Editor's Picks category, Page 363
‘Letterkenny’ season 9 release date announcedVideo
Christmas will bring a new season of a great Canadian show this year. Season nine of “Letterkenny” will be released Dec. 26 via Hulu in the U.S. and Dec. 25 via Crave in Canada. The show features creators Jared Keeso and Jacob Tierney, as well as Nathan Dales, Michelle Mylett,...
Drag queen art critics return for The Westmoreland’s online program
Drag performers know a thing or two about fashion, hair and makeup. Some of them also know a thing or two about fine art. Through their lush false eyelashes, Pittsburgh-based performers Alora Chateaux and Tootsie Snyder will take a look at works from The Westmoreland Museum of American Art’s permanent...
TV Talk: ‘Saved by the Bell’ enrolls a new classVideo
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Peacock’s “Saved by the Bell” revival has elements of a nostalgia play with multiple original series cast members popping in here and there. But in three episodes sent for review, the new series proves itself...
Covid forces Punxsutawney Phil to go virtual; no crowds on Gobbler’s Knob in February
Say it ain’t so, but the covid-19 pandemic will keep thousands of people from witnessing whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow atop the famed Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney on Feb. 2 and forecasts six more weeks of winter. Even though people want to see Phil’s prognostication in person for the...
Poll: More than half of Republicans say Joe Biden won because of a ‘rigged’ electionVideo
Over half of Republicans claim President Donald Trump won the presidential election “rightfully,” but it was taken from him because of voter fraud that aided President-elect Joe Biden, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Wednesday. The poll, taken Friday through Tuesday showed that 52% of Republicans said Trump...
2 women, including Westmoreland’s Kim Ward, just made history in Pa. legislature
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — One is a former health-care worker and political veteran from Westmoreland County. The other is an ex-public defender and...
Charlie Brown specials to air on TV, after all, in PBS deal
NEW YORK — The “Great Pumpkin” never showed on broadcast television this year, but after a deal with PBS, the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Christmas specials will return to the air. Last month, Apple TV+ became the new home to the beloved Peanuts holiday specials. That sparked an outcry from...
Tom Hanks, Billy Porter, Joanne Rogers join honorary Tree of Life cabinet
Award-winning actors Tom Hanks and Billy Porter, along with Joanne Rogers, the wife of legendary children’s TV host Fred Rogers, will serve as honorary cabinet members for the Tree of Life Congregation in its efforts to establish a new home. Hanks, Porter and Rogers are joining elected officials and business...
NBC’s ‘Today’ talks with Lucy Pollock, 98, Latrobe baking sensationVideo
From her Latrobe kitchen to Facebook and now to NBC’s “Today,” Lucy Pollock’s baking skills keep reaching wider audiences. The 98-year-old started gaining recognition in the early days of the pandemic when her daughter and housemate, Mary Ellen Raneri, started sharing Pollock’s baking skills on live Facebook sessions. Mary Ellen’s...
Volunteers still needed to test variety of covid-19 vaccines
Two covid-19 vaccines might be nearing the finish line, but scientists caution it’s critical that enough people volunteer to help finish studying other candidates in the U.S. and around the world. Moderna Inc. and competitor Pfizer Inc. recently announced preliminary results showing their vaccines appear more than 90% effective, at...
Fox Chapel votes to remove Squaw name from borough streets, trail
Fox Chapel council voted to eliminate the word Squaw from two borough roads and a trail, bringing an end to a divisive months-long debate and following a national trend to remove the slur from place names. Council voted 6-0, with member Jay Troutman abstaining, to change the name of Squaw...
Tom Purcell: Covid-19 obscures so many ways 2020 is best year ever
As challenging a year as 2020 has been, we still should be thankful that it has been the best year in human history to be alive. Consider: In 1920, according to the book “Enlightenment Now,” the average person spent 11.5 hours each week doing laundry. By 2014, he or she...
Pittsburgh Opera holding ‘online Holiday Bazaar’ in lieu of in-person gala
The Pittsburgh Opera was hoping to have one of its festive in-person fundraising galas this fall, but coronavirus made it impossible. However, the Opera still needed to come up with a way to raise money to support its acclaimed Resident Artists program. So, next month, it will hold what it’s...
