Chuck Biedka stories, Page 5
Absentee ballot application deadline next Tuesday
The civilian absentee ballot submission deadline is less than a week away, according to state elections officials. All non-military absentee ballot applications must be received by county boards of elections by 5 p.m. Oct. 29. They may use a ballot or apply online. Allegheny County Elections Division officials are encouraging...
2 charged with fleeing police, other offenses in Route 28 crash
Three people were hurt in a police chase Sunday that started along Route 28 in South Buffalo and ended when the vehicle crashed into a concrete bridge abutment at the Tarentum exit. State police said the vehicle contained Derik Carothers, 24, of Washington; Isiaha Anthony Waulk , 23, of Johnstown;...
Washington, Pa., man gets up to 13 years for crimes involving drugs, guns, domestic violence
A Washington, Pa., man was sentenced this week to 6 1/2 to 13 years in state prison for cases involving domestic violence, drugs and gun possession. Shaquore Yarbrough, 26, of Third Street, was sentenced Wednesday in Washington City by Judge Valarie Costanzo. District Attorney Eugene A. Vittone said Yarbrough was...
Police: East Pittsburgh man fled scene of head-on crash
An East Pittsburgh man was arrested Friday after police said he fled from a head-on crash in Plum. The crash happened just before 10 a.m. along New Texas Road. Police said a car driven by Sean Tally, 20, crashed into an oncoming vehicle containing an Upper Burrell couple, ages 50...
Greenway Boy Killas member sentenced to 18 months in federal prison
A Greenway Boy Killas (GBK) gang member was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh to serve 18 months in federal prison for heroin distribution conspiracy. Senior U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab imposed the sentence on Rashem Littleberry, 29, of Pittsburgh. According to prosecutors, in 2017, the FBI and...
Shaler man waives drug charges to Armstrong County court
A Shaler man agreed Tuesday to stand trial for having about six bricks of suspected heroin when he was pulled over last month along Route 28 in South Buffalo. Anthony Donell Rue, 40, of Center Street, waived charges to court in the courtroom of District Judge J. Gary Decomo. He...
Alle-Kiski Valley knitters show love by the skeinVideo
A dozen Alle-Kiski women are investing their dexterity and love for others by crocheting knit caps for newborns and a host of crocheted or knitted items to help cancer survivors. The items include “knitted knockers.” When a woman’s breast must be surgically removed and she decides against augmentation, she can...
Aliquippa man caught with drugs, stolen gun and $70K gets 10 years in federal prison
A Beaver County man was sentenced in Pittsburgh federal district court to serve 10 years in prison for drug and gun crimes, U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said Wednesday. Senior U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti sentenced Landon Alexander Gatta, 24, formerly of Aliquippa, for the crimes of possession with intent...
Pittsburgh bank robber gets probation, time served
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Pittsburgh man to time already served for robbing the Key Bank in Downtown last year. Jonathan Owens-El, 56, formerly of the Hill District, has already served about 19 months, the U.S. Attorney’s office said Tuesday. In addition, Owens-El will serve three years of...
Rollover crash injures two in Buffalo Township
Two men were taken to a Pittsburgh hospital after the car they were in rolled over along Freeport Road in Buffalo Township at about 11 a.m. Monday. Township police said the driver, Brian Pastoria, 37, of Freeport, told them he was driving in the left lane when he saw a...
Leechburg annual meeting to include screening of historical footage
Those attending the Leechburg Area Museum & Historical Society’s annual meeting Thursday will be able to watch a screening of recently digitized film of events from the 1930s and ’40s. The approximately 12-minute film will show footage of the 1935 opening of the Leechburg Bridge and a parade that welcomed...
‘Night of Living Dead,’ more on tap for George Romero celebration starting Saturday
Events celebrating filmmaker George A. Romero will be held across Pittsburgh starting Saturday. Romero is most famous for 1968’s “Night of the Living Dead” and its related films. The 1968 film has been described as a landmark in modern horror, in independent filmmaking and the first feature film to come...
