Top Stories category, Page 235
Author of book rejected by Pine-Richland School Board plans to visit district in late February
Randi Pink, an Alabama-based author, said she will visit Northern Tier Library on Feb. 22 after the district’s school board voted not to include her novel, “Angel of Greenwood,” in its ninth grade language arts classes. The novel, a young adult romance set during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, was...
Carol Ann Banaszak, a Woodland Hills coach and pioneer, dies
Carol Ann Banaszak was everyone’s biggest cheerleader. As an ardent supporter of the initial “no cuts” policy for athletics and extracurricular activities, she believed that all students should have an opportunity to participate and represent Woodland Hills School District, where she was one of the first coaches in the inaugural...
Philly DA: Local officials don’t have to comply with Trump administration’s immigration crackdown
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Friday local elected officials and law enforcement cannot be forced to comply with the Trump administration’s “Nazi stuff,” referring to the president’s planned crackdown on immigration. “Local law enforcement can volunteer to do Nazi stuff,” said Krasner, a Democrat. “I’m sure I...
Clubhouse restaurant in Richland getting new owner and new name
The Clubhouse, the beloved longtime restaurant and sports bar in Richland, soon will be under new ownership. While his status as sole owner is new, Mark Baranowski is not new to the Clubhouse. He and Greg Maggio founded the Clubhouse in 1995 after the two had previously established the North...
What can the black box tell us about plane crashes?
It’s one of the most important pieces of forensic evidence following a plane crash: The so-called “black box.” There are actually two of these remarkably sturdy devices: the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. And they’re typically orange, not black. Federal investigators on Friday recovered the black boxes...
New York doctor indicted for prescribing abortion pill in Louisiana
BATON ROUGE, La. — A New York doctor was indicted by a Louisiana grand jury on Friday for allegedly prescribing an abortion pill online in the Deep South state, which has one of the strictest near-total abortion bans in the country. Grand jurors at the District Court for the Parish...
D.C. plane crash killed ex-Johnstown woman, an IUP grad, and her family
An IUP grad and former Johnstown woman, her husband and two children were among the 67 people killed Wednesday when a plane collided with an Army helicopter approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C. Donna Smojice Livingston graduated in 1999 from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a marketing degree,...
Armstrong County Children, Youth and Family Services caseworkers hold 1-day strike
Union members who work for Armstrong County Children, Youth and Family services and the county Assessor’s Office staged a one-day strike Friday. Over a dozen union members of the Service Employees International Union Local 668 union workers walked the picket line outside of the Armstrong County Courthouse. They gathered at...
Shapiro’s budget is expected to seek more for schools and transit, emphasize frugality
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will deliver his third budget proposal to lawmakers next week, a plan that’s expected to seek substantially more aid for the poorest public schools, emphasize frugality and press the politically fraught topics of bailing out public transit and legalizing marijuana. The plan to be...
Polish cafe Polska Laska opens in Sharpsburg
Olive Visco recalled watching her grandmother Staniswava Zawistowski braiding the dough around the edges to keep the potato and cheese tucked inside. The family pierogi recipe Zawistowski always used came from Visco’s great-grandmother, Anna Zawistowski. It is one that continues to be handed down through the generations of this Polish...
Boats return to the Potomac River for D.C. plane crash recovery and investigation
ARLINGTON, Va. — Police boats combed the banks of the Potomac River on Friday, moving slowly under rainy skies and scanning the shoreline as investigators sought clues into the midair collision that killed 67 people and raised questions about air traffic safety around the nation’s capital. No one survived the...
Officials search river where a passenger jet and Army chopper crashed, and probe the cause
American Airlines Flight 5342 with 60 passengers and four crew hit an Army helicopter near Washington D.C.’s Reagan National Wednesday night, sending the two aircraft into the Potomac River and killing all aboard in the deadliest U.S. air crash in more than two decades. The crash around 9 p.m. threw...
