Top Stories category, Page 154
Tuition increase approved for state-owned universities for 1st time in 7 years
Tuition for state universities is set to increase by 3.6% for students this fall, but that figure could decrease if state funding increases, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education said Thursday. In-state undergraduate tuition for this academic year will increase by $139 per semester, to $3,997 per semester, according...
Striking workers from Springdale’s Greco Steel Products push for improved safety, benefits
Worries about safety and his poor life insurance policy pushed Jerry Harris to go on strike from Springdale-based Greco Steel Products. Harris, 35, of Jeannette recalled watching a co-worker fall through a roof and die on the job in June 2023. Several of Harris’ striking colleagues pointed to that moment...
Carnegie Mellon temporarily shuts down The Fence in wake of anti-Trump message
Tensions over free speech continue to mount at Carnegie Mellon University as President Farnam Jahanian on Wednesday announced he was temporarily forbidding any new messages from being painted on an iconic campus fence that has served for a century as a student billboard. The decision was prompted by controversy over...
Tarentum dog-mauling victim reels from learning what police say about attack
Tarentum resident Michael Shutack was still reeling from a Halloween dog mauling when he learned Tuesday that the man who police said helped him escape the jaws of two pit bulls is the person who set them loose. “As much as I went through my whole life, including being in...
Senate passes $9B in spending cuts to public broadcasting, foreign aid requested by Trump
WASHINGTON — The Senate has passed about $9 billion in federal spending cuts requested by President Donald Trump, including deep reductions to public broadcasting and foreign aid, moving forward on one of the president’s top priorities despite concerns from several Republican senators. The legislation, which now moves to the House,...
Triaxle crashes, catches fire along Route 66 near Youngwood
More than a dozen passersby stopped Thursday morning to rescue a man trapped in a burning triaxle truck after it crashed in New Stanton, according to fire Chief Rob Cammarata. Joe Schiavone and Steve Parsons were headed to a job for Perfect Industrial Cleaning when they came upon the ball...
Western Pa. storms impact power, roads in Allegheny, Westmoreland counties
Fire crews and power companies from around Western Pennsylvania were busy Thursday morning racing to address downed power lines and fallen trees blocking roadways, following Wednesday’s strong thunderstorms that rolled through the region. Wednesday’s storms produced at least an inch of rain throughout the Pittsburgh region, said Bill Modzelewski, meteorologist...
Victim in fatal Point Breeze rollover crash was Allderdice grad
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office has identified the teen killed in a Point Breeze car crash early Thursday as a Pittsburgh Allderdice High School graduate from Squirrel Hill. Jakob James Sirlin, 18, was killed and three others hospitalized after a vehicle rollover crash on Beechwood Boulevard, according to Pittsburgh...
Tarentum’s Dreshar Stadium, rich in sports history, ‘served its time’
Amy Nulph grew up at Dreshar Stadium in Tarentum. “My dad coached there for the Hornets, my brothers played there and now my kids are there with RYFO (Rams Youth Football Organization),” she said. Plans to demolish the 87-year-old sports complex are bittersweet for Nulph and many area families. Work...
Advocacy group blasts plea deal in cruelty case against Derry cat shelter operator
A national animal advocacy organization Wednesday criticized a probation sentence imposed against a Derry-area woman who pleaded guilty to animal cruelty offenses. In Defense of Animals, an international animal protection organization based in San Rafael, Calif., said the guilty plea entered by Kimberly Rose, 45, of Blairsville in late June...
Justice Department fires Maurene Comey, prosecutor on Epstein case and daughter of ex-FBI director
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has fired Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey and a federal prosecutor in Manhattan who worked on the cases against Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jeffrey Epstein, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday. There was no...
Roads closed, wires down after rain pummels Harrison, Fawn
Heavy thunderstorms rolled through the area Wednesday, wreaking havoc in local municipalities, particularly Fawn and Harrison. In Fawn, Bull Creek Road was flooded for a considerable stretch in the vicinity of Iron Bridge Road. There was a report of a house that in that area having 5 feet of water...
Standing-room-only crowd gets detailed look at plan for Homer City natural gas plant
Members of the public got their first detailed look Wednesday evening at what would be the largest natural gas-fired power plant in the U.S. if it’s built: a 3,200-acre project in Homer City, Indiana County. Representatives from Homer City Redevelopment were on hand alongside officials from local trade unions and...
