Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 958
2nd mask requirement lawsuit filed against Kennywood, Sandcastle, Idlewild
Parents of three children filed a lawsuit Friday in Westmoreland County against Kennywood, Sandcastle Waterpark and Idlewild & SoakZone, claiming they were improperly excluded from the amusement parks in 2020 for not wearing masks. The claims follow nearly identical allegations raised in a still-pending federal lawsuit filed by the same...
Reinventing the dog crate? This Hempfield native hopes to make it apartment-friendly
When Jack Murray moved into an apartment with his roommates, he quickly noticed something: The “pretty small” three-bedroom wasn’t spacious enough for his dog Heidi’s crate. The crate took up “so much room” in Murray’s home and impacted its visual appeal. If he wanted the crate out of the way...
Police: Public’s help needed to locate missing teen girl last seen in Sheraden
Detectives from the Pittsburgh police Special Victim Unit is asking the public for help locating a missing teenage girl. Oujanea Jones, 17, was last seen at 5 p.m. on Sunday in the 3000 block of Glen Mawr Street in the city’s Sheraden neighborhood. Jones is as 5-feet 5-inches tall and...
Sen. Pat Toomey to vote against Judge Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, released a statement on Sunday evening announcing his decision to oppose President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. “While Judge Jackson undoubtedly has an impressive educational and professional background, her inability to define her own judicial philosophy makes it difficult to understand...
Truck drivers needed: job fair to offer opportunities
Edward Roberts recalls how a trucking company offered a student — who had left his minimum wage job to obtain a commercial driver’s license in his driver training school in New Stanton — a shot at a $90,000-a-year job. He would just need to take long-distance routes that would require...
Injuries reported in wreck along Route 30 in Hempfield Township; closed lane snarls traffic
A section of eastbound Route 30 in Hempfield Township is down to a single lane following a two-vehicle accident with injuries, according to authorities. The wreck occurred shortly after 6:15 p.m. near the intersection of Westwood Drive near the Alpine Pools store, according to a Westmoreland County 911 supervisor. First...
Benham, Kinkead criticize Allegheny Democratic committee after failing to win endorsements
The Allegheny County Democratic Committee traditionally endorsed incumbents seeking reelection when it gathered for its annual spring endorsement meeting. But the committee has veered from that norm in recent years, starting in 2020 when the committee did not endorse state Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, an outspoken progressive lawmaker who had...
Truck flips, spills load on Parkway East; road open while debris being cleared
Crews are clearing debris from the Parkway East near Churchill after a tractor-trailer overturned and spilled its load across the road and down a hillside, according to authorities. The accident was reported shortly after 2:30 p.m. near Exit 11 and emergency responders were still on the scene at 4 p.m....
Jon Batiste tops Grammy Awards, winning 5 trophies
LAS VEGAS — Jon Batiste won album of the year honors for “We Are” at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, giving him five trophies on a night that saw the ’70s funk of Silk Sonic take record of the year and song of the year and newcomer Olivia Rodrigo take...
South Carolina educator buys building in hopes of housing private school in Arnold
An elementary school teacher from South Carolina is planning to open a private, nonprofit middle school in Arnold starting in the fall of 2025. Matt DeHart, 26, a fifth grade teacher in Greenville County, S.C., founded the nonprofit Teach from DeHart Foundation in January 2021. He and his wife, New...
Biden cites economic gains, but voters see much more to do
WASHINGTON — Seven months before he faces a critical test from voters in the midterm elections, President Joe Biden is turning his focus to kitchen-table issues as he struggles to get credit for a recovering economy. Since Biden took office last year, job growth has been vigorous and steady —...
Ukraine accuses Russia of massacre, city strewn with bodiesVideo
BUCHA, Ukraine — Bodies with bound hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture lay scattered in a city on the outskirts of Kyiv after Russian soldiers withdrew from the area. Ukrainian authorities accused the departing forces on Sunday of committing war crimes and leaving behind a “scene from a...
