Top Stories category, Page 226
Very cold weather is coming. U.S. about to get 10th and chilliest polar vortex this winter
The coldest burst of Arctic air this season is coming to put an icy exclamation point on America’s winter of repeated polar vortex invasions, meteorologists warn. And it will stay frozen there all next week. Different weather forces in the Arctic are combining to push the chilly air that usually...
Michigan judge sentences Walmart shoplifters to wash cars in the parking lot
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters, ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring arrives. Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart and rewards shoppers who could see higher prices, or possibly...
Allegheny Township officials blame traffic light timing for backups into Route 356 roundabout
The roundabout where Route 356 meets La Belle Vue Road in Allegheny Township, completed in 2023, was meant to reduce crashes and congestion. And while police say the safety gains are real, traffic improvements from the $7.7 million project haven’t quite met expectations. Township officials have raised concerns to PennDOT...
Charleroi glass plant operators extend operation 3 months, through the end of July
Workers at a Charleroi glass plant learned this week the Pyrex cookware factory would remain open for at least three months, extending its operation through the end of July, a union official said. Some union workers at the Corelle Brands LLC who were anticipating a layoff learned on Thursday that...
Americans freed from Russia and Venezuela describe challenges likely facing Fogel
Matthew Heath, who was imprisoned in Venezuela for two years, has an idea of what Marc Fogel went through during his captivity in Russia. But Trevor Reed lived it. Heath and Reed, both arrested on sham charges and held for years by a foreign government, spoke with TribLive this week...
1 shot in East Vandergrift police raid
Officials declined to identify the suspect shot by police during a raid at an apartment Friday morning in East Vandergrift. The man was shot during a police raid led by the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force around 7 a.m. Friday, according to state police. Residents say the raid targeted an...
Diesel from Route 28 tanker accident leaves sheen throughout Allegheny and Ohio rivers
Groups are monitoring the region’s waterways and wildlife after a tanker accident on Route 28 spilled 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel. While authorities are working to mitigate the impact of Tuesday’s accident, which sent large amounts of fuel into Pine Creek and later the Allegheny River, sheens of diesel can...
Mark Madden: From Lemieux to Crosby, 4 Nations Face-Off opener was night to savor
I went to my first Pittsburgh Penguins game when I was 7. My late mother and I had season tickets for the best part of a decade beginning in 1971. It was all I wanted to watch. It’s the team I supported as a boy. That never leaves you. I...
Pittsburgh’s Billy Gardell gets serious in new movie ‘The Vortex’
According to Billy Gardell, his humor is quintessentially Pittsburgh. “My work ethic comes from there, and so I’ve been telling ‘DVE for 20 years, everything I’ve done in Hollywood — whether it was looking for auditions, being broke, you know, being up for a yogurt commercial all the way to...
Federal funding freeze disrupts rural organizations supporting foster youth, job growth
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After surviving teen homelessness and domestic violence in West Virginia, 23-year-old Ireland Daugherty was finally feeling stable: She had her own apartment, a job and was studying for a four-year degree. Ashley Cain, 36, was celebrating four years of sobriety and working with a nonprofit that trains...
TikTok returns to Apple and Google app stores in U.S.
HONG KONG — TikTok has returned to the app stores of Apple and Google in the U.S., after President Donald Trump delayed the enforcement of a TikTok ban. TikTok, which is operated by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, was removed from Apple and Google’s app stores on Jan. 18 to comply...
Judge dismisses Pittsburgh Public Schools lawsuit aimed at forcing countywide reassessment
A judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit that Pittsburgh Public Schools had brought against Allegheny County in hopes of forcing a countywide property reassessment. The district filed the suit in April 2024 seeking to have the court retain jurisdiction throughout a reassessment process and to set a realistic timetable for...
O’Connor audit details how caseloads overwhelm Allegheny County public defenders
In an audit released Thursday, Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor raised concerns that public defenders’ heavy caseloads may make it difficult to provide effective representation. His audit recommended the county improve the way it analyzes and manages attorneys’ caseloads in the Allegheny County Office of the Public Defender. According to...