Fetterman says deals announced at Pittsburgh summit are ‘huge wins and investments’ in Pa.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman described the flurry of development deals announced at Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh as “huge wins and investments” in the state. Companies attending the summit at Carnegie Mellon University, organized by U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pittsburgh, announced plans to invest more than $90...
Greyhound sued over fatal bus stabbing on Parkway East
The family of an Indiana man who was stabbed to death on a Greyhound bus as it traveled on the Parkway East two years ago is suing the bus company for wrongful death. Cozell McQueen Jr., who represents the estate of his father, filed the complaint on Wednesday in Allegheny...
Allegheny County defense attorney caught in sex sting has law license suspended
An Allegheny County criminal defense attorney caught in a sex sting in 2023 had his license to practice law temporarily suspended on Wednesday. Paul Luvara, 34 of South Fayette, is a registered sex offender who is currently in state prison. Luvara voluntarily sought the suspension in a joint filing with...
Gulf Coast braces for flooding as storm system builds into possible tropical depression
The weather system moving across the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday was showing a greater chance of becoming a tropical depression as it moves toward the northern Gulf Coast, according to the National Hurricane Center. The system has a 40% chance of becoming a tropical depression as it moves west over...
Contraband concerns cited for refusal to transport yarmulke-wearing Westmoreland inmate
Concerns that contraband could be smuggled into the Westmoreland County Prison led officials to deny the scheduled transfer of a yarmulke-wearing inmate to the courthouse this week. After nearly two days of silence, county commissioners emailed a brief, two-sentence statement Tuesday night. They confirmed that Kort Noel Eckman was held...
Families of killer, victim describe anguish over ambush murder outside North Side bar
Akil Tennyson intimately understands the pain he caused when he murdered a father of three last year on the North Side. When he was 2, Tennyson’s own father was fatally shot. “This is the worst thing I could have done as I understand the pain of not having a father...
Lawsuit claims Pennsylvania’s outdated tax assessment system hurts low-income homeowners
A lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court alleges the state’s property tax assessment process is unconstitutional, harming low- income homeowners who are typically overassessed. Filed by Mon Valley Unemployed Committee Inc., the complaint names as defendants the commonwealth, Gov. Josh Shapiro and Attorney General David Sunday. “The General Assembly’s failure...
Additional theft charges filed against Latrobe attorney John Allen Roth
Additional theft charges were filed Wednesday against a Latrobe attorney who is awaiting trial on police accusations that he stole $31,300 from an elderly jail inmate and used the money to gamble at a casino. John Allen Roth, 70, is accused in three new cases of taking $7,735 from clients...
Jimmy Joe Robinson, Pitt’s 1st Black varsity football player, dies at 97
Jimmy Joe Robinson, the first Black varsity football player at Pitt, died Monday at the age of 97, the university announced Wednesday afternoon. Robinson was born in Connellsville and debuted with the Panthers in 1945, when Pitt finished 3-7 under coach Clark Shaughnessy. He lettered at Pitt for two additional...
JD Vance touts tax breaks in Pennsylvania as he makes White House’s 1st big pitch on Trump’s new law
WEST PITTSTON — Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday made the Trump administration’s first big pitch to sell the public on President Donald Trump’s sweeping budget-and-policy package in the swing political turf of northeastern Pennsylvania. The vice president, whose tiebreaking vote got the bill through the Senate, touted the legislation’s...
Pa. lawmakers push to move federal energy office to Pittsburgh
A bipartisan group of congressmen say Western Pennsylvania’s status as a growing energy hub justifies moving a key federal office here. U.S. Reps. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, John Joyce, R-Altoona, and Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters, introduced legislation Tuesday that would relocate the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon...
IronRock Tap House in Hempfield closes; Atria’s in Murrysville to shutter; Rick’s Sports Bar for sale
After nearly six years in business, IronRock Tap House in Hempfield has closed its doors. Greg and Christina Cammerata opened the restaurant in late November 2019. The owners told TribLive shortly before IronRock’s opening that it was a prime location for their business venture, positioned next to Route 30 and...
