Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1440
Gov. Wolf renews call for legal recreational marijuana
Gov. Tom Wolf Thursday renewed his call for legal recreational marijuana, accusing legislators of dragging their feet on the issue. “In the past year, the Legislature has failed to find time to debate, let alone pass, adult-use cannabis, even though this is an issue that affects thousands of Pennsylvanians through...
Covid vaccine will not end pandemic, UPMC doctors say
A safe, effective vaccine for covid-19 will not be the end of the coronavirus pandemic, UPMC doctors said Thursday. The disease is “incredibly dynamic,” said Dr. Oscar Marroquin, UPMC chief health care data and analytics officer. The ways people respond to the virus and how doctors treat it keep changing....
Westmoreland County reports 14 new covid-19 cases
Westmoreland County on Thursday reported 14 new cases of coronavirus. That brings the county’s total cases to 1,851. There were no new deaths attributed to covid-19, leaving the total at 49 since Aug. 19, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. Westmoreland County coronavirus by dayInfogram Of the...
Allegheny County reports 105 new coronavirus cases
Allegheny County on Thursday reported 105 new cases of covid-19, bringing the total to 10,549 cases. The total reported cases in the county is now 10,549 with 10,211 of those confirmed and 338 probable. The county reported one new death from Sept. 2 for a total of 344. That patient...
As covid-19 changes political campaigns, airport stops are nothing new
Covid-19 has changed the landscape of political campaigning as the presidential election draws near. President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to visit Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity on Thursday evening, has been forced to trade in his large-scale Make America Great Again rallies for simpler, smaller stops. Thursday’s airport...
The Laser Loop, a former Kennywood favorite, is for saleVideo
Are you loopy enough to buy a roller coaster? Now, you can. The Laser Loop, an attraction at Kennywood Park in West Mifflin from 1980 to 1990, is for sale. You’ll need to negotiate the $490,000 asking price, which does not include the cost of dismantling the ride, transporting it...
FBI investigating embattled Brighton Rehab nursing home in Beaver County
Investigators with the FBI served search warrants Thursday morning at Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center, the Beaver County nursing home that was the site of one of the nation’s deadliest covid-19 outbreaks. U.S. Attorney Scott Brady confirmed the FBI executed court-authorized warrants at Brighton Rehab as well as Mount Lebanon...
Pittsburgh cop acquitted in road-rage case could go back to work after city misses deadline
A missed filing deadline by the City of Pittsburgh law department means that it lost an appeal on whether a police officer arrested but acquitted in a road-rage incident can go back to work. In a 10-page Commonwealth Court opinion issued Tuesday, Judge Patricia McCullough did not address the issue...
McKees Rocks man charged with homicide in death of woman who was found in a refrigerator
Before she was found dead May 4 in a refrigerator in the hallway of a McKees Rocks apartment building, Kristy Jefferson told her mother that if anything ever happened to her, Daryl Jones would be the man to blame, according to court documents. Jones, 41, was charged Thursday with homicide...
Ex-West Penn employee accused of videotaping coworkers faces more charges
A former West Penn Hospital employee already accused of surreptitiously recording coworkers in the bathroom now faces 83 additional charges, some of which allege he recorded unsuspecting patients in an MRI room, according to court records. Guy Caley, 52, of Canonsburg, was originally charged in July, months after a co-worker...
Pittsburgh expert: 6 important things to know about covid testing and going to sporting events
As the covid-19 pandemic continues, questions regarding testing, vaccines and quarantine are constantly evolving. Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Pittsburgh-based infectious disease and critical care physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, answered a range of questions from the Trib today. Trib: There’s been a lot...
2 dead, 2 wounded in Philadelphia shooting
PHILADELPHIA — Police on Thursday were seeking suspects after two teenagers were killed and two were wounded in a shooting that left the city’s police commissioner “at a loss for words.” Three gunman approached the victims and opened fire on Moore Street on Wednesday night, Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said. Jaheim...
