Lapels, A Fine Men’s Store · Lapels has been named the Best of the Best: Men’s Clothing Store in Westmoreland County. We are thrilled at thus amazing honor. Thanks to all who took the time to vote for us. A special thanks to everyone who has supported us during this challenging year. Your loyalty has meant the world to us. We are excited for 2021, when we hope things return to a more normal state. We will be here bringing the best in men’s fashions, accessories and gifts to the region as we have done over the past 18 years. #lapelsgreensburg #bestofthebest20
SHOP IN STYLE in Downtown Greensburg. Lapels is where you can find cool winter fashions for him. While you are downtown stop at
Artisans of Hands and Heart
and pick up a metal Greensburg sign from Acorn Metal Signs.
A shuttered Mexican restaurant on the South Side will soon be home to pizza and rotisserie chicken.
Doughbar Pizzeria & Rotisserie restaurant has taken over the space on East Carson Street, with a planned opening ona March 10.
The menu will feature 14- and 12-inch pizzas in New York style and pan options, rotisserie chicken served as whole or half bird with options for wings or tenders, stone-baked hoagies and a selection of starters, salads, sides and sauces.
It’s owned by former chefs at Downtown Pittsburgh’s Sienna Mercato and Emporio: A Meatball Joint, Matthew Porco of Franklin Park and Donnie Amman of Dormont. They teamed up with Chris Clark, general manager of Superior Motors in Braddock.
Jeff Federoff had just been laid off from his job at Levin Furniture & Mattress. The new ownership had gone bankrupt — and then the pandemic hit.
“I open my mail and there is a letter and a check from Robert Levin,” said Federoff, a 20-year employee from Canonsburg, as he stood inside the reopened Levin store on Wednesday in McMurray. “Robert is the best boss you could ever work for. He is so gracious and employees are blessed to work for him.”
PITTSBURGH — Community Bank, retail arm of CB Financial Services Inc., on Tuesday said it plans to consolidate six branches.
Four are located within the 10-county Pittsburgh metro where Community Bank ranks No. 17 by deposit market share. It is targeting June 30 for the closures.
They are:
Monongahela to be consolidated into Rostraver
Perryopolis to be consolidated into Uniontown and Rostraver
President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Wednesday to review the global supply chains used by four key industries in an effort to avoid the shortages in medical equipment, semiconductors and other goods seen as critical during the pandemic.
China reliance targeted: Biden’s order will institute 100-day reviews of the global producers and shippers for: computer chips used in consumer products; large-capacity batteries for electric vehicles; pharmaceuticals and their active ingredients; and critical minerals used in electronics.
The reviews will seek to determine whether U.S. firms in these sectors are relying too much on foreign suppliers, particularly those in China, a senior administration official told reporters. They will also consider other vulnerabilities, like extreme weather and environmental factors.“
Clearly we are looking at the risks posed by dependence on competitor nations, but that is only one of a range of risks we are looking at,” the administration official said.
The order will also direct yearlong reviews for six sectors: defense, public health, information technology, transportation, energy and food production.
Following weeks of headline-grabbing attention from a social media-fueled stock trading frenzy, GameStop announced Tuesday its Chief Financial Officer Jim Bell will resign from his role effective March 26.
A reason for Bell’s resignation was not immediately clear. In an SEC filing on Tuesday, GameStop said Bell’s resignation was “not because of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices, including accounting principles and practices.”
The city state has a dizzying array of vending machines, dispensing everything from cacti to pizza.
The reasons vending entrepreneurs are trying out new products are as varied as the businesses themselves.
Manish Kumar, the managing director of Norwegian Salmon, says machines offer him his own retail space. That means his frozen products aren’t placed next to fresh salmon, which is more popular here.
Mervin Tham, one of the three founders of EasyMeat, whose machines sell the Wagyu beef, thinks the variety is expanding because the barriers to entry are fairly low.
“It’s a low effort way of testing a product, especially if you’re starting a business of your own. And generally there’s some interest towards the automated retail culture that you see overseas, like in Japan,” he says.
Westmoreland Mall officials confirmed that Littman Jewelers shuttered this month, and a women’s clothing store is set to close.
Littman, a national jewelry chain, was located on the first floor across from the former Sears wing and the wing that now houses Live! Casino Pittsburgh. Christopher & Banks, on the first floor near JCPenney, also is set to close, according to signage posted at the store.
The 263-acre camp was a destination for kids, families and school groups for generations.
The YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh was unable to sustain the camp because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Carolyn Grady, chief development officer.
“Camp T. Frank Soles operated over the summer with pandemic restrictions but was never able to regain the level of program participation that would make it financially viable,” she said in a statement. “We made the difficult decision to end programs at Camp Soles in October and listed the building for sale.
