Top Local and National News Stories
New cold snap adds urgency to winter storm recovery across the SouthVideo
BELZONI, Miss. — Hundreds of National Guard troops in ice-stricken Mississippi and Tennessee mobilized Thursday to clear debris and assist people stranded in cars or stuck at homes still without electricity as Southern states raced to recover from a crippling winter storm before another blast of dangerous cold hits. The...
1 person in hospital after metal fabricating plant explosion
Some residents of Smith Township were put under a shelter-in-place order Thursday evening by Washington County officials after a reported explosion at a metal fabricating plant. According to TribLive news partner WTAE, a hazardous materials team was called to the Langeloth Metallurgical Co. facility on Langeloth Road. The incident was...
Larry Cervi, beloved arts director and founder of East End Kids, dies
Larry Cervi, who spent decades shaping students and stages as an educator and performing arts director across the Pittsburgh region, was a people person at heart. Cervi, of Churchill, died Thursday, after a yearlong battle with bladder cancer, only two days after his 90th birthday. He founded the Larry Cervi...
Car veers off Parkway into the Monongahela River; woman pulled from water in critical condition
A woman was taken to the hospital Thursday evening after her vehicle went off the Parkway East and into the Monongahela River. The car landed in the Mon in the 900 block of Second Avenue, between the 10th Street and Hot Metal bridges in Pittsburgh, shortly before 4:30 p.m. Pittsburgh...
FBI seizure of Georgia ballots reflects pursuit of Trump’s 2020 election grievanceVideo
ATLANTA — In an extraordinary scene this week, FBI agents pulled box trucks up to a warehouse south of Atlanta and drove away with hundreds of boxes containing ballots and other documents related to the 2020 election in Georgia’s most populous county. Fulton County, which votes overwhelmingly Democratic, has been...
Ice forces closure of Allegheny River traffic, disrupting Pittsburgh shipping
The Allegheny River in Pittsburgh is shut down to all traffic through March 1. The U.S. Coast Guard made the announcement Thursday afternoon after several inches of ice accumulated in the wake of last weekend’s snowstorm. “I’ve been referring to this as a once-in-a-decade freeze,” said Shane Checkan, navigation chairman...
Democrats, White House strike spending deal that would avert government shutdown
WASHINGTON — Democrats and White House have struck a deal to avert a partial government shutdown and temporarily fund the Department of Homeland Security as they negotiate new restrictions for President Donald Trump’s surge of immigration enforcement. As the country reels from the deaths of two protesters at the hands...
Pollution control equipment breaks down at Clairton Coke Works
The Allegheny County Health Department has found no indication of a long-term health emergency after U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works experienced a breakdown of pollution control equipment this week. A breakdown occurs when equipment stops working properly and releases more pollution than usual, county health officials said in a statement...
Resident, 71, and his dog killed in West Deer fire in which ammo exploded repeatedly
Fire crews attempting to knock down a West Deer blaze Wednesday were hampered by heavy rounds of ammunition exploding in the back of the home, authorities said. “When we got on scene, there was heavy fire — about 60% involved — and a solid half-hour of ammunition going off,” said...
Allegheny County GOP Chairman Jason Richey to run for lieutenant governor
A Sewickley attorney who serves as Allegheny County’s GOP chairman said Thursday that he is running for lieutenant governor with the endorsement of the presumptive Republican nominee for the state’s highest office, Stacy Garrity. Jason Richey, 54, said he arrived at the decision to run over the past two weeks...
Parkway East’s ‘bathtub’ area reopens after water main break
A stretch of the Parkway East known as the bathtub is reopened Thursday afternoon after a water main break had forced a closure. The portion of I-376 inbound between Grant Street and the Fort Pitt Bridge and the on-ramp from Grant Street to westbound I-376 reopened before 3 p.m., the...
Veteran prosecutor who helmed Pittsburgh synagogue shooting case named U.S. Attorney for Western Pa.
A prosecutor who helped convict the gunman now on death row for fatally shooting 11 congregants in a Squirrel Hill synagogue in 2018 is officially at the helm of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh. U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi has appointed longtime prosecutor Troy Rivetti as U.S. Attorney for...
