Top Local and National News Stories
Paving finally begins at Pittsburgh Mills
Brit Gasper let out a tepid exclamation Monday while watching paving crews work at Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer. “Woo-hoo,” she said, half-heartedly. “I’ll believe it when they finish — when my car doesn’t go thud when I drive up here.” The shopping complex has become notorious for years’ worth of...
Pa. Republicans say they’re gaining on Democrats in number of active registered voters
The Pennsylvania GOP said Monday that new data show the active voter registration gap between Republicans and Democrats is the narrowest on record. The GOP said it now has 25,811 fewer active registered voters — ones who voted at least once in the past four elections — than Democrats statewide....
Aaron Rodgers calls Fauci ‘absolute coward’ on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ at Steelers camp
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers used a live appearance Monday on “The Pat McAfee Show” from Steelers training camp to rail against Dr. Anthony Fauci and the news media. McAfee opened a conversation asking Rodgers about his “last rodeo” and mindset coming into his last season. “Is everything better, is everything funner,...
White Oak slaying linked to Pagans-War Dogs bar brawl yields 3 guilty pleas
One of three men charged in a deadly attack on a motorcyclist in White Oak last year that authorities linked to a Washington County bar brawl between motorcycle clubs pleaded guilty Monday to third-degree homicide. Jacob Baker, 34, of Mount Pleasant will serve 15 to 30 years in state prison...
Trial set to begin for Greensburg Salem teacher, aides accused of abusing autistic students
Prosecutors seek to present evidence to bolster child abuse claims against a Greensburg Salem School District special education teacher and two classroom aides charged with the mistreatment of autistic children. A Westmoreland County judge will decide Tuesday if an expert witness can testify to describe the standard of care autistic...
Pittsburgh gives $200K to another rec center in piecemeal funding approach
Pittsburgh Councilman Bob Charland, D-South Side, on Monday secured money to support a recreation center in his district that until now has not been funded by the city. Council’s unanimous vote to earmark $200,000 from the Stop the Violence Fund to pay for programming at McKinley Recreation Center in Beltzhoover...
Washington state fires destroy hundreds of buildings and force Spokane-area residents to evacuateVideo
SPOKANE, Wash. — Some residents returned to devastated neighborhoods in eastern Washington state to find their homes leveled by wildfires that erupted across a parched landscape over the weekend, covering yards in charred debris. In some cases, only chimneys were left standing. The fires in and around Spokane, the state’s...
Trump says Jeanine Pirro ‘folded like an umbrella’ in bid to drop Reflecting Pool vandalism charges
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro “choked” and “folded like an umbrella” in moving to drop charges against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Speaking at an unrelated Oval Office event, Trump ducked questions about whether he’d fire Pirro,...
Carnegie Mellon students investigated after ‘Fence’ messages tied to Israeli-Palestinian conflict, advocates say
Advocacy groups say Carnegie Mellon University is investigating several students over messages on a campus structure for free expression — The Fence — that are tied to the Israel-Palestinian conflict and that university leaders have said were discriminatory. The organizations — including the American Association of University Professors, Coalition for...
West Nile virus to be spray-treated in 8 Pittsburgh neighborhoods
Positive West Nile samples continue to pop up across Allegheny County as eight more Pittsburgh neighborhoods tested for the mosquito-borne virus. The Allegheny County Health Department announced Monday that it plans to treat areas for mosquitoes in the city communities of Brighton Heights, Marshall-Shadeland, California-Kirkbride, Manchester, Allegheny Commons, Perry South,...
Pirates place RHP Mitch Keller on 60-day injured list, effectively ending his season
Shortly after announcing a plethora of trade-deadline additions to their bullpen Monday, the Pittsburgh Pirates placed right-handed pitcher Mitch Keller on the 60-day injured list with a teres major muscle injury to his throwing arm. The move effectively ends Keller’s 2026 season, as he would be ineligible to come off...
Survey: Majority of U.S. workers believe AI will benefit their bosses more than them
Despite artificial intelligence companies propelling massive stock market gains, American workers aren’t looking to the new technology as their economic savior, new polling suggests. In fact, it may be the opposite. Among more than 1,500 people surveyed in June by market research firm Ipsos in partnership with progressive think tank...
