Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 964
Pitt professor in Ukraine tells U.S. ‘send money and weapons’Video
During a week when President Biden visited Europe and promised the U.S. would provide $1 billion to deal with the surge in Ukrainian refugees from the attack by Russia, a University of Pittsburgh economics professor living in Ukraine was asked what his country really needs from the United States. “Weapons,”...
Pittsburgh metro area loses population, leads nation in natural population decline
The Pittsburgh metropolitan area lost 13,755 residents between July 2020 and July 2021, according to U.S. Census estimates. The biggest factor of that loss was the region’s natural decline, which is when an area experiences more deaths than births. The Pittsburgh metro area’s natural decline of 10,383 was the largest...
‘It’s been too long’: Family of slain Wilkinsburg mother pleads for answersVideo
Latoya Gathers said her 7-year-old granddaughter sometimes cries and calls out for her mother during the night. The girl was at home in Wilkinsburg last year when two men came in, demanded money and then shot her mother, Zaviawna Gathers. Gathers, 26, was pronounced dead in a second-floor bedroom at...
Ice shelf collapses in previously stable East Antarctica
An ice shelf the size of New York City has collapsed in East Antarctica, an area long thought to be stable and not hit much by climate change, concerned scientists said Friday. The collapse, captured by satellite images, marked the first time in human history that the frigid region had...
Feds charge 2 men with hate crimes in Beaver County care-home abuse case
Two men already charged in Beaver County now face federal hate-crime counts, with prosecutors accusing them of abusing physically and intellectually disabled residents at a care home where they worked. An indictment against the men said they punched and kicked residents in the face, choked them and sprayed and rubbed...
Police ID man who ripped state flag from pole at Hempfield gas station, charges expectedVideo
State troopers on Friday identified a man who ripped the Pennsylvania state flag from a pole outside a Sheetz convenience store in Hempfield. The flag was flying at half-staff in honor of two troopers who were killed in the line of duty this week. Trooper Steve Limani said tips from...
Stained-glass windows from former Mt. Pleasant parish rescued by historical society
A last-minute rescue this month resulted in several pieces of century-old Mt. Pleasant history being returned to Western Pennsylvania after spending almost two decades of being stored inside a warehouse near Columbus, Ohio. Nine stained-glass windows, weighing between 700 and 900 pounds each, that adorned the former Transfiguration Roman Catholic...
Fire marshal: Stove may have caused fatal New Kensington fire
A stove being used to heat a New Kensington home may have caused a fire in which a woman died this month, a state police fire marshal said Thursday. Angel A. Gray, 49, died in the March 6 fire in a duplex at 554 Fourth Ave. Her husband, Bob Gray,...
Medal of Honor Day focuses on service members awarded for valor in battle
The Medal of Honor is the United States’ highest award for military valor, and American presidents have presented more than 3,500 of them since the medal was established in 1862. In 1990, Congress designated March 25 as National Medal of Honor Day to recognize the medal recipients, many of whom...
Nebraska U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry found guilty in campaign probe
LOS ANGELES — U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska was convicted Thursday of charges that he lied to federal authorities about an illegal $30,000 contribution to his campaign from a foreign billionaire at a 2016 Los Angeles fundraiser. A federal jury in California found the nine-term Republican guilty of one...
Wilkinsburg man and woman arrested for Edgewood stabbing
Allegheny County Police have arrested two people allegedly responsible for the March 20 stabbing of a woman in Edgewood. Chazadee Miller, 24, and Shayron Coleman, 27, face felony and misdemeanor charges for the assault, according to court documents. At 3:25 a.m. on Sunday, the woman was stabbed in the shoulder...
Pennsylvania to raise tip threshold for tipped minimum wage
HARRISBURG — Tipped employees in Pennsylvania will soon have to make more than four times as much money in tips to be paid below the state’s minimum wage, under a new regulation that adjusts for 45 years of inflation. The unanimous vote this week by the five-member Independent Regulatory Review...
