Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 317
Dr. Phil joins ICE deportation raid in Chicago
During a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation on Sunday in Chicago, TV host Dr. Phil embedded with the officers — supporting President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts. Phil McGraw, known as Dr. Phil on his TV show focused on mental health, followed ICE officers and other federal agents during the...
Donora, Murrysville, Greensburg dive teams help pull Fayette County crash victim, vehicle from West Virginia lake
With an 8-inch sheet of ice atop the frigid water beneath their feet, dive teams from Murrysville Medic One and the Donora and Greensburg volunteer fire departments helped pull a vehicle and remains of a Fayette County resident from West Virginia’s Cheat Lake Sunday. Kevin Laitalle, 59, of Smithfield, and...
‘No remorse’: 2 men get life in prison for murder at Larimer gas station
Two men will spend the rest of their lives in prison after being sentenced Monday for a murder four years ago outside a gas station in Larimer. Michael A. James, 30, of Beaver Falls, and Randall Jones, 32, of Chicago, were sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J....
Three Rivers Arts Festival finds temporary home in the Strip District
The abridged version of this year’s Three Rivers Arts Festival will take place in the Strip District, officials announced Monday. The festival will be take place at the riverfront lots at the 15th Street Plaza along Waterfront Place, said Derek Scalzott, a spokesman for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Festival dates...
2 adults, 5 children injured in crash on Route 711 in Ligonier Township
Two adults and five children were injured Monday morning after a two-vehicle crash between a Porsche and a Chevrolet Suburban on Route 711 in Ligonier Township, according to Ligonier Valley police Chief Mike Matrunics. The head-on collision occurred at about 8 a.m. when one of the vehicles apparently crossed the...
New player arrives in U.S. Steel-Nippon takeover saga with the goal of quashing it
An asset manager based in Cleveland is seeking to quash a Japanese takeover of U.S. Steel and oust its leadership after buying a minor stake in the company. The activist shareholder, Ancora, recently acquired less than a quarter-percent stake in the company. It said in an open letter Monday the...
Grants are an imperfect lifeline for volunteer fire departments
Until a few weeks ago, some Vandergrift No. 1 volunteer firefighters would answer rescue calls in one-piece cotton jumpsuits ripped from decades of crawling into mangled vehicles and performing hillside rope rescues. The rescue gear wasn’t specially rated for safety — or especially well-fitting, according to Chief Randy Dunmire. “Just...
Penn State faculty fear the school will close campuses across the stateVideo
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for Talk of the Town, a weekly newsletter of local stories that dig deep, events, and more from north-central PA, at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown. Penn...
‘A freeing experience’: Guides help visually impaired skiers take to Seven Springs slopes
Editor’s note: The captions under the photographs associated with this story include a description of the image content so that information might be relayed to software assisting the visually impaired. Downhill skiing with a guide took away any fears for Amelie Colletti. Having the support close by to navigate the...
Battlegrounds Pennsylvania, Wisconsin back in the spotlight with high-stakes court elections
HARRISBURG — Republicans put Pennsylvania and Wisconsin back in the win column in the 2024 presidential race, and they’re hoping that momentum carries over to contests this year that will determine whether their state Supreme Courts retain left-leaning majorities or flip to conservative control. The outcome can be pivotal in...
Top Trump administration officials in Chicago for start of immigration enforcement crackdownVideo
CHICAGO — Top Trump administration officials, including “border czar” Tom Homan and the acting deputy attorney general, visited Chicago on Sunday to witness the start of ramped-up immigration enforcement in the nation’s third-largest city. Few details of the operation were immediately made public, including the number of arrests. But the...
Mark your calendars: Saturday opener for deer rifle hunting backed by Pa. game commissioners
It’s not official yet, but hunters can probably start planning for the sport’s biggest weekend in Pennsylvania — the opening day for the deer rifle season in late November. The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners on Saturday unanimously gave preliminary approval to hunting and trapping season schedules for 2025-26. The...
