Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1377
Court blocks small number of ballots in Pennsylvania over ID
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania judge sided with President Donald Trump’s campaign Thursday and ordered counties not to count a small number of mail-in or absentee ballots for which the voter didn’t submit valid identification within six days after the Nov. 3 election. The injunction issued by Commonwealth Court Judge Mary...
Top officials: Nov. 3 election most secure in U.S. history
WASHINGTON — A coalition of federal and state officials said Thursday that they have no evidence that votes were compromised or altered in last week’s presidential election, rejecting unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud advanced by President Donald Trump and many of his supporters. The statement from cybersecurity experts, which trumpeted...
Schindler’s list survivor, Pittsburgh cantor Moshe Taube dead at 93
Moshe Taube, an accomplished cantor and successful recording artist who famously survived the Holocaust by having his name on Schindler’s list, died Wednesday after being hospitalized with heart problems. He was 93. Taube, a Squirrel Hill resident, was a cantor for more than 40 years at Congregation Beth Shalom in...
Charles Morris nursing home in Squirrel Hill set to close in January
Confronting financial woes exacerbated by the pandemic, the Jewish Association on Aging announced Thursday that it plans to close Charles Morris Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. The nonprofit nursing home — among the highest-rated such facilities in Western Pennsylvania — is set to shut down permanently...
Pitt-Georgia Tech game postponed because of covid protocols
After playing most of this season uninterrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, Pitt postponed its game Saturday at Georgia Tech because of covid-related issues on both teams. Football injuries at Georgia Tech also were cited by its athletic director, Todd Stansbury. The ACC said in a statement the game was postponed...
Allegheny County officials plead for ‘wake-up call’ amid rising covid numbers
Allegheny County officials and medical experts from across the county delivered a dire and pleading message Thursday as the number of covid-19 cases continued to rise, with this week’s new case count likely to top 2,000. “These data concern me and they must be a wake-up call to everyone in...
Trump supporters to rally in D.C. against voter fraud; evidence has yet to materialize
Len Young remembers the inspiration he felt a decade ago during a Tea Party rally in Washington, D.C. The Monroeville resident said he hopes to replicate that experience Saturday in the same place, this time in support of President Trump, other state and federal races and “real discovery of fraudulent...
Sneak peek offered of Live! Casino Pittsburgh before grand opening at Westmoreland MallVideo
Dazzling lights and the sounds of slot machines greet visitors as they enter the new Live! Casino Pittsburgh, the $150 million facility that will open soon at Westmoreland Mall in Hempfield. Seven hundred fifty slot machines and 30 table games have replaced the racks of clothes that once dominated the...
Justice Department: ‘Poor judgment’ used in Jeffrey Epstein plea deal, but finds no misconduct
WASHINGTON — A Justice Department report has found former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta exercised “poor judgment” in handling an investigation into wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein when he was a top federal prosecutor in Florida. The report, obtained by The Associated Press, is a culmination of an investigation by the Justice...
Pennsylvania health officials discourage all gatherings as cases surge
State health officials urged Pennsylvania residents to avoid gatherings both large and small, as the state continues to report more covid-19 cases than it has all through the pandemic. The state again broke its record for its highest daily case total on Thursday, adding 5,488 cases for a total of...
Kim Ward becomes 1st woman to serve as majority leader in Pennsylvania Senate history
State Sen. Kim Ward made history Thursday as fellow Senate Republicans appointed her as the state legislature’s first woman to serve as majority leader. Ward, of Hempfield, replaces Sen. Jake Corman, who has been appointed Senate president pro tempore. “I’m very, very honored today to have been chosen as the...
Latrobe man charged with rape accused of lewdness, assaulting prison guard
A Latrobe man accused of raping a woman hours after his release from the Westmoreland County Prison last week was awaiting arraignment Thursday on new charges of exposing himself to a nurse at the Hempfield lockup and assaulting a prison guard. Zackery D. Kimmick, 30, was returned to the prison...
