Top Stories category, Page 522
Shapiro’s higher education overhaul plan and $1,000 tuition proposal draws intrigue, skepticism
Already there are questions about the cost to cap tuition and fees for many state university students at $1,000 a semester and who would pay — not to mention bringing state universities and community colleges under one umbrella. There are regulatory, legal and logistical hurdles, all in a state whose...
TV Talk: WPXI-TV hires weekend morning anchor, faces retransmission spat with DirecTV
WPXI-TV hired New Kensington native Jatara McGee to be the station’s new weekend morning anchor beginning in mid-February. Current weekend morning anchor Alyssa Raymond will move to anchor the weekday noon newscast on Channel 11 after Katherine Amenta and Gordon Loesch took on an additional 7 a.m. weekday newscast on...
Buttigieg pushes for rail safety, touts infrastructure bill in Pittsburgh visit
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited Pittsburgh on Friday to tout funding for improvement projects along the Parkway East corridor, part of the Biden Administration’s signature infrastructure funding effort. He also called for enhanced regulations ahead of the first anniversary on Feb. 3 of the East Palestine train...
Commonwealth Court rules Quaker Valley High School project can move forward
A Pennsylvania appellate court on Jan. 26 said that Quaker Valley School District can move forward with its planned construction of a new, $95 million high school. The 19-page Commonwealth Court ruling affirms a decision by the lower court that said that the Leet Township Zoning Hearing Board did not...
Mysterious notes reported in food items, state parks, trails across Pennsylvania
Cryptic notes have been popping up all around Pennsylvania in various cereal boxes and state parks — and it looks like they’re moving west. Originally dubbed the “Schuylkill Notes” by Reddit users investigating, as reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, some of the messages are said to have a sinister quality...
Springdale woman pleads guilty in connection to daughter’s death
A Springdale woman pleaded guilty Thursday in connection with the death of her 5-year-old daughter in June. Samantha Allison McMunn, 34, of the 40 block of Duquesne Court pleaded guilty to a felony count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of her daughter, Diem McMunn-Gereshenski, according to court records. Springdale...
Before and after: Robinson basement gets award-winning renovation
Regis McQuaide remembers ledger paper, adding machines and drawing construction plans by hand. His business has evolved over the past 35 years but one thing remains, he said. “Nothing is mass-produced,” said McQuaide, who owns Master Remodelers, Inc. in Castle Shannon. “Every day is different. Everything we do is customized.”...
Suspects still at large after police chase that locked down Kiski Area East Primary in Vandergrift
Kiski Area East Primary School in Vandergrift was locked down Friday while police conduct a manhunt in the area. The school went into lockdown early Friday before the school day began as police searched the nearby area for a driver who crashed and fled from a stolen vehicle. What started...
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to visit Pittsburgh to announce federal infrastructure funds
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is scheduled to visit Pittsburgh on Friday to announce a $142 million federal funds for the city’s infrastructure. He’s expected to join federal, local and state leaders, including U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and U.S. Reps. Chris Deluzio and Summer Lee to celebrate the investment, which...
Allegheny County judge accused of improper conduct with teens in judicial board complaint
An Allegheny County judge is accused of engaging in improper conduct with teenage boys in a judicial board complaint filed this week. Magistrate Judge Anthony Saveikis, who has served as a judge since January 2002, was notified by the state judicial conduct board that he is facing formal charges before...
Morning Roundup: 3 escape massive house fire in Fayette; teen injured in Clairton shooting
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, Jan. 26: 3 escape massive house fire in Fayette County A huge fire broke out Friday morning at a Dunbar Township home in Fayette County. The fire was reported around 3:20 a.m. at the 200 block of Locust...
1 killed in Peters Township house fire
A woman was killed in a fire in a Peters Township house Thursday, according to Peters Township Fire Department. Firefighters were dispatched to Spruce Drive for a house fire at 2:25 p.m., officials said. When they arrived, a woman in the front yard told responders that there was a fire...