California mass shooting: 6 dead, 10 injured in SacramentoVideo
SACRAMENTO, Calif — Six people were killed and 12 injured in a mass shooting early Sunday as bars and nightclubs were closing in downtown Sacramento and police in California’s state capital were searching for at least one suspect. Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester said at a news conference that police...
Estelle Harris, ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Toy Story’ actor who grew up in Tarentum, dies at 93
NEW YORK — Estelle Harris, who hollered her way into TV history as George Costanza’s short-fused mother on “Seinfeld” and voiced Mrs. Potato Head in the “Toy Story” franchise, has died. She was 93. As middle-class matron Estelle Costanza, Harris put a memorable stamp on her recurring role in the...
Lawsuit settled against Fayette County, state police in wrongful conviction of man imprisoned for 26 years
David Munchinski spent nearly 26 years incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. He then waited nearly a decade more to go to trial in the federal lawsuit he filed against the men he said wrongfully convicted him on two counts of first-degree murder. In December, Munchinski, who had long...
Lawyer: No plea deal offered before trial of Greensburg man convicted in Vandergrift woman’s murder
The lawyer for an Export man awaiting trial for his role in the 2017 murder of a Vandergrift woman whose remains were burned beyond recognition in a wooded area near Keystone State Park claims his client did not have a plea deal in place when he testified last summer in...
Region’s school districts leading the way in opportunities for female superintendents
Women long have played a central role in education, but they often are left out of central administration. Women make up up 3 in 4 public school teachers nationwide but account for only about 1 in 4 superintendents, both in Pennsylvania and nationwide. Still, there have been inroads over the...
How $10 million Pressley Ridge donation will benefit Westmoreland locations
Pressley Ridge’s Westmoreland County locations will feel the impact of a $10 million donation gifted to the social service. Last week, Pressley Ridge announced it received the gift from MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist and ex-wife of Jeff Bezos. The McCandless-based organization offers services related to mental health, foster care, crisis stabilization...
Deterioration under Pittsburgh’s Charles Anderson Bridge raises concerns; city says bridge already in rehab process
Squirrel Hill resident William Markley lives just a few blocks away from the site of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in Pittsburgh. He is understandably concerned about the state of the region’s bridges. During his daily commute to his case manager’s job at a recovery clinic in the North Side,...
Documentary chronicles Lower Burrell veteran’s Vietnam War experiences
Hal Shaffer knows first-hand about the sacrifices and suffering war can bring. Now the 74-year-old Lower Burrell man is sharing his story about serving and being wounded during the Vietnam War as part of a documentary series being produced by John Bailey, “Duty, Courage, Honor: Southwestern Pennsylvania Goes to War.”...
Weather service confirms tornado with gusts of 120 mph hit Armstrong County
A tornado with peak wind gusts reaching up to 120 mph traveled a 9-mile path in Armstrong County on Thursday, the National Weather Service confirmed. The EF2 tornado — a strong system with winds between 111 mph and 135 mph — traveled for almost 10 minutes, damaging several trees and...
World War II veteran from Hempfield honored for his service as he turns 100
Joseph Folino, a World War II veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, never expected the community to rally around him as he celebrated his 100th birthday. Saturday afternoon, however, Folino found himself draped in a red, white and blue knit blanket as members of the Army, those...
Ukrainian forces retake areas near Kyiv amid fear of traps
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian troops moved cautiously to retake territory north of the country’s capital on Saturday, using cables to pull the bodies of civilians off the streets in one town out of fear that Russian forces might have booby-trapped them before leaving. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in his...
Schramm Farms in Harrison City holds auction after closing popular market
Some of the first pieces of farm equipment from Schramm Farms & Orchards in Harrison City were auctioned off Saturday morning, marking an end to the Schramm family’s four generations of plowing fields and planting crops in Western Pennsylvania. Despite being a chilly spring morning, more than 300 bidders registered...
Carnegie Mellon to build Moonshot command center to monitor space missions
Anyone old enough to remember those static shots of the men in button-down shirts and ties sitting in front of computer screens during NASA’s Mercury and Apollo endeavors likely understands the importance of having a mission control for space flights. Carnegie Mellon University certainly does. That’s why the school is...
