Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1343
Allegheny County adds 830 coronavirus cases, could hit 50K later this week
Allegheny County’s coronavirus case total grew by 830 on Wednesday, putting the county on pace to reach 50,000 later this week. At its current pace — after averaging 819 cases per day over the past week — the county’s total will hit 50,000 on Christmas Day. Only Philadelphia has reached...
Dad creates adventures in a box without leaving Beaver County home
Elliott Cramer was helping move a neighbor’s water heater when he had a revelation. Some might say it was out of the box — or, rather, inside a large cardboard box. “I thought, the cardboard box would make for a perfect rocket ship,” said Cramer, who was assisting a neighbor...
Pfizer to supply U.S. with additional 100M doses of vaccine
WASHINGTON — Pfizer and BioNTech will supply the U.S. with an additional 100 million doses of the covid-19 vaccine under a new agreement. The drugmakers said Wednesday that they expect to deliver all the doses by July 31 in the nearly $2 billion deal. Pfizer already has a contract to...
Scottdale man killed after getting out of disabled pickup on Route 119
A Scottdale man was killed Tuesday when state police said he got out of his disabled pickup truck on Route 119 and was hit by a tractor-trailer in East Huntingdon. Brandon C. Peterson, 18, was driving a Dodge Ram 2500 that became disabled on the southbound side of the highway...
Officials encourage out-of-work Pennsylvanians to seek assistance during pandemic hardship
Officials urged out-of-work Pennsylvanians to seek assistance through a variety of programs that can augment unemployment assistance as many face new economic challenges during the covid-19 pandemic. “The first thing that people think of when they lose their job or they have reduced hours at their place of employment is...
Dog rescued from Homewood house delivers 9 pups at shelter
There are now nine more animals that can be counted among those rescued from poor living conditions at a house in Homewood. One of the saved dogs had puppies. Officers from the city’s Zone 5 station were dispatched around 7 p.m. Monday to the house where they arrested a man...
Sharky’s Cafe, community help make, deliver 450 Christmas meals for Latrobe area families
Hundreds of Westmoreland County families will receive hot Christmas dinners thanks to the generosity of donors and volunteers. Sharky’s Cafe in Unity organized a donation drive and cooked the dinners, which will be delivered Wednesday. Cafe co-owner Jamie Huemme said she was overwhelmed by the community’s response. “I put a...
Body found wrapped in plastic in Brighton Heights identified as missing person
A body found wrapped in plastic outside of a home in Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood has been identified as Deric Bryan Davis, authorities said Wednesday. Pittsburgh police said Davis, 53, of Brighton Heights, was last in contact with his family on Dec. 14. Police asked for the public’s help in...
Pennsylvania’s covid testing capacity ready for potential holiday influx, state officials say
In the nine months since testing for covid-19 became available, the number of tests performed in one day across Pennsylvania has increased exponentially, and the state’s testing director said Tuesday he hopes testing capacity will continue to improve and turnaround time will continue to decrease. In early March, when the...
South Greensburg steel fabricator settles sex harassment suit for $80,000
A South Greensburg steel fabricator agreed to pay $80,000 to a fired female welder. The worker claimed co-workers harassed her with sexist remarks, that a foreman told her to clean feces in the women’s bathroom that her co-workers had dirtied, and then was fired four days after revealing she had...
Former Pittsburgh dentist among Trump’s late-term pardons
Alfonso Costa, a former Fox Chapel dentist who received a presidential pardon of his 2008 insurance fraud conviction, was a one-time political donor to President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Guiliani. According to records on file with the Federal Elections Commission, Costa, a year before he was sentenced to serve...
Trump assails covid relief bill, suggests he may not signVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is assailing the bipartisan $900 billion pandemic relief package that Congress just passed and is suggesting that he may not sign it. Trump complained in a video that he tweeted out Tuesday night that the bill delivered too much money to foreign countries, but not...
