Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1860
Highlands hires new bus company; longtime provider threatens to sue
W.L. Roenigk didn’t take kindly to Highlands School District’s decision Monday to hire a new transit company as its school bus contractor. “We’re not done,” company President Sue Roenigk said after the board voted 7-1 Monday to award a five-year contract to ABC Transit. Pat Roenigk, an attorney and shareholder...
Trump targets Pell Grant money for NASA’s budget boost
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is hoping to shift money for Pell Grants for college education to fund new spending, including a $1.6 billion bump for NASA. Under a budget amendment sent Monday evening to Congress, the administration would use an additional $1.9 billion in surplus Pell Grant money to...
Diocese of Greensburg priest removed pending sex abuse investigation
A Diocese of Greensburg priest has been placed on leave as law enforcement investigates an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor, the diocese said. Officials said they received the allegation Monday against the Rev. Andrew M. Kawecki. He served as pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Everson and St....
Slain Freeport woman had PFA against ex-boyfriend, faced threats
Shortly after Mary Jo Kornick kicked Nicholas Domek III out of their Freeport apartment, Domek told a neighbor that Kornick “was going to get hers.” That neighbor, Donna Dreyer, told the Tribune-Review on Monday she never expected him to do anything drastic. “I just thought it was going to blow...
Jury: Monsanto to pay $2 billion in weed killer cancer case
OAKLAND, Calif. — A jury on Monday ordered agribusiness giant Monsanto Co. to pay a combined $2.05 billion to a couple claiming that the company’s popular weed killer Roundup Ready caused their cancers. The jury’s verdict is third such courtroom loss for Monsanto in California since August. The state court...
Stranger storms into Apollo home, grabs knife, police say
A woman charged into an Apollo home during a Mother’s Day dinner and grabbed a knife before an occupant wrested it away, police said. Eric Cheierici, 41, a chef from North Apollo, and his 62-year-old father had just made a spaghetti dinner for Cheierici’s 87-year-old grandmother in her Apollo house...
Pittsburgh region’s rainfall above average in 2019, but behind 2018 pace
If it seems to have been wet for a solid week, it wasn’t your imagination. The Pittsburgh area saw rain for six consecutive days, with about an inch of rain recorded at Pittsburgh International Airport from Thursday through Monday, according to the National Weather Service Pittsburgh office in Moon. The...
As China retaliates on tariffs, stock markets take deep diveVideo
U.S. markets plunged Monday as China said it would raise steep tariffs on $60 billion in U.S. goods, upping the stakes of a trade war that threatens to imperil the global economy. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 617 points, or nearly 2.4%, as investors feared that a trade...
Editorial: U.S.-China trade war is scary roller coaster
If you have any money in the stock market, you’re going to want to close your eyes, catch your breath and hold on tight. The roller-coaster ride that is the daily ups and downs of trading is headed for a whole new set of death-defying loops. We know why. In...
Andy Warhol Museum marks silver anniversary
The Andy Warhol Museum is celebrating its silver anniversary today, with plans to mark the 25th anniversary of its May 13, 1994, opening at 117 Sandusky St. on Pittsburgh’s North Side with several special events this year and next. It's our 25th anniversary! On 5/13/1994, we opened with an inaugural...
New mural shares Monroeville Mall memories through 50 years
The Monroeville Mall became one of the country’s largest shopping centers of its time 50 years ago. Staff, elected officials and residents gathered Monday to celebrate, reminisce and tout the mall’s successes over the years. A mural that included photos of the mall under construction in 1968, the old ice...
Pittsburgh will waive fines, pay towing cost for cars towed before marathon
Pittsburgh took blame Monday for a towing fiasco that erupted in the hours before last week’s marathon and announced it would waive parking fines and pay towing costs for any vehicle removed from the route between 11 p.m. and midnight the night before the race. Mayor Bill Peduto met with...
Disney will use Stormtroopers to police ‘Star Wars’ land time limit
“Move along.” It’s something any true “Star Wars” fan would love hearing from a real Stormtrooper. But, wait. They’re serious? With tons — and we mean TONS — of people desperate to visit Disney’s new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge attraction in California and Orlando, the Los Angeles Times reports the...
