Top Stories category, Page 275
Why retailers still see Black Friday as the high point of the holiday shopping season
NEW YORK — After weeks of plugging increasingly inviting discounts, retailers in the United States and several other countries are preparing for prime time: Black Friday, the bargain bonanza that still reigns as the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season even if it’s lost some luster. Department stores, shopping...
Runners, walkers turn out in Greensburg for Turkey Trot on rainy, cold morning
Runners and walkers lined downtown Greensburg’s Main Street on Thursday morning for the city’s 33rd annual Turkey Trot. The 5K run and walk typically sees 2,000 participants and Carol Palcic, who has been race director for 29 years, said about 1,800 came out on the cold and rainy morning. Race...
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: Big balloons, wet weather and 21 protesters arrested
NEW YORK — The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was drenched in rain Thursday and briefly disrupted by Pro-Palestinian demonstrators. New York City police said they arrested 21 people after protesters sat down on the parade route with Palestinian flags and a “Don’t Celebrate Genocide” banner. People protesting Israel’s war in...
Letters to Santa getting spruced up mailbox in Arnold; holiday event planned
What started out as a misunderstanding could turn into Arnold’s newest Christmas event. The free event will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on Rankin Street near H.D. Berkey Elementary School. Lebert, 45, of Fawn placed a decorative “Santa Mail” mailbox outside the home of his mother, Pam Moses,...
Saturday’s deer season opener still draws fire from traditionalists
There are few items on the Pennsylvania hunting calendar that draw more anticipation than the opening day of firearms deer season. There also are few events that have generated as much heated debate in recent years, particularly since the Pennsylvania Game Commission made the decision in 2019 to shift opening...
Tim Benz: Whoever points at Arthur Smith for Cleveland loss should point at Mike Tomlin too
CBS NFL insider Jason La Canfora appeared on 93.7 The Fan on Tuesday morning. He made the following statement about Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith based on what unnamed people within the team’s headquarters are telling him. “There’s people in that building looking at Arthur Smith, like, ‘Come on...
Botched FAFSA rollout, state upgrades mean college students are still waiting for critical grant money
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — The money for the fall semester normally arrives in September. By the last week of November, with the end of the semester in...
Trump picks Jay Bhattacharya, who backed covid herd immunity, to lead National Institutes of HealthVideo
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen health economist Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates, to lead the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s leading medical research agency. Trump, in a statement Tuesday evening, said Bhattacharya, a 56-year-old physician and professor at Stanford University School of Medicine,...
Canada already examining tariffs on certain U.S. items following Trump’s tariff threat
TORONTO — Canada is already examining possible retaliatory tariffs on certain items from the United States should President-elect Donald Trump follow through on his threat to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products, a senior official said Wednesday. Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if...
Vandergrift sisters make National Adoption Day a family affair
It was a family affair Wednesday for Vandergrift sisters Kelly and Nicole Dunmire, who created new families on National Adoption Day in Westmoreland County, giving two children a loving home and stability in their lives. “I prayed for what was best for Katerina. I prayed for what was in her...
Owners of shuttered Panther Pit nuisance bar face criminal charges
The owners of the troubled Panther Pit Bar and Grill in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood are facing criminal charges. This comes after Common Pleas Judge Dan Regan earlier this month ordered the bar be closed for at least a year amid allegations it was a nuisance bar without a liquor license....
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signs bill limiting bathroom use by transgender students
COLUMBUS — Transgender students from kindergarten through college at Ohio public and private schools will be banned from using multiperson bathrooms that fit their gender identities under a measure that Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Wednesday that he has signed. DeWine signed the law out of public view Tuesday over...
Hempfield Walmart customer hit in face with gun inside store, police say
A Greensburg man is accused of hitting a Walmart customer in the face with a gun on Tuesday evening, according to court papers. State police said Ahseim S. Pestano, 29, was seen on surveillance video at the Hempfield store pulling a pistol from his front pocket and aiming it at...
30 downtown New Kensington businesses participating in 4th annual Shop Small Crawl
New Kensington’s take on Small Business Saturday, the Shop Small Crawl, features businesses that are brand new and others that are long-standing. The 30 downtown businesses participating in the fourth annual event range from Eazer’s Restaurant, founded in 1918, to Evanly Bakes, opening for its first day. Hailey Sabot and...
Merchant Oyster Co. in Lawrenceville is closing, building for sale
A popular Lawrenceville restaurant will be shucking its last oyster soon. Merchant Oyster Co. is closing up shop next week, the restaurant announced on social media. The Butler Street oyster joint will hold its last day on Dec. 4 with a special ticketed event. “This decision wasn’t easy, but we’re...
Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire appears to hold as Lebanese begin streaming south to their homes
TYRE, Lebanon — A ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah that began Wednesday appeared to be holding, as residents in cars heaped with belongings streamed back toward southern Lebanon despite warnings from the Israeli and Lebanese militaries that they stay away from certain areas. If it holds,...
Roundup: Rainy Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh region; slide work to close Penn Hills road
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024: Rain for Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh, snow up north A weather system coming in Wednesday night will bring rain to the immediate Pittsburgh region, but close to 20 inches of snow closer to Lake Erie. A...
Editorial: Break bread, not hearts, this Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is not the same from one house to the next. Some families spend all day with relatives coming and going, talking and laughing and eating from an endless buffet. Some gather around an elegantly laid out table for a formal dinner. Some hold hands as they say grace. Some...
8-story tower of former Fort Pitt Brewery set to come down in Jeannette
One major section is all that is left of the former Fort Pitt Brewery site in West Jeannette — an eight-story brick tower. Brian Lawrence, executive director of the Westmoreland County Redevelopment Authority and Land Bank, wants residents and passersby to stay away from the site next week when the...
Westmoreland chamber looking along Route 30 for potential convention center location
The Westmoreland County Chamber of Commerce plans to study the potential for a convention center and hotel in the county. “As we look at regrowing Westmoreland County, this is just one of many items where we’re looking to spur new economic growth,” said chamber President and CEO Dan DeBone. “We’re...
Allegheny County Council slashes Innamorato’s budget proposal
Allegheny County Council members presented their plan Tuesday to make over $70 million in cuts to Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato’s budget proposal as a means to lower the proposed property tax increase rate that could hit residents next year. An amendment introduced by Allegheny County Councilman John Palmiere, D-Baldwin,...
Arnold man ruled competent to stand trial in mother’s stabbing death
An Arnold man charged in the fatal stabbing of his mother last summer has been ruled competent to stand trial. Brian Rebold, 38, has been in jail since he was charged with criminal homicide and first-degree murder Aug. 4 in connection with the death of his 73-year-old mother outside her...
‘Your situation is a tragedy’: Former Penn Hills basketball standout sentenced in killing
Jeremiah Ligon had a lot going for him. A standout guard on his Penn Hills basketball team, he got a scholarship to play basketball at Clarion University in 2016. But he dropped out after less than a semester. A few years later, he was charged with killing a man. On...
Charah subsidiary sues demolition contractors over Springdale chimney, boiler house implosions
The June 2023 implosion of two chimneys at the former power plant in Springdale, and the lawsuit that followed, now has the plant’s property owner and its demolition contractors at odds legally. Attorneys representing Cheswick Plant Environmental Redevelopment Group — a subsidiary of Charah Solutions — filed the lawsuit Monday...
Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah start ceasefire after nearly 14 months of fightingVideo
JERUSALEM — The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants began early Wednesday as a region on edge wondered whether it will hold. The ceasefire announced Tuesday is a major step toward ending nearly 14 months of fighting sparked by the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. There...
