Innamorato issues order to improve restaurant permit process following Health Department changes
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato on Monday signed an executive order aimed at streamlining the county’s restaurant permitting process. The effort will engage multiple departments to assess where the food permitting process could be improved while maintaining public health and safety. A news release from her office states the order...
Catholic churches see a surge of new converts
People are joining the Catholic Church in surprising numbers. This Easter, the Archdiocese of Detroit will receive 1,428 new Catholics into the church, its highest number in 21 years. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston will have its most in 15 years. In the Diocese of Des Moines, the count is jumping...
Arctic sea ice hits lowest winter level as unprecedented heat hits smashes records all over Earth
WASHINGTON — Vital Arctic sea ice shrank to tie its lowest measured level for the winter, the season when ice grows, as a warming Earth shattered records across the continents. Arctic sea ice levels, especially in the summer, are crucial to Earth’s climate because without the ice reflecting sunlight, more...
Hegseth strikes 2 black and 2 female officers from promotion list
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is blocking the promotion of four Army officers to be one-star generals, a highly unusual move that has prompted some senior military officials to question whether the officers are being singled out because of their race or gender. Two of the officers targeted by...
Costa Rica to accept more than 2 dozen ‘3rd country’ deportees from U.S. every week
SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica — Costa Rica said Thursday that it would accept 25 migrants deported from the United States per week as part of an agreement to help the Trump administration’s latest policy of deporting immigrants to “third countries.” The Central American nation joins a growing number of countries...
Dietary supplement makers push the FDA to allow peptides and other new ingredients
WASHINGTON — Makers of dietary supplements are pushing the Food and Drug Administration to expand the types of ingredients they can put in their products, a change that could open the door to more marketing of peptides, probiotics and other trendy wellness offerings. The FDA was holding a public meeting...
3 killed in tourist helicopter crash off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai
HANALEI, Hawaii — A tourist helicopter crashed near a remote beach off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, killing three people and injuring two others, authorities said. The helicopter was carrying one pilot and four passengers when it crashed Thursday afternoon at Kalalau Beach, the Kauai Fire Department...
A 14-year-old running for governor is the 1st teen to get on Vermont’s general election ballot
STOWE, Vt. — Looking back, gubernatorial candidate Dean Roy says his political ambitions started in the eighth grade. And by that he means, last year. After working as a legislative page at the Vermont Statehouse, the 14-year-old freshman at Stowe High School now has his sights set on the corner...
The war in Iran sparks a global fertilizer shortage and threatens food prices
HANOI, Vietnam — Farmers around the world are feeling the squeeze of the Iran war. Gas prices have shot up and fertilizer supplies are waning due to Tehran’s near shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli bombing. The fertilizer shortage is putting the livelihood of...
G7 meets on the Iran war as Rubio tries to sell U.S. strategy to skeptical allies insulted by Trump
VAUX-DE-CERNAY, France — Group of Seven foreign ministers met on Friday in France to discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with deep divisions apparent over the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated complaints that America’s allies have ignored or rejected requests for help in the military operation and...
Israel hits Tehran with wave of strikes and warns attacks on Iran ‘will escalate and expand’
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel threatened to “escalate and expand” its attacks on Iran on Friday even as U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that talks on ending the war were going well and gave Tehran more time to open the Strait of Hormuz. Iran, meanwhile, gave no signs of...
Morning Roundup: Top prize lottery ticket sold at UPMC hospital; North Park road to close for race Saturday
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, March 27, 2026: Top prize-winning lottery ticket sold at UPMC hospital A $1.5 million dollar Cash Spectacular scratch-off was sold at UPMC Magee-Women’s Hospital in South Oakland, according to the Pennsylvania Lottery. The hospital will receive a $10,000...
Savannah Guthrie to return to ‘Today’ on April 6 after mother’s disappearance
After a two-month absence sparked by her 84-year-old mother’s apparent abduction, Savannah Guthrie will return to NBC’s “Today” show next month, saying in an interview that aired Friday “joy will be my protest.” Hoda Kotb said after her emotional interview with her former co-host aired that Guthrie will return April...
