Mary Ann Thomas stories, Page 54

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will offer its second and final Fish-For-Free Day of the year on July 4 when anyone can fish, even without a state fishing license. All other fishing regulations apply, though. The commission offers the free days to open up fishing opportunities for the public,...

West Virginia University researchers discovered traces of amphetamines and hallucinogens fueling the hyperactive sexual behavior of cicadas that were infected with a deadly fungus and trying to mate even after their abdomens had fallen off. The cicadas with their impaired bodies spread the disease to others, hence, the researcher dubbed...

An angler won a game of tug-of-war with a snake trying to steal a rainbow trout from his stringer on Crooked Creek in Virginia, according to a report from Storyful. Larry Bobbit, the angler, shot a video on June 22 of the incident, which went viral on the social media...

The National Weather Service posted a radar shot late Wednesday of a mayfly swarm moving from Lake Erie inland to Cleveland, Sandusky and other Ohio cities. The swarm is a several-day mating frenzy for the insects, which don’t bite but can create hazards for motorists, sometimes closing bridges. Attracted by...

A Westmoreland County judge has approved a new voting redistricting plan for Upper Burrell that more evenly divides the number of voters in the township’s two precincts. Judge Harry F. Smail Jr. on Tuesday approved the new voter precinct plan that had been submitted by residents as well as township...

The nearly $1 million bridge replacement project along Greensburg Road in Lower Burrell got underway late last week, and will keep a section of the busy road to one lane near Miller’s Lane until Nov. 5. A temporary traffic light is controlling the single lane traffic. Millers Lane will be...

Since a landslide closed Lover’s Leap Road in Gilpin last week, PennDOT has re-opened one lane, the agency announced Wednesday. The road had been closed in both directions from Mule Hollow Road to Pitt Street. Currently Lover’s Leap is one-lane with a stop sign in both directions. The open lane...

The Goodwill Industries Workforce Development Center in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood is offering career assessments and helping job seekers with a better presence online. The free service is part of a partnership announced last month between Goodwill and the Indeed.com job website, both of which committed to help find jobs for...

It’s a washout for two nonprofit trail organizations scrambling to cover about $60,000 in repairs to the Roaring Run Trail in Kiski Township and the Butler-Freeport Community Trail. Relentless storms over the past month caused washouts so bad a koi fish was transported from someone’s pond last month onto the...

Bands of sticky tape installed on trees to ensnare and kill the pesky and invasive Spotted Lanternfly are backfiring and killing some birds, bats and other wildlife that inadvertently get stuck, according to media and other accounts. The Morning Call reports the sticky tape is entrapping woodpeckers, squirrels and other...

The tree line and rock face along Route 28 in Harmar have become eagle central as two juvenile eagles fresh out of the nest above the busy highway flit about with their parents. The birds officially graduated, flying for the first time on Saturday, according to the Audubon Society of...

Phone scammers posing as state Department of Revenue employees are targeting senior citizens and people with disabilities in an effort to obtain people’s bank information, according to the state agency. The phone scammers are falsely telling residents they will deposit their property tax or rent rebate checks into their bank...

It’s National Pollinator Week (June 17-23) and PennDOT is asking the public to plant pollinator gardens at approved PennDOT-owned properties including rest stops, interchanges and traffic islands in Armstrong and Clarion counties, as well as other areas covered by the district. Individuals or groups such as clubs, schools, churches, businesses...

Pittsburgh native Becca Droz and her teammate Floyd Pierce, aka “Team Fun,” made it to episode 10 of the CBS reality show CBS’ “The Amazing Race” but were knocked out Wednesday night. That is, they didn’t win the $1 million for the around-the-world adventure. But what they did receive or,...

A recreational boating advisory will remain in effect for the Pittsburgh Point because of swift water until 8 p.m. Friday, while lock No. 5 in Gilpin on the Allegheny River will remain closed until at least Saturday because of high water. Also because of high and swift water, the Allegheny...

Pittsburgh native Becca Droz and her teammate Floyd Pierce have withstood blistering competition to make it to episode 10 in Kampen, The Netherlands, on CBS’ “The Amazing Race” at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Droz and Pierce, also known as “Team Fun,” are among five teams left vying for a $1 million...

Burrell School District students will continue to have a familiar face as their school resource officer for at least another three years. School board members agreed Tuesday to keep Lower Burrell Detective John Marhefka as the resource officer, extending the district’s contract with Lower Burrell through June 30, 2022. The...

Police officials say a recent state Supreme Court ruling that postponed the finalization of a multi-municipal SWAT team in the Alle-Kiski Valley by several months is probably a good thing. The court ruled May 31 that municipalities must enact ordinances under the state’s Intergovernmental Cooperation Act to allow police to...

The Pittsburgh Hays bald eagle couple now has successfully raised 10 young eaglets. The 10th eaglet, known as H10, took its first flight on Sunday from the nest on a steep hillside above the Monongahela River in Hays near the Three Rivers Heritage Trail. The couple has been nesting on...

Burrell School District officials are faced with a difficult choice when it comes to having police officers in their schools. They can keep the status quo, which includes keeping the district’s long-time school resource officer, a well-known and popular-with-students Lower Burrell officer, or the district could opt to save some...

A Westmoreland County judge is expected to rule on a new voting redistricting plan in Upper Burrell on June 25, with a changeup in Route 780 dividing the voting districts. Earlier this year, about 20 Upper Burrell residents filed a lawsuit asserting that one of the township’s two voting districts,...

Now in its 30th year, River Sweep is need of volunteers Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon to clean up litter and debris along local waterways including the Allegheny, Ohio, Monongahela, Youghiogheny, Beaver and Kiski rivers. River Sweep, the largest organized volunteer cleanup event in the country, winds through Ohio,...

Richard A. “Rick” Mack, 61, of Harrison, a longtime ranger at Crooked Creek Lake died Tuesday. Family and friends remember him for his humor and laid-back demeanor. “He loved his job, and he loved the outdoors,” said Erica L. Collins, 35, of Harrison, one of Mack’s daughters. She remembers growing...