Lori Falce: Marc Fogel, Saquon Barkley, Donald Trump and rooting for all the right reasons
The Super Bowl is one of the highlights of my year. Even when the Steelers aren’t participating, I revel in the rush. Sometimes not having your team in play can make you appreciate the game more than the score. I have been up front about my absolute loathing of the...
At fire academy, high school students earn class credit while training to be firefighters
Desiree Schramm wasn’t looking to become a firefighter when she was choosing electives during her junior year at North Hills High School. “I was scheduling for classes and, ‘What’s this?’ ” said Schramm, of Ross, now 18 and a senior. “This is actually pretty cool.” What Schramm stumbled across was the...
Westmoreland leaders look to workforce, housing, internet projects for improving ‘State of County’
Westmoreland County’s manufacturers generate $1.3 billion in annual wages and account for 22% of that sector in the seven-county Pittsburgh metropolitan area. While those attending Thursday’s annual State of the County luncheon heard those encouraging statistics, county leaders pointed to the need to attract more people to live and work...
Former Everson secretary-treasurer to fill revamped fiscal director slot for Latrobe
An Everson native who recently served as secretary-treasurer of that Fayette County borough is set to take on a new role: overseeing Latrobe’s city budget. Timothy Pisula is set to start work as Latrobe’s fiscal director March 10 after city council this week unanimously hired him for the revamped position....
Order to drop New York Mayor Adams’ case roils Justice Department as high-ranking officials resignVideo
NEW YORK — Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, and five high-ranking Justice Department officials resigned Thursday after she refused an order to drop corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams — a stunning escalation in a dayslong standoff over the Trump administration prioritizing political aims over criminal...
Judge orders Trump administration to temporarily allow funds for foreign aid to flow again
WASHINGTON — A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily lift a three-week funding freeze that has shut down U.S. aid and development programs worldwide. Judge Amir Ali issued the order Thursday in U.S. district court in Washington in a lawsuit brought by two health organizations that receive...
Under cover: Game commission releases bonus stock of pheasants in Pa.Video
Pheasant hunters aren’t just good at flushing out the birds they’re hunting. They’re pretty adept at figuring out where the Pennsylvania Game Commission is likely to stock them. As Warden Zebulun Campbell and his crew pulled into a small parking lot near Loyalhanna Lake on Thursday morning, a half-dozen hunters...
Weapons, drug charges against former Pagans member dismissed in New Kensington
Weapons and drug charges against a former member of the Pagans motorcycle gang have been dismissed. The charges, including prohibited possession of a firearm, against Bill Robert Rana, 44, of Sharpsburg were dismissed after a preliminary hearing Thursday before New Kensington District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. Rana and three...
Linda McMahon says Trump’s plan to close Education Department would need Congress’ approval
WASHINGTON — Linda McMahon, the former CEO of a professional wrestling and entertainment juggernaut and Donald Trump’s pick as Education secretary, told senators Thursday that the president’s plan to dismantle the Education Department would need congressional approval. “We’d like to do this right,” she said. “We’d like to make sure...
Woman dies after being found shot in crashed car in Sheraden
A 26-year-old woman has died after being shot Thursday morning in Pittsburgh’s Sheraden neighborhood, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said. The victim, Taylor Hall, was pronounced dead at an area hospital Thursday morning after the shooting in the 3100 block of Kelvin Street, the medical examiner said. Pittsburgh police...
Allegheny County property tax bills lack new payment deadlines
Allegheny County residents will begin receiving 2025 real estate tax bills this week, but deadline information in the enclosed bulletins is wrong because of last-minute changes, according to County Treasurer Erica Rocchi Brusselars. On Tuesday night, Allegheny County Council voted to extend property tax deadlines by about a month, including...
Closing of Salem’s Market in the Hill District leaves residents shocked, disappointed
Salem’s Market and Grill is temporarily pausing its operations in the Hill District location. The grocery store at 1850 Centre Ave. has been open for a little over a year and came as a great relief for the predominantly Black neighborhood, which had been without a grocery store since the...
