Editor's Picks category, Page 418
Renovating Vandergrift’s vacant J.C. Penney building takes step forward
The Vandergrift Improvement Program is beginning to make progress on renovating the town’s historic J.C. Penney building at 134 Grant Ave. after years of saving and struggle. The building has sat vacant for more than a decade. The Vandergrift Improvement Project owns the building. VIP recently invited Patton Engineering to...
Video: Tractor trailer narrowly misses crushing several first responders at Texas highway pileupVideo
Talk about a near miss. A tractor trailer narrowly missed crushing several first responders at the scene of a major pileup on Highway 84 in Lubbock County, Texas on Friday. Video captured by NBC-affiliate KCBD, which happened to be on the scene, shows crew wearing neon vests scrambling for their...
Man demands money from bank teller — then gives it back, North Carolina cops say
RALEIGH, N.C. — A 66-year-old man who demanded money from a North Carolina bank isn’t being charged with a crime, officials say. The man was at a Wells Fargo in Wilmington on Thursday when he handed a teller a note with his request, according to police spokeswoman Linda Thompson. But...
Pittsburgh police: No celebratory gunfire on New Year’s Eve
Pittsburgh police are once again reminding New Year’s Eve revelers that celebratory gunfire is illegal and officers will monitor the city’s gunshot detection system to track down violators. Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said in a statement that police will keep an eye on ShotSpotter alerts throughout the city and...
Tenn. bill would force students to compete as their biological sex at birth
A state legislator has introduced a bill in Tennessee that would require state-funded elementary and secondary school student-athletes to compete as the gender stated on their original birth certificate. HB 1572 states that any school found violating the law would be “immediately ineligible to continue to receive public funds of...
This Pittsburgh nonprofit takes used bars of hotel soap and recycles them for developing countries
A research trip to Cambodia prompted a University of Pittsburgh graduate to change his career trajectory and create an international nonprofit organization aimed at helping people get soap. In a remote village where he was studying climate change, Samir Lakhani watched a woman bathing her newborn son, scrubbing his skin...
TribLIVE’s top 25 photos of the year
Captured by the Tribune-Review visuals staff, this collection of our most visually compelling images from 2019 reminds us of the most intriguing news, sports and cultural events of the year....
Notre Dame rector: Fragile cathedral might not be savedVideo
PARIS — The rector of Notre Dame Cathedral says the Paris landmark is still so fragile that there’s a “50% chance” the structure might not be saved, because scaffolding installed before this year’s fire is threatening the vaults of the Gothic monument. Monsignor Patrick Chauvet said restoration work isn’t likely...
Kindness comeback: Acting like Fred Rogers in his neighborhood and beyond
At a time of partisanship, polarization and rancor, Christmas comes along to smooth the hard edges of our divisions. Acts of kindness somehow come more naturally this time of year. But by the time February rolls around, everybody’s grouchy again. Does kindness have any staying power? Perhaps because kindness may...
Pittsburgh is 23rd rudest city in national poll
When Americans were asked to name the rudest cities in the country, Pittsburgh landed about in the middle. The Steel City ranked 23 out of the top 50 metro areas, according to a new Business Insider survey of 2,092 adults. Poll respondents were asked in October and November to choose...
Santa slammed, shoppers hurt in crush for mall freebiesVideo
Several shoppers were injured when a crowd struggled to catch prizes inside an Australian shopping mall. Balloons containing vouchers for trivial gifts, such as free coffee and parking, were released Tuesday above a crowd of about 150 people at the Westfield Parramatta shopping center in Sydney, reports news.com.au. Video shows...
Wisconsin city mulls dumping old ban on throwing snowballsVideo
WAUSAU, Wis. — For decades, those who have participated in snowball fights in one Wisconsin city have risked getting in trouble with the law. But that may be about to change. A 1962 ban on throwing projectiles in Wausau lumps snowballs into the same category as rocks and other items...
