TribLive stories, Page 417

December is high season for so-called “porch pirates” stealing people’s Christmas gifts before they make it under the tree. But a bill that Gov. Josh Shapiro signed Thursday creates a new criminal offense specifically targeted at home delivery package thieves. What it does: Creates a “theft by mail” crime that...

Junior Rylee Kalocay scored 27 points to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career and lead Upper St. Clair (4-2, 1-0) to a 49-42 Section 2-6A girls basketball win over Baldwin on Thursday night. Lynsey Bernotas scored 12 and Laci Bernotas had 11 for the Highlanders (2-2, 0-1). Beth-Center 57,...

The final Greensburg Night Market of the year was held Thursday on three blocks of South Pennsylvania Avenue. The popular event featured music by Chad Toland and The String Theory as well as ice carving, a Letters to Santa station and ornament-making station. The series began in 2019 and has...

For the first time in Pennsylvania’s history, the state next year will provide funding to counties for indigent legal defense. While the proposed $7.5 million in funding passed earlier this year with the budget, it wasn’t until Wednesday night that the funding mechanism to allow the money to be allocated...

Federal prosecutors said the criminal case against two nursing care facilities and five people who worked there is about lies and greed. “It’s not complicated,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Gal-Or. “It’s very simple. The defendants lied. They lied about patients … just to squeeze as much money as possible...

The Key Bank in North Huntingdon was robbed Thursday morning. Catherine Coennen, public relations officer for the FBI’s Pittsburgh office, confirmed the agency is assisting North Huntingdon and state police with investigation of the robbery at 201 Ronda Court. Township police said in a news release the robbery was reported...

It’s not necessarily sinister for a prosecutor to go from offering an attractive plea deal to a defendant to throwing the book at him. Plenty of defendants have seen that happen after they turn down a plea bargain or authorities turn up new evidence. But the reasons for the dramatic...

Linda Naughton, an O’Hara author, is the winner of a Readers’ Favorite International Book Award for her latest novel, “Blackout Trail”. “Blackout Trail” received a Gold Medal for Dystopian Fiction and was also recognized as a finalist for an Eric Hoffer Book Award. “Blackout Trail” is a post-apocalyptic disaster thriller....

Pennsylvania has long been an energy leader and is poised to lead in the transition to a booming clean energy economy. Our natural resources, strong economic base and skilled workforce have powered our growth and supported generations of Pennsylvanians. We now find ourselves at a critical moment where forward thinking...

The statistics are alarming, and each and every case is extremely tragic. There are many ripple effects of the country’s ongoing opioid epidemic and the availability of fentanyl and other substances, such as Xylazine and Nitazene, which are extremely dangerous and potentially fatal. Because substances like Xylazine do not respond...

Regarding the letter “The Obama-Trump-Biden numbers” (Dec. 2, TribLive): I want to address inflation. It is a fact that the cost of living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security recipients is tied to cost of living (inflation). The COLA happens in January of each year, which is based upon the previous...

Miffed. Vexed. How come no one talks about the economist Milton Friedman? The short, balding, portly Nobel Prize winner is a seriously unpopular subject these days. Milton was a proponent of unregulated free market economics. It’s nutty by today’s need for safety and accountability and all that adult-level stuff. But...

Does Pennsylvania’s Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit give parents and students more freedom to access the kind of high-quality education available from the state’s private schools? Or does it discriminate against kids from different religions, kids with disabilities or those who may be LGBTQ+? Education Voters of Pennsylvania is a nonprofit...

Publicize your non-profit’s community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least two weeks in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15084. Please include a daytime telephone number. Santa Claus has scheduled visits in several local towns and townships....

The insanity of the far left was on display for all to see as the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT testified in Congress regarding whether it was against their schools’ codes of conduct to call for the genocide of Jews. None of the three could bring themselves to state...

High schools Basketball Boys Wednesday’s results Nonsection Aliquippa 71, Beaver Falls 35 Central Catholic 54, Neighborhood Academy 49 Charleroi 48, California 38 Cheswick Christian Academy 59, Redeemer Lutheran 39 Derry 65, Freeport 56 Gateway 62, Woodland Hills 36 Greensburg Central Catholic 73, Berlin-BrothersValley 64 Jeannette 46, Steel Valley 41 Indiana...

No. 1 Burgettstown won the final six bouts to rally for a 44-24 victory over Jefferson-Morgan after trailing 24-15 after seven matches in Section 1-2A wrestling Wednesday night. Darius Simmons (107) and Parker Sentipal (133) had pins, Daniel Smith (121) and Dylan Slovick (127) won by major decision and Joseph...

“Still going.” That was the punchline in the Energizer battery commercials, featuring the Energizer Bunny, which kept going long after you would have expected it to stop. It’s also the idea behind my Bunny Portfolio. This hypothetical portfolio contains companies that have averaged 25% profit growth in the past five...

Seven Fields Borough Council on Dec. 11 approved a four-year contract for police services to begin in early 2024 from the Northern Regional Police Department. The contract will cost Seven Fields $650,000 in its first year, according to a statement posted on the Seven Fields website. Northern Regional will provide...

On this episode of Next on the Tee, host Chris Mascaro is joined by three of the best instructors and PGA professionals in the game — Tom Patri, Tom Wildenhaus and Nancy Quarcelino, plus aspiring Tour Pro and Trackman Golf rep Andrew Strother. Patri tries to make sense of what’s...

Comedian, voice actor and musician Kate Micucci said she is on the road to recovery after undergoing lung cancer surgery earlier this month. Micucci, known for “The Big Bang Theory” and animated series “Ducktales” and “Steven Universe,” said in a “sick tok” video posted last week that her doctors caught...

A significant number of Penn State players still have decisions to make in the time leading up to the 10th-ranked Nittany Lions’ Dec. 30 Peach bowl date with No. 11 Ole Miss in Atlanta. A couple of players have already made theirs. Stay in college, or leave early for the...

Our criminal justice system is adversarial by design. Prosecuting attorneys work on one side of the aisle, and defense attorneys on the other. Defense lawyers play a critical role, as they serve as a check and balance on the near-limitless power of the prosecutor. About a year ago, I wrote...