Top Stories category, Page 308
Dave McCormick campaigns with Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan at VFW in Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick campaigned with about three dozen veterans Thursday, telling the Pittsburgh crowd he is the needed change to improve the U.S. Senate. McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO and Army veteran, held an intimate campaign event at the VFW hall in the city’s Morningside neighborhood....
Taylor Swift donates $5 million toward hurricane relief efforts
Taylor Swift has donated $5 million to Feeding America to support relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The nonprofit announced the pop star’s donation Wednesday with a “Thank You” graphic resembling a friendship bracelet, a favorite accessory that Swift’s fans trade at her concerts. Feeding America...
Pa. Supreme Court tackles public-records fight over school board members’ Facebook posts
In 2021, a Crawford County man grew suspicious that members of his local school board were talking about district business on their personal Facebook accounts. Thomas Cagle wanted to find out what else they were saying. But when he filed an open-records request for the members’ posts, the Penncrest School...
How to help people affected by Hurricane Milton
Communities in Florida still reeling from the impact of Hurricane Helene are now also grappling with the still-unfolding damage from Hurricane Milton. The storm crashed into a community south of Tampa, drenching counties with torrents of rain, downing power lines and bridges and kicking up dangerous storm surges. Here is...
Pennsylvania state system seeks $40.3M funding boost, eyeing 7th year of frozen tuition
The board governing Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities is asking for a 6.5% increase, or $40.3 million more, in next year’s state budget. This increase could allow for a seventh annual tuition freeze. The request for 2025-26, approved unanimously by the State System’s Board of Governors Thursday, would bring the state...
Supply issues slow down Freeport’s $18.6M sewage plant, but it still could meet schedule
Work on Freeport’s new $18.6 million sewage treatment facility is going slower than expected, with possible change orders looming. Robert Horvat, the project’s engineer from KLH Engineers, estimated that if “everything goes perfect and we get a little lucky,” the plant will be ready during the third quarter of next...
Obama implores Pittsburghers to ‘get off couch’ and vote for Harris at Oakland rallyVideo
Former President Barack Obama pleaded with Pittsburghers to get out and vote for Vice President Kamala Harris during a rally Thursday evening in front of thousands, urging the crowd that this year’s election is too important to sit on the sidelines. During his trip to the Steel City, he spoke...
Hurricane Milton live feed: Views from around FloridaVideo
Hurricane Milton barreled into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after plowing across Florida as a Category 3 storm, pounding cities with ferocious winds and rain, whipping up a barrage of tornadoes and causing an unknown numbers of deaths. It compounded the misery wrought by Helene while sparing Tampa a direct...
What to know about Hurricane Milton after it slammed Florida’s Gulf Coast
Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida as a Category 3 storm, bringing powerful winds, heavy rain and tornadoes to much of the Gulf Coast, including communities already battered by deadly Hurricane Helene. By early Thursday, Milton — weakened, but still dangerous — was moving off Florida’s east coast as a Category...
Milton causes widespread power outages and several deaths in Florida
TAMPA, Fla. — Rescue teams plucked Florida residents from the flotsam of Hurricane Milton on Thursday after the storm smashed through coastal communities where it tore homes into pieces, filled streets with mud and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes. At least eight people were dead. Arriving just two weeks...
2nd runaway sheep found safe, reunited with previously rescued animal on the lam
Storm and Baby are reunited. The runaway sheep from Plum spent three weeks on the lam, creating social media buzz with sightings from Lower Burrell to Tarentum. “It’s been a nightmare,” owner Rick Borowski said. Storm, a 180-pound black-and-white male sheep, was captured Monday in Brackenridge Memorial Park with help...
Photo collection: Hurricane Milton pounds Florida
Hurricane Milton has made landfall along Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm. It has lashed the state with damaging wind, deadly storm surge and potential flooding. The cyclone had maximum sustained wind of 120 mph when it roared ashore near Siesta Key, Florida, at 8:30 p.m., the Miami-based...
Penguins shut out by Rangers in ugly season opener
Evgeni Malkin has plenty of perspective as an NHLer. Like 19 years’ worth of perspective. So he knows how much gravity one contest out of an 82-game schedule should command. And he’s fully aware the Penguins will have 81 more chances to correct all of what went wrong in their...
