Chuck Biedka stories, Page 13
Pittsburgh police ID man who they say fell from roof during chase
Pittsburgh police have identified a man they say fell from a second-story rooftop while trying to get away from officers Sunday afternoon along McClure Street. Eric Vaughn, 27, of Pittsburgh, was in serious condition at a local hospital after the fall. Police spokesman Chris Togneri said Zone 1 officers on...
16-year-old faces arson charges in connection with Harrison fire
A 16-year-old is accused of starting an April 22 fire at a Sheldon Park apartment building in Harrison that displaced four people and caused at least $500,000 in damage, according to investigators. Authorities did not identify the suspected fire-starter on Monday, but said the teen lives in Harrison and is...
Suspect jumps from roof to roof to roof to an alley while trying to elude Pittsburgh police
A man jumped from a second-story roof into an alley while trying to flee Pittsburgh police, police said. The man was in serious condition in a hospital, public safety spokesman Chris Togneri said. Zone 1 officers on patrol at the 3100 block of McClure Avenue spotted a man wanted for...
Allegheny County Police name suspect for Jefferson Hills shooting
Allegheny County Police are accusing a former Clairton man of shooting a 21-year-old woman in the shoulder in Jefferson Hills just after midnight Sunday. Police allege that Andrew Roberts, 27, whose last known address was Clairton, shot the woman in a mobile home community on Stilley Street. The woman was...
Arrest made in Fox Chapel Yacht Club stabbing
Allegheny County Police have made an arrest in the stabbing of 30-year-old man at the Fox Chapel Yacht Club early Sunday. Police accuse Christopher Schmeider, 28, of committing the stabbing during an argument just after 3 a.m. Sunday. The victim’s wounds were not life-threatening. Schmeider was taken to the Allegheny...
Saturday fire adds challenges for Upper Burrell family
Chad and Carolyn Clark had replaced the roof and gutters, repainted and remodeled most of their house along scenic Rocky Lane in Upper Burrell. Things were moving ahead until a weekend fire. At about 6 p.m. Saturday, an electrical fire changed plans for the Clark family of five. Everyone got...
Tarentum flea market visitors get bargains, great weatherVideo
Marni Davis got ready early for Tarentum Recreation Board’s first flea market Sunday. “I started setting up at 6:30 a.m.,” said Davis, of East Deer’s Creighton neighborhood. Trash to Treasure was held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parking lot of J.G.’s Tarentum Station Grille. Davis has a...
Leechburg founder David Leech gets state historical marker
An official state marker now stands at River Avenue in Leechburg close to where founder David Leech established a canal and other businesses starting in the 1820s. “He founded the borough, and he made contributions to the state and the nation,” said Larry Boehm, vice president of the Leechburg Area...
Touch-A-Truck event in Harrison brings excitement to the little ones
Children didn’t just touch a truck Saturday in Harrison. The louder the horn, the wider the grin that appeared on the faces of preschool and elementary-age children at the second annual Touch-A-Truck sponsored by the Harrison Recreation Board. Most beeped and honked the horns for fire engine and delivery trucks...
Fire hits house in Derry Borough
Fire was coming out the back of a house in Derry Borough at about 6 p.m. Saturday, according to Westmoreland County 911. By 6:25 p.m. fire units had the fire under control at 101 W. Sixth Ave., a dispatch supervisor said. Derry, Bradenville and Latrobe volunteer firefighters were opening up...
9 companies respond to Upper Burrell house fire
No one was reported injured when a house caught fire Saturday afternoon in Upper Burrell. The fire broke out at a house at 205 Rocky Lane just before 6 p.m, according to a Westmoreland 911 dispatcher. The fire was under control within about 25 minutes, according to the dispatcher. Firefighters...
Pittsburgh Diocese announces mergers, shrines established, priest assignments
Five parish mergers were announced Saturday by Pittsburgh Diocese Bishop David Zubik. He also said five Downtown Pittsburgh church buildings will be classified as shrines. Zubik said the five parish mergers are a result of the ongoing On Mission for The Church Alive! initiative. The bishop made the announcements in...