ATI retirees balk at pension changes
Some ATI retirees fear they’ve lost a pension guarantee after recent changes by the specialty metals company. ATI purchased group annuity contracts from New York-based Athene Annuity and Life Co. and Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Co., transferring about 85% of its U.S.-qualified defined-benefit pension plan obligations, ATI spokeswoman Natalie...
Additional defendants named in Fern Hollow Bridge civil suits
Attorneys for the people injured when the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed two years ago have added three defendants to their potential claims just days before the deadline to file suit. Court documents were filed putting the City of Pittsburgh on notice that it would be subject to a lawsuit just...
Gov. Shapiro pitches plan to restructure state-owned universities, community colleges
Gov. Josh Shapiro on Friday will propose uniting Pennsylvania’s 10 state-owned universities and its 15 community colleges under a new governance structure to make higher education in the state more efficient and affordable. The move is part of a blueprint for reform that emerged from a working group Shapiro assembled...
‘No child should ever go to school and never come home’: Teen sentenced in Oliver Citywide killing
A Crafton Heights teen will serve 20 to 40 years in state prison for killing a fellow student outside Oliver Citywide Academy two years ago. Eugene Watson, 19, was sentenced on Thursday in the shooting death of Marquis Campbell, 15, following an emotional hearing before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge...
Armed guards to patrol Diocese of Pittsburgh schools
Four security supervisors and six armed guards soon will patrol Catholic schools in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, a move slated to kickstart plans to modernize security for the 13,000-student community, diocesan officials announced Thursday. The supervisors, who the diocese hired Jan. 3, will be assigned to four zones, three of...
Westmoreland County, union reach tentative labor deal
After announcing plans to strike next month, more than 500 Westmoreland County government workers instead will vote on a new three-year labor deal next week. Officials on Thursday confirmed that a tentative agreement has been reached. A vote on the proposed contract is set for Monday. Neither the county nor...
Police shot, killed man in South Side Slopes as he reached into trunk, officials say
A Pittsburgh police officer fatally shot a 26-year-old man as he was reaching into the trunk of his vehicle, which contained two rifles, according to Allegheny County Police The unidentified officer shot and killed Austyn Cousins early Wednesday in the South Sides Slopes section of Pittsburgh. Cousins initially followed instructions...
Senate deal on border and Ukraine at risk of collapse as Trump calls it ‘meaningless’Video
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan Senate deal to pair border enforcement measures and Ukraine aid faced potential collapse Thursday as Senate Republicans grew increasingly wary of an election-year compromise that Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee, says is “meaningless.” Senate negotiators have been striving for weeks to finish a carefully...
Economy grew at a surprisingly strong 3.3% pace last quarter, pointing to continued resilienceVideo
WASHINGTON — The nation’s economy grew at an unexpectedly brisk 3.3% annual pace from October through December as Americans showed a continued willingness to spend freely despite high interest rates and price levels that have frustrated many households. Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department said the gross domestic product —...
Trump White House official Peter Navarro gets a 4-month sentence for defying a House Jan. 6 subpoena
WASHINGTON — Trump White House official Peter Navarro, who was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, was sentenced on Thursday to four months behind bars. He was the second Trump aide convicted of...
Men who poisoned protected birds found guilty — 15 months after trial
Two men who killed dozens of protected birds in 2020 by spreading poisoned corn around a pond in Lawrence County have been found guilty in federal court. The verdict Wednesday for Robert Yost, 52, of New Galilee, Beaver County, and Jacob Reese, 27, of Enon Valley, Lawrence County, came more...
Citizen Science Lab receives Champions in Action award from Citizens Bank, Trib Total Media
The Citizen Science Lab in Bethel Park has been busy turning what started as a jar of mud into microbial fuel cell technology — all with the help of teenagers. Andre Samuel, president and CEO of The Citizen Science Lab, said the end goal of the Integrating Computational and Experimental...
Plum’s Dintini vies to flip Brewster’s Pa. Senate seat to GOP
One of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s key state Senate districts that will be up for grabs in November has garnered a Republican challenger. Small-business owner Jen Dintini, of Plum, announced her candidacy in the 45th district, which covers Allegheny County’s Mon Valley, as well as eastern and southern suburbs such as Plum,...