2 nearly struck during target shooting near Cloverleaf Golf Club
Two men are expected to be charged after bullets they fired while target shooting whizzed past golfers at Cloverleaf Golf Club in Salem. Cody Kun, 28, and Timothy Kulasa, 26, both of McKeesport, are expected to face charges of reckless endangerment, according to state police in Kiski. The pair were...
Biden meets Jacob Blake’s family to start Wisconsin trip
KENOSHA, Wis. — Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden began a visit to the battleground state of Wisconsin on Thursday by meeting with the family of Jacob Blake, the Black man whose shooting by a white police officer sparked days of sometimes violent protests. Biden spent more than an hour in...
Jobless claims fall to 881,000 but layoffs remain elevated
WASHINGTON — The number of laid-off Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to a still-elevated 881,000 last week, evidence that the viral pandemic keeps forcing many businesses to slash jobs. The latest figures, released Thursday by the Labor Department, suggest that nearly six months after the eruption of the coronavirus,...
Editorial: Sign theft stifles free speech
Speech isn’t always about using your voice. Maybe it’s a book. Maybe it’s a quote in a magazine article. It could be a T-shirt or a hat or a tattoo. But as the election approaches, one form of speech will pop up more and more: the yard sign. They may...
White House moves to revoke federal funding from ‘anarchist jurisdictions’
The Trump administration is taking steps to revoke federal funding from metropolitan cities he says are becoming “anarchist jurisdictions.” President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a five-page memo ordering federal agencies to send information to the White House Office of Management and Budget that detail monies that can be redirected....
House OKs changes to mail-in voting law; Wolf threatens veto
HARRISBURG — In the shadow of an increasingly strident presidential campaign, Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives approved changes to the state’s fledgling mail-in voting law Wednesday, but in highly partisan fashion. The Republican-penned bill passed, 112-90, on a near party-line vote in the battleground state where President Trump’s campaign and the...
Budget deficit to hit record $3.3 trillion because of coronavirus, recession
WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit is projected to hit a record $3.3 trillion as huge government expenditures to fight the coronavirus and to prop up the economy have added more than $2 trillion to the federal ledger, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. The spike in the deficit means...
Lower Burrell councilwoman to sing national anthem at Trump rally
Lower Burrell Councilwoman Rosina Albanese is singing the national anthem at President Trump’s campaign stop Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. Albanese, 27, a Republican, said she was called recently by a Republican Party representative asking if she would sing at a high profile event at the Unity airport....
Pa. Liquor Control Board reports record net income despite sales decline
Despite the first annual sales decline in 26 years, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board on Wednesday reported record net income for the fiscal year that ended June 30. Liquor sales were hit hard particularly in the early stages of the pandemic when state wine and spirits stores were closed due...
State attorney general accuses Gillece Services of ‘bait-and-switch’ tactics on clogged sewer jobs
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has filed a lawsuit against Gillece Services in Allegheny County alleging a “bait-and-switch scheme” that lured customers in with deceptively low prices only to tell them the job required different, expensive home improvement work. The complaint filed Tuesday seeks restitution for every customer the attorney...
Nursing home covid-19 case, death data still missing from Pa.’s public reports
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLIVE/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG — During the first three months of the coronavirus pandemic, the public had no way to measure which Pennsylvania...
Steroids can save lives among covid-19 patients, UPMC and Pitt researchers sayVideo
An international study led by scientists at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that inexpensive steroids improve outcomes of severely ill covid-19 patients. The World Health Organization has updated treatment guidance in reaction to the study. The findings were published Wednesday in the Journal of the...
Man gets lengthy prison term for child sexual abuse at North Side in-home daycare
A man convicted of sexually abusing children at his mother’s in-home daycare on Pittsburgh’s North Side will serve at least 44 years in prison. David Tyus, 21, was found guilty by a jury in March of rape of a child and other sexual assault charges. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge...