Trump pardons 15, commutes 5 sentences, including GOP allies
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned 15 people, including Republican allies, a 2016 campaign official ensnared in the Russia probe and former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad. Trump also commuted the sentences of five others. While it is not unusual for presidents to grant...
Pa. Supreme Court: Doctors cannot be sued for failing to commit Western Psych shooter
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a lawsuit against the doctors who failed to involuntarily commit a man who killed one person and injured others in a March 2012 shooting at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic cannot go forward. In a 6-1 opinion, the court found that the...
North Huntingdon auto dealership spreads Christmas joy with boxes of foodVideo
Like millions of other Americans, it’s been a terrible year for Michelle Davis of Monroeville. She lost her job months ago as a food delivery person for InstaCart when the economy plunged and covid spread across the region. Her father died last week in New York of a non-covid-related illness,...
PIAA files suit claiming it should not be subject to Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association is suing the commonwealth and the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, alleging that it should not be subject to the state’s Right to Know Law. The complaint, filed in Commonwealth Court on Friday, comes nearly 12 years after Pennsylvania’s Right to Know Law took effect...
Jerome Bettis plays Santa to Pittsburgh nonprofit after theft of gifts
The Grinch tried to steal Christmas from a nonprofit collecting donations for children in need, but former Pittsburgh Steelers star Jerome Bettis deftly stepped in to help them spread holiday cheer. Family Resources, a Pittsburgh-based organization that fights child abuse, was accepting donations for local children in need during the...
Biden addresses covid bill, holiday pandemic precautionsVideo
WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday expressed empathy with struggling families and applauded Congress for passing the coronavirus relief bill as the nation deals with a covid-19 surge that’s casting a shadow over the Christmas holiday. He called out to frontline workers, scientists, researchers, clinical trial participants and...
Pittsburgh police brass tell city council they’re committed to reform
Pittsburgh police Chief Scott Schubert has walked a beat in about 30 of the city’s 90 neighborhoods in a quest to hear from the people about how they feel he’s doing the job. When he gets to all 90, he plans to start over because he wants to know what...
Pitt gets $2.5 million contract to study health effects of fracking
The Department of Health on Tuesday announced a $2.5 million contract with the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health to study possible health effects of fracking – particularly in Western Pennsylvania. “My administration is committed to ensuring that Pennsylvania is a healthy, vibrant place for all who call...
Man accused of stealing donation jar from Greensburg pizza shop
Greensburg police said a submarine sandwich helped lead them to a suspect accused of stealing a donation jar from a local pizza shop. Gabriel A. Smith, 41, of Jeannette is charged with theft and receiving stolen property in connection with the theft of approximately $100 in donations collected in a...
Pennsylvania to freelance workers: Checks will be in the mail, but don’t know when
State officials want to assure about 500,000 jobless Pennsylvanians who are independent contractors, freelancers and tech workers that they will continue to get their unemployment benefits under the new $900 billion covid relief package, but they don’t when the checks will be in the mail. Labor and Industry Acting Secretary...
Pa. reports 7,962 new covid cases; 36% of total cases have come in December
Pennsylvania reported 7,962 new covid cases and 231 new deaths Tuesday, according to the state Department of Health. After the new numbers, total cases in the state are now 571,551 and total deaths are 14,212. In December, there have been 210,087 cases and 3,829 deaths reported, which are about 36%...
Westmoreland County covid numbers continue to make December worst month of pandemic
As the month winds down, covid cases and deaths in Westmoreland County continue to make December the county’s worst month of the pandemic. There were 302 new covid-19 cases and nine deaths reported Tuesday. Those figures bring total cases to 17,079 and 358 total deaths in the county. This month,...
Allegheny County reports 10 new covid deaths, 797 new cases
The Allegheny County Health Department reported 10 new covid-19 deaths Tuesday. There were 797 new covid cases reported, as well. After the new figures, there are 47,908 total cases and 790 total deaths in Allegheny County. There have been 19,504 cases and 281 deaths reported in December thus far, about...