St. Michael, Pa. (WJAC) — It was September 2020 when Cambria County resident Geri Maul opened “Maul’s Subs & Skillz” in St. Michael.
“We did really great in the month of September and even into October. Once November hit, between the holidays and the government shutdown, it got really slow,” she said.
Slowing down…to the point of struggling.
The business — offering 24-inch subs, baked goods, and the chance to win cash on Pennsylvania Skill machines — announced they would be closing their doors forever.
“Friday or Saturday would be our last day as soon as our supplies ran out. We were done. We weren’t going to order any more products,” Geri said.
But when Geri came back to clean out the space later that weekend, she came across a generous surprise.
“There was an envelope underneath the door, and it said, “to Maul’s Subs & Skillz,” and inside was a monetary donation with a note that said, “please don’t close.”
That anonymous donation, she says, contained enough money to dig them out of their financial hole.
President Biden’s son-in-law’s investment in a health care company involved in the coronavirus vaccine effort is raising eyebrows in ethical circles after the president pledged that family members would have no influence in government matters, according to a report Tuesday.
President Biden is pledging that his administration will follow tough ethics regulations and that no family members will be involved in government or foreign policy decisions.
In his first interview since entering the White House, Biden, sitting next to his wife, Jill, was asked about the allegations surrounding his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine and China and what kind of guardrails he would put up for family.
“We’re going to run this like the Obama-Biden administration. No one in our family and extended family is going to be involved in any government undertaking or foreign policy. And nobody has an office in this place,” he told People magazine in an interview.
Yosi Health CEO Hari Prasad created software that would help make the vaccine process more efficient and sought help from one of his company’s first investors, StartUp Health, which employs Biden son-in-law, Howard Krein, as its chief medical officer, ABC News reported.
Prasad sought help from StartUp Health in December to pitch their software platform to government health officials, the report said.
The company’s six flagship beers — Iron City, IC Light, Mango IC Light, Old German Premium Lager, American and American Light, and Block House Brewing Summer Break — now all made in Latrobe will be produced at the new facility, Angotti said.
New York (CNN Business)Luxury chocolatier Godiva is getting out of the brick and mortar business.
The company is closing or selling all 128 of its brick-and-mortar stores in North America, it announced in a statement. It plans to complete the closures and sales by the end of March.
Godiva will keep its stores open across Europe, Middle East and Greater China. The company did not disclose information on how many employees would be let go because of the closures.
Less than two years ago, Godiva was planning a massive expansion by getting into the cafe business. The chocolatier opened its first cafe in the United States in New York City in April 2019 and announced that it planned on opening 10 more cafes in New York and more than 400 across the United States. It was part of a plan to open 2,000 new cafes around the world.
But that plan never came to fruition. Godiva relied heavily on mall traffic, which has been plummeting even before the pandemic. The chocolatier’s sales are largely driven by online purchases and purchases through Godiva’s grocery, club and retail partners.
This change comes during a time when Covid has hit dozens of underperforming businesses. The retail apocalypse in particular has come for restaurants, mall stores, businesses that rely on impulse shopping and luxury retailers.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will drop its Friday print editions after Feb. 26 in a move the company described as another step toward becoming a more digitally focused news provider.
The newspaper — which previously eliminated some of its print editions in 2018 and 2019 — will continue to publish print editions on Sundays and Thursdays. The company plans to bolster the Sunday editions with more than 10 pages and new content.
The paper will also continue to produce a Saturday print edition sold in retail outlets.
“We’ve seen over the past year increased demand for digital content,” said Kurt Franck, vice president of newspaper operations for Block Communications Inc., the Toledo, Ohio-based owner of the Post-Gazette.
In addition to its website that publishes news seven days a week, the Post-Gazette publishes a daily electronic edition and NewsSlide, a digital news site accessible on tablets and mobile phones.
“All of our digital delivery products will truly allow us to be a 24/7 news operation,” Mr. Franck said. “You’re going to see more papers that will go digital in the next couple [of] years. We think e-delivery is better, and we make no apologies for doing this.”
In the fourth quarter of 2020, the Post-Gazette said it had 101,747 paid Sunday subscribers, including 71,520 print and 30,227 digital.
Paid subscribers for daily editions totaled 74,444, including 44,371 print and 30,073 digital.
Mr. Franck said there is no timetable for the elimination of the Post-Gazette’s Sunday and Thursday print products.
He declined to comment on whether the changes would impact jobs. The Post-Gazette employs 337 people, including its newsroom staff, drivers, production workers, and advertising and circulation sales representatives.
The nine unions that represent 270 of those employees Wednesday received letters informing them of the decision to drop the Friday print edition. The company wrote it was “prepared to discuss the effects the company’s decision will have on your bargaining unit.”
At least three men have lost their jobs as a result of their involvement in the unrest at the US Capitol Wednesday.
