Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1028
On cusp of Biden speech, a state of disunity, funk and peril
WASHINGTON — In good times or bad, American presidents come to Congress with a diagnosis that hardly differs over the decades. In their State of the Union speeches, they declare “the state of our union is strong,” or words very much like it. President Joe Biden’s fellow Americans, though, have...
Fence being reinstalled around U.S. Capitol for Biden speech
WASHINGTON — Fencing installed around the U.S. Capitol for months after the January 2021 insurrection will be put back up before President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday as concern grows about potential demonstrations or truck convoys snarling traffic in the nation’s capital. Capitol Police Chief Tom...
How is Russia-Ukraine war linked to religion?
Ukraine’s tangled political history with Russia has its counterpart in the religious landscape, with Ukraine’s majority Orthodox Christian population divided between an independent-minded group based in Kyiv and another loyal to its patriarch in Moscow. But while there have been appeals to religious nationalism in both Russia and Ukraine, religious...
‘Saturday Night Live’ opens with tribute song to UkraineVideo
NEW YORK — “Saturday Night Live” normally kicks off each show with some humor, but the comedy sketch series opened with a tribute performance to Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion. The Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York performed a “Prayer for Ukraine” during the opening of “SNL” on Saturday....
Putin puts nuclear forces on high alert, escalating tensions
KYIV, Ukraine — President Vladimir Putin dramatically escalated East-West tensions by ordering Russian nuclear forces put on high alert Sunday, while Ukraine’s embattled leader agreed to talks with Moscow as Putin’s troops and tanks drove deeper into the country, closing in around the capital. Citing “aggressive statements” by NATO and...
Police make arrest following Coraopolis shooting
A Coraopolis man has been arrested after, police say, he shot another man in an apartment in the 900 block of Sixth Avenue early Sunday morning. The man who was shot is in critical condition, officials said. Coraopolis police responded to the apartment around 4:45 a.m. Sunday. They found a...
Lawsuit claims Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau failed to protect New Ken 3-year-old killed in 2020
The maternal grandfather of a nearly 3-year-old New Kensington boy beaten to death in 2020 claims the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau failed to protect the child after it received allegations he was subjected to repeated incidents of physical and sexual abuse at the hands his mother and her live-in boyfriend....
Murrysville, North Huntingdon Republicans blast new congressional map; Democrats invigorated by changes
Republicans in Westmoreland County towns included in a redrawn congressional district based in Pittsburgh said they fear their communities will be excluded from key decision-making and have a reduced voice in national politics. Meanwhile, local Democrats said the move to align the county’s largest municipalities with traditional Democratic enclaves will...
Liquor privatization in Washington state could provide lessons for Pennsylvanians
Another attempt is underway to privatize Pennsylvania’s state-run liquor system and end the monopoly of state-owned stores being the only place to buy distilled spirits. A proposed constitutional amendment introduced by state Rep. Natalie Mihalek is the latest effort in a decades-long campaign by state Republicans to do away with...
Holy Virgin Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Arnold holds special memorial service for Ukraine
As Russian troops closed in on Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv on Saturday morning and the world wondered how long the Ukrainians could hold off Vladimir Putin’s assault, 5,000 miles away in Arnold, a Ukrainian-American pastor prayed for the dead. The Very Rev. Mark Swindle stood at the altar of...
Russian troops zero in on Kyiv as 150,000 Ukrainians flee
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian troops closed in on Kyiv and skirmishes flared on its outskirts Saturday as Ukraine’s leader vowed to continue battling an invasion by a much better-armed adversary. Terrified men, women and children sought safety inside and underground amid a 39-hour curfew the government imposed to keep people...
Trout stocking is underway. Here’s how the Westmoreland fishing community is preparing for the upcoming season
There’s something fishy in Westmoreland County’s waters. During the next three months, hatchery-raised rainbow, brown and brook trout will be released into the county’s waters for anglers to catch during trout season, which opens statewide April 2. Locally, the first trout of 2022 were released Tuesday in Loyalhanna Creek. Throughout...