A Build America, Buy America law is causing construction delays amid the U.S. housing crisis
It has a catchy name — Build America, Buy America — and the lauded goal of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States. But the law has spurred a bottleneck for affordable housing. Nearly everything from HVACs and lighting to sink hooks and ceiling fans in affordable housing projects...
Austria plans to ban social media use for under-14s, joining a string of other countries
VIENNA — Austria’s governing coalition on Friday announced plans to ban social media use for children under 14, joining a string of other countries in drawing up restrictions for young people. Alexander Pröll, the official in Chancellor Christian Stocker’s office responsible for digitization, said that draft legislation will be drawn...
House weighs next steps for bill to fund most of Homeland Security but not immigration enforcement
WASHINGTON — The Senate early Friday approved Department of Homeland Security funds to pay Transportation Security Administration agents and most other agencies but not the immigration enforcement operations at the heart of the budget impasse that has jammed airports, disrupted travel and imposed financial hardship on workers. The deal, which...
Some Pa. lawmakers call for suspending state taxes on gas and dieselVideo
With average gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon, and diesel prices nearly $2 a gallon higher, some Pennsylvania lawmakers are exploring temporarily suspending the state’s taxes on both. “Everybody is talking about affordability, but what are we doing about it? I think we can do something,” state Sen. Lisa...
Trump administration opens investigations into race in admissions at 3 medical schools
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has opened investigations into how race is considered in admissions at three medical schools, ratcheting up its pressure campaign against colleges and universities. The Justice Department opened the investigations Wednesday into possible discrimination at the medical schools of Stanford University, Ohio State and the University...
GOP senator weighs forcing Congress to vote to authorize Iran war
WASHINGTON — A senior Republican senator who has harshly criticized the Trump administration for keeping Congress in the dark on combat operations in Iran has begun drafting legislation that would force lawmakers to vote for the first time on whether to authorize the war. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is...
U.S. Treasury working to put Trump’s signature on new paper currency in 1st for sitting president
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department plans to put President Donald Trump’s signature on all new U.S. paper currency, the agency announced on Thursday. The move would be a first for a sitting president, since traditionally, U.S. paper currency carries the signatures of the Treasury Secretary and the Treasurer, not...
Trump interrupts Cabinet meeting dealing with the Iran war and rising prices to talk SharpiesVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump may believe the adage that the pen is mightier than the sword — as long as it’s a Sharpie. During a Cabinet meeting Thursday that discussed the war in Iran, record-long security lines at many of the nation’s top airports, rising oil prices and skittish...
Suburbanites embrace anti-Trump resistance before No Kings protests, saying, ‘This is our fight’
MONTCLAIR, N.J. — A few years ago, Allison Posner was barely involved in politics. Now the 42-year-old mother of two from Maplewood, New Jersey, hands out food and diapers to immigrant families outside a nearby detention facility. She waves signs on a highway overpass between school pickups and orthodontist appointments....
Brother and sister are charged after an explosive device found outside a Florida Air Force base
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A man who fled to China after leaving an explosive device outside MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa has been indicted along with his sister in Florida on federal charges, and their mother has been detained pending deportation for overstaying her visa, a federal prosecutor said...
Tango therapy: How the dance of passion is helping Parkinson’s patients
Tango is the national dance of Argentina, known for its passion, precision and heart. At a hospital in Buenos Aires, it has another purpose: as a therapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease. Once a week, about a dozen patients come to Ramos Mejía Hospital to dance — a session that...
California lawmakers pass bill to rename César Chavez Day following sexual abuse allegations
SACRAMENTO, Calif — California lawmakers voted Thursday to rename César Chavez Day as Farmworkers Day in an effort to reconcile the Latino labor icon’s legacy with explosive sexual abuse allegations before the state holiday on March 31. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to quickly sign the bill. The change...
