Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1380
Giant Eagle hiring 600 people for holiday season
Giant Eagle plans to add 600 jobs this holiday season, company leaders announced this week. A hiring fair will run 1 to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday at 28 sites across the Pittsburgh area, company spokesman Dick Roberts said. The jobs will be both full-time and part-time positions at Giant...
Biden’s new coronavirus advisers debate mandating masks across the countryVideo
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden’s first act as president-elect was to urge all Americans to wear masks, announcing Monday the formation of a new coronavirus advisory board that will consider a national mask mandate amid rising cases and deaths. “It doesn’t matter your party, your point of view,” Biden said after...
Police: 1 person dead after shooting at Brighton Heights
One person was killed in a shooting in Brighton Heights Monday afternoon, according to Pittsburgh police. Officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert at the intersection of Brighton Road and Davis Avenue around 3:30 p.m. On scene, officers found a man in the street with multiple gunshot wounds to the upper...
U.S. allows 1st emergency use of a covid-19 antibody drugVideo
WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials have allowed emergency use of the first antibody drug to help the immune system fight covid-19, an experimental approach against the virus that has killed more than 238,000 Americans. The Food and Drug Administration on Monday cleared the experimental drug from Eli Lilly for people...
AG William Barr OKs election probes despite little evidence of fraud
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr has authorized federal prosecutors across the U.S. to pursue “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities, if they exist, before the 2020 presidential election is certified, despite no evidence of widespread fraud. Barr’s action comes days after Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump and raises...
Lawsuits’ threat looms as Pennsylvania vote count grinds on
HARRISBURG — President Donald Trump’s campaign launched a lawsuit to stop the certification of the election results in Pennsylvania, suing Monday as counties continued to sort through provisional ballots and late-arriving mail-in ballots nearly a week after the election. The Associated Press on Saturday called the presidential contest for former...
As race intensifies, Pitt remains committed to developing a covid vaccine
While a coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer appears promising and highly effective, the interim analysis released Monday only tells part of the story, said Paul Duprex, director of the Center for Vaccine Research at the University of Pittsburgh, which is working on several vaccine candidates. He said to think of...
Do Trump’s legal challenges have any hope of changing Pa.’s election results? A look at the lawsuits
PHILADELPHIA — Even before Election Day, President Donald Trump had been vowing to swarm Pennsylvania, and its largest city, with lawyers to contest the results in a state that has proven decisive to the outcome of the election. Those threats have only been amplified in the days since the president’s...
African American-owned art gallery Blaqk House Collections in Pittsburgh vandalized
The windows in the front of Blaqk House Collections art gallery in Downtown Pittsburgh, including the front door, were shattered in the early morning hours Monday. “I got a call at 3:30 a.m. that the alarm went off,” said Cynthia Kenderson, who co-owns the art gallery with Nicky Jo Dawson....
Steelers TE Vance McDonald tests positive for coronavirus, team’s 1st since season began
Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Vance McDonald became the team’s first player to test positive for coronavirus since the regular season began. McDonald will be subject to the NFL’s intensive protocol for covid-19 after his positive test, according to a statement the Steelers released late Monday afternoon attributed to spokesman Burt...
UPMC study: No clear benefit using hydroxychloroquine to treat covid
Hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug pushed by President Trump to treat covid-19, has again shown to be ineffective in treating people hospitalized with covid-19, according to results of a study published Monday. The study “puts to rest any lingering hope that hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment against covid-19,” said co-author Dr....
Pa. Health Secretary: Fall coronavirus surge likely is not over
Covid-19 continues to surge across Pennsylvania and the United States as a whole, with the percent positivity rate rising along with the case count. The state’s top health officials said Monday the fall resurgence likely isn’t over. “I don’t think we have peaked,” said Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine....
Western Pa. ‘Jeopardy!’ contestants have fond memories of Alex Trebek
Connellsville native Lindsey Shultz will never forget the day Alex Trebek showed up in the “Jeopardy!” contestant’s green room just before taping episodes for the Tournament of Champions. It was early September 2019, just six months after Trebek had been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. “He came back just...
