The federal board investigating the fatal August explosion at the Clairton Coke Works says the incident happened when a crew did maintenance on a cracked gas valve.

Pittsburgh-based utility assistance program Dollar Energy Fund opens for the 2025-26 winter season Wednesday. Households with an income at or below 200% of the federal poverty line can receive grants of up to $500 to offset winter heating costs.

Two Allegheny County state house Democrats, Rep. Jessica Benham and Rep. Abigail Salisbury, are openly autistic. Both have decried the Trump administration’s approach to addressing the developmental disorder.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are keeping Don Kelly as manager. The club announced Monday that it had extended Kelly's contract after the team recovered from a miserable opening six weeks of the season thanks in part to Kelly's guidance.

A state-backed landslide and sinkhole insurance program sponsored by two Allegheny County lawmakers is closer to becoming a reality after a strong bipartisan majority of the state House approved the proposal Monday.

Manufactured housing, also sometimes called mobile homes, operates under a unique arrangement compared to other properties. Residents typically own their homes, but not the land underneath. Instead, they must pay a monthly lot rent to the mobile home park operator.

The University of Pittsburgh is doubling down on its longstanding commitment to studying the horror genre. The school says its new Horror Studies Center, announced last week, is the first of its kind.

93.7% of Pennsylvania kindergarteners got both recommended doses of the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine before the 2024-2025 school year. That’s lower than the recommended 95% vaccination rate for herd immunity, the threshold to provide community resistance to infectious diseases.

The two bus stops at the Waterfront — in front of the Giant Eagle and Target — are back on schedule. The Waterfront’s owner, M&J Wilkow, reversed their request to Pittsburgh Regional Transit to remove these bus stops, according to a statement from PRT on Monday.

State lawmakers introduced bipartisan legislation this summer that would ban smartphones from K-12 classrooms across Pennsylvania. But a new survey from Congressman Chris Deluzio found school leaders have mixed feelings about a "one size fits all" approach to cellphone usage in school.

Plans for a massive new data center in Allegheny County were delayed recently by the borough’s planning commission. The proposal calls for a data center complex on the site of the now-demolished Cheswick Generation Station, a coal-fired power plant located along the Allegheny River in Springdale.

About 50 progressive activists gathered outside the workplace of Pennsylvania’s richest man on Thursday to sound the alarm about his financial support for the Republican Party’s efforts to oust three state Supreme Court justices.

With summer now in the rearview mirror, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced that state parks saw an increase in attendance during the season to the tune of nearly 25 million visitors.

County election officials are required to accurately report when voters’ mail-in ballots have been set aside because of disqualifying errors and allow their votes to be counted on provisional ballots, Pennsylvania’s highest court ruled.

Pittsburgh Regional Transit will temporarily close the Monongahela Incline on Mount Washington this week for scheduled maintenance to ensure continued safety and reliability for passengers. The maintenance is scheduled to begin today and end Friday, Oct. 3.

Kenneth Gainwell ran for 99 yards and two touchdowns, and the Pittsburgh Steelers held on to beat the Minnesota Vikings 24-21 in Ireland’s first regular-season NFL game. The Steelers improved to 3-1 going into their bye week.

Pittsburgh International Airport is betting that when its new terminal opens this fall, visitors will want to take at least a few moments to appreciate the public artworks that enliven seemingly every corner of the facility, down to the restrooms and baggage claims.

For more than a century, the Robert Wholey & Co. Inc. has provided fresh produce to Pittsburgh residents. The longtime staple celebrated 113 years in business over the weekend with a sea themed event.

Tec Centro, a career center in Reading, has started offering English classes for truckers, following a Trump administration crackdown on language proficiency. www.wesa.fm/economy-busi...

Aquatic biologists from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and a small crew of volunteers waded into Dunkard Creek in Greene County on a recent sunny day. Their mission: Restock mussels in the stream.

When Pennsylvania’s highest court gathered in Philadelphia on Sept. 10 to hear arguments on whether voters must write the date on their mail ballot return envelopes, a lawyer for Republican groups told justices that eliminating the requirement could prompt a flood of election law challenges.

The game Sunday between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings is a homecoming of sorts for the Rooney family, which traces its roots to Newry in Northern Ireland.

Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s board approved the removal of 2 stops in the Waterfront in Homestead. The changes were made as part of the agency’s twice-yearly service changes. The stops in front of Target and Giant Eagle are on a private road & the property’s owner requested PRT remove the stops.

Earlier this month, Pittsburgh emergency responders began carrying whole blood — which includes all blood components — on two rescue units so paramedics can immediately administer it on the scene of a traumatic accident or medical emergency.

The Steelers-Vikings matchup at Croke Park in Dublin is expected to draw a larger-than-usual chunk of U.S.-based fans compared to other international games. It will be the first regular-season NFL game in Ireland, and all sides are hopeful it could lead to more.

