Regional category, Page 274
IUP partners with Indiana hospital to provide same-day testing for covid-19
Indiana University of Pennsylvania is joining Indiana Regional Medical Center to bring same-day testing for covid-19 to the rural hospital. University officials said Dr. Narayanaswamy Bharathan, chairman of the biology department at IUP, will be working at the hospital to conduct covid-19 tests. Using equipment from his IUP laboratory, Bharathan...
New Pennsylvania coronavirus cases increase sharply; 49 more deaths reported
New coronavirus cases in Pennsylvania jumped by more than 1,700, a marked increase in new daily cases compared to the past week, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Friday. State health officials also reported 49 more deaths, bringing the statewide death toll of 756. The Department of Health recorded 1,706...
Where to buy liquor legally in Pennsylvania
With state liquor stores open on a limited basis and the Liquor Control Board’s online service working slowly, Pennsylvanians in search of booze have been driving over state lines to shop. It is possible to buy Pennsylvania-made liquor, legally. Below is a list of distilleries operating online that will ship...
How Pennsylvania residents continue to run for border to bootleg liquor
You’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania, as the old tourism slogan goes. Friendsville Discount Liquors didn’t know just how many until the past month. “I’m getting bombarded by people in PA. We’re the first liquor store from the border,” said Kim Spear, manager of the small beverage shop in the...
Pa. jobless rate jumps to 6% in March, expected to get much worse in April
Pennsylvania’s jobless rate jumped to 6% in March, up 1.3 percentage points from February, but a local economist believes it is just the tip of an iceberg of bad unemployment news. “It’s going to get a lot worse in April,” said Jake Haulk, an economist and president emeritus of the...
Pennsylvania sportsbooks lose millions, online casinos thrive during coronavirus pandemic
With pro and college sports shut down for most of March due to the covid-19 crisis, Pennsylvania’s retail and online sportsbooks took a big hit in monthly revenue. But online casinos and poker exploded to a new record. Coronavirus shutdowns cost sportsbooks $220 million in wagers during March, according to...
Howard Hanna offers pandemic-impacted agents advance pay on future earnings
Getting paid based on commission rather than salary, whether it is selling cars, insurance, or houses, can be tough — especially when the state closes a worker’s business as part of a sweeping effort to stop the spread of coronavirus. Howard Hanna Real Estate Service, the largest real estate firm...
Crisis fund helps Allegheny, Beaver organizations cope with pandemic
A Pittsburgh nonprofit has tapped funding from the Hillman Foundation to provide loans and grants to organizations in Allegheny and Beaver counties that are experiencing economic distress during the covid-19 pandemic. New Sun Rising announced Thursday it has used $100,000 in seed money from the Hillman Foundation to create a...
Feds OK boost for some food stamp recipients, deny Pa.’s request for broader increase
Federal officials green-lighted Pennsylvania’s request to boost the payments for some food stamp recipients — but rejected the state’s attempt to send extra money to all of them. The state Department of Human Services received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service to issue a limited...
Gov. Wolf: No specific date for ending covid-19 shutdown, getting ‘back to life as we once knew it’
Gov. Tom Wolf said Thursday he has not yet decided precisely when to end Pennsylvania’s pandemic-spurred lockdown, and he warned that a persisting shortage of testing capacity remains a major hindrance to doing so. ”I have been considering when we end this phase from the time I put it into...
Police: West Newton man arrested after domestic argument in car that went on for 40 miles
A West Newton man was arrested after a woman reported she was dragged by his car and injured Thursday during a domestic argument that went on for 40 miles. Cornell J.T. Dirico, 26, was arrested by Rostraver Police outside his residence in the 200 block of West Main Street at...
Beaver County officials frustrated over tracking of nursing home’s coronavirus outbreak
Beaver County officials said Thursday they are frustrated about differing state reports on how many nursing home residents have coronavirus as they grapple with one agency’s report that Brighton Rehabilitation has more than 100 cases. The state Department of Health is reporting 70 cases total across two of the county’s...
Nearly 450K Pennsylvania voters apply to cast mail-in, absentee ballots
Nearly 450,000 people have applied to vote in the June 2 primary by mail-in and absentee ballots, and the number is expected to grow as people look for an alternative to voting in person because of coronavirus concerns, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. The agency is urging voters...
