WJPA News

Former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin will be back on your TV screen this fall. The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand was first to report that Mike Tomlin is joining NBC’s Sunday night pregame show, Football Night in America, as a studio analyst. The show airs on Channel 11 every Sunday at 7 p.m. during the regular NFL season. The announcement of Tomlin’s hiring comes a month after the announcement that Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungy would leave the show after 17 years. Tomlin stepped down as the Steelers’ head coach in January after 19 seasons with the team. Since he resigned while still under contract, the Steelers retained his coaching rights, and some NFL insiders immediately suggested he could take a year off, possibly in the broadcast world, then become a trade candidate.

To help accommodate those attending the NFL draft, Freedom Transit has added three additional return times from Pittsburgh back to Washington County on Thursday, April 23 and Friday, April 24. One bus will depart downtown Pittsburgh at approximately 10:00 PM, another bus will depart at approximately 11:30 PM and the last bus will depart at approximately 12:15 AM. Information on stop locations in downtown are listed below in the inbound and outbound detour sections.  Freedom Transit has a limited fleet of buses and may not be able to accommodate all riders wishing to use the public transit service during the NFL draft.  Fixed‑route bus service is subject to vehicle capacity limits. Boarding is permitted on a first‑come, first‑served basis until capacity is reached. Seating is not guaranteed, and standing may be required.  The cost to ride the Metro is $4.00 for a one-way ticket.  Tickets can be purchased by downloading the Freedom Transit app on the App Store or Google Play. Learn more about buying bus tickets or click the button.

You may have heard that the NFL Draft is coming to Pittsburgh later this week. Officials have been working to come up with the best travel plan. PennDOT is encouraging drivers to plan their trip using real-time travel information available on a specialized web page. Governor Josh Shapiro’s office has set up 5-1-1 PA.com/map/page/NFL. The page is dedicated to monitoring traffic conditions on primary travel routes. This is just the start of major sports events in the Commonwealth with Philadelphia set to host some FIFA World Cup Soccer matches in June and July and the Phillies are set to host the Major League Baseball All-Star Game on July 14. Experts say Pittsburgh will host between 500 and 700 thousand people between August 23^rd and the 25^th.

A Pennsylvania court has ruled that the state’s constitution guarantees a right to abortion. This decision overturns a decades-long law that banned using Medicaid funds for abortion costs. The ruling, announced Monday, marks a significant victory for Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics that sued Pennsylvania in 2019 over Medicaid funding limitations. Pennsylvania now joins a few states where advocates have successfully protected abortion access through state constitutions. The attorney general’s office is reviewing the decision and hasn’t said if it will appeal.

A Butler County man is facing charges after police said a gun was found in his carry-on bag at Pittsburgh International Airport on Monday. Transportation Security Administration officers found the loaded handgun in the passenger’s bag at the main security checkpoint and alerted Allegheny County Police. Police determined that the passenger, Garrett Beattie, 43, of Cranberry Township, did not have a valid concealed carry permit. He is charged with carrying a firearm without a license. The FBI was also notified. According to Allegheny County police, passengers who bring firearms into an airport security checkpoint can face federal civil fines from the Transportation Security Administration up to $10,000. Repeat offenders can be fined up to $13,910.

NEW YORK (AP) — Shoppers accelerated their spending in March from February, but they spent most of their money at the gas pump. A spike in gas prices due to the Iran war, now in its eighth week, resulted in a hefty 1.7% gain in March after a revised 0.7% increase in February, according to the Commerce Department’s report on Tuesday. The report marks the first read on spending to capture the effects of the Iran war. Excluding gas prices, the growth was a slim 0.6%, helped in part by government tax refunds and warm weather.

ISLAMABAD (AP) – Pakistani officials say the United States and Iran have signaled they will hold new ceasefire talks in Islamabad. A two-week truce is set to expire Wednesday. U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf are expected to lead their teams. Both sides remain firm, with President Trump warning of potential conflict and Iran hinting at new strategies. Meanwhile, the U.S. military says it boarded an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil in Asia. The Pentagon said the boarding occurred “without incident.”

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iran has granted its commanders more autonomy over militias in Iraq, allowing some to act without Tehran’s approval. Three militia members and two other officials described the shift to The Associated Press, on condition of anonymity to speak freely about sensitive matters. It comes amid the pressures of the Iran war. Many Iran-backed militias are funded through Iraq’s state budget and embedded within Iraq’s security apparatus. The conflict in the Middle East has exposed the fragility of Iraq’s institutions. Baghdad has struggled to control the militias. Officials and experts say that even if a fragile ceasefire deal holds, the U.S. is expected to intensify efforts against them. A decentralized structure allows factions to operate independently, complicating efforts to rein them in.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kevin Warsh is taking another step toward his decade-long goal of winning the top job at the Federal Reserve by appearing at a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. But the role that he may eventually assume could turn out vastly different than what he expected. Warsh, a former top official at the Fed and a wealthy investor, will likely face a range of tough questions at the hearing. Democrats on the committee have already signaled they will press him about what they argue is a lack of transparency regarding some of his vast financial holdings. And it’s not clear when the committee may even be able to vote on his nomination.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is out of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet after multiple allegations of abusing her position, including an affair with a subordinate and drinking on the job. She is the third Trump Cabinet member to leave recently. Reports of investigations into her conduct began surfacing in January. A New York Times report last Wednesday revealed that the Labor Department’s inspector general was reviewing inappropriate communications involving Chavez-DeRemer and her aides. The White House initially dismissed the allegations, but as more emerged, her job security became uncertain. At least four Labor Department officials have already been forced from their jobs as the investigation progressed.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down from the job that he inherited from the late Steve Jobs, ending a 15-year reign that saw the company’s market value soar by more than $3.6 trillion during an iPhone-fueled era of prosperity. The 65-year-old Cook will hand the CEO duties to Apple’s head of hardware products, John Ternus, on Sept. 1 while remaining involved with the Cupertino, California, company as executive chairman. Although he never shook the perception that he lacked Jobs’ vision, Cook leveraged the popularity of the iPhone and other breakthroughs orchestrated by his predecessor to lift Apple to heights that seemed unfathomable when it was on the brink of bankruptcy during the mid-1990s.