Top Stories category, Page 10
Westmoreland jury donation program raises over $100K for local nonprofits
Westmoreland County jurors have donated more than $100,000 to local charities over the past decade. It’s a program first implemented in 2016 that allows jurors to forgo their daily pay, which in turn is donated to local charities. Jurors are paid $9 a day for their first three days of...
Powerball jackpot reaches estimated $1.5 billion; Pa. ticket wins $1 million
While there was no big winner in Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing, one ticket sold in Pennsylvania won $1 million. Without a main winner, the jackpot climbed to an estimated $1.5 billion for Saturday’s drawing. The $1 million-winning ticket sold in Pennsylvania was one of five nationwide to match the five...
Morning Roundup: Nativity theft in Jeannette
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Thursday, Dec. 18: Trio steal Baby Jesus from Nativity in Jeannette Jeannette police are trying to identify three people who they said took a Baby Jesus figure from a Nativity display at the amphitheater on Clay Avenue. Investigators on...
Springdale data center gets initial OK, but several more public hearings to come
Though Springdale Council offered its approval for a conditional-use application from developers seeking to build a massive data center in the borough, the vote is only the beginning of the process. The project now enters the land development stage, which likely will last months and involve several more public meetings...
Residents near proposed Springdale data center left frustrated by council’s approval
Rex Cramer has lived on Porter Street in Springdale for more than 30 years. When he arrived in the borough, he moved in directly across the street from a towering coal-fired power plant — the former Cheswick Generating Station. The plant’s frequently fraught demolition concluded earlier this year. But on...
2 Westmoreland water authority workers awarded Carnegie Medal for lifesaving rescue
Pete Dunegan was repairing an underground water tank in Mt. Pleasant Borough last year when a pipe inside the tank broke loose. It dislodged from a support and pinned him, nearly severing his leg and at the same time releasing water into the enclosed vault. Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County...
Westmoreland County Prison prayer groups dispersed, raising religious freedom concerns
Tim Williamson was praying with a group of nine men at Westmoreland County Prison when a guard ordered them to stop — an encounter he says is part of a pattern of officials blocking religious expression at the Hempfield jail. Since his release this month, the Jeannette resident has been...
Trump demands Venezuela pay for seized U.S. oil assets after calling for ‘blockade’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump demanded Wednesday that Venezuela return assets that it seized from U.S. oil companies years ago, justifying anew his announcement of a “blockade” against oil tankers traveling to or from the South American country that face American sanctions. Trump cited the lost U.S. investments in Venezuela...
Trump gives a partisan prime-time address insisting the economy is stronger than many voters feelVideo
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump delivered a politically charged speech Wednesday carried live in prime time on network television, seeking to pin the blame for economic challenges on Democrats while announcing he is sending a $1,776 bonus check to U.S. troops for Christmas. The remarks came as the nation is...
Pittsburgh Public Schools officials approve 2026 budget with 2% tax hike
The Pittsburgh Public Schools board Wednesday evening passed a 2026 budget that includes a 2% tax hike. The $731.3 million budget passed unanimously. However, the board voted 6-3 on the tax rate, with School Directors Dwayne Barker, Tawana Cook Purnell and board Vice President Tracey Reed dissenting. The district’s tax...
FCC leader says agency is no longer independent as he’s grilled by Democrats over Kimmel controversyVideo
WASHINGTON — Democratic senators on Wednesday hammered the Federal Communications Commission’s leader for pressuring broadcasters to take ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air, suggesting that Brendan Carr was politicizing an independent agency and trampling the First Amendment. The FCC chairman refused to disown his comments about Kimmel and,...
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino says he plans to resign next month as bureau’s No. 2 official
WASHINGTON — FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said Wednesday that he will resign from the bureau next month, ending a brief and tumultuous tenure in which he clashed with the Justice Department over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and was forced to reconcile the realities of his law...
