Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1494
Southern covid-19 hot spots continue to draw local air passengers
Officials in Allegheny County have linked local covid-19 cases with travel to infection hot spots such as Myrtle Beach. That doesn’t seem to have deterred passengers from booking area flights to the South Carolina beach mecca or to other destinations in Florida, where cases also have been on the rise....
Where coronavirus experts in Pittsburgh think pandemic is headed
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump called the coronavirus fight a “war” with an “invisible enemy.” While some have argued that may not be the best analogy, no one could blame the health professionals who have risen to the task of dealing with the pandemic for feeling embattled. In Southwestern...
West Mifflin police searching for missing woman
West Mifflin police are searching for a woman last seen in California. Don “Dawn” Leo Dawayne Manson was last seen in San Francisco, but officers believe she may be in the Pittsburgh area. She drives a red four-door Kia Rio with a Florida license plate. The license plate number is...
Outdoor attractions pushed as Pittsburgh region’s tourism industry copes with covid-19Video
Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands is known for outdoor activities in scenic settings. Such outings have taken on an even greater appeal for tourists amid the social distancing guidelines of the covid-19 pandemic. During the health crisis, families and friends “really want to stay together as a close group,” said Ann...
Trump’s views — bleak about the U.S., rosy about coronavirus — put Republicans on the spotVideo
WASHINGTON — White House surrogates and GOP lawmakers struggled Sunday to defend President Donald Trump after he spent the Fourth of July holiday weekend denigrating the racial-justice movement galvanized by George Floyd’s killing and playing down a deadly pandemic by claiming that 99% of coronavirus cases are “completely harmless.” In...
Fire engulfs Salem home; family makes it out safelyVideo
A Salem family is homeless after a fire that started in a gas grill on the front porch destroyed their home Sunday night. Erik and Melissa Strobel and their four children were home at 193 Roosevelt Way when the fire broke out just before 8 p.m. Family members, including a...
Motorcyclist airlifted to hospital after crash near Route 51 in Aliquippa
A motorcycle lost control and crashed Sunday afternoon where Route 51 meets the Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge, officials said. The driver of the motorcycle was airlifted to a nearby hospital, a Beaver County 911 shift commander said. The person’s condition was not available. No other vehicles appeared to be involved in the...
Lawyer: Remains of missing Texas soldier Vanessa Guillén identified
DALLAS — Army investigators have identified the body of a soldier who vanished more than two months ago from a base in Texas, according to a lawyer for the soldier’s family. Remains found last week buried near Fort Hood belong to Spc. Vanessa Guillén and Army officials informed her family...
Police investigate death of man, 52, found in Etna alley
Detectives are investigating the death of a man who died Sunday morning shortly after police found him in an Etna alley, officials said. The man has not yet been identified. Officials responded to a 911 call reporting a body lying in the alley of South Spring Street near Maplewood Street,...
Coronavirus fear prompts Mexican town to block road from U.S. border
MEXICO CITY — Residents of the town of Sonoyta, across from Lukeville, Ariz., briefly blocked the main road leading south from the U.S. border over the weekend over fears of coronavirus outbreaks. Arizona has seen a major upsurge in infections and there were worries about intensified contagion during the July...
Penn Hills Shop ’n Save closes after 4th employee tests positive for covid-19
The Penn Hills Shop ’n Save has closed until further notice after a fourth employee tested positive for covid-19 in less than a week. None of the employees who contracted the coronavirus disease have been inside the store since June 29, according to owner Greg Hartley. He said the decision...
Duke, Dominion cancel contested Atlantic Coast Pipeline
RICHMOND, Va. — The developers of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline announced Sunday that they are canceling the multi-state natural gas project, citing delays and increasing cost uncertainty. Despite a victory last month at the United States Supreme Court over a critical permit, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy said in a...