Nurse N’at brings faces of Pittsburgh-area front line workers to the publicVideo
A Pittsburgh-area registered nurse is bringing the faces of the front lines to the community, in hopes that their support will help the region’s nurses push through the daily work related to the coronavirus pandemic. Dena Strano of Plum has been collecting photographs of nurses wearing items from the online...
Shell Chemicals to bring back 200 more workers to its ethane cracker site in Beaver County
Shell Chemicals confirmed that it will bring back about 200 employees next week to assist with operations at its ethane cracker construction site in Beaver County. Beaver County Commissioner Jack Manning told the Tribune-Review about the company’s plans earlier Thursday. Shell spokesman Michael Marr said there are currently fewer than...
Pennsylvania’s ‘masks in public’ order manifests in a variety of ways in Western Pa.
Alyson Holt’s house in Murrysville is starting to fill up with 3D printers. Her husband, Gary, already had two and recently ordered a third. These days, they are humming steadily, creating moldable face masks using polyactic acid plastic, the most common material for 3D printing. The Holts are using a...
Pennsylvania reports 60 more deaths, over 1,200 new coronavirus cases
Another 60 coronavirus deaths were reported across Pennsylvania on Thursday, pushing the death toll above 700 as the case count eclipsed 27,000. The deaths, reported to the state throughout the day Wednesday, bring the total to 707, according to the Department of Health. The 1,245 new cases reported during that...
Domino’s to donate 7,600 pizzas in Western Pa.
Local Domino’s stores will donate 7,600 pizzas within their communities in the Pittsburgh area, the national chain announced Thursday. Nearly 40 stores in the region will each donate 200 pizzas as part of a national effort. Donations will be sent to hospitals, medical centers, school children and their families, grocery...
Covid-19 crisis could cost Pennsylvania hospitals $2 billion per month, health advocates warn
Pennsylvania’s hospitals stand to lose as much as $2 billion every month the pandemic-spurred shutdown goes on, the state’s largest hospital advocacy group said Wednesday. Gov. Tom Wolf’s order canceling elective medical procedures as part of the covid-19 measures is estimated to rack up $1.5 billion in collective monthly hospital...
Washington County Food Bank holding ‘single largest’ distribution Friday in Canonsburg
The Greater Washington County Food Bank is holding a “Truck to Trunk” drive-thru distribution on Friday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church. It will be the eighth Truck to Trunk distribution in April and is expected to be the “single largest” food distribution in Washington...
Fayette County dairy farmer helps arrange 4,860-gallon milk delivery to needy
Fayette County dairy farmer Louie Diamond knew a lot of area families would be short on money during the coronavirus pandemic and with children home from school wanting milk, he decided to lend a helping hand. This week, the Masontown resident teamed with the American Dairy Association North East and...
‘It cannot get worse’: Airlines see fewest travelers since 9/11 attacks
The number of people boarding flights in the United States reached a new low Tuesday, with likely the fewest travelers in a single day since flights were grounded in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Transportation Security Administration said 87,534 people boarded flights Tuesday, down 96% from...
Online sales keep Western Pa. breweries, distilleries, wineries in business during coronavirus pandemic
In the age of coronavirus, we drink alone. But sales figures from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, based on heavy traffic to its Fine Wine & Good Spirits website, and reports from distilleries and wineries in the region since the covid-19 pandemic shut down the Keystone State a month ago...
Pennsylvania launches task force to address coronavirus outbreaks among minorities
The governor’s office on Wednesday announced a new task force aimed at analyzing and addressing disproportionate coronavirus outbreaks in minority communities across Pennsylvania. The goal of the Covid-19 Response Task Force for Health Disparity is to identify disparities and make recommendations to Gov. Tom Wolf on how to address the...
Cops: 3 SCI-Somerset inmates to be charged with assaulting guards
Three inmates at SCI-Somerset will be charged with assault after allegedly throwing feces at corrections officers in the state prison’s restricted housing unit earlier this month, state police said. The first of two alleged incidents happened on April 6 in the Somerset Township facility when two corrections officers were walking...