Pittsburgh police reform task force members call on city officials to act on report
Members of the Pittsburgh Community Task Force on Policing Reform had a singular message for City Council members Thursday: They want the recommendations in their 47-page report implemented. The 15-member task force met regularly since it was formed in June by Mayor Bill Peduto. They disagreed on many things during...
Pittsburgh and Glasgow sign Sister City agreement
The City of Pittsburgh added Glasgow, Scotland, to its long list of Sister City relationships with a virtual signing ceremony on Thursday. Given the Steel City’s Scotch-Irish heritage, the partnership appears to be a natural fit, especially considering that Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie made his fortune here founding what became...
Allegheny County posts new record number of coronavirus cases, 3 new deaths
A steady rise in coronavirus cases in Allegheny County continued Thursday with the addition of 412 new cases, the highest daily total since the pandemic began in March. The county saw 366 new cases on Wednesday, 317 on Tuesday and 270 cases on Monday. There has been an average of...
Westmoreland County reports record 207 new coronavirus cases
Westmoreland County on Thursday saw 207 new coronavirus cases, a record number. Two new deaths were also reported, which follows six that were added on Wednesday. The total number of deaths in the county because of the virus stands at 131. Pennsylvania, as well as some neighboring counties, have seen...
Pennsylvania sees another record day, adds 5,488 new coronavirus cases
Pennsylvania’s Department of Health reported 5,488 new positive cases of coronavirus on Thursday, the first time the state has seen over 5,000 new cases in a day. The state has seen several days with record number of cases this week. There were 4,711 new cases on Wednesday and 4,361 on...
To help economy, bank proposes tax on working from home
LONDON — White collar staff reaping the financial benefits of working from home should be taxed to help other workers who aren’t getting the same advantages, experts at Deutsche Bank said in a new report. In its report on how to rebuild the economy after covid-19, the bank proposed a...
Support for marijuana grows: see the latest states to legalize
As voters in more U.S. states this month legalized recreational marijuana use, longtime pot-friendly Oregon became the first state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of other drugs — including heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman said he thinks Pennsylvania should be a leader in drug reform,...
Virus outbreak slows ballot count in Westmoreland County
A coronavirus outbreak in the Westmoreland County Elections Bureau is slowing the provisional ballot count as officials scrambled Thursday to find additional volunteers to complete the work as the deadline to certify results from the Nov. 3 election nears. Commissioner Doug Chew said six county workers affiliated with the Elections...
Woman killed in East Liberty had PFA against suspected shooter
Makeida Thompson was set to have a final hearing Friday on the protection from abuse order she’d taken out against the father of her youngest child. She never got the chance, Pittsburgh police said, because the same man allegedly walked into a home in East Liberty on Tuesday and shot...
Trump, stewing over election loss, silent as coronavirus surges
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has publicly disengaged from the battle against the coronavirus at a moment when the disease is tearing across the United States at an alarming pace. Trump, fresh off his reelection loss to President-elect Joe Biden, remains angry that an announcement about progress in developing a...
Grief, anger, disbelief: Trump voters face Biden’s victory
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — When Joan Martin heard that Joe Biden had been declared the winner of the presidential election, the retired nurse and avowed supporter of President Donald Trump was deeply unsettled. To steel herself, she thought about how her household weathered Hurricane Katrina when it battered her hometown...
Pitt researchers find Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansions led to earlier detection of cancer
Preventive health care options ushered in by the Affordable Care Act helped doctors detect cancer in more patients earlier and may have reduced the number of late-stage cancer diagnoses around the country, University of Pittsburgh researchers found in a study released Thursday. “The thing that is sort of potentially groundbreaking...
Region’s veterans support praised by Army artificial intelligence director at CMU — a Norwin gradVideo
s The military’s efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence in military operations is focused on developing capabilities to support the soldiers, the director of the Army’s Artificial Intelligence Capabilities said Wednesday during Veterans Day ceremonies in North Huntingdon. A graduate of Norwin High School, Ret. Col. Douglas Matty spoke Wednesday to...