Report: Justice Thomas’ wife ‘Ginni’ urged overturning 2020 electionVideo
WASHINGTON — Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sent weeks of text messages imploring White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to act to overturn the 2020 presidential election — furthering then-President Donald Trump’s lies that the free and fair vote was marred by nonexistent fraud, according...
Man wanted in New Year’s Eve triple homicide arrested in McKeesport
A man wanted in the New Year’s Eve slaying of three people — including his ex-girlfriend and her 12-year-old son — was arrested Thursday in McKeesport, about 10 miles from the scene of the Homewood homicides. Ronald Steave, 29, has been on the run since the Dec. 31 when police...
Pittsburgh man found guilty of 3rd-degree murder of man in Arnold
A Westmoreland County jury spared a Pittsburgh man from a mandatory life sentence Thursday by acquitting him of first-degree murder in a 2019 fatal shooting in Arnold. Jurors found Shawden L. Ross, 35, guilty of third-degree murder in the killing of Lamont Simmons, 27, of Arnold on April 5, 2019,...
U.S. Steel hit with $4.5M fine for alleged emissions violations
Allegheny County Health Department leveled a $4.5 million fine against U.S. Steel, alleging more than 800 emissions violations at the Clairton Coke Plant over more than two years. The health department said the fines are related to what it called uncontrolled push violations. In the coke production process, pushing is...
Idlewild sets earlier park opening day, boosts pay for seasonal work
Officials at Ligonier Township’s Idlewild and SoakZone have some good news for fans of the family amusement park as well as those interested in working at the attraction. Responding in part to heightened public interest in picnic reservations, the park will open May 7 — two weekends earlier than previously...
Niece recalls Jim Rogers as father figure, demands charges against police in his death
Diamond Rogers said her uncle Jim Rogers played an important supportive role in her childhood. “Jim, he took me and (my sister) under his wing when we didn’t have a father figure in our lives,” said Diamond Rogers. “I don’t know what we would have done if it wasn’t for...
What makes a political map fair? Here’s what we learned during Pa.’s recent redistricting cycle
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — What makes a political map fair? It’s a question the...
Biden promises new Ukraine aid, warns Russia on chemical weapons
BRUSSELS — President Joe Biden and Western allies pledged new sanctions and humanitarian aid on Thursday in response to Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine, but their offers fell short of the more robust military assistance that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for in a pair of live-video appearances. Biden also announced...
Jeannette officials continue discussion about use of federal covid relief cash
Jeannette officials have a lot of work to whittle down a wish list of projects that could be funded with what is left of the city’s $950,000 allocation from the American Rescue Plan. With $287,000 already earmarked, there are far more proposed uses than the $662,000 available will pay for....
Couple from Pittsburgh’s Shadyside accused of harassing Russian neighbor
A couple from Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood faces charges of ethnic intimidation after police said the man and woman harassed two people in their neighborhood, one of them a native of Russia. Police identified the couple as Robert Pfaffmann, 66, a prominent Pittsburgh architect, and Lisa Marie Haabestad, 64. Police said...
Penn Hills School District to hold town-hall meeting regarding mascot change
Penn Hills School District will hold a town-hall meeting on April 13 to discuss potentially changing its mascot name. The meeting will be at 6 p.m. in the Penn Hills Elementary cafeteria. Superintendent Nancy Hines said there has been discussion in the past about a change, but there has been...
Ketanji Brown Jackson on track for confirmation, but GOP votes in doubt
WASHINGTON — After more than 30 hours of hearings, the Senate is on track to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. But Democrats seem unlikely to confirm her with a robust bipartisan vote, dashing President Joe Biden’s hopes for a grand reset after...
Americans applying for jobless aid is lowest since 1969
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week fell to its lowest level in 52 years as the U.S. job market continues to show strength in the midst of rising costs and ongoing virus pandemic. Jobless claims fell by 28,000 to 187,000 for the week ending...