Watershed association awaiting response on proposed lease with Ligonier Country Market
Susan Huba, executive director of the Loyalhanna Watershed Association, is in waiting mode after Ligonier Township officials told the environmental nonprofit and the organizers of the Ligonier Country Market this week to figure out a solution on their own for the 2026 season. The Country Market, launched about 50 years...
Man who led police on hours-long chase up frozen Allegheny River remains jailed
Police say a Pittsburgh man who shouted to them that he wasn’t “going back to jail” as he led officers on a slow, 5-mile foot pursuit on the frozen Allegheny River on Wednesday is, in fact, back in jail. Gary Cawley, 47, is facing felony charges of burglary and criminal...
UPMC gives $10M to Pittsburgh for ambulances, freeing up money for snowplows
UPMC on Thursday donated $10 million to Pittsburgh for new ambulances, freeing up money for the city to also buy additional snowplows. Mayor Corey O’Connor joined UPMC President and CEO Leslie Davis at a Downtown medic station — standing in front of a 31-year-old ambulance that has driven over 100,000...
Trump’s border czar suggests a possible drawdown in Minnesota, but only after ‘cooperation’
MINNEAPOLIS — The Trump administration could reduce the number of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota, but only if state and local officials cooperate, the president’s border czar said Thursday, noting he has “zero tolerance” for protesters who assault federal officers or impede the ongoing operation in the Twin Cities. Tom...
Trump facing growing cultural revolt against immigration crackdown
NEW YORK — No longer confined to the partisans and activists, the fierce backlash against Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has begun to break out across American culture, spanning the worlds of business, sports and entertainment. Bruce Springsteen released a new song Wednesday that slammed “Trump’s federal thugs.” OpenAI chief executive...
Plans are underway to improve signage, lighting and pedestrian access near Westmoreland MallVideo
Hempfield wants to spruce up the Westmoreland Mall area by adding signage, lighting and pedestrian improvements at the entrance into the township. The township supervisors on Monday approved a $30,000 agreement with Remington & Vernick Engineers for a study and conceptual design for improvements focused on a bridge and ramp...
Communities call in the heavy machinery for snow removalVideo
Some towns are trading in their snowplows for front loaders and dump trucks to deal with the remnants of Sunday’s snowstorm. With bitter cold expected to keep the snow piles around for at least a week, communities have nowhere to push the snow, so they plan to pick it up...
Former Wholey’s cold storage site in Strip District could become parking lotVideo
Demolishing the former Wholey’s cold storage warehouse in the Strip District was supposed to make way for a state-of-the-art office complex. But four years after the building came down, developer Acram Group has yet to break ground on the roughly 20-floor project. A sluggish commercial real estate market means the...
CMU to launch AI platform designed to assist students in introductory courses
Some area college students can boost their studies with a Carnegie Mellon University initiative that uses artificial intelligence to improve learning in introductory courses. The $55 million investment between CMU and the Gates Foundation will launch Learnvia, Inc., free AI-enabled courseware for students that combines lessons, homework and an AI...
Trump signals interest in easing tensions, but Minneapolis sees little change on the streetsVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — President Donald Trump seemed to signal a willingness to ease tensions in Minneapolis after a second deadly shooting by federal immigration agents, but there was little evidence Wednesday of any significant changes following weeks of harsh rhetoric and clashes with protesters. The strain was evident when Trump made...
Democrats poised to trigger government shutdown if White House won’t meet demands for ICE reform
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are threatening to block legislation that would fund the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies Thursday, potentially bringing the government a step closer to a partial shutdown if Republicans and the White House do not agree to new restrictions on President Donald Trump’s surge...
Pittsburgh ‘nowhere near done’ plowing, hauling away snow, mayor says
Crews are still working around the clock to plow and salt roads and haul away massive loads of snow from Pittsburgh’s streets, Mayor Corey O’Connor said Wednesday afternoon. About a foot of snow pummeled Pittsburgh on Sunday, marking the snowiest day the city had seen in 16 years. O’Connor in...
Westmoreland County, Allegheny Township sued over 2024 fatal motorcycle crash
The family of a Butler County man killed in a 2024 motorcycle crash filed a lawsuit Wednesday, alleging that poorly marked curves and a history of “roadway departures” at a local intersection led to his death. Roger Davis Jr., 25, died from injuries suffered in a Sept. 15, 2024, crash...
