Top Stories category, Page 562

A member of the Greensburg Police Department has been placed on desk duty, city officials said. The police employee wasn’t identified in a statement issued Thursday by city solicitor Zachary Kansler on behalf of Mayor Robb Bell. The move comes as the city is conducting an internal investigation prompted by...

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said at midday Friday that a Chinese spy balloon had moved eastward and was over the central United States, and that the U.S. rejected China’s claims that it was not being used for surveillance. Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, refused to provide details on...

After the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed in Pittsburgh’s Frick Park in January 2022, Greg Savikas said he thinks it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to closing down bridges that might be unsafe. Savikas, 41, of Greenfield, has driven on the Charles Anderson Memorial Bridge in Pittsburgh’s...

Shell is withholding or slow to release information to the public about flaring, orange glows in the sky and strange noises at its ethylene cracker plant in Beaver County, which started operating in November, an environmental group said this week. Noise complaints from residents — mostly about intermittent “popping sounds”...

The lawyer for a Lower Burrell man awaiting trial in a fatal 2021 shooting at an Upper Burrell bar said his client’s mental health could limit his criminal responsibility for the homicide. Public defender Wayne McGrew told a Westmoreland County judge during a hearing Thursday that Daniel Moles should be...

Pittsburgh Regional Transit is accepting applications from businesses and multifamily, residential buildings for its new Bulk Pass Pilot Program, which would provide transit passes for employees or tenants at significant discounts. The pilot would allow businesses and multifamily residential buildings that are located within a half-mile of PRT service to...

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is a man who writes down his thoughts. And some of those handwritten musings over his decades of public service are now a part of a special counsel’s investigation into the handling of classified documents. It isn’t clear yet what the investigators are looking for...

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan 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 newsletters. When Lehigh Valley doctor Charles Harris started approving patients for medical marijuana a few years ago, most of them were dealing...

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey wants to triple the number of city police officers patrolling Downtown and open a new public safety center there, according to city officials and a letter obtained by the Tribune-Review. Gainey spokeswoman Maria Montano said the mayor’s Downtown Public Safety Initiative has been in the works...

New Kensington’s municipal authority crews were repairing two waterline breaks Thursday — a main line in Lower Burrell under Violet Drive and another waterline under Kennedy Avenue in New Kensington. Fluctuating temperatures and ground movement caused the two breaks, said Ron Balla, assistant superintendent of distribution for the Municipal Authority...

Gov. Josh Shapiro is ordering many state employees to return to the office. Here are the details: What’s new: About 2,300 state government employees, many of whom had been working a hybrid schedule allowing them to work remotely, will now be reporting to the office at least three days a...

Rathin Shah, who grew up in India, had never been to a professional hockey game until the Pittsburgh Penguins invited him and four other graduate student researchers to PPG Paints Arena for an unlikely reason. There was plenty of fast-paced action in the game between the Penguins and Florida Panthers...

First National Bank plans to join the likes of UPMC, Highmark, BNY Mellon and other businesses with brand recognition dotting the Pittsburgh skyline. FNB wants to put its initials and logo on the 26-story skyscraper under construction at the former Civic Arena site in the Lower Hill District, according to...

WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House voted after raucous debate Thursday to oust Democrat Ilhan Omar from the chamber’s Foreign Affairs Committee, citing her anti-Israel comments, in a dramatic escalation after Democrats last session booted far-right GOP lawmakers over incendiary remarks. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was able to solidify Republican support...

Working at the Starbucks in Pittsburgh’s Market Square, Tori Tambellini has faced violent threats, watched angered customers throw things at her manager and twice administered Narcan to people who were overdosing. Tambellini said she and other baristas “signed up to make lattes,” but often encounter people struggling with crises they’re...

A Bell Township bar was sued this week by a woman who claimed she was left a quadriplegic when she was served too much alcohol and fell off a stool. According to the lawsuit, Mary Jo Jordan, 55, of Avonmore contends her injuries two years ago were caused by negligence...

Punxsutawney Phil has spoken — there will be six more weeks of winter. Pennsylvania’s most famous groundhog saw his shadow — for the third year in a row — on Thursday morning in the small Jefferson County town in front of thousands of excited onlookers. Phil emerges every Feb. 2...

Starting this spring, routine visits to pick up medicine at the pharmacy after work might require more advance planning than usual. Officials from major pharmacy chains say staffing problems at pharmacies are the culprit. They are facing a shortage of pharmacists and pharmacy assistants, and some are making changes to...

Little time and little name recognition are two challenges the Republican candidate for the state House 32nd District sees himself and his Democratic opponent sharing. Clayton Walker figures that helps level the playing field between himself and Joe McAndrew as they vie to succeed a titan of Pennsylvania politics in...

A teenager was hospitalized in critical condition and two people were apprehended in connection with a shooting Tuesday evening in Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood. Public Safety spokeswoman Amanda Mueller said officers responded to reports of a person shot around 7:45 p.m. along the 2500 block of Woodward Avenue. They found a...

Sheetz said it has ended its controversial policy that people with visible dental problems should not be hired. Dubbed the “smile policy,” the convenience store chain’s employee handbook previously stated that “applicants with obvious missing, broken, or badly discolored teeth (unrelated to a disability) are not qualified for employment with...

This story first appeared in Talk of the Town, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA’s State College regional bureau featuring the most important news and happenings in north-central Pennsylvania. Sign up for free here. ALTOONA — At least two school districts in Pennsylvania now allow their police officers to store...

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan 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 newsletters. HARRISBURG — In an abrupt change, Pennsylvania’s struggling mortgage relief program will no longer work with the private company originally hired...