Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1387
Joe Biden has strong, emotional ties to Rooney family
Jim Rooney, the youngest son of the late Pittsburgh Steelers chairman Dan Rooney, shared a story about Joe Biden that tells all anyone need know about the relationship between the Biden and Rooney families. “My sister (Joan) passed away from cancer a year ago and, obviously, Joe’s son (Beau) did,”...
Gunman who killed 4 in Vienna attack had sought to join ISVideo
A man who had previously tried to join the Islamic State group rampaged in Vienna armed with an automatic rifle and a fake explosive vest, fatally shooting four people before he was killed by police, Austrian authorities said Tuesday. Witnesses described dozens of screaming people fleeing the sounds of gunshots...
Greensburg police investigating Halloween vandals who shot vehicles, house
Greensburg police are investigating who shot out windows of nine parked vehicles and a house along several streets north of the Westmoreland County Courthouse late Halloween night or early Sunday. Most of the damage occurred over several blocks in the Academy Hill area, Capt. Shawn Denning said. No one was...
Trump promises court fight over Pennsylvania absentee votes
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and his reelection campaign are signaling they will pursue an aggressive legal strategy to try to prevent Pennsylvania from counting mailed ballots that are received in the three days after the election. The matter could find its way to the Supreme Court, especially if those...
Pa. Secretary of State: Election will not be called by Tuesday
The results of the election will not be called Tuesday night — and that’s no different from previous years, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar reiterated Monday morning. “It takes time for votes to be counted,” said Boockvar. “Elections are never called – they’re never finished on election night, and...
Owner of Westmoreland, Monroeville malls files for bankruptcy
After months filled with lost revenues and tenants permanently shutting their doors, the company that owns both the Westmoreland and Monroeville malls has filed for bankruptcy protection. Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CBL Properties made the announcement Monday, months after the company announced a restructuring plan to help alleviate debt. The move came...
Westmoreland adds 129 covid cases over two days, 1 death
Westmoreland County added 129 new cases of coronavirus over the past two days, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Monday. Health officials said there were 66 cases added Sunday, 56 of them confirmed, 10 probable. There were 63 cases added Monday, with 53 confirmed, 10 probable. Officials said the county...
Peters Township school district investigating allegations of ‘blackface’ by band before football game
When the Peters Township marching band took the field Friday night for a pregame performance before a high school playoff football game against Woodland Hills, two drum majors marched at the front wearing a full-body black spandex suit. Some perceived the suits as the modern-day equivalent of blackface. The incident...
Allegheny County adds 264 covid cases over past 2 days, no new deaths
Allegheny County added 264 cases of coronavirus over the past two days, the county Health Department reported Monday. Officials said there were 144 new cases on Sunday and 120 new cases on Monday. There were 203 confirmed cases from 2,755 PCR tests, which were conducted from Oct. 23 through Sunday....
Pittsburgh’s Row House Cinema seeks ‘weird, off-kilter’ films for festival
With many movie theaters still closed and few new releases right now, Row House Cinema in Lawrenceville is calling for entries for Rowhouse Online’s Sweded Film Festival for Creative Re-Creations, a feature-length compilation of homemade films. “ ‘Sweded’ films have nothing to do with Sweden and everything to do with...
Graffiti vandals strike Rep. Conor Lamb’s Mt. Lebanon office
Vandals struck the Mt. Lebanon office of U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, according to a Monday morning tweet from the congressman, a day after similar graffiti was sprayed across the home of Lamb’s Republican challenger and the office of Rep. Mike Doyle. “Our office is open today,” Lamb, a Democrat, tweeted...
6 key questions going into the 2020 presidential election
Election Day is finally upon us. Or at least what we still call Election Day, since more than 93 million Americans have already cast ballots in an election that has been reshaped by the worst pandemic in more than a century, its economic fallout and a long-simmering reckoning with systemic...
Life jacket now required for paddlers, boaters on all Pennsylvania waters
It’s that time of year. Water temperatures plummet and because of the dangers of drowning, all paddlers and boaters must wear a life jacket now until April 30. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) says U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket are required at all times while underway or...
