Top Stories category, Page 788
Private emails, encryption app used in discussing Florida’s migrant relocations
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Newly released records from Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed that his public safety czar, Larry Keefe, communicated with a Destin-based contractor hired to fly migrants from Texas to Massachusetts using a private email account with the call name “Clarice Starling.” They also confirmed that he used an encryption...
‘Maybe I will cry’: Southwest travelers in Pittsburgh frustrated by cancellations, delays
Barbara Gray and her husband, Ken, stood at the back of a long, winding line of frustrated passengers Tuesday morning waiting to get to the Southwest Airlines ticket counter at Pittsburgh International Airport. Like many others in line, their flight had been canceled — one of at least 35 Southwest...
Sewickley woman dies in Sewickley Heights crash
A 20-year-old woman has died as a result of injuries suffered in a crash Christmas Eve in Sewickley Heights. Camden Kiggins of Sewickley died about 4 p.m. Christmas Day, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. Kiggins was a passenger in a rollover crash in the 500 block of...
Co-leader of Whitmer kidnapping plot gets 16 years in prison
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The co-leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced Wednesday to 16 years in prison for conspiring to abduct the Democrat and blow up a bridge to ease an escape. Adam Fox returned to federal court Tuesday, four months after he and...
Pennsylvania certifies election results after recount delay
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s top elections official fully certified results from the November vote late last week after recount petitions in some counties had delayed the process, the Department of State said Tuesday. An agency spokesperson said acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman completed certification of all races in the 2022...
Military police to enforce driving ban in snowy Buffalo
BUFFALO, N.Y. — State and military police are being sent to keep people from driving in snow-choked Buffalo, officials said Tuesday as the region kept counting fatalities and strove to recover from its deadliest storm in at least two generations. County Executive Mark Poloncarz said police would be positioned at...
Pittsburgh among cities impacted by Southwest flight cancellations; DOT to investigate
The U.S. Department of Transportation said it will look into flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines that have left travelers stranded at airports across the country amid an intense winter storm that has killed dozens of people. Many airlines were forced to cancel flights due to the weather, but Southwest was...
Tarentum eyes more than $2 million in infrastructure grants
Tarentum could be in store for more than $2 million in infrastructure upgrades if the borough is awarded several grants that it applied for this week. Much of the money would be used to replace aging equipment at the borough’s water plant, which dates to the 1930s. More than $1...
Freeport to receive $1.5 million from federal budget for new sewage plant
With the congressional passage of the federal 2023 spending bill, Freeport secured $1.5 million to help pay for its new sewage treatment plant estimated to cost $16.9 million. The Freeport project was included in the $1.7 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2023. Both the U.S. Senate and House passed the...
Deep-freeze thaw brings busted pipes, busy week for plumbers
The holiday season is busy enough during a normal year. But for plumbers, home heating contractors and emergency responders, the deep freeze over the past few days — and the warmer weather that is on the way — has made things even busier. “I’ve probably had 40 or 50 calls...
New York Rep.-elect George Santos admits lying about career, college
WASHINGTON — Rep.-elect George Santos, R-N.Y., admitted Monday that he lied about his job experience and college education during his successful campaign for a seat in the U.S. House. In an interview with the New York Post, Santos said: “My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry.” He also...
Man killed in shooting in Brighton Heights
Police are investigating a shooting in Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood that left one man dead. At 3:30 p.m. on Monday, officers responded to the 3300 block of Brighton Road for reports of a gunshot victim. They found a man with gunshot wounds, who was taken to the hospital by EMS...
Allegheny County Police make arrest in Mt. Oliver homicide
Allegheny County Police announced an arrest Monday in the shooting death of a man in Mt. Oliver in August. Daleron Newman, 22, of Pittsburgh, is charged with criminal homicide in the Aug. 30 shooting death of Timothy Coates, 20, at Dawes and Frederick streets in the borough, county police said....
Holiday sales up 7.6% despite the squeeze of inflation
NEW YORK — Holiday sales rose this year as American spending remained resilient during the critical shopping season despite surging prices on everything from food to rent, according to one measure. Holiday sales rose 7.6%, a slower pace than the 8.5% increase from a year earlier when shoppers began spending...
$2.2M federal grant to advance Duquesne’s new college of osteopathic medicine
The first entering class of students at Duquesne University’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine will be outfitted with devices to aid patient examinations in remote areas under an award from the federal government. Money for the portable ultrasound handheld devices is included in a $2.2 million grant to help finance...
Western New York death toll rises to 28 from cold, storm chaosVideo
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo residents hovered around space heaters, hunted for cars buried in snow drifts and looked for more victims Monday, after 28 people died in one of the worst weather-related disasters ever to hit western New York. The rest of the United States also was reeling from the...
Latrobe may consider ban on consumer fireworks
Latrobe council may ban consumer fireworks in the city. The issue arose during a debate to amend the city fireworks ordinance to mirror that of newly passed state regulations, which prohibit fireworks within 150 feet of the nearest building or vehicle. City Code Enforcement and Zoning Officer James Niesuma presented...
Dollar General accuses Parks’ store manager of stealing bank deposits
The store manager for the Dollar General in Parks Township faces multiple felony counts after a company official accused him of stealing more than $2,000 that was supposed to be deposited in the bank. Robert Thomas Carter, 38, of Emerson Street Court in Vandergrift was charged with felony burglary, criminal...
Federal spending bill includes $33M for Southwestern Pa. projects
A $1.7 trillion spending bill that passed the Senate and House includes more than $111 million for dozens of projects across Pennsylvania, according to U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton. The federal funding bill earmarks more than $33 million for projects in Southwestern Pennsylvania, including money for sewer rehab, health care...
On a new map, Pennsylvania elects most diverse assembly ever
HARRISBURG — When mapmakers reimagined the boundaries of Pennsylvania’s 253 legislative districts, they did it with an eye on the state’s growing racial and ethnic minorities, and officials say that has helped yield the most diverse incoming class of lawmakers yet. The number of state lawmakers who are Black, Latino...
Josh Shapiro’s win is high note amid antisemitism surge
PITTSBURGH — Josh Shapiro will be taking office as Pennsylvania’s next governor in January after running a campaign in which he spoke early and often about his Jewish religious heritage. At a time of rising concern about overt expressions of antisemitism, some observers are seeing a bright spot in his...
Migrants dropped near VP Harris home on frigid Christmas Eve
WASHINGTON — Three buses of recent migrant families arrived from Texas near the home of Vice President Kamala Harris in record-setting cold on Christmas Eve. Texas authorities have not confirmed their involvement, but the bus drop-offs are in line with previous actions by border-state governors calling attention to the Biden...
Frigid monster storm across U.S. claims at least 34 lives
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The deep freeze from a deadly winter storm that walloped much of the United States will continue into the week as people in western New York deal with massive snow drifts that snarled emergency vehicles and travelers across the country see canceled flights and dangerous roads. The...
Pope’s lament: Icy winds of war buffet humanity at Christmas
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis used his Christmas message Sunday to lament the “icy winds of war” buffeting humanity and to make an impassioned plea for an immediate end to the fighting in Ukraine, a 10-month-old conflict he decried as “senseless.” At noon in Rome, Francis delivered the traditional “Urbi...
Some Ukrainians move up Christmas to part ways with Russia
BOBRYTSIA, Ukraine — Ukrainians usually celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, as do the Russians. But not this year, or at least not all of them. Some Orthodox Ukrainians have decided to observe Christmas on Dec. 25, like many Christians around the world. Yes, this has to do with the war,...
