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Local stories category, Page 7

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
GNC sold to Chinese pharmaceutical group
GNC Holdings Inc., the Pittsburgh-based international health and wellness chain, has been for sold for $770 million to a Chinese pharmaceutical firm in a deal approved Thursday in bankruptcy court in Delaware. Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Holding Co., an affiliate of GNC’s largest shareholder that owns 40% of the company, also...
Covid-19 danger continues to drive joblessness in U.S.
WASHINGTON — The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell last week to 860,000, a historically high figure that reflects economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak. Before the pandemic hit the economy, the number signing up for jobless aid had never exceeded 700,000 in a week, even during the...
Tarentum train station restaurant owner isn’t sure 50% capacity is enough to reopen
John Greco isn’t sure he can reopen his Tarentum restaurant even with a return to half capacity later this month. “We can’t make it with 25% or 50%,” said Greco, owner of JG’s Tarentum Station Grille. “In order to make it economically feasible, we need the restrictions to be lifted....
Feds terminate ventilator contract with Philips Respironics that had drawn criticism
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently terminated multiple contracts to add ventilators to the country’s Strategic National Stockpile. And, while federal health officials say they now have enough ventilators to meet maximum national capacity in a crisis, one of the terminated contracts — awarded to Philips Respironics,...
Phipps Conservancy says members safe despite data breach that disclosed some info
Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh’s Oakland section contacted its members this week to report a data breach from one of its contractors. For nearly two decades, Phipps has used , Blackbaud, Inc.’s donor data management software, said Joe Reed, Phipps director of marketing. Blackbaud, of Charleston, S.C. calls...
A Pittsburgh business plans to relocate to Sewickley
A Pittsburgh-based business consulting firm plans to move its headquarters to Sewickley. AE Works, founded by Sewickley resident Michael Cherock, wants to relocate from Sandusky Street in the city to 418 Beaver St. in the borough. The building in question is the former Explore Sewickley office, a nonprofit dedicated to...
State attorney general accuses Gillece Services of ‘bait-and-switch’ tactics on clogged sewer jobs
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has filed a lawsuit against Gillece Services in Allegheny County alleging a “bait-and-switch scheme” that lured customers in with deceptively low prices only to tell them the job required different, expensive home improvement work. The complaint filed Tuesday seeks restitution for every customer the attorney...
Hempfield paves way for Menards home improvement store
Hempfield supervisors cleared the way for a new home improvement store in the township. Menards, a Wisconsin-based chain, is slated to occupy the site where the Ramada by Wyndham Greensburg Hotel and Conference Center stands near Westmoreland Mall. While specific details for the project were not available, Patrick Karnash, director...
Union members join industry groups to rally against state caps on power plant emissions
Union workers — seeking a voice at the table in fossil fuel policies at the state and national level — rallied Wednesday at the coal-fired Cheswick Generating Station. Organized by the Power PA Jobs Alliance, a coalition of labor and business groups spanning Southwestern Pennsylvania, the event targeted the negative...
Irwin restaurant opens amid pandemic; state restrictions hurt eateries 
Candy Zambo says it was just her luck that she tried to open a restaurant in downtown Irwin in midst of a pandemic. “I’ve wanted to do this. I’ve always loved the restaurant industry,” Zambo said, undeterred by the circumstances surrounding the opening of Candy’s Corner Cafe at 435 Main...
Pa. lawsuit alleges Chipotle keeping the change with cash-paying customers
A lawsuit seeking class-action status contends that Chipotle stores in Pennsylvania are not giving proper change to customers and instead are lining their pockets with it. The complaint, filed Thursday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, alleges hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of dollars in consumer losses....
Restaurant, tavern industry association meets in Hempfield, hopes for rollback of covid-19 restrictions 
Westmoreland County restaurant and bar operators say the state’s limit of 25% indoor occupancy for dining establishments unfairly targets them as being responsible for the spread of the coronavirus. About 40 local industry members gathered Thursday at Ferrante’s Lakeview restaurant in Hempfield to share tales of how the state pandemic...
Price for pepperoni spikes as covid pandemic produces shortage 
Add pepperoni to the list of items in short supply because of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, small pizza shops across the country are reporting higher prices for the tasty topping, Bloomberg News reports. The news service found a restaurant in South Dakota is now paying $4.12 a pound...
