As if there weren’t enough to think about these days, now there is talk of an asteroid supposedly heading directly for Earth.
The truth of the matter is, there is an asteroid, and it is headed in our general direction, but maybe not right at us. Still, that’s not stopping some from creating concern.
A flying space object known as 2018 VP1 is hurtling through our solar system right now, and it’s due to be in our vicinity in early November. An internet video and a few stories have created a bit of buzz for those who look for this type of information.
Officials are announcing criminal charges against more than two dozen people involved in a fentanyl trafficking gang operating in the City of Pittsburgh’s eastern neighborhoods and Wilkinsburg.
This extensive investigation was led by the FBI – Pittsburgh, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – Pittsburgh Division, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, the Latrobe Police Department, the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office, the Munhall Police Department, the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, Allegheny County Probation, the Wilkinsburg Police Department, the Monroeville Police Department, and the Penn Hills Police Department.
Authorities indicted 26 gang members and six associates on numerous drug trafficking and weapons-related charges.
Twenty-three of them were arrested Thursday. Authorities seized $152,000 dollars in cash and a significant quantity of drugs including fentanyl and heroin.
U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said the arrests are the latest in a series of efforts to break up gangs with ties to larger drug distributors along the east coast and midwest.
GREENSBURG, Pa. (KDKA) — The Westmoreland County Courthouse is the ultimate place when it comes to law and order.
The Westmoreland County Courthouse is also a building full of every kind of emotion you can think of.
“It’s not unusual for emotions to be high in any of the courts actually, but it’s not common to get very physical in here,” Westmoreland County Park Police Chief Henry Fontana told KDKA’s Ross Guidotti.
There are exceptions, including what allegedly happened when 47-year-old Rhonda Cathers lost her cool outside family court. According to Chief Fontana, the victim turned out to be someone Cathers was very familiar with.
“Mom was testifying — her daughter did not approve,” he says.
Investigators say it started with harsh words exchanged, followed by Cathers charging at and attacking her mother, choking her until she was separated by law enforcement.
Chief Fontana says the victim had noticeable red marks on her neck but declined any medical attention.
Rhonda Cathers is free tonight on $10,000 bond. She’s charged with assault, strangulation and intimidation of a witness.
The federal ban on evictions expired last month. Many states that paused their own proceedings have now allowed them to resume. The result: A record number of people could find themselves without a home during the pandemic.
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The federal ban on evictions expired last month.
Many states that paused their own proceedings have now allowed them to resume. Since July 15, eviction moratoriums have lapsed in Michigan, Maryland, Maine and Indiana.
The result: A record number of people could find themselves without a home during the pandemic.
Director of the CDC Dr. Robert Redfield said that daily new cases still remain high and he’d like to bring that number down below 10,000 new cases per day.
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Daily new cases of the coronavirus have been on a sustained decline since the end of July, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Deaths, which lag behind new cases as people fall ill, become hospitalized and die, have remained stubbornly high, at roughly 1,000 new Covid-19 deaths per day, on average, according to a CNBC analysis of Hopkins data.
“I think we’re going to start to see a decline in mortality across the country now next week as we continue to get control of these cases,” Director of the CDC Dr. Robert Redfield said Thursday.
Jerome Bettis has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against a Pittsburgh company he had promoted for its commitment to diversity.
The former Steelers star and Super Bowl winner contends EQT Production Company, an energy corporation, owes Bettis’ IntegrServ trucking company money and dropped its commitment to using minority-owned businesses. Bettis and brother John own 51% of IntegrServ.
EQT has denied wrongdoing, alleging IntegrServ mismanaged its part of the contract.
“Especially in times like these, we had to file the lawsuit because everyone deserves to be treated fairly and that simply didn’t happen here,” Bettis said.
The association wants a rollback on restrictions of covid.
Westmoreland County restaurant and bar operators say the state’s limit of 25% indoor occupancy for dining establishments unfairly targets them as being responsible for the spread of the coronavirus.
About 40 local industry members gathered Thursday at Ferrante’s Lakeview restaurant in Hempfield to share tales of how the state pandemic restrictions are crippling their businesses and to hear the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association’s strategy for rolling back some of the pandemic-related restrictions.