Lower Burrell police concerned about man missing since Oct. 3
The Lower Burrell Police Department is requesting assistance in locating Clinton Weleski. The 37-year-old man was reported missing since Thursday, Oct 3. Weleski is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 170 pounds. He has dark brown hair and hazel eyes. “There has been no contact with any friends or family...
New Kensington man whose mother was found dead in duct-taped room faces 62 chargesVideo
A New Kensington man faces 62 criminal charges in connection with an August incident in which authorities found his mother dead in her Victoria Avenue house with the vents and door of her room duct-taped shut, court records show. Most of the charges filed against Robert Aaron Hawk, 48, are...
Police: Women bought crack from New Kensington home just before it was raided
Two Springdale women are accused of buying crack cocaine from a New Kensington house an hour before authorities raided it Tuesday, shutting down what police described as the base of a drug ring that sold fentanyl. New Kensington police said they watched as a red car parked at the city’s...
New Kensington delays Carl Avenue repaving
Full paving won’t be done for an important section of Carl Avenue until 2020 — about 18 months after someone used spray paint to implore “fix me.” The short section between Tarentum Bridge Road and Craigdell Road in New Kensington is a shortcut for many to avoid a traffic light...
Avonmore man ordered to stand trial on sex charges
An Avonmore man accused of sexually assaulting a girl last spring was ordered to stand trial on four charges against him. Donald Arthur Haverkost, 58, of Water Street, had a preliminary hearing Wednesday in front of District Judge James Andring. Andring dismissed four counts against Haverkost, including having sex with...
Police: Drug ring operated out of New Kensington home where 4-year-old livedVideo
Three people ran a drug ring that distributed fentanyl in Westmoreland County and operated out of a New Kensington home where a 4-year-old boy lived, according to city police and agents with the state Attorney General’s Office. The three suspects, along with a fourth person who police said lived at...
Armstrong County man charged with DUI with a baby in his car
An Armstrong County man is accused of being under the influence of heroin while driving with an 18-month-old boy in his car, continuing to drive after crashing into a guardrail. Kiski Township Patrolman Dean Dressell said he saw Robby Patrick Ohler, 21, of Rural Valley, driving a Dodge Caliber at...
Beaver County man accused of robbing Cranberry PNC bank
A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh indicted a Beaver County man for allegedly robbing a Cranberry bank in August, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced. The one-count indictment, returned last week and unsealed Monday , accused Michael Ryan Neppach, 40, of Patterson Township of robbing the bank. The government...
Burrell High School students taught how to stop life-threatening bleedingVideo
Burrell High School students were likely among the first students in Westmoreland County to get training on how to stop life-threatening bleeding, said Dr. William Jenkins, director of emergency services at Excela Frick Hospital in Mt. Pleasant. Burrell’s high school juniors and seniors were trained Monday as part of the...
2 dogs rescued from Vandergrift home are being nursed to healthVideo
A 2-year-old female pit bull likely jumped out of a second-story window of a vacant Vandergrift house Sunday night because she was hungry and thirsty, borough police said. Tipped by a phone call about a dog running loose in the Emerson Street area, officers on Sunday called a rescue shelter...
Las Vegas man pleads guilty to $380k device fraud at 5 area Sam’s Clubs, elsewhere
A Las Vegas man pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh to a charge of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady announced Friday. Yoandy Pou Torres, 38, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count before U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon. Prosecutors told the court that Pou...
Springdale gets $430K state grant for traffic safety projectVideo
Springdale will receive $430,000 in state grant money to replace more traffic signals along Pittsburgh Street, Gov. Tom Wolf said Friday. Springdale’s grant will be the third-largest one doled out through PennDOT’s Green Light-Go program in the round of funding announced Friday. Combined, 24 municipalities will get more than $5...
Pittsburgh man gets 15 years in federal prison on drug, gun charges
A Pittsburgh man has been sentenced to serve 15 years in federal prison for drug and firearms offenses, according to U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady. Prosecutors told the court that on March 30, 2016, Pittsburgh narcotics detectives and SWAT operators and federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents searched Denver Sangster’s home...