Rick Saccone, a former Pennsylvania state representative, shared images on his Facebook page of himself outside the Capitol. Saint Vincent College, where Saccone served as an adjunct professor, immediately began an investigation, according to Michael Hustava, the institution’s Senior Director of Marketing and Communications.
“As a result of that investigation, Dr. Saccone has submitted and we have accepted his letter of resignation, effective immediately. He will no longer be associated with Saint Vincent College in any capacity,” Hustava said in a statement provided to CNN.
“I decided to resign for the betterment of the school,” Saccone told the Tribune-Review, a news outlet in Western Pennsylvania, about his departure. “I’ve been there 21 years. I didn’t want all this terrible media kerfuffle to tarnish the school. I decided it would be better if I just resigned.”
Boeing will pay more than $2.5 billion to settle criminal charges that it repeatedly concealed and lied about the 737 Max’s engineering problems that led to two catastrophic crashes claiming hundreds of lives.
The company admitted to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States as part of the deferred prosecution agreement announced on Thursday and will face no further charges from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Boeing’s employees chose the path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the FAA concerning the operation of its 737 Max airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up their deception,” Acting Assistant Attorney General David Burns of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, wrote in a statement.
Boeing, which is the country’s second-biggest defense contractor behind Lockheed Martin, will pay the DOJ a criminal penalty of $243.6 million.
As the stock market looks to 2021, Christmas is finally here. Some exchanges are closed today. Here are the hours.
Is the Stock Market Closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2020?
The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq closed at 1 p.m. Eastern time on Christmas Eve. Both will be shut on Friday for Christmas Day. U.S. bond markets and U.S. over-the-counter markets will also close at 2 p.m. on Dec. 24, and all day on Dec. 25.
Are Foreign Stock Exchanges Open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2020?
The Shanghai Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange will be open both days. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange closes at noon local time on Christmas Eve, and all day on Christmas Day.
The Toronto Stock Exchange ended its session at 1 p.m. ET on Christmas Eve. It will be closed on Christmas Day. The London Stock Exchangewill close at 12:30 p.m. GMT on Thursday, and all day on Friday.
Can I Take Christmas Eve Off Anyway?
You wouldn’t be alone. Christmas Eve typically sees far lower volume than an average day. Going back to 2007—excluding years when Christmas Day fell on a weekend—the average Christmas Eve volume on the NYSE Composite and Nasdaq Composite was 36.8% of a normal day during that period, according to data from FactSet compiled by Dow Jones Market Data.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) — Governor Tom Wolf announced Wednesday that he has initiated a transfer of $145 million in funds from the Workers’ Compensation Security Fund at the Pennsylvania Insurance Department to be appropriated by the state legislature into grants for businesses adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Business owners and employees have worked hard to protect their customers and their communities during this pandemic, and I thank all of those who have prioritized health and safety despite the hardship of the past several months,” Gov Wolf said. “Our business owners and workers have been forced to make sacrifices because of COVID-19 and they need and deserve our support.
“Today, I am pleased to announce that my administration will make funds available to help businesses whose operations and revenue were significantly adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The $145 million transfer from the fund into the state’s general fund requires legislative authorization to expend the loaned money for the purpose of making grants to businesses. The legislature has the authority to establish grant agreements for purposes it deems appropriate, in this case, to support businesses adversely affected by the pandemic.
Gov. Wolf urged the legislature to follow his lead and allocate this funding as quickly as possible to businesses affected by the pandemic, among them restaurants and bars, gyms and entertainment venues.
Ford Motor Company is recalling certain 2020 Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator SUVs to fix a potentially faulty engine mount that could lead to a loss of power to the wheels, the automaker said.
The action only affects 1,405 vehicles that were built from July 28-30 and sold in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and no accidents have been linked to the issue.
The recall is the 10th for the Explorer and sixth for the Aviator since they went on sale last year as all-new models sharing a common platform. The recalls have included problems with driveshaft weld seams, seat belts, airbags and other components, often affecting very small numbers of vehicles.
Somerset, Pa. (WJAC) — Despite the state’s restrictions on indoor dining until January 4th, one diner in Somerset County has been letting customers dine-in anyway. The new, limited-time mitigation orders took effect at 12:01 a.m. on December 12, and remain in effect until 8 a.m. on January 4, 2021.
Cars filled the parking lot of the Summit Diner in Somerset Saturday morning as customers flowed in and out of the dining room.
The diner shut down the weekend after those restrictions were announced, but then made the decision to stay open for indoor dining.
Manager Chloe Foy says their customers have been supportive of their decision.
“They want to make sure that we’re here, and that even after the holidays and the New Year that we’re going to stay open and be open, and have all of our employees be able to pay their bills and feed their families,” Foy said.