San Francisco cafes are banishing disposable coffee cups
SAN FRANCISCO — A new cafe culture is brewing in the San Francisco area, where a growing number of coffee houses are banishing paper to-go cups and replacing them with everything from glass jars to rental mugs and BYO cup policies. What started as a small trend among neighborhood cafes...
Hays bald eagle nest gets new webcam for upcoming breeding seasonVideo
Unseasonably warm temperatures but still frozen ground made for a seamless reinstallation of a live webcam now in its seventh year at the Pittsburgh bald eagle nest in Hays. The Hays bald eagles, one of the region’s half-dozen known breeding pairs of the formerly endangered birds, are in their eighth...
Dancer born with one hand makes Radio City Rockettes history
A dancer born with one hand is the first person with a visible disability ever hired by New York’s famed Radio City Rockettes. “I don’t want to be known as the dancer who has one hand, and not because that’s a bad thing,” Sydney Mesher, who joined the Rockettes this...
Pacific seashell washes up on Outer Banks shores, stumping park service
A lot of crazy things have washed up on the shores of the Outer Banks. But it’s rare to have something show up that baffles the locals. What’s this strange object? A 3½-inch-long yellowish seashell. Of course, it’s not just any seashell. Turns out, it’s one that the National Park...
Got an air fryer for the holidays? Here’s what to make first
If you got an air fryer this holiday season, you’re in for a treat. These $60 to $250 machines have been the next best way to get dinner on the table (after the Instant Pot, of course) for two years now, and its fans are more like devotees, spreading the...
To battle opioid crisis, some track overdoses in real time
ALBANY, N.Y. — Drug overdose patients rushed to some emergency rooms in New York’s Hudson Valley are asked a series of questions: Do you have stable housing? Do you have food? Times and location of overdoses are noted, too. The information is entered into a new overdose-tracking system that provides...
Literacy Pittsburgh helps immigrants learn English, integrateVideo
Oksana Slota knew only a few English words when she moved to the United States from Ukraine six years ago. But she wanted to learn more. She wanted to be able to communicate with people in her new country. She wanted friends and to be able to help her children...
Aspinwall Beans ‘N’ Cream stands out with more than just coffeeVideo
This coffee shop brews up the cool factor. Aspinwall Beans ‘N’ Cream, known as ABC by the locals, serves up coffee, specialty drinks and homemade breakfast and lunch items amid 1960s and ’70s pop/rock memorabilia. “The decor isn’t the usual coffee shop vibe,” said co-owner Pete Sanida of Squirrel Hill....
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Don’t mess with the Strip District
It is another wonderful Christmas in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, as thousands of daily shoppers pour into the mecca for ethnic food and sidewalk bargains. Whole families arrive together, as part of their holiday tradition. It should be a time of celebration for the merchants, too, but instead they have been...
Paynter elementary students make blankets for Wrapped in Love FoundationVideo
Students at Paynter Elementary School learned a lesson in giving this holiday season. For the fourth year in a row, students in first and third grade at the Baldwin-Whitehall School District site participated in a Christmas service project, donating money and making blankets for the Pittsburgh-based Wrapped in Love Foundation....
More than 10,000 Christmas lights on display at Bob’s Garage in O’HaraVideo
At Bob’s Garage, Christmas decorations stay up until February to accommodate the masses still crowding the small bar renowned for the outrageous number of Christmas lights enveloping the inside and outside. “It’s like walking on the inside of a Christmas tree,” said Bob Paganico, 72, of Penn Hills. Paganico started...
Whoo’s there? Georgia family discovers owl in Christmas tree
ATLANTA — A Georgia family got a real hoot from its Christmas tree: More than a week after they bought it, they discovered a live owl nestled among its branches. Katie McBride Newman said Friday that she and her daughter spotted the bird on Dec. 12. They had bought the...
What if you knew a cookie would take 20 minutes to run off?
NEW YORK — Would you put down that bag of chips if you saw it had 170 calories? What if the label said it would take 16 minutes of running to burn off those calories? Health experts for years have pushed for clearer food labeling to empower people to make...