Chuck Moran, the association’s executive director, advocated a combination of public pressure, regulatory negotiations and legislative action.
One such legislative effort, he said, is a package of four restaurant and tavern relief bills being promoted by Sen. Pat Stefano, a Republican from Bullskin Township, Fayette County. The bills, in part, seek to eliminate the 25% restriction as well as a ban on serving patrons at bars and a requirement that customers buy a meal in order to drink alcohol on the premises — as long as establishments use barriers and social distancing to help prevent spread of the virus.
The proposed legislation also would waive for one year license renewal and permit fees charged to restaurant and tavern owners.
Former senior White House strategist Steve Bannon and three associates were arrested on charges of defrauding donors in a fundraising scheme for their “We Build the Wall” campaign.
Emergency responders were called to the scene of a fatal crash involving a tractor-trailer and a train on Thursday morning.
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The crash happened near the intersection of Blockdale Street and Pittsburgh Street in Cheswick.
The crash appeared to send the tractor-trailer into the side of a nearby building.
One of Pittsburgh’s most popular radio voices has been silenced.
PITTSBURGH, PA — After almost four decades in Pittsburgh radio, Cris Winter is out of a job. The longtime WSHH morning host announced her departure on social media.
Winter has worked at the former WXXP, WDVE and WWSW as well.
Winter is a Peters Township resident and Baldwin High School graduate.
Most of the actual Democratic National Convention events take place during daytime hours. And if you saw what they were saying during the day, you might flee the country. #FoxNews#Tucker
(CNN)Read Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s speech to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, as prepared for delivery:
Tonight we’ve heard from the people who make America work, people who put their lives on the line to keep our country going, and since COVID-19 hit, they’ve taken one gut punch after another.
And what has the COVID fallout done to our babies? I’m here at the Early Childhood Education Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, which has been closed for months. Childcare was already hard to find before the pandemic. And now, parents are stuck—no idea when schools can safely reopen and even fewer childcare options.
The devastation is enormous. And the way I see it: big problems demand big solutions.
I love a good plan, and Joe Biden has some really good plans—plans to bring back union jobs in manufacturing and create new union jobs in clean energy. Plans to increase Social Security benefits, cancel billions in student loan debt, and make our bankruptcy laws work for families instead of the creditors who cheat them.
These plans reflect a central truth: our economic system has been rigged to give bailouts to billionaires and kick dirt in the face of everyone else. But we can build a thriving economy by investing in families and fixing what’s broken. Joe’s plan to “build back better” includes making the wealthy pay their fair share, holding corporations accountable, repairing racial inequities, and fighting corruption in Washington.
The once-respected BlackBerry brand has been licensed yet again by a company hoping to use a familiar name to make a dent in the competitive Android phone market. This time, it’s a new Texas startup named OnwardMobility that’s taking the reins, promising to release a 5G BlackBerry device with Android and a physical QWERTY keyboard in 2021.
Little else is known about the device, including screen size or internal specs, but OnwardMobility told The Register it would come with a completely new keyboard design that will “reflect the brand values from a keyboard typing experience and input experience.” Which, yeah, sure! I love to reflect brand values. Do it all the time.
Another question mark hanging over the yet-unnamed device is what form factor it’ll take, be that a slider mechanism similar to 2015’s BlackBerry Priv, or a more conventional “candy bar” design. While the latter will undoubtedly prove more durable, and will appeal to die-hard QWERTY enthusiasts, a slider mechanism will allow punters to better make use of any display real-estate.
President Donald Trump announced he will posthumously pardon for Susan B Anthony, a suffrage movement leader found guilty of illegally voting as a woman in 1872.
Trump made the announcement alongside first lady Melania Trump, wearing white, at a White House event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment — which ensured women the right to vote. It was ratified on Aug. 18, 1920, 14 years after Anthony died.
If Democrats want to move forward after this immediate emergency of an election, they need to radically reassess who holds the party’s power and who speaks on its platforms.On Night 2, the convention opened with a mashup of the Democratic Party’s young luminaries, a group of recently elected under-50s across the country, including the woman who should be governor of Georgia, Stacey Abrams. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York spoke for only 60 seconds — the amount of time allotted all nomination speeches — but she made the most of them, highlighting the parts of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ platform that are most important to his (and Ocasio-Cortez’s) progressive constituency.
