Top Stories category, Page 35
As SNAP benefits remain in limbo, grocers brace for potential impact
Grocers who rely on sales from customers using federal food assistance are bracing for financial pain that could amount to millions of dollars in losses. Nationwide, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) serves an average of almost 42 million participants per month who spend almost $100 billion per year on...
Greensburg considers crackdown on false alarm fire calls
As many as seven trucks manned by volunteers hit the streets every time Greensburg Fire Department gets a call for an automatic fire alarm. They race to an address, not knowing what they’re going to find when they get there. But about 20% of the time, such a call turns...
Remediation efforts to begin this winter at nuclear waste dump in Parks Township
Remediation efforts at the Parks Township nuclear waste dump will begin this winter. The announcement was part of an informational session hosted by officials from the Army Corps of Engineers’ Buffalo and Pittsburgh districts at the township’s fire hall Wednesday. A precise start date has yet to be determined. An...
Democrats look to build on election wins in Pa., elsewhere as GOP refocuses
Democrats racked up victories in high-profile races across the country Tuesday night, prompting many on the left to view the wins as a repudiation of President Donald Trump and something to build on going into next year’s pivotal midterm elections. Some top Republicans downplayed the results, while others said Tuesday’s...
Supreme Court casts doubt on legality of Trump’s tariff powers
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices raised doubts on Wednesday over the legality of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs in a case with implications for the global economy that marks a major test of Trump’s powers. Conservative and liberal justices sharply questioned the lawyer representing Trump’s administration about whether a 1977...
FAA to slash air traffic by 10% at 40 airports amid shutdownVideo
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed on Wednesday that he would order a 10% reduction in scheduled air traffic at 40 major airports starting Friday unless a deal to end the federal government shutdown is reached. The shutdown, now in its 36th day, has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers...
Problems and promise: Pittsburgh Mayor-elect O’Connor inherits good, bad and ugly
Coming off a resounding election win Tuesday night, Corey O’Connor tempered his victory speech with a dose of reality. “The road that we will travel is long and steeply uphill,” Pittsburgh’s mayor-elect warned a jubilant crowd of supporters. Come January, O’Connor acknowledged, he will take over a city facing serious...
Jeannette’s Langdon wins 2 races, will serve as mayor
There is expected to be an opening in Jeannette city government after one candidate won two seats in Tuesday’s election. Michelle Langdon will be notified of her victories for mayor and council once results are certified this month, said Scott Ross of the Westmoreland County Elections Bureau. Langdon will have...
Developer proposes Strip District apartments, grocery store on site of departing produce wholesaler
A proposed development in Pittsburgh’s Strip District follows a familiar pattern of replacing the neighborhood’s legacy industry, wholesale produce, with modern apartments and shops. New York City-based Midwood Investment and Development wants to take one of the Strip District’s last produce warehouses, tear it down and turn it into a...
Who will replace Corey O’Connor as Allegheny County controller?
Allegheny County will need a new fiscal watchdog when Controller Corey O’Connor departs to become Pittsburgh’s next mayor. O’Connor, who won election Tuesday, will be sworn in to the city’s highest office in January. Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will select his replacement. Shapiro’s choice must be confirmed by the...
Pittsburgh SWAT responds to midday shooting in Hill District
Pittsburgh police’s SWAT team was called Wednesday afternoon to the city’s Hill District neighborhood after a midday shooting in a public housing development. A woman was shot in the leg in the 2500 block of Bedford Avenue, near the Bedford Dwellings complex, police said online. First responders said she was...
91-year-old Bridgeville Mayor Betty Copeland easily wins reelection bid
Betty L. Copeland, 91, won handily in her reelection bid for Bridgeville mayor. Copeland collected 1,061 votes compared to challenger Pasquale DeBlasio’s 525, according to unofficial but complete results posted by the Allegheny County Elections Division. Copeland, a Democrat, has been mayor for the past eight years. DeBlasio, 62, a...