1 in custody following brief standoff in Export
One person was taken into custody by state police around 11:30 p.m. Friday after a brief standoff in Export. State police and Murrysville police closed a small part of the lower section of Italy Road in the borough while responding to a domestic situation. Police were called to Italy Road...
Coroner: Warren County man killed in Madison crash
A Warren County man was killed Friday night after his car veered off the road and collided with a tree in Madison, according to the Westmoreland County coroner. John D. Kelly, 73, of Sugar Grove Township was the lone occupant of the vehicle when it crashed in the 300 block...
DA’s office investigating district judge accused of delay in signing arrest warrant in Uber driver homicide case
Detectives with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office are investigating a local district judge a week after his failure to sign a warrant in a homicide case led to a three-hour delay in the suspect’s arrest. Magisterial District Judge Mik Pappas told the Tribune-Review on Friday that he was never...
CDC loosens mask guidance, Pa. health chief says state moving into ‘next phase’ of living with covid
As the federal government loosens masking guidance for a majority of healthy Americans, Pennsylvania officials said they will follow suit while keeping an eye on covid-related hospital admissions and case counts should they begin to rise again. “Pennsylvania is moving in the right direction,” said Acting Secretary of Health Keara...
Woman accused of being drunk when she crashed into New Kensington hotel that caught fire
Police accuse a woman of being drunk when she crashed into a New Kensington hotel early Sunday, which caught the building on fire when her car sheared a natural gas line, authorities say. Jaden Saje Price, 27, of the 2600 block of Chestnut Street, Lower Burrell, was charged with driving...
CDC: Most Americans can stop wearing masks as risk of severe covid infection eases
Most Americans live in places where healthy people, including students in schools, can safely stop wearing masks under new U.S. guidelines released Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlined the new set of measures for communities where covid-19 is easing its grip, with less of a focus on...
Man sues, alleging wrongful imprisonment for deadly fire in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield
A man who said he spent nearly 14 years wrongfully imprisoned for a fire that killed three people in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood is suing the prosecutor and two police officers who led the investigation. Daniel Carnevale, 58, filed the federal lawsuit alleging malicious prosecution, fabrication of evidence and civil conspiracy...
Police say passenger fled from traffic stop leaving his 2-year-old behind, driver charged with felony
The driver of a car pulled over with a 2-year-old inside was charged with a felony by Tarentum police after the toddler’s father, who was a passenger, fled from officers, police say. Police charged John Francis Brockman Jr., 31, of Cornetti Road in Clearfield Township, Butler County, with felony child...
Biden nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson, first Black woman, to Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday nominated federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman selected to serve on a court that once declared her race unworthy of citizenship and endorsed segregation. Introducing Jackson, Biden called her a “proven...
John Mayer postpones PPG Paints concert
John Mayer fans will have wait a few more months to see him in concert in Pittsburgh. The John Mayer SOB ROCK Tour 2022 performance scheduled for Friday night at PPG Paints Arena has been rescheduled for May 5. Mayer shared on social media Thursday that he and other band...
Organizations meet challenges to serve up Lenten fish fries
Lenten fish fries are more than a Western Pennsylvania Catholic tradition. They are nationwide and also found in Protestant faith communities as well as secular groups. Serving up fish dinners to the public is a great way to raise funds, not just for churches, but also for fire companies and...
New York firm to develop 178-acre Hazelwood Green site in Pittsburgh
The streets, trails and sidewalks of the 178-acre Hazelwood Green site in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood were completed in early 2020, and the area has since been awaiting finalized development plans to transform the former steel mill site into a fully functional residential and commercial neighborhood. On Friday, the owners of...
Triple shooting in Homestead leaves 2 dead, 1 injured
Two people were killed and one other was injured in a triple shooting late Thursday in Homestead, Allegheny County Police said. Jason Chavis, 25, of Monroeville, and Amari Mitchell, 18, of Braddock died in the shooting, according the the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. A Homestead officer on patrol heard...
