Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1397
Cheswick woman charged with assaulting 2 Springdale Borough cops
A Cheswick woman is accused of kicking and punching two Springdale Borough police officers during an arrest. The incident took place shortly after midnight Tuesday in the 900 block of Chester Street when Candace Rae Winstead assaulted the two officers who were responding to a call regarding unknown trouble, according...
New lawsuit targets Pennsylvania’s mail-in ballot deadline
HARRISBURG — A new lawsuit filed Thursday is challenging Pennsylvania’s court-ordered deadline to count mail-in ballots that are received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election in the presidential battleground state. Plaintiffs include a Republican congressional candidate and four registered voters from Somerset County. The lawsuit comes 12...
Republican congressional candidates denied tour of Allegheny County election warehouse
Attorneys for two Republican congressional candidates suing Allegheny County want to examine exactly how elections officials are managing nearly 29,000 incorrect ballots sent to voters. The federal lawsuit, filed by Sean Parnell, who is running against U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Mt. Lebanon, and Luke Negron, who is running against U.S....
Pennsylvania reports over 2,000 new coronavirus cases
With 2,063 new cases, Pennsylvania on Thursday reported its highest number of single-day cases of coronavirus since the pandemic started in March. The state also reported 30 new deaths attributed to the coronavirus. The new cases bring the total number of cases in Pennsylvania to 188,360. October has seen all...
Eric Trump makes surprise visit to Oakmont Bakery
Eric Trump made a surprise visit Thursday to Oakmont Bakery, where he passed out cookies decorated with his father’s face to dozens of supporters. Oakmont Bakery is hosting its traditional presidential Cookie Poll. The bakery serves up sweets adorned with images of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe...
Westmoreland County reports 2nd highest number of daily coronavirus cases
Westmoreland County added 133 new coronavirus cases Thursday, its second highest daily increase in cases, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported. The county also reported two new deaths. The county’s seven-day average is 91 cases and the county’s seven-day case total is 635. The total number of cases in the...
Allegheny County posts 133 new coronavirus cases, 1 death
The Allegheny County Health Department on Thursday reported 133 new coronavirus cases with one new death. Out of Thursday’s cases, the department said 109 were confirmed and 24 were probable (16 of the probables are positive antigen tests) from 2,071 PCR tests. The tests — with a 6.4% positivity rate...
Pittsburgh Public Schools move forward with in-person learning in NovemberVideo
Pittsburgh Public Schools are poised to begin a hybrid form of in-person learning on Nov. 9. The district is making the move despite a fall rise in covid-19 cases in Pennsylvania that was expected. The surge in cases, at least in Allegheny County, doesn’t mean the district should not move...
Family of Romir Talley sues police over his shooting death in Wilkinsburg
The mother of a man shot and killed by a Wilkinsburg police officer last year filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday against the police department, its leadership and the officers involved. The complaint, filed by LaTasha Talley as administratrix for her son’s estate, includes claims for excessive force, unreasonable seizure...
Veteran state House member Petrarca challenged by Silvis, a longtime film stuntman, in 55th District
Democrat Joe Petrarca is asking voters on Nov. 3 to return him to Harrisburg for a 14th term representing residents of the 55th District in the state House. Republican challenger Jason Silvis is hoping those voters instead will help him end that long run. “I think people are ready for...
Pittsburgh creative couple start residency at The WestmorelandVideo
A creative couple from Pittsburgh are the first-ever resident artists at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg. The arrangement formalizes a relationship that D.S. and Anqwenique Kinsel have had with the museum, including a February musical performance by Anqwenique in conjunction with “African American Art in the 20th...
New West Point Little League scoreboard to honor Hempfield’s Eddie Coletta
When Matt Maiers saw an opportunity to honor Hempfield’s Eddie Coletta, he jumped at it. Maiers is leading the effort to raise money for a new West Point Little League scoreboard that will bear Coletta’s name. Coletta spent several years volunteering at the organization where his daughter, Emma, now 18,...