Charleroi food processor could be sold, court overseer says
A Charleroi-area food processing plant scheduled to close by the end of the month could remain open if a deal is reached with a prospective buyer, a federally appointed business receiver said Wednesday. “We are negotiating with the buyer… and expect an agreement with an investment group” within a week,...
Trump grapples with political setback after Democrats ride voter fury over prices
WASHINGTON — It’s been a year since Donald Trump’s decisive win in the 2024 presidential election, and the White House had planned an anniversary rollout on Wednesday highlighting the promises kept by the Republican leader since he returned to office. Instead, the president and his Republican allies were left grappling...
Investigators find ‘black boxes’ from UPS plane crash that killed at least 12
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Federal safety investigators have located the “black box” recorders from the wreckage of a UPS cargo plane that crashed in flames on takeoff from the airport at Louisville, Kentucky, killing at least 12 people, officials said on Wednesday. Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety...
What’s next in the national redistricting fight after California approved a new U.S. House map
The new congressional map that California voters approved marked a victory for Democrats in the national redistricting battle playing out ahead of the 2026 midterm election. But Republicans are still ahead in the fight. The unusual mid-decade redistricting fray began this summer when President Donald Trump urged Republican-led states to...
What to know about the Supreme Court arguments over Trump’s tariffs
WASHINGTON — Three lower courts have ruled illegal President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose worldwide tariffs. Now the Supreme Court, with three justices Trump appointed and generally favorable to muscular presidential power, will have the final word. In roughly two dozen emergency appeals, the justices have largely...
Editorial: The common cents of planning ahead on eliminating the penny
Sometimes a decision is as easy as a coin toss. The stakes are low. The outcome is variable. Heads, you win. Tails, you lose. No big deal either way. Others may seem easy up front, but a little digging shows the process needs more care. Take, for instance, the penny....
Community Roundtable hopes to help people struggling with SNAP, LIHEAP benefits
Michael Eckert knows the struggle of relying on government assistance to stay warm and fed. The East Deer resident received benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in previous years. “These programs didn’t just help my wife and I survive,”...
Challenger slate ‘Together for PR’ sweeps election for Pine-Richland School Board
A slate of Democratic candidates swept the fight for four seats that were up for election Tuesday on the Pine-Richland School Board, according to unofficial Allegheny County Election Results. The four candidates running across three district regions — Liz DeLosa in Region 1; Amy Cafardi and Melissa Vecchi in Region...
Rebuking Trump, California passes Prop 50 to redistrict in favor of Democrats
California voters sent a strong anti-Donald Trump message on Tuesday by passing Proposition 50, another big win for Democrats during the 2025 off-year election that helps the party in the nationwide redistricting frenzy that will help decide who controls the U.S. House in the final two years of the Republican...
Leechburg Area School Board retains 2 incumbents, adds two new members
The Leechburg Area School Board will be a mix of new and familiar faces this coming year. According to unofficial results from the election bureaus in Armstrong and Westmoreland counties, Darius Lovelace, 73, Candi Stewart, 68, Danielle Reinke, 44, and Janie Borsh Symons, 66, will be sworn in for four...
2 injured after vehicle crashes into woods off Route 30
Two people were hospitalized after their vehicle crashed down a steep embankment in a wooded area off Route 30 in Southwest Greensburg. Westmoreland County Public Safety officials said state police responded to the wreck on the eastbound side of Route 30 near the Route 119 exit around 10:10 p.m. Tuesday....
Deer Lakes School Board will have familiar, new faces come December
The Deer Lakes School Board will be a mix of familiar and new faces this December. According to Allegheny County Elections Division unofficial election results, incumbents Jeremy Love, 49, and Kristi Minnick, 55, both cross-filed, and Jonathan Majernik, 46, Democrat ballot, will be sworn back in this December. Newcomer Darlene...
8 candidates win seats on Allegheny County Common Pleas Court
All eight new judges who will take the bench in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court in January are registered Democrats. The top vote-getters, according to county elections results late Tuesday, included a union labor-law attorney, several former prosecutors and a district judge. Ballots in Allegheny County listed 13 candidates for...
