the region emerged from the winter...
UPMC opens Pittsburgh Mills covid vaccine clinic to walk-insVideo
Berke Thompson of Marshall received his first dose of a covid-19 vaccine Wednesday at Pittsburgh Mills mall, where UPMC accepted walk-ins after originally requiring people to set up appointments to get shots during the two-day clinic. Not that Thompson, 16, saw the Pfizer vaccine go into his arm. “I can’t...
Lawsuit contends Redstone forced at-risk employee to work with covid patients
A Westmoreland County woman is suing one of the region’s largest operators of senior living communities, accusing it of forcing her to work on the covid-19 wing when she was at high risk from the virus. More than that, Dianne Corrie of Westmoreland City contends in her federal lawsuit that...
Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic teams with SpaceX for 2023 moon mission
Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic announced Tuesday it is partnering with SpaceX for yet another groundbreaking moon mission. In 2023, Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander is carrying NASA’s water-hunting Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the moon. But first, it must hitch a ride to get there. So Astrobotic announced its selection of...
Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff dies in prison at 82
NEW YORK — Bernard Madoff, the infamous architect of an epic securities swindle that burned thousands of investors, outfoxed regulators and earned him a 150-year prison term, died behind bars early Wednesday. He was 82. Madoff’s death at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina, was confirmed by his...
Indiana County DA: Tip leads to one of biggest drug busts in county history
The Indiana County Drug Task Force turned a single tip from an informant this month into one of the largest heroin-fentanyl seizures in the county’s history, District Attorney Bob Manzi Jr. said Tuesday. Allan Burnheimer, 34, of Black Lick, was charged with possession of 50 bricks, or 2,500 stamp bags,...
Pennsylvania’s shrinking delegation will mean hard decisions
HARRISBURG — There may be nothing more nerve-wracking for a member of Congress than redistricting, when the once-a-decade redrawing of district boundaries injects a dose of uncertainty into their political careers. In Pennsylvania, redrawing the districts to correspond with population shifts identified by the 2020 census will have a particularly...
Minnesota cop will be charged in shooting of Black motorist Daunte Wright
BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — A prosecutor said Wednesday that he will charge a white former suburban Minneapolis police officer with second-degree manslaughter for killing 20-year-old Black motorist Daunte Wright in a shooting that ignited days of unrest and clashes between protesters and police. The charge against former Brooklyn Center police...
1 dead, 6 rescued, 12 still missing from capsized shipVideo
PORT FOURCHON, La. — The Coast Guard searched for 12 people missing off the coast of Louisiana on Wednesday after finding one crew member dead and pulling six survivors from rough seas when their commercial platform vessel capsized in hurricane-force wind. Coast Guard Capt. Will Watson said wind was 80...
Pittsburgh Foundation confronts eviction woes and the ‘demoralizing cascade’ of causes
Those who pay the least amount for rent are most likely to face eviction, a study led by The Pittsburgh Foundation found. The study began in 2016 and was published Tuesday. It found the something as simple as a minor car repair can cause a “demoralizing cascade” that can lead...
Protesters take to Pittsburgh streets hours after Minnesota officer who shot Daunte Wright resignsVideo
A loosely organized group of protesters took to the streets of Pittsburgh in the name of police accountability on Tuesday night, hours after the white officer who fatally shot Daunte Wright during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb submitted her resignation. The demonstration, which remained peaceful, drew about 100...
15-year-old boy dead in Lincoln-Lemington shooting
A 15-year-old boy was killed after a shooting in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood Tuesday night, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner. Don Angelo Castapheny of Pittsburgh was pronounced dead at the scene. Police from Zone 5 responded to the 1300 block of Montezuma Street around 9:10 p.m., and shortly after...