GOP-led Senate panel advances Amy Coney Barrett despite Dems’ boycott
WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to advance Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination to the full Senate as Republicans powered past Democrats’ boycott of the session. Democratic senators refused to show up in protest of the GOP’s rush to install President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace the...
U.S. jobless claims drop to 787,000, but layoffs remain high
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 787,000, a sign that job losses may have eased slightly but are still running at historically high levels. With confirmed infections having neared 60,000 in the past week, the highest level since July, many consumers have been...
Chipotle plans to hire about 200 new employees in Western Pennsylvania
Chipotle Mexican Grill says it plans to hire approximately 200 new employees from Western Pennsylvania next week. The restaurant on Monday is hiring for positions ranging from crew members to general managers. Interviewees must sign up in advance to schedule a 15-minute interview timeslot. Covid-19 precautions will be in place...
Founded in Wilkinsburg, Scholastic magazine celebrates 100 years of educating children
The first issue of Scholastic was born in Wilkinsburg on Oct. 22, 1920. Maurice R. “Robbie” Robinson started the publication as a four-page magazine about high school sports called The Western Pennsylvania Scholastic. The Wilkinsburg resident had just graduated from Dartmouth College, after spending more than a year in the...
Residents at North Huntingdon care facility test positive for coronavirus
Dozens of residents at a North Huntingdon care facility tested positive for coronavirus this month, officials announced. Transitions Healthcare posted on its Facebook page that 60 residents had contracted the virus in October. Nine have since recovered and officials said they “anticipate and hope that 51 of the residents will...
A lot has changed since Kennedy and Nixon’s first nationally televised presidential debates
When John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon engaged in the third of their four nationally televised presidential debates on Oct. 13, 1960, Game Seven of the World Series had been played earlier that day. Pittsburgh fans will recall the Pirates defeated the New York Yankees. Two days before that, “The...
Man faces state, federal charges in death of Houston officer
HOUSTON — A man accused of fatally shooting a Houston police officer during a domestic disturbance call is facing both state and federal charges and could face the death penalty, authorities announced on Wednesday. In state court, Elmer Manzano is facing a capital murder charge for the death of 65-year-old...
Remains found in search for 1921 Tulsa race massacre victims
OKLAHOMA CITY — At least 10 bodies were found Wednesday in an unmarked mass grave at a Tulsa cemetery where investigators are searching for the remains of victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Oklahoma’s state archaeologist said. “What we were finding was an indication that we were inside a...
James Randi, dazzling magician and skeptic, dies at 92
James Randi, a magician who later challenged spoon benders, mind readers and faith healers with such voracity that he became regarded as the country’s foremost skeptic, has died, his foundation announced. He was 92. The James Randi Educational Foundation confirmed the death, saying simply that its founder succumbed to “age-related...
Boil water notice lifted for Pittsburgh Mills mall complex
A boil water notice that was issued for the Pittsburgh Mills mall complex in Frazer earlier this week has been lifted, according to an official with the Fawn-Frazer Joint Water Authority. “The boil water notice has been lifted and all businesses have been notified,” Authority Chairman Ed Adams said Wednesday....
Bishop Zubik comments on Pope Francis’ endorsement of same-sex civil unions
Bishop David Zubik of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said Pope Francis’ tacit endorsement of civil unions between same-sex couples is a reflection of his call for all people to be treated with dignity and love. In a statement released Wednesday, Zubik said Pope Francis’ recent comments “reflect his pastoral...
Face to face: Trump, Biden to meet for final debate
NASHVILLE — President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, are set to square off in their final debate Thursday, one of the last high-profile opportunities for the trailing incumbent to change the trajectory of an increasingly contentious campaign. Worried about losing the White House, some advisers are urging...
Police: 43 bank hostages freed in ex-Soviet republic Georgia
TBILISI, Georgia — Police in the ex-Soviet nation of Georgia said 43 people were freed after an armed assailant took them hostage in a bank Wednesday, an announcement that came shortly after local media reported the gunman escaped and remained at large still holding three hostages. An armed man took...
