Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1433
VP Mike Pence drops plan to go to fundraiser hosted by QAnon backers
BILLINGS, Mont. — Vice President Mike Pence has canceled plans to attend a Trump campaign fundraiser in Montana following revelations that the event’s hosts had expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory. President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign told The Associated Press on Saturday that Pence’s schedule had been changed, but...
Trump’s virus debate: Project strength or level with public
WASHINGTON — “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” — President Franklin D. Roosevelt. “Men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour’” — British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. “One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear” — President Donald Trump. ——— In times of crisis...
How to see the planet Uranus without a telescope
For the next few nights Uranus, one of the most distant planets in our solar system, will be visible to the naked eye. It will appear over the eastern horizon at 11:30 p.m. and then rise from about a third of the way up into the night sky gradually moving...
Dakotas lead U.S. in virus growth as both reject mask rules
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Coronavirus infections in the Dakotas are growing faster than anywhere else in the nation, fueling impassioned debates over masks and personal freedom after months in which the two states avoided the worst of the pandemic. The argument over masks raged this week in Brookings, South Dakota,...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Fans, parents should be allowed at HS football games
If a high school football game is played in the forest with no one around, does it make a sound? Of course it does: It’s the noise of parents complaining. You’re never going to shut them up. But WPIAL football parents have a legit gripe, one that transcends, “My Johnny...
Pennsylvania reports 920 additional coronavirus cases, 25 new deaths
Pennsylvania on Saturday reported 920 additional coronavirus cases and 25 new deaths, according to the state Department of Health. York County added 129 positive cases of covid-19, the state said. In all, there have been 143,805 coronavirus cases recorded in the state. With the 25 additional deaths, the state’s death...
Westmoreland County reports 17 additional covid-19 cases, no new deaths
Westmoreland County reported 17 additional coronavirus cases on Saturday, according to the state Department of Health. That brings the county’s total covid-19 cases to 1,962, with 1,888 confirmed and 74 probable. In all, 39,463 people in the county have tested negative. Westmoreland County coronavirus by dayInfogram With no new deaths...
Allegheny County reports 57 additional coronavirus cases, 1 new death
Allegheny County on Saturday reported 57 new coronavirus cases and one additional death, according to a report by the county’s health department. The additional cases — 43 of which were confirmed, 14 probable — bumped the county’s seven-day average to 60 per day. There were 1,127 total tests recorded during...
Better weather aids battle against deadly Western U.S. wildfires
SALEM, Ore. — Diminishing winds and rising humidity helped firefighters battling deadly blazes in Oregon and California, but with dozens of people still missing, authorities in both states feared that the receding flames could reveal many more dead across the blackened landscape. Oregon’s emergency management director said officials were preparing...
Pa. lawmakers take record before voters under new election rules
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania voters will soon issue their verdict on the legislature’s response to the covid-19 pandemic by either extending the gains Democrats made two years ago or further tightening Republicans’ longstanding grip on both chambers. The GOP-majority General Assembly has been in hybrid mode this year, after senators and...
Pa. state police open academy doors to demonstrate use-of-force training
The quick decisions state police must make when confronting a potential threat are tough enough. Now, subtract time and add stress. It’s an equation that has no clear answer when a situation escalates and a trooper decides he or she must use some level of force to get someone to...
97-year-old Latrobe resident’s Facebook baking page going strong; cookbook in the worksVideo
At a friend’s suggestion, Mary Ellen Raneri of Latrobe posted a video on Facebook of her 97-year-old mother baking one of her time-tested recipes. That single video in March led to the “Baking With Lucy” Facebook page as a way for the pair to offer connection and encouragement to others...
WPIAL high school football Week 1 scores for Sept. 11, 2020
TribLIVE’s sports reporters have you covered from Friday’s Week 1 high school football action. GAMES OF THE WEEK • CLAIRTON 34, JEANNETTE 28 Senior running back Dontae Sanders ran for 209 yards and three touchdowns for the Bears, who held Jeannette at bay in the second half. • BURRELL 22,...