One flown from crash in Pleasant Unity
One person had to be flown to a hospital by an emergency helicopter Saturday after a vehicle overturned along Summer Wind Lane at Wilderness Lane in Pleasant Unity, Westmoreland County 911 said. The wreck happened at about 4:40 p.m. State police are investigating....
Gilpin may allow ATVs, similar vehicles on 25 roads
Gilpin is considering a proposal to allow all-terrain vehicles on more than two dozen township roads. ATVs would still be banned on state roads such as Route 66, but the proposal would allow them on 25 township roads in the mostly rural township of 14 square miles, according to Supervisor...
Employees of shuttered Pittsburgh tax filing franchises plead guilty
At least three former tax preparers for former Cititax Refund Co. franchises in Pittsburgh have pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns that prosecutors allege cheated the Internal Revenue Services out of millions of dollars. The latest charged is Lakisha K. Pinkney, 42, previously of Pittsburgh. Pinkney, now of Eastpointe,...
Ex-Butler man accused of forcing boy and pregnant woman to have sex
A former Butler County man forced a 12-year-old boy and 29-year-old woman to have sex, according to police. Butler Township police charged Chester Henry Thompson Jr., 55, formerly of Lyndora, with several sex crimes. The woman told police she was about two-months pregnant when she was forced to have sex...
Woman pleads guilty to sharing police secrets with gang in Pittsburgh
A North Carolina woman who was found during FBI wiretaps of the Greenway Boys Killas street gang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine, according to U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh. Prosecutors said a 2017 wiretap focused on the West End neighborhood of Pittsburgh found that from November 2017 through...
Stranger storms into Apollo home, grabs knife, police say
A woman charged into an Apollo home during a Mother’s Day dinner and grabbed a knife before an occupant wrested it away, police said. Eric Cheierici, 41, a chef from North Apollo, and his 62-year-old father had just made a spaghetti dinner for Cheierici’s 87-year-old grandmother in her Apollo house...
2 Philly men indicted for having $10 million of cocaine
Two Philadelphia men arrested in North Braddock in February for allegedly having about $10 million worth of cocaine are now facing federal drug charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh. Jermaine Kyle Clark, 41, and Terry Suggs, Jr., 34, are named in a three-count indictment handed down Wednesday...
Big rig hit by train in Cheswick, bounced into apartment wallVideo
No one was hurt when a Norfolk Southern train hit the rear of a tractor trailer in Cheswick, sending the big rig skidding sideways into the front wall of a man’s apartment. David Woods said he was asleep at about 4 p.m. Friday when he heard a commotion outside his...
Buffalo Township receiving road work bids
Buffalo Township officials want to improve Beale Road this spring or summer, according to township Road Master John E. Gaydos. “About a mile on Beale will be paved,”Gaydos said. He said 14 roads are on the list to receive seal coating. That list includes Buffalo Trail, Mesa, Bison, Cherokee, Settler’s...
Greensburg man accused of ripping off Upper Burrell employer
A Greensburg man is accused of stealing more than $8,000 worth of industrial metal from his Upper Burrell employer in just one month. A video arraignment was held Friday for Jeffrey Alexander Hart, 31, of Kenneth Street, who was being held in the Westmoreland County jail. In Hart’s arrest report,...
4 Armstrong County drug task force members on leave after money goes missing
Four members of Armstrong County’s Narcotics Enforcement Team (ARMNET) are on administrative leave while the district attorney investigates $300 missing in a drug case. The issue surfaced last week during First Assistant District Attorney Jared Trent’s preparation for the jury trial of a Kittanning man on drug charges. Trent found...
Fishing teaches lessons, builds bridges at Valley High School in New KensingtonVideo
Something was fishy at Valley High School on Wednesday. The annual fish-for-fun day for fourth-graders was sponsored by Arnold and New Kensington police. The fishing day was established about four years ago by the Arnold and New Kensington police chiefs and New Kensington Patrolman Joe Locke, a previous school resource...
Surveillance cameras capture Vandergrift Dollar General robbery
The search is continuing for a man who robbed the Dollar General store in Vandergrift last week. Vandergrift police have released surveillance photos of the April 30 crime and are seeking tips regarding the case. The photos show the robber entering and leaving the store in the 500 block of...
