Peoples Gas proposes raising average monthly bill by $16
Peoples Gas wants to raise rates for the average residential customer by just over $16 a month, according to a request filed Friday with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. The hike would amount to another $163 million in annual revenue for the gas utility, which serves more than 700,000 homes...
Multibillion-dollar Nvidia deal brings quiet Saxonburg-based manufacturer Coherent into the spotlight
Coherent executive Steve Rummel offered a peek under the hood Friday at the Saxonburg-based manufacturer’s multibillion-dollar deal with Nvidia, a stock market darling and driving force behind much of the artificial intelligence industry. The agreement was announced March 2 and continues some 20 years of collaboration between the companies. Over...
The AI doctor is in: Survey suggests nearly one-third of Americans rely on chatbots for medical advice
An estimated one-third of U.S. adults are asking artificial intelligence to play doctor, according to a survey released Wednesday by KFF. The health policy nonprofit recently collected answers from more than 1,300 Americans as part of wider poll on how people sought medical information over the past year. The results...
O’Connor sees NFL Draft spotlight as chance to shed steel-town perceptions
Appearances are a top priority for Pittsburgh officials ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft. Just this week, Pittsburgh police started a citywide sweep of abandoned vehicles. City public works crews are also putting in overtime to clean up Downtown Pittsburgh ahead of the event, which runs from April 23-25 and...
Highmark lost $175M in 2025, battered by high insurance claims
Highmark took a $175 million net loss last year as rising health insurance usage battered the Pittsburgh-based company. Financial results released Tuesday also showed a $674 million operating loss for Highmark, even as revenue rose year-over-year to $32 billion from $29 billion. Highmark Health Plans, the organization’s insurance division, was...
Nothing fake about Southwestern Pa.’s golf simulator boom
OnPar Now’s golf simulators fill up every other Friday during the winter with women of various skill levels. Some have steady swings, others swing and miss. The score isn’t the point for this virtual golf league built on real-world connection. “We have drinks and network and have a good time,”...
Combating youth suicide tilts increasingly toward early intervention
A suicidal child or teenager may never talk of taking their life. Parents, peers and teachers might not even know they’re living with mental illness. Despite younger generations showing greater openness to discussing mental health struggles, fears of punishment or social exclusion remain, experts say. Even at medical appointments, minors...
March Madness vasectomy surge turns Western Pa. into SnipsburghVideo
It’s been almost 20 years since a marketing master stroke by the Oregon Urology Institute established March Madness as one of the most popular times to book a vasectomy. The pitch went something like this: For men looking to park themselves on the couch during the tournament’s jam-packed early rounds,...
UPMC warns embattled data exchange Health Gorilla may have improperly pulled patient records
UPMC says its medical records may have been improperly accessed by Health Gorilla, a patient data gatekeeper accused in federal court of mismanaging sensitive information. Health Gorilla requested data “under the pretext of providing treatment to shared UPMC patients and claimed it had permission to do so,” according to a...
Canonsburg’s Coen Markets eyes sale to U.K.-based convenience store giant
Canonsburg-based Coen Markets could soon be part of a convenience store empire. Coen’s 50-plus stores in and around Southwestern Pennsylvania are being acquired by United Kingdom-
based EG Group, the companies announced Thursday. EG Group owns more than 1,500 U.S. convenience stores across 10 brands, including Turkey Hill, Minit Mart and...
WVU Medicine goes all in on AI medical transcription software Abridge
West Virginia University Medicine is accelerating its rollout of an artificial intelligence transcription software developed by Pittsburgh-based startup Abridge. A small pilot program started last May has grown to more than 1,200 doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants adopting Abridge to fill out charts while they talk to patients, WVU...
Westinghouse-funded study finds $20B annual impact for firm’s proposed U.S. reactor fleet
A planned fleet of Westinghouse nuclear reactors in the U.S. would bring $20 billion in annual economic impact and support more than 22,000 jobs, according to a new report commissioned by the Cranberry-based company. Westinghouse released the figures Wednesday to bolster the case for constructing 10 AP1000 reactors across the...
Report estimates 82M Americans skimp on food, gas, utilities to afford health care
You have nothing without your health, the saying goes, and some Americans are taking that to heart by slashing basic spending to afford medical care. A report released Thursday estimated a third of U.S. adults recently pulled back on necessities like food, gas and utilities to keep up with health...