Forest Hills closes pool for a week to comply with county crowd size
Forest Hills Mayor Frank Porco Sunday said he moved to close the municipal pool for the next week out of an abundance of caution and to adhere to the Allegheny County Health Department’s order prohibiting gatherings of more than 25 people for a period of one week. “I want to...
Westmoreland County counts 27 new coronavirus cases Sunday
Westmoreland County saw 27 new cases of covid-19 Sunday, but no additional deaths, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported. That makes the seventh time in the past week that Westmoreland County saw double-digit increases in new coronavirus cases. The new cases bring the total number of cases in the county...
Pennsylvania counts 479 new covid-19 cases Sunday
The Pennsylvania Department of Health Sunday confirmed an additional 479 positive cases of covid-19, bringing the statewide total to 89,854. Officials said they recorded an increase of four new deaths due to the virus, bringing the total number of deaths statewide to 6,753. Meanwhile, 734,846 Pennsylvanians across the state now...
Fireworks trigger fights and fires across Pittsburgh
Complaints were popping almost as fast as a string of firecrackers as Pittsburghers celebrated the Fourth of July. According to the city’s Fireworks Taskforce, investigators from the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police and the Bureau of Fire, answered 131 fireworks complaints on Saturday and then were forced to triage another 125...
Allegheny County coronavirus cases decline for 3rd straight day
Allegheny County Health Department officials reported 127 new covid-19 cases on Sunday, with four more hospitalizations. The new numbers marked the the third straight day of declines in new cases after a record-setting 233 cases Thursday, followed by 177 cases Friday and 150 Saturday. The county reported no new deaths,...
Kiski Township police arrest man with 150 stamp bags of heroin
An Indiana County man was arrested on multiple drug charges early Sunday morning after Kiski Township Police found 150 stamp bags of heroin in his car during a traffic stop along State Route 56. Township Police said Charles King Sr., 49, of Clymer was charged with possession with intent to...
Trump Cabinet members look to reassure battleground voters
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue tromped through a strawberry festival in central Florida, detailing the government’s new trade pact. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talked about foreign policy at a roundtable in south Florida. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler toured parts of Michigan and Wisconsin, where...
Facebook groups pivot to attacks on Black Lives Matter
CHICAGO — A loose network of Facebook groups that took root across the country in April to organize protests over coronavirus stay-at-home orders has become a hub of misinformation and conspiracies theories that have pivoted to a variety of new targets. Their latest: Black Lives Matter and the nationwide protests...
Turtle Creek man dead in Homewood shooting
A 32 year-old Turtle Creek man died Saturday evening in UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, Pittsburgh, following a shooting in the city’s Homewood neighborhood. Pittsburgh Police who responded to a report of a shooting at about 9:45p.m., arrived at at the intersection of Mohler Street and Ferris Court and found a man...
Westmoreland among the counties that charge inmates a fee to be locked up
Two single beds with semi-private bathroom. Shared shower and gym facilities. A balcony room that overlooks a spacious common area with tables and television. No safe in the room, and sunlight is minimal. Free parking. Meals and outfit included in $10 nightly fee. Book and movie rentals available. Guests may...
Coronavirus taking its toll on hotel tax revenues across the region
As Western Pennsylvania struggles with the coronavirus, officials say the pandemic is expected to have a dramatic, continued impact on tax revenue collected from hotel stays, which in turn is used to promote the region’s more than $7 billion travel industry. Virus fears resulted in fewer people coming to the...
For nation’s birthday, Trump lashes out at ‘radical left’
WASHINGTON — On a day meant for unity and celebration, President Trump vowed to “safeguard our values” from enemies within — leftists, looters, agitators, he said — in a Fourth of July speech packed with all the grievances and combativeness of his political rallies. Trump watched paratroopers float to the...
U.S. nuclear envoy to visit South Korea, Japan
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, the Trump administration’s main representative for North Korea, will visit South Korea on Tuesday before heading to Japan, Yonhap reported Saturday, citing unidentified diplomatic sources. Biegun will visit Seoul on Tuesday, where he is likely to meet South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon along...