Head of U.S. Small Business Administration visits Pittsburgh restaurant 
Cilantro & Ajo, a modest Venezuelan restaurant on the South Side, might seem an unlikely poster child for the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). However camera crews from all three Pittsburgh-area TV news stations and others descended on the small eatery Friday morning. The attraction was an appearance by...
Community Bank names John Montgomery president and CEO
CB Financial Services, Inc., the parent company of Community Bank, on Friday announced the appointment of John H. Montgomery as its new president and CEO, replacing Barron “Pat” McCune, Jr. McCune, a longtime Community Bank officer who led the bank from 2005 until 2018, came out of retirement in January...
Family-owned book retailer to close 8 stores, including 1 in Pittsburgh Mills mall 
The Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer is losing yet another tenant. Bradley’s Book Outlet, a discount book retailer based in Blawnox, announced this week it is closing all eight of its brick-and-mortar stores, including the one in the Mills mall, because of the coronavirus pandemic and the viability of the...
Dick’s Sporting Goods bucks trend, will open 11 brick-and-mortar locations in 9 states
Pittsburgh-based Dick’s Sporting Goods will open 11 stores in nine states, including five of its recently unveiled warehouse and outlet stores, the company announced Friday. Two of the traditional stores will be in Massachusetts, along with one in New Jersey and another in Texas. The sports and outdoors retailer also...
Loves Furniture hiring to staff some of former Levin’s sites acquired in bankruptcy court
Loves Furniture, a new retail chain that formed when a private equity firm recently bought 27 Art Van, Levin and Wolf outlets in bankruptcy court, is looking to hire 1,000 workers in three states — including people to staff at the Mt. Pleasant store that for a century served as...
Kennametal posts loss for quarter, fiscal year
With the covid-19 pandemic slowing the global economy, Kennametal Corp. said Tuesday it has accelerated its modernization and restructuring that by next summer will have reduced its global workforce by 20% from when the cost-cutting measures began more than a year ago. The Pittsburgh-based company, which makes tools for metal...
Worst economic quarter impacts Western Pa. professionals
No one has seen numbers as bad as these. Shoulders slumped in America on Thursday as news broke that the U.S. economy shrank at a disastrous 33% annual rate during the April-June quarter, the worst quarterly drop in history. The previous worst quarterly plunge was a 10% drop in 1958....
2 new stores, expanded shop at Ross Park Mall
Ross Park Mall welcomed two stores and unveiled a third newly expanded shop. Fabletics and Evereve are the new stores. H&M expanded its footprint to 21,000 square feet. H&M is known for its on trend merchandise at affordable prices. Fabletics was launched in 2013 by co-founder Kate Hudson....
Primanti Bros. offering free french fries to Pirates fans on Opening Day
Pittsburgh-area Primanti Bros. locations will be giving away free french fries to Pittsburgh Pirates fans on Friday. The promotion is part of the Opening Day celebration of the coronavirus-delayed start of the 2020 MLB season. Opening Day for the Pirates is July 24, at St. Louis. (The first home game...
Target store coming to old Kaufmann’s building in Downtown Pittsburgh
If the old Macy’s and Kaufmann’s building was the target, the Minneapolis-based chain of discount retail stores has hit it. A Target store is moving into the first floor of the largely vacant building at 400 Fifth Ave. The store will take up approximately 22,000 square feet. It’s a welcome...
Chestnut Ridge golf resort near Blairsville going up for auction
A former U.S. Steel executive is selling a 345-acre golf course and resort just across the Westmoreland County line near Blairsville. The online auction for Chestnut Ridge Golf Resort & Conference Center, planned for noon Saturday, has attracted local and national attention. “We are seeing quite a bit of interest...
Giant Eagle defends mask policy in answer to lawsuit
Giant Eagle is defending itself after a lawsuit filed by more than 30 people claims the grocery chain’s face mask policy is discriminatory toward disabled shoppers. In a response to a consolidated federal lawsuit that names 35 plaintiffs but specifically cites plaintiff Josiah Kostek, lawyers for Giant Eagle called for...


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