Top Local and National News Stories
WVU Medicine names new exec for former Excela Hospitals
The president of Westmoreland County’s three hospitals said Wednesday he expects to evaluate opportunities to expand services based on the needs of each community. “My vision is to build on the strengths of Westmoreland, Frick and Latrobe hospitals while expanding access to high-quality care close to home,” said Brian Fritz,...
Worker flown to hospital following rockslide at Derry Township quarry
A man was airlifted to Indiana Regional Medical Center on Wednesday night, after emergency officials said he was pinned under rocks following a collapse at Heidelberg Materials’ Torrance Quarry in Derry Township. Westmoreland 911 officials said first responders were called to the quarry just before 6 p.m. for a report...
Former Arnold police chief pleads guilty to drug charges, stealing rifle from evidence room
Arnold’s former police chief, Eric Doutt, is expected to be sentenced in December after pleading guilty to selling cocaine in Armstrong County and stealing an AR-15 rifle from the Arnold Police Department evidence room. Doutt, 57, of Arnold pleaded guilty to five charges Wednesday in Armstrong County Court as part...
Saint Vincent College students accuse public safety officer of physical, verbal threats
A group of students at Saint Vincent College is accusing one of the school’s public safety officers of grabbing a student by the neck and threatening another during a room check. Saint Vincent is reviewing the alleged incident, which students and their parents say raises concerns about the conduct and...
Tropical Storm Isaias forecast to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast as a hurricaneVideo
MIAMI — Tropical Storm Isaias formed Wednesday in the warm waters off eastern Mexico and forecasters predicted it will quickly strengthen into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season before striking the U.S. Gulf Coast later in the week. Communities in Isaias’ potential path moved quickly to prepare with landfall...
UPMC working to iron out issues as patients grapple with patient portal, medical record transition
Following a computer software and electronic record-keeping change at UPMC on Saturday, some patients have complained of problems with its MyUPMC patient portal, ranging from being unable to access their accounts to information appearing missing from them and increased wait times at medical facilities. Years in the making, the technical...
New poll shows Shapiro up 25 points in race for Pa. governor
A leading pollster said Wednesday that Pennsylvania’s race for governor is shaping up to be a “rout.” A new poll from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut showed Democratic incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro leading Republican challenger Stacy Garrity, 59% to 34%. It also showed Shapiro with high favorability and job approval ratings,...
Pitt-Greensburg student Democratic and Republican groups join to host candidates’ forum
The turnout at Wednesday night’s candidate forum wasn’t quite what the University of Pittsburgh College Republicans or the school’s Students for a Democratic Society were hoping, on either side of the dais. About 50 people came to the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg campus in Hempfield. That did not include...
New safety measures in place at Pittsburgh Public’s Cupples Stadium
Pittsburgh Public Schools will implement additional safety measures at Cupples Stadium following a triple shooting that happened outside the South Side venue after a school football game last week. Starting Thursday, all students under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult aged 21 or older to enter...
Allegheny County opens ballot drop-off sites amid mail concerns
The first of Allegheny County’s drop-off ballot locations opened Wednesday amid ongoing concern over the Trump administration’s attempt at new USPS requirements for mail ballots. As the county prepared to begin accepting ballots this week, Allegheny County Administrative Services Director Jessica Garofolo sought to reassure voters wary of using mail-in...
Trump proposes Camp David-style presidential retreat at his private Florida golf club
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he wants to develop one of his Florida golf courses into a presidential retreat where his successors can spend quiet weekends on the greens, describing it as “sort of a Camp David ” that he says would already have many...
Trump’s executive order on dyed diesel will offer little relief, farmers and truckers say
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Farmers, truckers and economists say a move to cut taxes on diesel will provide little relief from record-high fuel prices that have soared since the United States attacked Iran months ago. Industry groups said they appreciate President Donald Trump’s executive order expanding the use of a...