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announces plans for virtual First Night
Ring in 2021 at the place where you’ve spent most of 2020. At home. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust on Monday announced its First Night celebration as: “Highmark First Night Pittsburgh 2021 at Home.” The annual New Year’s Eve celebration on Dec. 31 can be viewed on KDKA-TV. The station’s “Pittsburgh...
Pittsburgh’s city-operated farmers’ markets set final days of operation
The four farmers’ markets operated by the City of Pittsburgh will be closing for the season in the next two weeks. The final days of operation for the markets, operated by the city’s Office of Special Events, are:Friday (Nov. 20) at Allegheny Commons Park on the North Side.Sunday (Nov. 22)...
One half of the ‘Property Brothers’ praises solar in documentary
NEW YORK — As half of HGTV’s “Property Brothers,” Jonathan Scott is all about transforming interior spaces. Now he’s revealing a massive space he’d like to transform — the Earth. “Jonathan Scott’s Power Trip” is his new documentary about solar power and why this clean, renewable source of energy is...
PSO’s online Front Row series includes sensory friendly holiday concert
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will take its online audience to Heinz Hall, The Andy Warhol Museum and Fallingwater for the next episode of its fall digital series, “Front Row: The PSO Virtual Experience.” “Originators and Disrupters (Part 1)” will premieres at 7:30 p.m. Friday, with guest concertmaster and leader Alexi...
Thanksgiving turkey questions? Experts offer up advice
Your role for Thanksgiving dinner might be different this year. “I suspect we will have a lot of first-time turkey makers,” said Carol Miller, one of 50 Turkey Talk-Line experts for Butterball, a turkey brand and the largest producer of turkey products in the U.S. “With so many people staying...
Time to discuss potentially unpleasant side effects of covid-19 shots? Scientists say yes
Drugmaker Pfizer is expected to seek federal permission to release its covid-19 vaccine by the end of November, a move that holds promise for quelling the pandemic, but also sets up a tight time frame for making sure consumers understand what it will mean to actually get the shots. This...
North Dakota nurses worry about working with sick colleagues
BISMARCK, N.D. — Like many medical workers around the world, the coronavirus pandemic is a burden that Fargo emergency room nurse Adam Johnston can’t escape. The grim reality follows him everywhere: at work, where people die every shift; at the grocery store, where people rail against his city’s mask requirement;...
Polling industry again faces criticism, but most got it right in presidential race
Days before President-elect Joe Biden declared victory, with millions of votes still being counted, pundits as well as regular voters were quick to condemn the polling industry for failing to gauge just how tight the 2020 presidential race initially seemed to be. Democrats hoping to watch a blue wave roll...
Curtis Flowers defense team receives human rights award
OXFORD, Miss. — A human rights award has been presented to the defense team for a Mississippi man who was freed from prison in December after more than 20 years and this year had all charges dropped against him. The Curtis Flowers defense team, which includes the George C. Cochran...
Infrastructure, jobs are key to coming together under Biden, say Pennsylvania Republicans, unions
After more than a decade of division — Republicans trying to block Barack Obama at every move and Democrats questioning Donald Trump’s legitimacy — President-elect Joe Biden is inheriting a contentious crowd. His best strategy to bring them around a table together, a diverse group of Pennsylvanians say, would be...
‘The Mandalorian’ finds new allies, and some surprising backstory
**WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD THROUGH SEASON 2, EPISODE 3 OF ‘THE MANDALORIAN’** This week, we learned that there are least two ideologically-opposed sects of Mandalorians, that Silas Adams has upped his villain game and gotten promoted from Gem Saloon muscle to Imperial commander, and that Admiral Ackbar’s brethren are apparently the...
U.S. citizenship test adds more questions, draws criticism
PHOENIX — An updated U.S. citizenship test will require applicants to answer more questions than before and could slow down the number of tests held each day, experts said. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency on Friday announced the updated test now has 128 civics items to study and...
