Pittsburgh All Local

After serving as the voice of the voice of the Steelers for 30 years - legendary play-by-play announcer Bill Hillgrove is stepping away from his role. He will continue as play-by-play for Pitt football and basketball. He looked back on his career - which includes four Super Bowls - on the Big K Morning Show. 

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He said it was time to cut back to spend more time with family. 

Not a good day to be outside. News Radio KDKA's Timira Rush has more on severe weather headed our way. 

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[The AccuWeather forecast is calling for severe storms, hail and damaging wind gust throughout the day, which will bring about a big drop in temperatures. Meteorologist Jeff Nordeen tells the Big K Morning Show that by the end of the night we're going to be below freezing:

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We're expected to see better weather this weekend with a high of 70 on Sunday. Timira Rush, News Radio KDKA. ]

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A school van carrying elementary students from the Montour School District was involved in a crash this morning. In a social media post, the district's superintendent said all students were evaluated and released to another bus. No word on where it happened.  

Among the changes taking effect within Pittsburgh Police today, the department is adjusting how they respond to burglary calls. Larry Scirotto says that a large portion of the ones they get are false. 

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Now, he said officers will respond to those types of calls with secondary confirmation from their alarm partners that a burglary is in progress - like video, the sound of glass breaking, or interior motion. 

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It's all a part of an effort to better focus police resources to in-progress calls. 

Pittsburgh's Bureau of Police is making several internal changes for a more manageable officer workload and to target areas of greatest need. Beginning Monday, officers will transition from a traditional work week to four, ten-hour days. A week will also include an hour of wellness time. The bureau is making several night shift changes, including a new strategy for placing officers, new phones outside each zone for 911 calls and a new telephone reporting unit. Chief Larry Scirotto will discuss the changes at a news conference this afternoon.

AT&T is acknowledging a widespread cellular outage but is not providing a reason for the nationwide failure. In a statement, AT&T says it is "working urgently to restore service." The cell phone outage is also affecting T-Mobile, Verizon and some smaller providers like Cricket, Boost Mobile, Consumer Cellular and Straight Talk but in much lower numbers. Reports of AT&T outages at Downdetector dot com peaked at 74,000 around 8 a.m. At&T customers with iPhones stuck in SOS mode can make calls to emergency services. Allegheny, Beaver and Butler county 911 are not affected, but dispatchers in other parts of the country are reporting difficulties.

The NTSB is outlining the cause of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse at this hour. NewsRadio KDKA's Shelby Cassesse has more:

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[The NTSB is holding a hearing expected to provide more clarity into what caused the bridge collapse on January 28, 2022. The board is expected to hear a presentation on investigators findings - then vote on whether or not to adopt those findings - including a probable cause. The agency has released thousands of documents over the last two years - some of them pointing to corrosion, clogged drains and lack of upkeep as potential reasons for the collapse. The bridge has since been reconstructed and reopened.]

Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Pittsburgh today. NewsRadio KDKA's Shelby Cassesse has more on topics she'll cover: 

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[Just after 1 p.m., she'll be joined by the EPA chief at a community center in Larimer. The vice president's remarks will highlight the Biden administration's clean water initiatives. The Post-Gazette reports Harris is expected to announce Pennsylvania is getting $200 million in federal funds for greater access to clean drinking water, upgrade sewage facilities and better handle storm water runoff. Pennsylvania has previously received over $650 million for clean water initiatives through the infrastructure act passed in 2021.]

Construction begins on McKnight Road today, with lane restrictions in place until summer. NewsRadio KDKA's Suzie Cool has more:

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[PennDOT announced the road work will close a single lane of travel on McKnight from the Babcock Boulevard/Evergreen Road interchange in Ross to Perrymont Road in McCandless. PennDOT's Jason Zang tells KDKA Radio what people can expect:

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The work is part of a  $25.5 million improvement project. Live in the newsroom, Suzie Cool, News Radio KDKA.]

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With 1-3 inches of snow expected tonight, a Winter Weather Advisory starts at 7 o'clock. Here's AccuWeather's Brian Buckingham:

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More snow is forecast to fall in counties south of Pittsburgh.