West Mifflin recalling student computers for ‘urgent security updates’
The West Mifflin Area School District is recalling student devices for “urgent security updates,” according to a post on the district’s website. The recall will begin Monday and will run through the week. Members of the technology department will work to resolve issues reported by students during the first week...
State grants awarded for 13 historic preservation projects in Pittsburgh region
Renovations of landmark Pittsburgh buildings are among 13 projects in Southwestern Pennsylvania that have been awarded funds though the Keystone Historic Preservation Grant program. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission this week announced 52 of the preservation grants, totaling $2.6 million, for projects in 24 counties. Nine approved projects in...
Duquesne professor placed on leave for using racial slur during lesson
Duquesne University placed an education professor on paid leave Friday after backlash erupted in response to his use of a racial slur during a virtual class on Thursday. The class was captured in videos and posted to social media. Effective Friday afternoon, “that faculty member in the video is on...
Pittsburgh pizzeria sues Winghart’s owners over Market Square fire
The owner of a Market Square restaurant is accusing the previous owners of its neighbor, Winghart’s, of failing to call for help for 45 minutes when a fire broke out there last fall. Rudolph Sergio Muto, who owns La Gondola Pizzeria & Restaurant, filed a lawsuit in Allegheny County Common...
Political color abounds outside Flight 93 memorial for 9/11 service
About 100 cars and pickups, many sporting Trump flags and bumper stickers, lined Route 30 Friday morning at the entrance to the Flight 93 National Memorial. Most of those parked along the highway had hoped to attend the 19th 9/11 Memorial Observance but were left to wait outside the gates....
19th anniversary of 9/11 marked at Flight 93 memorial with visits by Trump, BidenVideo
It was quiet. A line of geese honked overhead as United Flight 93 Capt. Jason Dahl’s name was read. A police horse neighed in the distance as passenger Colleen Fraser was remembered. The silence was noticeable throughout the 19th annual remembrance ceremony for the 40 passengers and crewmembers on the...
Owner of Medicine Shoppe in Jeannette denies ‘price gouging’
As owner of the Medicine Shoppe in Jeannette for 27 years, pharmacist James Beatty believes he’s served the needs of the community to the best of his ability. That’s why word this week that state Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Beatty entered into an agreement in response to a recent...
Westmoreland leads region in fatal overdose prosecutions
Carmen Capozzi knows all too well the horrors associated with drug addiction. For three days in 2015, he sat quietly in a Westmoreland County courtroom and watched the trial of a Wilkinsburg man charged with selling his 20-year-old son a fatal dose of heroin three years earlier. Capozzi’s silence ended...
Suspects in burning of unmarked Pittsburgh police car during protest appear in court
Four people charged after the burning of a Pittsburgh police vehicle during protests May 30 near PPG Paints Arena waived their charges to Allegheny County Common Pleas Court on Friday. Cameron Guetta, Dajon Lengyel, Robert Redman, Shaheed Hatch and Khalena Connolly-Wack were all charged after the unmarked car was destroyed...
‘Orange sky made me want to go back’: Ligonier man home after battling Calif. wildfires
Many people viewing the startling images of wildfires ravaging millions of acres in California might shy away from an opportunity to get in the middle of a dry-season inferno. Not Joshua Derk, a state-certified wildland firefighter and second lieutenant with Ligonier’s Valley Hose Co. Derk, 30, returned Tuesday from Point...
Small breweries take advantage of liquor laws to create ‘Pennsylvania Loophole’ beer
Small breweries, like so many other businesses, have been hit hard by the health and safety restrictions of the covid-19 pandemic. Those who don’t have the means of selling their beer beyond pints and growlers are in an especially difficult position. “We’re just a small, family-owned brewery with a two-barrel...
No move to remote learning, as Penn State adds 272 covid cases since last update
A week after Penn State President Eric Barron said he would consider moving the university to remote learning, he announced Friday that such a move was not yet necessary. The announcement came on the heels of Friday’s updated COVID-19 dashboard, which showed 272 new cases of the coronavirus at University...
