March 12, 2026 12:32 pm
(AP) – The biggest new restaurant trend is small. Special menus with petite, less expensive portions are popping up at large chains like Olive Garden and The Cheesecake Factory as well as trendy urban eateries and rural retreats. Restaurants hope that offering smaller servings beyond the children’s menu will meet many different diners’ needs, whether it’s saving money, losing weight or environmental concerns. Some restaurants are adding menus to court users of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Zepbound and Wegovy. Smaller portions aren’t a new concept. Twenty years ago, small-plate tapas restaurants were all the rage, for instance. The president of a culinary consulting firm says the scaled-down dishes appearing now seem part of a longer-term shift.
March 11, 2026 2:38 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The head priest of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh is facing charges after being accused of stealing more than $1,000 in baseball cards from a Walmart. Police arrested the Very Rev. Aidan Smith on Feb. 27 just after he left a Walmart near Pittsburgh. Court records say Smith had 27 packs of baseball cards concealed under his clothing and in a cardboard box. The 42-year-old is charged with receiving stolen property and retail theft. Police say Walmart security video shows Smith also taking baseball cards each of the four previous days and leaving without paying. The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh says Smith had been on administrative leave since January.
March 11, 2026 5:50 pm
PARIS (AP) — The International Energy Agency has agreed to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, in a bid to counter the effects on energy markets of the war in the Middle East. The Paris-based organization said Wednesday that it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from its members’ emergency reserves. It’s a larger stock than the 182.7 million barrels that were released in 2022 by the IEA’s 32 member countries in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. During a videoconference of the Group of Seven leaders Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron praised the emergency release, saying it amounts to the equivalent of 20 days of the volume normally exported through the Strait of Hormuz.
March 11, 2026 8:42 am
KANSAS CITY (AP) — Inflation stayed stubbornly elevated last month as gas prices rose in a snapshot of what consumer prices looked like before the Iran war sent energy costs soaring. Wednesday’s data has been overtaken by the conflict that began when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, which has caused wild gyrations in oil prices as shipping lanes through the Persian Gulf have suffered a rare shutdown. Gas prices have already jumped and are expected to push inflation much higher when inflation data for this month is released in early April.
March 11, 2026 4:48 am
Several rounds of storms moved through the region Wednesday afternoon, bringing damaging winds, heavy downpours, frequent lighting and the threat of isolated tornadoes. There were reports of widespread power outages in Washington, Allegheny and Greene counties, however, West Penn Power and Duquesne Energy were able to whittle those outages down to below one-hundred before the end of the day. Behind those storms is a cold front, which will bring in a few snow showers Thursday morning and temperatures just above freezing, before warming up to the 40s, which is near the average temperature for this time of year.
March 11, 2026 5:08 am
No injuries were reported after a fire overnight in Somerset Township. It broke out around midnight along Piney Lane and involved a double-wide trailer. According to reports, one side of the trailer suffered heavy damage. No one was home at the time. The State Police Fire Marshall is investigating.
March 11, 2026 3:00 am
North Franklin Township Supervisors authorized their solicitor to advertise amendments to their zoning code. They wish to establish definitions and regulations that govern the development of data centers and cryptocurrency mining centers, and fossil fueled power plants that energize those establishments. Supervisors then set a date for a public hearing to allow public testimony on the amendments. The public hearing will take place prior to the next supervisors regular meeting. The time will be 4:30 pm on April 14. Supervisor Chairman Bob Sabot says that residents will be able to weigh in on items such as property line setbacks, height and numbers of buildings associated with a data center and other regulations. The draft ordinance is available for public inspection during normal business hours at the township’s municipal offices.
March 11, 2026 4:58 am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A projectile has hit a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, setting the vessel ablaze after the United States targeted Iranian mine-laying vessels that could target the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, run by the British military, said the vessel had been hit Wednesday just north of Oman in the strait. It said the crew was evacuating. Iran did not claim the attack though it has been targeting ships in and around the strait vital to the global oil and natural gas trade. The UKMTO earlier reported on another attack targeting a vessel off Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.
March 11, 2026 5:53 pm
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Advocates across the U.S. are hoping a growing unhappiness of wage and wealth inequalities that have increased coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic will help more states adopt policies involve the rich paying more in taxes. Chuck Collins, who inherited generational wealth by being the great-grandson of Oscar Mayer, has spent decades arguing that people like him should face higher taxes as wage and wealth inequality worsens. Perhaps nowhere is the tax the rich movement more ambitious than the one taking place in California. Advocates are working to get voters to approve a ballot initiative that would place a one-time 5% tax on those with a $1 billionaire net worth.
March 10, 2026 5:00 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is visiting Ohio and Kentucky as he tries to steady voters’ concerns about the economy and to derail the reelection bid of a Republican rival. Trump is set to visit on Wednesday a pharmaceutical company in Cincinnati and talk up his administration’s efforts to lower prescription drug prices. Next, he’ll be in the district of Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie, who he is seeking to be defeated in the GOP primary next month. The trip comes as the war in Iran has shaken markets and spiked gas prices at a time when polls showed voters were already wary of Trump’s economic policies.
