Deb Erdley

Experts tell firsthand stories of children harmed by addicted parents

As substance abuse rises, need for additional programs comes into focus, experts say

‘Frightening rate’ of children dying due to parents’ drug abuse

Editor’s note: This is the final part of a three-day series examining the rapidly changing health care landscape in Western Pennsylvania. Lynn Botelho has lived her life traveling the globe, navigating some of the world’s most time-honored academic institutions. But when she was handed a cancer diagnosis, she looked no

Editor’s note: This is the first part of a three-day series examining the rapidly changing health care landscape in Western Pennsylvania. Western Pennsylvania’s two health care giants have jumped into a controversial nationwide hospital building boom, spending billions on glitzy, state-o…

State Sen. Wayne Fontana didn’t mince words. When it comes to getting a law passed requiring radon testing in schools, “I think it’s going to take a tragedy of some sort,” said Fontana, a Democrat from Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood. He was alluding to a 2019 fatal fire at an Erie

In Dr. Ned Ketyer’s opinion, there should be no doubt that schools should test for radon — and test regularly. “The way radon works when it gets in the body is it damages DNA, and so that’s why radon is associated with cancer, especially lung cancer,” said Ketyer, a pediatrician

As a father of four, Tim Briggs considered it common sense that schools would test for radon. As a state lawmaker, he was appalled that every school doesn’t, and he has made it his mission to do something about it. A monthslong Tribune-Review investigation found that most schools in Southweste…

Two decades after the last Quecreek miner was pulled to safety, four men with deep roots in Pennsylvania coal country have carried forward the lessons learned during those anguish-filled days in July 2002 when the eyes of the world were on Somerset County. For those men — John Urosek, 65,

Sister Sheila Carney chuckles when she recalls the day a few years ago her Sisters of Mercy were urged to call the White House to weigh in on an issue that stood to benefit Western Pennsylvania’s poor. “One of our older sisters sat down and dialed the number,” Carney said.

A state lawmaker is making good on a promise to repair a flawed system that permits aging and ailing convicted sex offenders to quietly enter long-term care facilities — often unbeknownst to patients and staff — where some easily are finding their next victims. A bill set to be introduce…

Lizzie Ammons had fought too hard to let the prospect of college slip from her grasp when word began circulating that Slippery Rock University might shutter its Rock Life program — one of about 300 college programs across the nation for students with intellectual disabilities. Ammons, 21, of G…

No central registry in Pennsylvania tracks convicted sex offenders placed in nursing care facilities

State lawmakers vow to better protect care home residents from convicted sex offenders  TribLIVE

Pennsylvania lawmakers have vowed action to protect some of the state’s most vulnerable residents by changing the system that has sent convicted sex offenders to nursing, personal care and assisted-living homes where some have found their next victims. Their promises come after learning…

There wasn’t much in Mt. Pleasant that didn’t bear Jerry Lucia’s fingerprints. Some say he was the lifeblood of the small town at the foot of the Laurel Highlands. Gerald Lucia, the longtime Mt. Pleasant mayor and fire chief, died unexpectedly Friday, Dec. 17, 2021, in his home. He…

No one can remember exactly when the University of Pittsburgh last offered an undergraduate degree in education. But officials at Pitt say it is high time for a change. They recently announced the university, which boasts a robust graduate school of education, will open a new bachelor’s progra…

No one can remember exactly when the University of Pittsburgh last offered an undergraduate degree in education. But officials at Pitt say it is high time for a change. They recently announced the university, which boasts a robust graduate school of education, will open a new bachelor’s progra…

Dr. Mehmet Oz’s claim to residency in Pennsylvania may be both recent and tenuous, but that won’t keep him off the crowded GOP ballot of contenders seeking to replace U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey. The Associated Press reported that Oz, 61, a longtime New Jersey resident, is planning to announce …

A Westmoreland County lawmaker’s attack on the state’s financial relationship with Pitt, Penn State and Temple is drawing blowback from the powerhouse public research universities and their supporters. State Rep. Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield, says he has “ethical” issues with the…