Latrobe counselor accused of paying teen girl to see nude photos
Police arrested a Latrobe therapist on accusations he paid a girl he was counseling in order to see nude photographs of her, according to court papers. Gregory Patrick Miscik, 59, of Salem, was charged Friday with trafficking, sexual abuse of children, child pornography, corruption of minors, indecent assault and harassment....
WQED combines events for a kindness trifecta on Cardigan Day
November’s Friday the 13th will be a lucky day, as World Kindness Day coincides with King Friday the XIII’s birthday, making it the ideal time for WQED to celebrate its third annual Cardigan Day. “King Friday’s birthday is celebrated every Friday the 13th, no matter how many there are every...
25 Airbnb properties in Allegheny County suspended or removed for violating party rules
More than two dozen Allegheny County Airbnb hosts have been suspended or removed from the rental website for violating covid-19 party restrictions put in place earlier this year. According to the Monday announcement, 25 listings either received complaints or “otherwise violated” Airbnb’s policies on parties and events. “We’ve banned parties...
Westmoreland debates how to count mail-in ballots that arrived minutes late on Election Day
Westmoreland County election officials said Monday that 375 mail-in ballots delivered to the courthouse nine minutes late on Election Day will not initially be added to the vote totals. County commissioners, acting as the elections board, approved the start of the process to review and count all 816 ballots that...
Pennsylvania adds over 6,300 new covid cases in 2 days
Since Saturday, Pennsylvania has added more than 6,300 new cases of coronavirus, the state’s Department of Health said Monday. On Sunday and Monday, there were 6,311 new cases of covid-19 — 2,909 on Sunday, 3,402 on Monday — making for 22,300 new cases in the past week. Since the beginning...
Westmoreland County adds no new covid deaths for 1st time in nearly a month
Westmoreland County’s 24-day streak of at least one covid-related death has been broken. The county added no new deaths Sunday or Monday, something that has not happened since Oct. 14. In that time span, the county has recorded 54 deaths. The county’s death total stands at 118. Westmoreland saw 199...
Peduto: Without federal aid, Pittsburgh will cut over 630 jobsVideo
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto introduced a $564 million operating budget for 2021 on Monday that doesn’t include a tax increase. But he said cuts will be required if federal relief for cities impacted by the coronavirus pandemic isn’t approved soon. “It never should have come to this — and it...
Allegheny County adds 530 new covid cases in 2 days
The Allegheny County Health Department announced the area added 530 new cases of coronavirus over the past two days. Of those new cases, 260 were added Sunday, 270 added Monday. The county’s seven-day total of new cases hit a record high 1,596 — a 200% increase since the beginning of...
5 employees at Brentwood Borough School District test positive for tuberculosis
Five employees of the Brentwood Borough School District have tested positive for tuberculosis, officials announced over the weekend. In a letter to district families, Superintendent Amy Burch said the employees are not infectious. Their illness was discovered as a result of extended testing implemented after a high school student tested...
Stocks rally worldwide with hopes for a return to ‘normal’
NEW YORK — Brimming hopes that people will again return to office buildings, shopping centers and normal life sent markets rallying worldwide on Monday, following encouraging data about a potential coronavirus vaccine. The S&P 500 rose 41.06, or 1.2%, to 3,550.50 after Pfizer said an early peek at its vaccine...
Suspect captured after North Huntingdon standoffVideo
A police standoff Monday in North Huntingdon, which impacted Norwin schools and brought tactical equipment to a residential neighborhood, ended when authorities found the suspect at a nearby home. Randolph Eugene Dillinger, 54, was being sought by state parole agents in connection with a 2008 case out of Allegheny County,...
Referendum on Trump shatters turnout records
With votes still being counted, turnout in the 2020 presidential election has hit a 50-year high, exceeding the record set by the 2008 presidential election of Barack Obama — an extraordinary engagement in what amounted to a referendum on President Donald Trump’s leadership. As of Sunday, the tallied votes accounted...