Condom company’s plugin blocks baby photos on Facebook
Your friends just can’t stop posting photos of their new babies on Facebook. And it’s infuriating. Well condom maker Skyn is here to rescue you — with a “social media contraceptive.” They’ve come up with a Google Chrome extension that filters out those annoying photos on your Facebook feed and...
Arkansas police K9 Mya smiles wide for high school yearbook photo
That’s a good girl. A police K9 was pictured in the yearbook of the Arkansas high school where she doubles as a school resource officer. And she sure looks happy about it. Mya, a 2-year-old Belgian malinois who works with the Bryant Police Department about 20 miles southwest of Little...
President Trump boasts that Red Sox swept a sub-.500 team thanks to him
There’s a particular subset of Donald Trump tweets in which he tries to take credit for things for which he obviously deserves no credit. This is different than that genre of tweets in which Trump claims, retroactively, to have been right about something, a prolific genre of its own. Here,...
IHOP Mother’s Day tweet of pancakes in a sonogram falls flat
In an effort to celebrate Mother’s Day, IHOP offered its love to mothers everywhere by sharing a photoshopped sonogram of a woman’s womb full of pancakes, jokingly suggesting in a tweet that eating the breakfast favorite might cause a food baby to grow in the uterus. On Sunday morning, right...
Supreme Court rules against Apple, allowing lawsuit targeting App Store to proceed
Apple suffered a significant defeat at the Supreme Court on Monday, when the justices ruled that consumers could forge ahead with a lawsuit against the iPhone giant over the way it manages its App Store. The 5-4 decision could spell serious repercussions for one of Apple’s most lucrative lines of...
Unity man accused of leading police on 15-mile chase on ATV
A Unity man is accused of being drunk while leading police on a 15-mile chase on an all-terrain vehicle through the township early Sunday, according to court papers. The chase ended when Michael Duane Balik, 22, of Whitney, crashed near Armel Hollow and Quarry roads, state police said. His male...
‘Game of Thrones’: Did you see Aaron Rodgers? If so, where?
***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD THROUGH SEASON 8, EPISODE 5 OF ‘GAME OF THRONES’*** Divisive as it was, there’s at least one thing we can all agree on: Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was in last night’s “Game of Thrones” episode, “The Bells.” We remain, however, a house divided on where...
Roman numerals, anyone? Poll suggests bias against Arabic numerals
Who knows exactly what a new poll says about mathematics in America, but the reactions to a recent poll on the topic are a little alarming. When CivicScience, a Pittsburgh-based market research firm, polled more than 3,200 Americans on the issue of mathematics instruction last week, 56% of the respondents...
Cops: Derry Township man attacked stepfather with butcher knife
A Derry Township man is accused of attacking his stepfather with a butcher knife Saturday inside a house in the village of Torrance. State police said Thomas McQuaide, 53, defended himself with a baseball bat during the 11 a.m. attack, striking David Geisler, 21, in the head. Trooper Ty Smith...
Legendary actress and singer Doris Day dead at 97
LOS ANGELES — Doris Day, the honey-voiced singer and actress whose film dramas, musicals and innocent sex comedies made her a top star in the 1950s and ’60s and among the most popular screen actresses in history, has died. She was 97. The Doris Day Animal Foundation confirmed Day died...
Uber driver accused of trying to kidnap 2 women arrested
Police arrested an Uber driver accused of trying to kidnap two women early Saturday in Pittsburgh. Richard Lomotey, 36, of Monaca, picked up the women and then disregarded the GPS directions and locked them in his Ford Fusion, according to police. The women requested a ride home to Penn Hills...
Trump says China will be ‘hurt very badly’ if no trade deal
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is warning Chinese President Xi Jinping that China “will be hurt very badly” if they don’t agree to a trade deal. Trump tweeted Monday after the countries failed to reach a deal in recent talks. The Trump administration has raised tariffs on $200 billion of...