South Fayette school district seeks to boost suicide prevention efforts with $100K grant
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes mention of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline can be reached by calling or texting 988. You can also text “TALK” to 741741, the Crisis Text Line, or visit AFSP.org. Prompted by the deaths last...
25 states sue over Trump’s new tariffs, calling them ‘pretext’ to replace his old ones
WASHINGTON — Twenty-five states sued the Trump administration Monday over its latest tariffs, calling them a pretext for replacing import taxes the Supreme Court struck down in February. The United States last month imposed double-digit tariffs on 59 countries and the European Union, charging that they had not done enough...
City of Pittsburgh employees who work Downtown now get free public transit
Emily Embrey has commuted by bus since she started work for the City of Pittsburgh about nine years ago. Taking public transit was a “no-brainer,” said Embrey, the Zone 5 Safer Together Coordinator for Pittsburgh Public Safety. Her household has only one car, and she likes to get her steps...
Allegheny County spokeswoman returns to work after social media video led to administrative leave
Allegheny County Communications Director Abigail Gardner returned to work Monday, two weeks after being placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into comments in which she told a local radio personality to jump off a bridge. The comment was posted in a video on Gardner’s private Instagram account July 17...
Pittsburgh area to get 1st Wayfair store
Wayfair — the popular online furniture retailer — is headed to the Pittsburgh region. The Boston-based company’s first brick-and-mortar location in the region will be in the North Hills Village shopping complex along McKnight Road in Ross. The 95,000-square-foot store is expected to open next year, according to a company...
Crazy Mason Milkshake Bar at the Waterfront closes after 1 year
Crazy Mason Milkshake Bar in the Waterfront shopping mall in Homestead has officially closed. Google has listed the business as permanently closed, and its website and Facebook profile have been deleted. The novelty milkshake shop was one of several locations from the South Carolina based restaurant chain. It opened at...
Penn-Trafford grad leads Moon Fall mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Ray Baker, a project lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has come a long way from his days of reading and watching films about space exploration in his family’s Penn Township home. Baker was enamored by all things space while growing up — ranging from science fiction novels by Isaac...
Wary of data center boom, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County proceed with caution
Pittsburgh will likely never become Pennsylvania’s version of Data Center Alley, the cluster of massive buildings in northern Virginia helping to power the AI boom. But that doesn’t mean the city isn’t playing a critical role in supporting the controversial technology. Many of the large entities that rely on the...
Mark Madden: Leave the autograph seeking to the children
Cameron Heyward said on his podcast that he dislikes Pittsburgh Steelers training camp being in Latrobe. Heyward was more likable before he (kind of) joined the media. Training camp has been at Saint Vincent College since 1966. It stimulates Latrobe’s economy. (My show is 3-6 p.m. at Dino’s on Friday,...
Future of Penn State New Kensington campus to be discussed at public meeting
A community group soliciting feedback for new uses of the Penn State New Kensington campus in Upper Burrell will hold a public meeting next week. The PSU (Re)New Kensington campus initiative, led by Westmoreland County economic development officials, will hold the meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11 at Penn...
Commercial Street reopens to traffic 1 week after Parkway East bridge
Major traffic disruptions related to the Parkway East’s Commercial Street Bridge replacement appear to be over, as Commercial Street — which runs under the bridge — reopened Monday afternoon, PennDOT said. Commuters will initially share the road with plenty of construction vehicles as crews continue to remove piles of rubble...
GOP holdouts say they will back Blanche’s attorney general nomination after striking deal over fund
WASHINGTON — Two Republican senators who threatened to block acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation to lead the Justice Department said Monday that they will support his nomination, ending an impasse over plans to create a fund to compensate allies of President Donald Trump. The endorsement from GOP Sens. John...
Todd Blanche rescinds fund for Trump supporters after GOP senators threaten to block his AG bid
WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a formal order late Sunday terminating President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund to compensate his political allies, a move that comes after weeks of negotiations with two Republican senators who were blocking his nomination to become attorney general. A spokeswoman for...