Yale report warns Independence Health takeover could prove costly for patients
West Virginia University Medicine’s pending takeover of Independence Health System would reduce competition and likely drive up patient costs, according to the Health Care Affordability Lab at Yale. A report released Monday by the lab found the acquisition would make parts of Fayette and Westmoreland counties even more severe “red...
Dr. Oz, who runs Medicare and Medicaid, meets with UPMC’s CEO to discuss collaboration
UPMC CEO Leslie Davis recently met with Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, bringing together leadership from Western Pennsylvania’s largest health system and the agency overseeing critical government insurance programs. The two discussed UPMC’s efforts to roll out new technology, fast-track medical innovations and...
Labor pains: Union nurses, UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital spar over staffing in 1st contract
Unionized nurses at Allegheny General Hospital spent more than two decades successfully fighting for caps on their number of assigned patients. The young UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital nurses unions hope to secure them in their first contracts. When the Allegheny General Hospital union formed in 1999, “nobody had staffing standards in...
UPMC Magee-Womens nurses union clamors for staffing ratios
Unionized nurses at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital will propose unit-by-unit staffing standards Tuesday as they bargain with their employer for a first contract. Roughly 900 registered nurses and advanced practitioners are seeking mandatory patient-to-nurse ratios based on recommendations from various professional organizations, such as the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and...
The Fresh Market sets opening date for 1st Pittsburgh store
The former Whole Foods in Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood is nearly back to being a grocery store. The Fresh Market is scheduled to open March 18 at 5880 Centre Ave., returning an upscale grocer to the site four years after Whole Foods left for new digs nearby in East Liberty. North...
Eye on the prize: Pitt researchers study how bacteria could heal corneal wounds
Bacteria live throughout the human body. The eye was long thought to be an exception. Dr. Anthony St. Leger, a professor of ophthalmology and immunology at the University of Pittsburgh, shattered that notion in 2017 by discovering microbe C. mast lives in the eye — and even helps it stay...
Allegheny General Hospital treats victims of mock mass shooting in drill preceding 2026 NFL Draft
A woman in a Ben Roethlisberger jersey approached a triage tent Thursday morning near the ambulance bay at Allegheny General Hospital. Her left cheek was streaked red, representing a gunshot wound from a fictional mass shooting at Acrisure Stadium. “What am I supposed to do?” the actor asked the cluster...
Allegheny General Hospital simulating mass tragedy care ahead of NFL Draft
Doctors and nurses at Allegheny General Hospital will see a flood of about 20 mock mass casualty victims Thursday morning as part of a drill at the Level 1 trauma center. The scenario will focus on a fictional tragedy at Acrisure Stadium, the centerpiece of 2026 NFL Draft festivities descending...
Astrobotic designing wheels for mobile moon outpost as part of NASA Artemis program
Astrobotic announced Tuesday it’s developing specialized wheels for a mobile lunar outpost, a critical component of the NASA-led Artemis moon exploration program. The Pittsburgh-based aerospace and robotics company has been hired by Thales Alenia Space to build a wheel system that can withstand the moon’s extreme temperatures, radiation, dust and...
Pittsburgh VA expanding emergency room at Oakland hospital
The VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System is expanding the emergency room and renovating spaces for physical therapy, neurology and vascular care at its Oakland hospital. Upgrades to the emergency department at the University Drive medical center will allow for faster triage, shorter wait times and more patient beds, the Pittsburgh VA...
Where does Pitt rank in federal medical research funding?
A tumultuous time for federal research funding didn’t stop the University of Pittsburgh from increasing its annual haul through the National Institutes of Health. For the year ending Sept. 30, Pitt received roughly $670 million from the country’s top funder of medical research, up from $661 million the year prior....
AI drives Nvidia’s multibillion-dollar deal with Butler County’s Coherent
Chipmaking giant Nvidia announced a multibillion-dollar deal Monday with Coherent, a Butler County-based maker of fiber optic and laser technology critical for data centers. Nvidia committed to buying billions of dollars in Coherent products while also investing $2 billion to support the Saxonburg company’s research and manufacturing capabilities. The goal...
