PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh officials said they will change how emergency calls are handled after a man died waiting for an ambulance in his home during a snowstorm despite repeated 911 calls.

Public Safety Director Michael Huss apologized Tuesday to relatives of Curtis Mitchell, 50.

Mitchell and his wife, Sharon Edge, started calling 911 on Feb. 5, when a storm dumped two feet of snow on the city. But an ambulance could not make it to their home because of heavy snow. Edge said emergency workers asked the couple if they could walk four blocks to reach the ambulance, but he was in too much pain. He died Feb. 7.

Huss called the handling of the situation "unacceptable." He said EMS protocol is going to change so every call will now have a first responder arriving at the person's door.

ERIE — City council and police officials in Erie have spent more time fine-tuning the city's new hand-held cell phone ban for drivers than they have enforcing it.The ban went into effect Jan. 5, but police issued only warnings for the first month to let drivers get used to it. After issuing a handful of tickets in the last week or so, city council is now set to tweak the law.Council aims to insert specific language making it a secondary offense, which has been the intent of the law all along, but was not spelled out. That is, drivers would not be pulled over for using a cell phone, but could be ticketed for that if they were also stopped for another offense.Erie's ordinance carries a fine of $150 to $300, but makes exceptions for emergency calls.