Top Stories category, Page 830
Where governor candidates Mastriano, Shapiro stand on rural health care, broadband and agriculture
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 — People who live in rural Pennsylvania face unique barriers to health care, broadband, and economic opportunities. About 3.4 million...
Smashing Pumpkins pick up slack in Pittsburgh concert after Jane’s Addiction cancelsVideo
The aptly named “Spirits on Fire” tour, starring alternative rock icons Smashing Pumpkins and Jane’s Addiction was easily one of the most anticipated rock shows scheduled to hit Pittsburgh in 2022. But many Jane’s Addiction fans left PPG Paints Arena disappointed Saturday night, because the Perry Farrell led band, scheduled...
New Leechburg fall festival draws crowd to borough park
Sherry Lockhart of Leechburg couldn’t help but take a trip down memory lane as she petted some of the animals brought to the borough by a Worthington-based farm Saturday afternoon. She affectionately stroked the chin of Samson, a nearly 2-year-old Brahman steer, as she thought about her days growing up...
Illegal border crossings to U.S. from Mexico hit annual high
SAN DIEGO — A surge in migration from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua in September brought the number of illegal crossings to the highest level ever recorded in a fiscal year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The year-end numbers reflect deteriorating economic and political conditions in some countries, the...
West Virginia spring’s waters still drawing devotees
BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. — Every couple weeks, Lauren Lee stuffs a few dozen gallon jugs into a big black laundry bag. She brings it to a covered pavilion right in the middle of Berkeley Springs State Park, which itself is right in the middle of downtown Berkeley Springs, West Virginia....
Alex Jones seeks new trial after $1B Sandy Hook verdict
HARTFORD, Conn. — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has asked a Connecticut judge to throw out a nearly $1 billion verdict against him and order a new trial in a lawsuit by Sandy Hook families, who say they were subjected to harassment and threats from Jones’ lies about the 2012 Newtown...
Ex-teacher brings retro classroom vibe to new School House Bakery in Unity
Shoppers have a new option for sweet treats in Unity, with the Oct. 7 opening of the School House Bakery in the Latrobe 30 Plaza. Display cases are filled with grab-and-go cookies, brownies, scones, cupcakes, small cakes, muffins, seasonally flavored cinnamon rolls and more, all baked on site. Young patrons...
Jail officials across Pa. sound alarm as mental health crisis puts people at risk, survey finds
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. County jails across Pennsylvania lack the resources to address a growing mental health crisis, putting some of the most vulnerable incarcerated...
Most outside spending on Pa. governor’s race has one aim: to defeat Doug Mastriano
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 the nationally watched race for Pennsylvania governor, Democrat Josh Shapiro has outspent Republican rival Doug Mastriano by tens...
Norwin director objects to book on inclusion, diversity used in second grade classroom
A Norwin School Board member has criticized a children’s book read to some Norwin second graders because he claimed it celebrated sexuality while emphasizing diversity and inclusion, with drawings of same-sex couples with children, interracial couples and rainbow-colored items, which could symbolize gay and lesbian pride. “I feel it is...
City Council, activists call for $10 million ‘food justice fund’ from federal covid money; mayor says money isn’t available
In a public hearing this week, Pittsburgh City Council members and activists called for the creation of a $10 million “food justice fund” using American Rescue Plan Act dollars, though the Mayor’s Office said that federal funding isn’t available for such an initiative. Councilwoman Deb Gross late last year sponsored...
Pittsburgh airport security confiscates 5th gun in past 8 days
For the fifth time in eight days, a handgun has been confiscated from a passenger at Pittsburgh International Airport, authorities said. On Friday night, a California man was arrested at the airport when security officers found a carefully concealed Sig Sauer 9mm handgun in a passenger’s duffel bag at the...
Penn Hills man dies following Crescent Gardens Drive shooting
Police investigated a fatal shooting late Friday in Penn Hills in which someone shot two unoccupied cars in a driveway before shooting into a house, killing a 31-year-old man. Allegheny County Police reported that the incident took place shortly after 8:30 p.m. in the 300 block of Crescent Gardens Drive....
Biden student debt relief plan blocked by appeals court
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court late Friday issued an administrative stay temporarily blocking President Joe Biden’s plan to cancel billions of dollars in federal student loans. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stay while it considers a motion from six Republican-led states to block the loan cancellation...
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey announces measures to make neighborhoods safer
Pittsburgh is nixing a requirement that crossing guards have driver’s licenses. The city is also moving ahead with plans to install traffic calming measures in the city’s Glen Hazel neighborhood. The measures, which Mayor Ed Gainey said aim to create safer neighborhoods, were spurred in part by a community meeting...
Squirrel Hill residents concerned about intersection near Fern Hollow Bridge
Some Squirrel Hill residents are petitioning Pittsburgh officials to temporarily hold off on reconfiguring a dangerous intersection in their neighborhood. City officials, however, claim the proposed work needs to be done quickly because money for it is included in the $25.3 million of federal funding being used to pay for...
11-year-old hit by car in Pittsburgh
An 11-year-old girl was hospitalized after being hit by a car Friday afternoon near a school in Carrick. The girl, who was identified as a Pittsburgh Southbrook School student, was meeting a younger sibling who attends Pittsburgh Concord School when the incident occurred, school spokesperson Ebony Pugh said. The girl...
Pa. Supreme Court rejects appeal seeking parole eligibility for 2nd-degree murder on jurisdictional grounds
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said this week that a challenge to the constitutionality of sentencing people to a mandatory life-without-parole prison term for second-degree murder must be handled through individual appellate proceedings, not Commonwealth Court. Six people serving life without parole for what is known as felony murder — the...
Guilty plea due in Michigan school shooting that killed 4
DETROIT — A teenager accused of killing four fellow students and injuring more at a Michigan high school is expected to plead guilty to murder next week, authorities said Friday. Ethan Crumbley had created images of violence during a classroom assignment last November but was not sent home from Oxford...
After typical work week, Kenny Pickett eager to start again for Steelers
His pro debut came at halftime of a game after a dispute of some level between his team’s star receiver and its previous starting quarterback. His first start was on the road at the Super Bowl favorites. The result was a 38-3 loss. Then, during the third quarter of his...
North Huntingdon police make another arrest in undercover drug sting
North Huntingdon police made an arrest Thursday after an undercover drug buy of 1,000 stamp bags of suspected heroin/fentanyl, which was at least the second such arrest in eight days in the township. Keith E. Blackman, 30, who lists addresses in Jeannette and North Versailles, was being held at the...
Jan. 6 panel issues subpoena to Trump, demanding he testify
WASHINGTON — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol issued a subpoena Friday to Donald Trump, exercising its subpoena power against the former president who lawmakers say “personally orchestrated” a multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The nine-member panel issued a...
Pittsburgh International Airport auction is back
Looking for a good deal on a rare or everyday item? The Allegheny County Airport Authority is bringing back its annual auction. Over 8,000 items are up for bid Saturday with doors opening at 8:30 a.m. and bidding starting at 10 a.m. A wide variety of items are available, including...
Police: Bell Township man charged with felony in fatal shooting of beagle that wouldn’t listen
State police charged a man from Bell Township with a felony count of aggravated cruelty to animals after his estranged wife told them he fatally shot their beagle because it wasn’t listening. Eric J. Rumbaugh, 51, of the 300 block of Nelson Road also faces charges of simple assault, reckless...
Bannon gets 4 months behind bars for defying 1/6 subpoena
WASHINGTON — Steve Bannon, a longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was sentenced Friday to serve four months behind bars after defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols allowed Bannon to stay free pending appeal...
