Local Stories

Pennsylvania’s high court on Wednesday ruled against an effort by Republican state lawmakers to end Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown orders.

Pennsylvania state government finished its fiscal year about 9% short of its initial revenue estimate, a result of the state’s coronavirus-related shutdowns and delayed tax-filing deadlines, the Department of Revenue said Wednesday.

California’s Central District Court ruled last Friday that ICE should release children from the country’s three family detention centers, two in Texas and one in Berks County.

Gov. Tom Wolf's administration moved Wednesday to expand its indoor mask order to public places outdoors where social-distancing is impossible, while he also said that he prefers to let Pennsylvania's local governments handle further coronavirus restrictions, as opposed to the broad shutdown orders he imposed this spring.

More than 4,500 COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania are associated with nursing homes or personal care homes.

UPMC is again contradicting public health officials, this time by telling its employees that they do not need to quarantine for 14 days after out-of-state travel.

Federal emergency aid for renters in Pennsylvania hit hard financially during the pandemic is still in the pipeline as Gov. Tom Wolf's ban on foreclosures and evictions nears an expiration.

News on the coronavirus pandemic, protests, 2020 election and more from around Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and southwestern Pennsylvania. 

Find all of the WESA Daily Briefing posts here. 

Editor's note: This post will be frequently updated with the latest news.

4:34 p.m. – Black Lives Matter-themed vigil held by interfaith groups in Oakland

The family of Marcus White, a 15-month-old boy who died in a 2013 East Hills shooting, called for the state to step in to prosecute their case Tuesday. They filed a victims’ rights complaint against the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office Monday.

Gov. Tom Wolf will sign the first bills passed by Pennsylvania’s Legislature in response to widespread protests over police brutality and the killing of George Floyd, his office said Tuesday.

Republican state lawmakers are defending the natural gas industry following the release of a Pennsylvania grand jury report that found the Department of Environmental Protection failed to protect the public from the health effects of fracking.

With 109* new coronavirus infections, Tuesday marks the first time that Allegheny County's daily case count has exceeded 100. Like Monday, Tuesday’s cases account for roughly 17 percent of Pennsylvania’s daily total.

News on the coronavirus pandemic, protests, 2020 election and more from around Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and southwestern Pennsylvania. 

Find all of the WESA Daily Briefing posts here. 

Editor's note: This post will be frequently updated with the latest news.

6:08 p.m. - Wolf expected to sign bills that address police brutality

The Allegheny County Elections Division is starting to look at how to improve its procedures ahead of the November election, but some voting rights activists say decisions need to be made as soon as possible.

A major plan to reorganize Pennsylvania’s state higher education system — and potentially consolidate parts of it — cleared the state Senate last week.

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, the national Republican Party and four western Pennsylvania members of Congress sued Monday to force changes to how the state collects and counts mail-in ballots under revamped rules.

Allegheny County reported Monday that another 83 residents have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. These new cases comprise nearly 17 percent of all cases reported in Pennsylvania on Monday.

A half-dozen people involved in a June 1 East Liberty protest have filed a federal lawsuit against city of Pittsburgh officials, alleging that police violated their civil rights and “escalat[ed] a peaceful protest into a scene of pandemonium, panic, violence and bloodshed.”

Prosecutors asked a judge to stiffen the home confinement and probation sentences imposed on a former librarian and a bookseller who pleaded guilty in the theft of rare books from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh in a years-long scheme.

Common Pleas Judge Alexander Bicket sentenced 56-year-old John Schulman earlier this month to four years of home confinement and 64-year-old Gregory Priore to three years of home confinement. Both were ordered to spend a dozen years on probation after completing their sentences.

News on the coronavirus pandemic, protests, 2020 election and more from around Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and southwestern Pennsylvania. 

Find all of the WESA Daily Briefing posts here. 

Editor's note: This post will be frequently updated with the latest news.

5:07 p.m. - Lawmakers move bill related to election reform

Surgery suites at Allegheny Health Network have a new piece of equipment to protect against the novel coronavirus.

In response to a recent rise in COVID-19 cases that Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald called “alarming,” the county is prohibiting on-site consumption of alcohol at bars and restaurants. The order takes effect at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30.

Allegheny County health officials today reported 96 new COVID-19 cases, the second straight day that it has posted a record number of infections.

Protesters gathered in Mellon Park in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood Saturday afternoon, for the fourth consecutive Civil Saturdays event. The weekly demonstrations against systemic racism and police brutality are organized by high schoolers and recent graduates with the group Black, Young, & Educated.