Pa. bill would give Uber, other app drivers benefits, but critics say they would lose more
A bill in the state Senate would guarantee app-based service workers a limited set of benefits, but labor advocates say drivers would ultimately lose out amid an ongoing legal battle over how those workers are classified. The bill would require network companies that employ drivers and couriers through phone-based applications...
A Western Pennsylvania native, college student and Florida visitor all brace for Hurricane Milton
Kyle Swan evacuated from the Tampa area Wednesday morning after official notice that his family’s Sarasota, Fla., home would be in the path of impending Hurricane Milton. “It was very worrisome,” he said. “I’ve lived here my whole life, and I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a Category 5 hurricane.”...
Man used toddler as ‘human shield’ during SWAT situation, police say
A man used his toddler as a shield from police during a standoff Tuesday, according to authorities. Manuel Antonio Turcios-Perez, 23, faces charges of endangering the welfare of children, reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, unlawful restraint and disarming a police officer in connection to the five-hour standoff that occurred in his...
Bob Butter, Pittsburgh’s ‘patriarch of public relations,’ dies
Tree of Life Congregation Rabbi Jeffrey Myers made a daily call to Bob Butter for comfort and advice. Butter, a public relations giant in Pittsburgh, helped Myers handle the media onslaught after the Oct. 27, 2018, attack on Tree of Life in Squirrel Hill. “We knew we would need extra...
Obstruction charges filed against Blackburn Center staff in child custody case
Four employees of the Blackburn Center in Greensburg are facing charges after, state police said, they denied entry to troopers attempting to serve an emergency child custody order. Police reported prying a door open Oct. 1 in an effort to locate the child after repeated attempts to get inside a...
Carnegie Mellon reports decrease in Black and white enrollment after race admissions ruling
The portion of Black and other students of color declined in this fall’s entering class at Carnegie Mellon University, following the first recruiting cycle since the U.S. Supreme Court barred consideration of race in admissions. The share of new students who are white also slipped, but Asian student enrollment rose,...
Verona police identify cigar theft suspect, issue arrest warrant
Verona police are looking for a Buffalo, N.Y., woman suspected of stealing nearly $1,500 in high-end cigars. Caitlin Connelly, 40, was caught on Verona News and Cigars security footage taking six boxes of cigars by West Tampa Tobacco, a high-end cigar company based in Florida, without paying on Sept. 26,...
Death penalty dropped against Allegheny Township man in Blawnox workplace slaying
An Allegheny Township man won’t be facing a possible death penalty when he goes to trial on charges of killing his ex-girlfriend at their Blawnox workplace in March. The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office rescinded its intention to seek the death penalty against Sean Black, 43, because of opposition from...
Game Commission pitches in $1.3 million for Indiana Township land purchase
The Pennsylvania Game Commission will cover half of the $2.6 million cost to buy 280 acres in Indiana Township as part of an Allegheny Land Trust-led conservation effort. Game commissioners voted unanimously last week to put $1.3 million toward purchasing two parcels near Emmerling Community Park, along with additions to...
Killer of off-duty Oakdale cop fires lawyer, disrupts sentencing
A Pittsburgh man on Wednesday disrupted his sentencing for the 2022 road-rage killing of an off-duty Oakdale police officer by firing his lawyer, arguing with the judge and inconveniencing the victim’s relatives. Kevin McSwiggen, 42, of the city’s Greenfield section, was scheduled to be sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas...
Ex-Pittsburgh building inspector gets probation, avoids prison in bribery case
A former Pittsburgh building inspector will not go to prison after pleading guilty in federal court to accepting bribes. U.S. District Court Judge Mark Hornak on Wednesday sentenced Walter Eiseman, 59, to 18 months of probation and 90 days of home confinement. Eiseman also must pay a $1,500 fine and...
Sanewashing? The banality of crazy? A decade into the Trump era, media haven’t figured him out
NEW YORK — Nearly a decade into the Trump Era of politics, less than a month from his third Election Day as the Republican candidate for president and there is still remarkably little consensus within the media about how best to cover Donald Trump. Are reporters “sanewashing” Trump, or are...