5 things to know about Allegheny County’s preliminary budgetVideo
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato on Tuesday presented a preliminary 2027 budget amid ongoing concerns about rising costs and the county’s financial outlook. The roughly $1.25 billion operating budget represents a 4.7% increase in spending from 2026. Much of the operating budget’s growth is driven by a one-time payment on...
The way they were: Rogers Elementary alums gather to honor first-grade class photo from 1954
Bonds and friendships formed during someone’s elementary school years are known to be long-lasting. And Bart Rosenberg can prove it. On Wednesday, Rosenberg gathered with nine of his first-grade peers from James Rogers Elementary School in Garfield. They were inspired by a 1954 newspaper photo that Rosenberg saved of his...
Pa. is getting at least $516M from a Meta settlement. It could spark a political fight
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — A political tug-of-war could be looming over a settlement that will bring as much as three-quarters of...
Tim Benz: Mike McCarthy noncommittal about 2 big issues exposed by Joey Porter Jr.’s departure
Joey Porter Jr. is gone. The chiropractic experts in Dallas have worked their miracles. Porter is playing for the Cowboys despite his monumental months-long struggle with back pain. Heroic, indeed. Now, the Pittsburgh Steelers have two questions to answer in the wake of Porter’s departure: How do they replace him?...
Springdale residents turn out to protest looming skill games banVideo
As the ban on so-called skill games grows closer, local senior citizens urge the state’s senators to not take away what they call their safe spaces, their community and their main source of entertainment. “I’m on life support, I could go any day — this (skill games) is the only...
Election HQ: Voter guide for 2026 Election Day in Western Pennsylvania
A lot is riding on this year’s midterm elections. Democrats and Republicans are fighting for control of the Senate and the House in both Washington and Harrisburg. Pennsylvania’s Democratic incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro is seeking a second term in the state’s highest elected office. Standing in his way is Republican...
Concert review: Smashing Pumpkins mark seminal album with 3-hour PPG Paints Arena showVideo
I’m sorry to remind you of this, but the year 1995 — and the release of alt-rock stars The Smashing Pumpkins’ diamond-certified double album, “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” — was 31 years ago. The upside to the “we’re all getting old” feeling is that the band is celebrating...
PRT’s bus and rail tracking services to experience outages next weekend
Pittsburgh Regional Transit riders next Saturday night should prepare to navigate manually as the agency relocates its primary data center. PRT’s TrueTime, which tracks bus and rail arrivals, will experience temporary interruptions beginning at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, agency spokesman Adam Brandolph said. PRT expects the work to...
Pa. lawmakers debate opening skill games to former criminals
John “Duffy” Conley was just 22 in 1985 and not yet known as the kingpin of video gambling in Western Pennsylvania with more than 4,000 illegal video poker machines. Over the next 40 years, his rap sheet would include a half-dozen arrests, five convictions and so many years spent in...
Young doctors who broke into field during covid now grapple with measles resurgenceVideo
The current generation of doctors learned about measles in medical school — but rarely expected to see it. Now they are having to diagnose and treat patients infected with measles. And they’re leaning on lessons learned from another notorious disease: covid-19. Measles cases are at a 35-year high. What had...
Amtrak announces date for 2nd route from Pittsburgh to New York
Amtrak’s second round-trip service between Pittsburgh to New York City will debut on Nov. 18, PennDOT announced today. The 444-mile Pennsylvanian route also stops in Harrisburg and Philadelphia, among other locations. Amtrak will shuffle its schedule to accomodate the second Pennsylvanian train. In the new format, the two trains will...
Proposed legislation would classify 911 dispatchers as first responders
In the seconds before he was shot and killed by an assailant in 2023, Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire called 911 for help. “That dispatcher, as part of her job, had to stay on that call, either with the chief or with other officers, during the worst of what was...
Eva Marie Saint, star of ‘North by Northwest’ and ‘On the Waterfront,’ dies at 102
LOS ANGELES — Eva Marie Saint, the pale, willowy actor who won an Academy Award for her first movie, “On the Waterfront,” and starred opposite Cary Grant in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller “North by Northwest,” has died. She was 102. Saint, whose acting work lasted well into her 90s, died...