North Braddock faces large property tax loss from U.S. Steel
North Braddock is set to lose a big chunk of its real estate tax revenue. That’s because Allegheny County ruled that the value of U.S. Steel’s land has dropped by 53%. On Tuesday, North Braddock officials were notified by the county that it will not be receiving anticipated real estate...
ICE involved as feds violently detain Latino man in Mt. Washington
Neighbors living on Norton Street in Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington neighborhood woke Wednesday morning to sounds of screaming. Witnesses told TribLive they watched federal agents hit, tackle, pepper spray and arrest a Latino man between 8 and 8:30 a.m. “This is a new level of violence than we’ve seen in the...
Jack Smith tells lawmakers his team developed ‘proof beyond a reasonable doubt’ against Trump
WASHINGTON — Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers in a closed-door interview Wednesday that his team of investigators “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Donald Trump had criminally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to portions of his opening statement obtained...
Pittsburgh scraps plan for $6.9M salt storage unit amid budget crunch
A salt storage dome along Saw Mill Run Boulevard in Pittsburgh’s Duquesne Heights neighborhood is so dilapidated there are holes in the concrete, the steel is corroding and the ventilation system stopped working. “The building itself is a safety hazard,” said Chip Gaul, assistant director of the Department of Public...
Reports: Fenway Sports Group reaches agreement to sell Penguins
An agreement has been reached for Fenway Sports Group to sell the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Hoffmann Family of Companies, an investment group based in Chicago, according to multiple reports Wednesday. A spokesperson with Fenway said she was aware of the reports but stated, “there is no formal agreement in...
New Salina Bridge open to traffic; demo of old span still to come
After more than a year of construction, motorists can now cross the Kiski River on the new Salina Bridge. The span carries Bridge Street over the river and Norfolk Southern railway tracks between Bell and Kiski townships. Stretching 650 feet, the bridge features two 11-foot-wide lanes and 5-foot shoulders. The...
UPMC could keep gender-affirming care patient records anonymous, per DOJ request
Following a national push to collect personal information on patients receiving gender-affirming care, the Department of Justice is now asking a federal court to limit its subpoena against UPMC, revising its initial request and asking patient records to stay anonymous. In September, four UPMC patients filed a motion to quash...
Rob and Michele Reiner’s son appears in court on murder charges while siblings speak of their loss
LOS ANGELES — Nick Reiner made his first court appearance Wednesday in Los Angeles on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents, actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, while the couple’s other two children made their first public statement on their crushing loss....
‘Unspeakable act’: Munhall murderer who shot girlfriend 17 times gets life in prison
Dennis Grimm knew the judge was required to impose a life sentence on the man who murdered his teenage daughter by firing 17 shots while she babysat her stepsister in their Munhall home. But seven years after the brutal killing, Miranda Grimm-Gilarski’s father still needed to remind Darion Abel how...
3 Pa. Republicans defy Speaker Johnson to force House vote on extending ACA subsidies
WASHINGTON — Four centrists Republicans — three of whom are from Pennsylvania — broke with Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday and signed onto a Democratic-led petition that will force a House vole on extending for three years an enhanced pandemic-era subsidy that lowers health insurance costs for millions of Americans....
Top 25 TribLive photos from 2025
From Marc Fogel to the U.S. Open, 2025 marked a year when local stories carried national and global significance. The eyes of the world were on Western Pennsylvania, as Fogel, a teacher from Oakmont, was released from a Russian prison after being wrongfully detained for three years. The sports world...
Trump to preview his 2026 agenda in an address to the nation as his popularity wanes
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump intends to preview his agenda for next year and beyond in a live speech from the White House on Wednesday night, remarks that come at a crucial juncture as he tries to rebuild his steadily eroding popularity. The White House offered few details about what...
Accused gunman in Bondi Beach shooting charged with 15 counts of murder
SYDNEY — An accused gunman in Sydney’s Bondi Beach massacre was charged with 59 offenses including 15 charges of murder on Wednesday, as hundreds of mourners gathered in Sydney to begin funerals for the victims. Two shooters slaughtered 15 people on Sunday in an antisemitic mass shooting targeting Jews celebrating...