Following a comprehensive review of the JCPenney retail footprint, we announced several phases of store closures in 2020, part of our store optimization strategy that began in June and included plans to close up to 200 stores throughout our financial restructuring.
While store closure decisions are never easy, our store optimization strategy is intended to better position JCPenney to drive sustainable, profitable growth. We will continue to operate the majority of our stores and our flagship store, jcp.com, to ensure our valued customers continue to have access to the products and brands they need and want. Please check for helpful FAQ and an updated list of closing locations.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the restaurant industry, a student at Pitt is looking to help them out. He created an app called Bar Spy to help get people to patronize a business.
Computer information science major Gabriel Thrower is trying to give restaurants a fighting chance during another round of COVID-19 restrictions.
“If you were to start a restaurant within the past five years, this whole coronavirus thing would probably put you under,” Thrower said.
He’s seen his father’s restaurant get hit hard in the last 9 months.
“It’s just crazy the amount of business that isn’t happening now,” the Pitt senior said.
He had been thinking about it when he lived in the city.
“I thought to myself it would be great if there was a platform where all these people could advertise on it and let people know what they’re doing,” he said.
Then once the pandemic began, the Pitt Senior knew it was time.
After six months of work, the app was published this week.
Four companies in Allegheny County have been named among the Best Places to Work in Pennsylvania.
Ryan LLC, a consulting firm in Downtown Pittsburgh; Total Quality Logistics, a logistics firm located in Kennedy Township; Maher Duessel, an accounting firm on Pittsburgh’s North Shore; and KU Resources, Inc., an environmental consultant in Duquesne all made the list, which is made up of companies from across the state.
Target is hoping to hit the bullseye with the look of its new Downtown store.
The Minneapolis retailer and its landlord will brief the Pittsburgh planning commission Tuesday on the buildout for the mini Target on the first floor of the former Kaufmann’s/Macy’s department store at the corner of Smithfield Street and Fifth Avenue.
The store occupies a 20,034-square-foot space and will be situated mainly on the Fifth Avenue side of the building, running from Smithfield to Cherry Way, according to materials presented to the commission.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
A Texas waitress says she was thrilled to receive a $2,000 tip on a bill — only to find out from the restaurant that she won’t take home a single cent.
Emily Bauer had only been a server for about two weeks when she was scheduled for a busy Sunday shift at Red Hook Seafood and Bar in San Antonio, news station KVUE reported.
While working all the tables, she kept apologizing to a man seated in her section for “being slow.”
“He was just like, ‘I understand.’ He also mentioned he owned restaurants, so he knew how hard it was to be a server,” Bauer said.
“He was like, ‘Just cancel everything. Cancel everything and give me the ticket.’ So, I said okay. I gave him the ticket.”
Bauer said she didn’t notice until he left that he had given her a $2,000 tip and wrote a note that said, “Merry Christmas! Keep working hard!”
“I was like, wait. I just opened it and started crying. I was like, ‘Oh my God! My kids! I’m going to spend it all on my kids,’” said Bauer, who has two sons, a 2-year-old and a 5-month-old.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God. I’ve never had a Christmas where I’ve been able to like splurge on them.’”
But she said her excitement was quickly dashed when the restaurant told her it can’t process a tip larger than $500.
Other servers suggested that the restaurant give her four separate tips of $500, but the seafood joint refused, KVUE reported.
It is unclear why the restaurant couldn’t process $500 of the $2,000 tip to give to Bauer, in line with its limits.
The Ace Hardware in Greensburg has closed after a decade on East Pittsburgh Street.
Sales plummeted when the coronavirus pandemic hit and lockdowns were put in place, said owner John McCullough, owner of New Kensington-based Thrift Supply.
“We’ve just seen our customer base drop, and our business drop, and we found it difficult economically to succeed,” he said.
Competing with big-box stores and online shopping was already difficult, and the pandemic was the final blow, McCullough said.
Monday was the store’s last day in business.
“It was Cyber Monday,” McCullough said. “Appropriate, right?”
The store’s seven employees — four full-time and three part-time — were laid off.
Thrift Supply, which was founded in 1963, joined Ace Hardware in 1997. It has three locations in the region: Delmont, New Kensington and Kittanning. McCullough encourages Greensburg customers to visit the Delmont store.
“For 10 years, we’ve really had a nice customer base here, people have been great to us,” he said.
Lapels, A Fine Men’s Store · Lapels has been named the Best of the Best: Men’s Clothing Store in Westmoreland County. We are thrilled at thus amazing honor. Thanks to all who took the time to vote for us. A special thanks to everyone who has supported us during this challenging year. Your loyalty has meant the world to us. We are excited for 2021, when we hope things return to a more normal state. We will be here bringing the best in men’s fashions, accessories and gifts to the region as we have done over the past 18 years. #lapelsgreensburg #bestofthebest20
Shares of CVS Health Corp. 
