Local Stories

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied a request to order the wholesale release of prisoners held by jails in Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. But in a partial win for prison-reform advocates, the Court ordered county judges and officials to do what they could to minimize the threat of the coronavirus behind bars.

Pittsburgh's officials warned on Friday that too many residents violated "social distancing" rules meant to limit the spread of the coronavirus last weekend, there was less social distancing last weekend, as milder weather brought more people out to public parks. 

Pennsylvania residents should wear a cloth mask in public to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, the governor said Friday, as the state recorded another single-day high in new cases and passed 100 deaths.

Pennsylvania will stop paying about 9,000 state workers whose offices have been closed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Friday.

Pennsylvania has received a fraction of the equipment it has requested from a federal stockpile to help battle the coronavirus, new data shows, as state officials look to other sources to purchase more supplies, including life-saving ventilators.

New documents released Thursday show the Federal Emergency Management Agency only fulfilled only a fraction of requests for equipment to fight the coronavirus, leaving states like Pennsylvania short hundreds of thousands of items needed to protect healthcare providers and others.

With reports of bigotry against people of Asian descent on the rise, Democratic state lawmakers including state Senators Jay Costa (D-Forest Hills) and Larry Farnese (D-Philadelphia) are calling to address hate crimes in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania businesses are running out of time if they want an exemption from Gov. Tom Wolf’s shutdown order as state health officials on Thursday reported more than 1,200 new cases of COVID-19.

Allegheny Health Network began assembling COVID-19 test kits in its downtown Highmark Health Penn Avenue Place building this week. Dozens of tables with medical staffers lined the auditorium of the building filled with sterile media tubes, swabs, instructions, and biohazard bags.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House Coronavirus Task Force are both reviewing official guidance that people who are healthy don’t need to wear face masks during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

If the federal government changes its stance, that would be a big deal: Just more than a month ago, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams urged the public, in no uncertain terms, to stop buying face masks.

Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!

The University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine says it has developed a promising potential vaccine against the virus driving the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration says the state Department of Community and Economic Development will not respond to open records requests for the foreseeable future, including ones related to the administration’s decision to grant waivers to thousands of businesses amid the coronavirus outbreak.

After a surge of coronavirus cases in the Poconos that some attributed to out-of-state travelers, Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration says it is moving to remove short-term rentals such as Airbnb from the state’s list of “life-sustaining” businesses during the shutdown. 

A Pennsylvania nursing home where two dementia patients died over the weekend after contracting COVID-19 has struggled to contain the spread, with staff thinned by suspected infection and fears for their own safety.

Allegheny Technologies Inc. has announced plans to shut down a western Pennsylvania plant at the end of June, citing steel tariffs imposed on imports by the Trump administration.

About 70 employees, most represented by the United Steelworkers union, would lose their jobs at the Midland plant in Beaver County, the company said Tuesday.

Chief Executive Officer Robert Wetherbee said in a statement that Allegheny Technologies had sought a tariff exclusion since March 2018. Officials said the first request was rejected and the second received no response.

All Pennsylvania residents must stay home as much as possible for the coming month to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Tom Wolf said Wednesday as he expanded the footprint of the quarantine to include the entire state.

Unemployment claims have reached historic levels nationwide as coronavirus mitigation efforts effectively shutter the national economy, and it’s Pennsylvania that is outpacing the nation in the number of claims filed.

If a surge of COVID-19 patients overwhelms local health systems, Allegheny County plans to use the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh to accommodate patients.

On WYEP’s 40th anniversary in 2014, hosts and DJs from the station’s history came on air to play setlists and reminisce. Among them was Stephen Chatman, 14-year host and co-founder of The Soul Show, calling in from his home in Phoenix, Arizona. He described one of his favorite radio moments: meeting a man in his new home city who used to listen to his show in Pittsburgh.

Gov. Tom Wolf added seven more counties Tuesday to his order to stay at home as the new virus expanded its reach and Pennsylvania reported another big jump in confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths.

It's been more than week since Gov. Tom Wolf ordered Allegheny County residents to stay home and many people have been hunkered down and/or working from home for longer than that. (Here at Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting, we've been working remotely for approximately 19 days, 2 hours and 30 minutes, but who's counting?!) 

With social distancing and #quarentinelife becoming the new normal, here's a look at Pittsburgh life as we all ride the coronavirus wave of uncertainty. 

While the number of Pennsylvanians who have died from COVID-19 continues to climb, families who have lost loved ones to the pandemic -- and to other causes -- are trying to figure out what mourning rituals look like during a period of social distancing.