Attendees will hear from the region’s literacy experts and connect with resources and services supporting families with young children. The event will open with remarks from Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey, who called literacy the first step in breaking out of poverty.

Advocates for UPMC’s teenage trans patients filed a motion in federal court this week urging a judge to shield patient health records from a Dept. of Justice inquiry. The Public Interest Law Center is seeking to quash the subpoena on behalf of patients & former patients of UPMC and their families.

More than a dozen schools statewide have been named the first winners of the new Pennsylvania Blue Ribbon Schools program. The announcement of the new program and honorees comes a month after the Trump administration ended the 40-year-old federal Blue Ribbon Schools program.

Looking for something to do this weekend? Options include stopping by and enjoying the Backyard Docs Film Festival, checking out "The Scandinavian Home" at the Frick Pittsburgh or watching the runners at the Great Race.

The 23-year-old right-hander allowed four hits and struck out seven in six innings in his final scheduled start of the season on Wednesday night. While he didn't figure in the Pirates' 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in 11 innings, he lowered his ERA to 1.97.

Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity announced Wednesday her office would launch a $500 million plan to provide loans to county governments and pre-K programs facing financial problems caused by the months-late state budget.

The Trump administration’s 2025 Budget Reconciliation Act includes major changes and cuts to health insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which cover seniors and people with low incomes, including people with disabilities.

U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio toured the the solar array on the rooftop of Community College of Allegheny County’s North Campus Wednesday to highlight how renewables can save energy and money, even as Republicans in Washington have ended federal clean energy incentives.

The 90-minute show "Becoming Daddy AF," which Daniel Roussève has performed as a work in progress in New York and at Mass MOCA, combines dance, monologues and sound with video clips spanning some 35 years of his solo performances.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has struck down Pittsburgh’s so-called “jock tax,” a long-debated 3% fee on out-of-town athletes and entertainers who perform in city-owned venues. The city expected to receive $6.1 million from the tax in 2025.

The issue was introduced on council’s agenda Wednesday evening by an “agenda initiative,” a little-known mechanism by which council can be required to debate and vote on a proposal if 500 county voters sign a petition requiring them to do so.

Pennsylvania has been added to a lawsuit over the Trump administration’s demand for personal information on food-stamp recipients. Officials hope the legal maneuver will provide breathing room in an increasingly heated dispute, one that could cost Pennsylvania half a billion dollars each year.

Three Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justices have raised more than $2.8 million to make the case that voters should keep them on the state’s top court this fall. But newly filed campaign finance reports suggest those efforts may be overshadowed by outside interest groups on both sides of the debate.

Pennsylvania is looking to join the multistate lawsuit against the federal government over demands to share Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients’ data, potentially protecting $461 million in benefits for two million people across the state.

Pittsburgh U.S. Rep. Summer Lee is leading the Pennsylvania Democratic congressional delegation in opposing the Trump administration’s move to prevent climate action. The administration wants to overturn the basis for the EPA to regulate pollution that contributes to climate change.

A new 30 unit modular multi-family building built in a factory in Carnegie is coming next year to Hazelwood Green. It’s the latest project from Module, a Pittsburgh-based manufacturing start-up.

State Treasurer Stacy Garrity reprised themes that have already become familiar staples in her campaign for governor, including her frequently repeated slogan, “Help is on the way.”

A group of transgender patients and their families have filed a discrimination complaint with the state Human Relations Commission against UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, asserting that UPMC’s refusal to provide gender-affirming care for trans patients under 19 is sex-based discrimination.

Leaders of small transit agencies across Pennsylvania say they’re preparing to cut services, raise fares, and freeze hiring as early as next year now that additional funding won’t be in this year’s state budget.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are somehow 2-1 despite looking outclassed at times in each of their first three games. The team has overcome its many shortcomings by capitalizing on turnovers in key moments.

Shapiro has become a vocal critic of the grid operator, PJM Interconnection, as energy bills rise for consumers across the commonwealth. Shapiro said the grid operator’s delays in approving new sources of energy to connect to the grid are driving costs up.

A dispute between Pennsylvania officials and the Trump Administration over the state’s food-stamp program shows no sign of being resolved, days after a federally imposed deadline for personal information about nearly 2 million beneficiaries.

An effort to replace the director of Pittsburgh’s Housing Authority, Caster Binion, when his contract expires next spring, appears to be ongoing, according to emails obtained by WESA through a Right-to-Know request.

Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Monday that private health insurance companies operating in Pennsylvania are required to cover all vaccines recommended by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine panel in 2024, under the Biden administration.

Local elected officials and social service providers —already struggling with the fallout of President Donald Trump’s cuts to safety net programs — say another round of potential budget cuts could be “catastrophic.”