White House says Colombia agrees to take deported migrants after Trump tariff showdown
BOGOTA, Colombia — The White House claimed victory in a showdown with Colombia over accepting flights of deported migrants from the U.S. on Sunday, hours after President Donald Trump threatened steep tariffs on imports and other sanctions on the longtime U.S. partner. Long close partners in anti-narcotics efforts, the U.S....
Qatar says agreement reached to release Israeli hostage, allow Palestinians to return to north Gaza
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Mediator Qatar announced early Monday that an agreement has been reached to release an Israeli civilian hostage and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, easing the first major crisis of the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Qatar’s statement said Hamas will hand over...
4 people displaced after Arnold house fire
Emergency crews were called to an Arnold neighborhood Saturday night for a house fire that displaced four people. Westmoreland 911 said a call for a two-alarm fire on the 1800 block of Kimball Avenue came in just after 8 p.m. Dispatchers said everyone was out of the home by the...
Students, faculty nervous for future of Penn State branch campuses
Gabrielle Green is in it for the long haul at Penn State New Kensington. The 18-year-old from Altavista, Va., is a second-semester freshman at the Upper Burrell campus. She is studying biobehavioral health and plans to obtain a four-year bachelor’s degree at the school. So conversations among university leadership this...
Arnold Palmer Regional Airport bleeds cash as leaders pin hopes for brighter future on terminal project
Westmoreland County directs $2.6 million annually to support Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe, but a drop in commercial flights over the past five years has left the facility “bleeding” money. Today, the once-thriving airport loses money every month it operates. As the new year gets underway, the county airport...
2050 look-ahead: Developments in Pittsburgh driven by tech hubs, housing demands
Editor’s note: One-fourth of the way through this century, TribLive is looking ahead to the next 25 years, using the events of the past 25 as a roadmap of what possibly is to come. This installment of the occasional series looks at Pittsburgh. Where mills once sat along the Monongahela...
Trump’s Palestinian refugee idea falls flat with Jordan and confounds a Senate ally
DORAL, Fla. — President Donald Trump’s push to have Egypt and Jordan take in large numbers of Palestinian refugees from besieged Gaza fell flat with those countries’ governments and left a key congressional ally in Washington perplexed on Sunday. Fighting that broke out in the territory after ruling Hamas attacked...
‘Something for everybody’ at Hempfield antique show
John Mickinak began attending antique auctions with his mother when he was 12. As a 70-year-old, the Greensburg man is a full-time antiques dealer and appraiser. While he’s made a career out of his passion, Mickinak said he’s watched his line of work lose the interest of younger generations over...
Kids learn communication, problem solving, value of hard work through New Kensington program
Kim Louis told the kids gathered at United Presbyterian Church of New Kensington to pretend they were on a tropical island, somewhere green and warm. Then imagine an impending snowstorm threatened to wreak havoc on that island. Snowplows, Louis told the kids, would be key to clearing the snow. But...
Freighter remains stuck in the ice on a frozen Lake Erie
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards on Saturday continued efforts to break up ice and free a freighter that has been trapped in a frozen Lake Erie for days, officials said. The Manitoulin, a 663-foot Canadian vessel with 17 people on board, got stuck in the ice...
Southern Armstrong police settling into Freeport headquarters
The Southern Armstrong Regional Police Department now has a proper headquarters. After two years of performing key functions in a cramped Gilpin basement, the force moved this week to a roomy station at 235 Fifth St. in Freeport. “Finally, we found somewhere that worked, made sense, was big enough for...
Trump uses mass firing to remove independent inspectors general at a series of agencies
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has fired about 17 independent inspectors general at government agencies, a sweeping action to remove oversight of his new administration that some members of Congress are suggesting violated federal oversight laws. The dismissals began Friday night and were effective immediately, according to two people familiar...
Senate confirms Noem as Trump’s homeland security secretary
WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary on Saturday, putting the South Dakota governor in charge of a sprawling agency that is essential to national security and President Donald Trump’s plans to clamp down on illegal immigration. Republicans kept the Senate working Saturday to install the...