First snowfall of season arrives, but warmer weather on the way
Winter weather arrived in Southwestern Pennsylvania Sunday night and Monday morning with the first snowfall of the season, but warmer temperatures will return soon, according to the National Weather Service. The official snowfall total at the NWS station in Moonwas 0.6 inches, according to meteorologist Jason Frazier. Many communities in...
Trump threatens to fire Fauci in rift with disease expert
OPA-LOCKA, Fla. — President Donald Trump is suggesting that he will fire Dr. Anthony Fauci after Tuesday’s election, as his rift with the nation’s top infectious disease expert widens while the nation sees its most alarming outbreak of the coronavirus since the spring. Speaking at a campaign rally in Opa-locka,...
2-year-old girl killed in Mt. Pleasant Township fire
A 2-year-old girl was killed in a mobile home fire Monday in Mt. Pleasant Township, according to Westmoreland County Deputy Coroner John Ackerman. The coroner’s office identified the girl as Charli Olson. Four people escaped the Beacon Road fire and were being helped by the Salvation Army and American Red...
Ambridge Area School District closes Highland Elementary after covid-19 case
The Ambridge Area School District announced Sunday that it was closing its Highland Elementary School to students and staff on Monday. The district received confirmation that a staff member at Highland Elementary School in Harmony Township, Beaver County, tested positive for covid-19. Starting Monday, all classes will be conducted virtually...
Pittsburgh Public Schools closes Obama Academy after second staff covid-19 case
Pittsburgh Public Schools announced Sunday that it will close the Pittsburgh Obama Academy school in the city’s East Liberty neighborhood on Monday after a second staffer tested positive for covid-19. A staff member tested positive at the school last week, prompting the district to deep clean the facility on Friday....
Service held to remember Jonny Gammage’s 1995 deathVideo
Prayers for mercy, justice, healing and peace were offered up Sunday to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of Jonny Gammage. Gammage was 31 when he died Oct. 12, 1995, in Pittsburgh near Brentwood, after a traffic stop. Brentwood police stopped him after noticing him braking frequently as he...
Pittsburgh police looking for Penn Hills man accused in South Side Flats shooting
Pittsburgh police used surveillance video to identify a man they say shot two men during an altercation in the city’s South Side Flats last month, according to a criminal complaint. Jeffrey Ali Knox Jr., 28, of Penn Hills is charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and firearms violations,...
Aftermath of Trump rally in Butler was ‘nothing like Omaha’ owner of bus company says
The aftermath of a rally held Saturday evening by President Donald Trump in Butler has garnered local and national attention after some say supporters were left waiting in the cold for buses to take them back to their vehicles. The event, held at the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport, was compared to...
Westmoreland County election employee tests positive for coronavirus
An employee of the Westmoreland County Election Bureau has tested positive for coronavirus, the county announced this weekend. The employee, who last worked in the election bureau office on Wednesday, is under quarantine, according to county officials. The county is using its emergency response plan to deal with the covid-19...
Former Rivers Casino GM tapped for finance role at Live! Casino Pittsburgh
The former general manager of Rivers Casino has been tapped by operators of the soon-to-be-opening Hempfield casino as director of finance. Craig Clark, who has more than 26 years of experience in the gaming industry, will oversee the finance departments at the 100,000-square-foot facility that is under construction at the...
Police: Sean Parnell’s house, Rep. Mike Doyle’s South Side office vandalized with graffiti message
A message invoking revolution was spray-painted this weekend on the glass office windows of an incumbent Democratic congressman and the garage door of the home of a Republican running for Congress. Red paint was used in both cases to write, “Elections No, Revolution Yes.” The punctuation varied in each case,...
England coronavirus lockdown may be extended beyond DecemberVideo
A four-week virus lockdown for England set to start on Thursday may have to be extended, a government minister warned on Sunday. “It will get reviewed on Dec. 2, but we’re always driven by what the data show,” Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said in a Sky News interview. “We...