Latrobe, Mutual Aid officials in talks to return ambulance, crew to city hall
Talks are underway for Mutual Aid EMS to once again house an ambulance and crew at Latrobe’s city hall after the service has been without a station in the city for nearly two years. Mutual Aid moved its equipment and personnel out of bays at the city building in April...
White House says Trump tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China will come Saturday. No word on exemptions
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will put in place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday, the White House said, but it provided no word on whether there would be any exemptions to the measures that could result in...
Here are 5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: Jan. 31-Feb. 2
This weekend, we’ll get to find out whether Phil’s bringing us an early spring or six more weeks of this already-too-long winter. Whatever the weather, here are some things to do around town. Brigid This weekend is a holiday honoring Celtic goddess and Catholic saint Brigid, so come join a...
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick to oversee U.S. spy agencies, grilled about Snowden, Syria and Russia
WASHINGTON — Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s pick to be director of national intelligence, faced sharp criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike Thursday during a fiery confirmation hearing focused on her past comments sympathetic to Russia, a meeting with Syria’s now-deposed leader and her past support for government leaker Edward...
Pittsburgh woman settles civil rights lawsuit against city, Allegheny County for $70K
A Pittsburgh woman who sued Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh over claims of civil rights violations, false arrest and violent treatment has settled her federal case for a total of $70,000. The county last week paid Joanna Obuzor, 41, of the city’s Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood, $62,500 after approval from...
Summer Lee, Pittsburgh officials, advocates slam ‘deplorable conditions’ at region’s subsidized housing
Pittsburgh officials and housing advocates are grappling with how to address serious safety issues at privately owned, publicly subsidized housing complexes throughout the region. During a Wednesday City Council meeting, advocates painted a disturbing picture of babies living in apartments plagued by mold, families finding raccoons living in their ceilings...
Prosecutors reveal suspected motive for St. Clair mother’s murder
Westmoreland County prosecutors contend a long simmering period of discord between a New Florence woman and her mother provided a motive for her killing in late 2023. According to a court filing, investigators believe the Dec. 11, 2023, fatal shooting of 71-year-old Alice Robson was the culmination of years of...
Police say man shoots another, then himself in Bethel Park
Police say they responded to a Bethel Park home Thursday after a man shot another man and then himself. Authorities did not immediately identify either man; both were reported to be in critical condition at unnamed area hospitals. The incident occurred in the 500 block of Chessbriar Drive, which is...
Trump consoles crash victims then dives into politics with attack on diversity initiatives
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday questioned the actions of the army helicopter pilot and air traffic controller ahead of a deadly midair collision in Washington and quickly veered into politics to speculate that Democrats and diversity initiatives shared blame for the deaths of 67 people. As Trump spoke,...
Irwin man who can’t recall killing girlfriend sent to prison for up to 20 years
An Irwin man who has no memory of killing his girlfriend at a Monroeville hotel three years ago will serve at least 71⁄2 years in state prison. Matthew Gribschaw, 40, pleaded guilty but mentally ill in November to third-degree murder for killing Rochella Anderson, 49. On Thursday, Senior Judge Katherine...
Video appears to show American Airlines flight’s collision with a U.S. Army helicopter near D.C.Video
A grainy snippet of video footage taken in the dark of night, seemingly by an airport CCTV camera, appears to show the fatal mid-air collision of an American Airlines passenger plane and a military Black Hawk helicopter. American Airlines Flight 5342 was on approach at Ronald Reagan National Airport near...
Trump’s FBI chief pick, Kash Patel, insists he has no ‘enemies list’ and won’t seek retributionVideo
WASHINGTON — Kash Patel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, insisted to deeply skeptical Democrats on Thursday that he did not have an “enemies list” and that the bureau under his leadership would not seek retribution against the president’s adversaries or launch investigations for political purposes. “I have...
Shapiro rolls out plan to fast-track and subsidize power plants, hydrogen projects
HARRISBURG — Gov. Josh Shapiro said Thursday that he wants to fast-track the construction of big power plants in Pennsylvania and offer hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks for projects that provide electricity to the grid and use hydrogen. Shapiro’s announcement comes a few days before he delivers...