Some of the deferred decisions mean that retail hours at post offices will not change, mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes will remain in place and no mail processing facilities will be closed.
Exclusive: Cai Xia, who has been expelled from the elite Central Party School, says president’s ‘unchecked power’ has made China ‘the enemy of the world’
A former professor at China’s elite Central Party School has issued an unprecedented rebuke of the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, accusing him of “killing a country” and claiming that many more want out of the ruling Chinese Communist party.
Cai Xia, a prominent professor who taught at the school, a higher education institution for top officials, was expelled from the party on Monday after an audio recording of remarks she made that were critical of Xi was leaked online in June. She is no longer in China. The school said in a notice that Cai, a professor at the party school since 1992, had made comments that “damaged the country’s reputation” and were full of “serious political problems”.
In her first interview with English-language media since her expulsion, Cai told the Guardian she was “happy to be expelled”.
Here are 6 Pittsburgh breweries offering outdoor seating along with great beer.
Abjuration Brewing Co., 314 Arch St., Verona
Abjuration, one of Pittsburgh’s smallest suds factories, is tucked inside Stowe Township’s renovated Parkway Theater (which itself is worth a visit). The mad scientists behind the beaker glasses are coming out of the darkness, partnering with 10.7 Marina in Verona to bring their beers into the sunshine.
Photo courtesy of Dancing Gnome.
Dancing Gnome, 925 Main St., Sharpsburg
Aside from can pickups, Dancing Gnome’s taproom has been closed since the pandemic started. Now you can make reservations to imbibe in a small space behind the Sharpsburg building.
Photo courtesy of Spring Hill Brewing.
Spring Hill Brewing, 1958 Varley St., North Side
Get a farmhouse brew with a spectacular view. This tiny operation is housed inside a 100-year-old, 15,000-square-foot building (the former Workingmen’s Beneficial Union).
Photo courtesy of Allegheny City Brewing.
Allegheny City Brewing, 507 Foreland St., North Side
The folks at Allegheny City Brewing didn’t have much outdoor seating pre-COVID-19, so they set up a 42-seat beer garden in an empty lot across the street.
Photo courtesy of Cinderlands Warehouse.
Cinderlands Warehouse, 2601 Smallman St., Strip District
Cinderlands Warehouse, the brewery’s second location, opened last spring, complete with a large patio overlooking the Strip.
Photo courtesy of East End Brewing Co.
East End Brewing Co., 147 Julius St., Larimer
Since 2004, owner Scott Smith has been encouraging Pittsburghers to “buy a good friend a good beer.” East End’s newly revamped patio, which opens this Friday, is the perfect place to do just that.
This comes after Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine signed an order on July 1 requiring face coverings be worn by students and staff at school and on the bus.
When Na’Chelle Simone submitted a song to WYEP’s Reimagination Project, she hoped it was good enough to be released on the compilation album featuring young musicians from the area.
Na’Chelle, an 18-year-old from Homewood, had no idea “Rise Up” would earn national attention through a story featured on National Public Radio. But the most significant benefit was how the song ameliorated a family issue: “Rise Up” became a bridge back to her mother, with whom Na’Chelle had been having difficulties.
“It was just a misunderstanding between me and my mom,” Na’Chelle says. “But once she heard the song and liked it, we talked about it. I feel like it helped us.” (Listen to it here, along with other Reimagination Project songs.)
(CNN)A ship that has leaked tons of oil off the coast of Mauritius has split apart, authorities said on Saturday.
“At around 4.30 pm, a major detachment of the vessel’s forward section was observed,” the National Crisis Committee of Mauritius said in statement.
The Japanese-owned ship, MV Wakashio, ran aground at Pointe d’Esny in late July and began leaking tons of oil into a pristine Indian Ocean lagoon last week.
A massive clean-up operation involving thousands of local volunteers had been underway. But a crack inside the hull of the ship expanded earlier this week, according to the ship’s operator Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, a Japanese company.
