With less than seven weeks to go, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has significantly altered how the state’s election will run on Nov. 3, allowing ballots that arrive after Election Day to be counted and giving voters the option to use satellite drop boxes.

To accommodate an enormous influx of mail ballots in a highly contested presidential election year, the Allegheny County Board of Elections voted unanimously Thursday to expand voting options, and officials updated the public on other plans to expand the county's ability to count ballots in November.

The Philadelphia City Council formally banned police from using certain modes of restraint on crime suspects Thursday, including kneeling on a suspect's neck, and voted to open contract negotiations with the police union to the public.

University of Pittsburgh and UPMC researchers plan to start human trials early next year for an antibody therapy that might both prevent and treat COVID-19.

For Aliya Cantanch-Bradley, the fight for diversity and inclusion has been her life’s work.

Some Pittsburgh Public Schools students experienced slow connections or none at all on the first day of online classes Tuesday. All classes are being held online through at least the first nine weeks of school.

Mark Stuckey, the district’s interim chief technology officer, said there was a configuration issue with the district’s Internet bandwidth provider, causing students to bottleneck through a smaller backup server when trying to access the district’s web resources. 

Pennsylvania's highest court has put a stop to a local policy that allowed streaming of Philadelphia criminal trials over the internet.

Thirteen people who are accused of committing crimes while participating in a civil disturbance in Lancaster on Sunday night sat behind bars Tuesday, with bail for seven of them set at $1 million.

Mayor Bill Peduto and his administration on Tuesday launched ForgingPGH, a new, year-long effort to explore how people want to see their neighborhoods and the city change. Ultimately, ForgingPGH will create a comprehensive guide to land use for the next 20 years.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt life in the region; overall, residents of Allegheny County are still traveling less compared to 2019. However, bike miles have gone up.

One night in 2017, comedian Hannibal Buress was out with some friends in Miami. He had a few drinks. Later, he says, by now on his own and with a dead cellphone, he offered a police officer $20 to call Uber for him. Buress says the officer refused, then followed him into a bar and ordered him to leave.

The Pittsburgh Steelers thought they had a plan for how to properly and respectfully make a public statement regarding social justice during their season opener against the New York Giants.

In a public letter published last week, four former PublicSource journalists described alleged mistreatment while they worked at the Pittsburgh news organization. 

People with the heart disorder, atrial fibrillation (AFib), who are exposed to greater levels of air pollution have a 1.2-fold higher risk of stroke than their peers who live with less pollution.

That’s according to a study published this week by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute, Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System and Drexel University.

Pennsylvania is one step closer to joining a regional program meant to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate took a steep drop in August as the labor force shrank and payrolls shot up again in a continuing rebound from shutdowns and the worst economic effects of the pandemic, according to state figures released Friday.

News on the coronavirus pandemic, protests, 2020 election and more from around Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and southwestern Pennsylvania. 

Find all of the WESA Daily Briefing posts here. 

Editor's note: This post will be frequently updated with the latest news.

2:48 p.m. — PIAA wants Wolf to allow more fans at sporting events

High school football kicks off tonight in many communities.

In a surprise move, the Trump administration has rejected Pennsylvania officials’ plan to distribute a month’s worth of food benefits to thousands of needy families.