Justin Vellucci stories, Page 3
Bitty & Beau’s, coffee shop known for inclusive hiring, quietly closes Strip District store
A coffee shop chain staffed by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, a group dramatically underemployed nationwide, has permanently shuttered its only Pittsburgh-area location. Bitty & Beau’s Coffee on Tuesday closed the doors on its shop in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. “Unsustainable financial loss” led to the shutdown, according to a...
Oakmont Elks lodge Christmas dinner blends tradition, community, holiday spirit
The dozens of meals that volunteers served at an Elks lodge in Oakmont on Thursday afternoon felt as much about tradition as they did the spirit of Christmas Day. About 50 people gathered to break bread at 2 p.m. in the Washington Avenue lodge’s dining room — and the details...
No ham, no hassle: Chinese buffet, Jewish-run bookstore give Christmas a different spin
Greg Schmitt didn’t need a ham dinner with green beans and scalloped potatoes to celebrate Christmas with his family Thursday. Instead, the Tarentum man traded in the traditional holiday spread for a plateful of piping-hot General Tso’s chicken at a modest Chinese buffet. “It’s nice to have a place to...
Feast of the 7 Fishes fuels Christmas Eve frenzy in Pittsburgh’s Strip District
Brad Quartuccio refused to allow fate to disrupt a Christmas Eve tradition — prepping for his family’s Feast of the Seven Fishes, an Italian-American celebration revolving around succulent seafood. The Morningside resident and his son Sal, 7, marched proudly around 10 a.m. Wednesday through Wholey’s packed aisles, bags of shrimp...
Pa.’s top election official battles DOJ demand for voter data
Pennsylvania’s top election official wants a judge to toss out a lawsuit by the federal government demanding “highly sensitive personal information” about the state’s voters. The U.S. Department of Justice sued Pennsylvania in September after the state initially failed to turn over data about its nearly 9 million registered voters....
Gainey to let 2026 Pittsburgh budget become law without his signature
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey plans to let next year’s $693 million, City Council-backed budget — and the 20% property tax hike set to come with it — become law without his signature. Gainey, in a letter Tuesday to council President R. Daniel Lavelle, called the 2026 budget he initially pitched...
Kiski School sued for racial discrimination alleged by Black ex-employees
A Black couple who spent more than two decades working at The Kiski School have sued the 137-year-old private school and its headmaster, claiming racial discrimination. The civil rights lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in Pittsburgh, alleges “racial discrimination and retaliation for opposing racial discrimination,” as well as violations...
Weekend vandalism targets North Side Pittsburgh police facilities, vehicles
Someone vandalized Pittsburgh police headquarters, one of its precincts and a marked cruiser on the North Side over the weekend. Officers discovered early Sunday that the letters “ACAB” — a possible acronym, police said, for “All cops are (expletive)” — had been spray-painted on the police bureau’s headquarters on Western...
Strip District scaffolding collapse damages vehicles
A section of scaffolding collapsed Friday morning at a Strip District construction site, damaging multiple vehicles. The developer of the six-story, mixed-use building told TribLive it’s “too soon to say” whether gusty winds triggered it. No injuries were reported after the scaffolding fell around 10 a.m., according to the developer...
Police: woman critically injured, man found shot dead in Banksville home
A woman was assaulted Thursday and police found an unidentified man dead in a home in Pittsburgh’s Banksville neighborhood. Pittsburgh police said they were dispatched around 9:45 a.m. to a home in the 2600 block of Winchester Drive. Inside, officers found a woman suffering from “significant” injuries such as “facial...
Double-amputee Marine sent to prison for sexually assaulting teen
A U.S. Marine and Purple Heart recipient who lost both legs to a bomb in Afghanistan is headed to jail for up to 24 years on charges that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl multiple times this spring. Brandon Rumbaugh, 36, of Pleasant Hills had sex with the teen four...
Former high-ranking cop in Allegheny County DA’s office faces trial on assault charge
A former assistant chief in the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office is headed to trial on charges he broke into the home of a colleague he previously dated and assaulted her. Richard McDonald, 56, of Oakdale, waived his preliminary hearing Thursday on charges of simple assault and recklessly endangering another...
Reserve woman whose punch led to mom’s death pleads guilty, gets time served
A Reserve Township woman Wednesday pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for delivering the bone-breaking punch that caused her 73-year-old mother’s death — and a judge let her go home with a punishment of probation and time already served in jail. Krystal Slepski, 43, punched Patricia Kachinko in the chest during...
Cheswick man stabbed 37 times in Allegheny County jail awarded $85,000
Allegheny County is set to pay $85,000 to a man stabbed more than three dozen times last year while incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail, according to documents obtained Thursday by TribLive. Shawn Daniels, 43, of Cheswick last month sued the county and two corrections officers who he said let...
‘Unspeakable act’: Munhall murderer who shot girlfriend 17 times gets life in prison
Dennis Grimm knew the judge was required to impose a life sentence on the man who murdered his teenage daughter by firing 17 shots while she babysat her stepsister in their Munhall home. But seven years after the brutal killing, Miranda Grimm-Gilarski’s father still needed to remind Darion Abel how...
Killing outside McKeesport bar leads to prison for woman who conspired
A woman acquitted of homicide in a 2020 shooting outside a McKeesport bar but convicted of conspiring to commit the crime is headed to prison for up to 14 years. Gabrielle Parker, who police arrested as the shooter, was sentenced Tuesday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Parker faced the...
Ex-Steeler Devin Bush acquitted of assaulting girlfriend in fight over mashed potatoes
A judge Tuesday found an ex-Pittsburgh Steeler not guilty of assaulting his girlfriend during a May dispute over mashed potatoes at the linebacker’s Sewickley-area home. Devin Bush, Jr., 27, of Bell Acres was accused of injuring Shkurte Leka, also 27, after she started filming an argument between them on her...
DA drops assault charge against Pittsburgh cop in domestic incident
Prosecutors have withdrawn an assault charge against a Pittsburgh police officer who was accused of pushing his wife during a late-night dispute last month outside his Dormont home. The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office withdrew a single charge of simple assault against Adam Germeyer after evaluating evidence and consulting those...
Sydney Hanukkah attack hits Jews hard in Pittsburgh as police boost synagogue, school security
Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, like many in Pittsburgh’s Jewish community, spent Sunday torn between celebrating his faith’s festival of lights and mourning an antisemitic attack in Australia. But the sting of the shooting on Sydney’s Bondi Beach — in which at least 15 people were killed during a Hanukkah celebration...
New details emerge about Maryland investigation of Jason Lando, O’Connor’s pick for Pittsburgh police chief
Jason Lando, the police veteran tapped to become Pittsburgh’s next chief, was linked by criminal investigators to an account that sent expletive-laced text messages from anonymous “burner” numbers earlier this year, according to a law enforcement report obtained by TribLive. Lando, a Squirrel Hill native who served as a Pittsburgh...
Some defendants in Plum fatal explosion case ask judge to dismiss negligence claims
Several defendants being sued over a 2023 fatal house explosion in Plum asked a judge Friday to dismiss negligence counts against them during a two-hour hearing heavy on legal citations. Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Philip A. Ignelzi did not rule from the bench. The families of six people killed...
Man who shot Parkway West driver in the face pleads guilty, gets prison
The man who repeatedly shot at a fellow motorist last year while the two drove on the Parkway West — leading the victim to lose his left eye — is headed to prison for 4 to 8 years, according to a plea agreement. Rashawn Hall, 23, of McKeesport agreed to...
Pittsburgh man dies days after being shot in East Liberty
A man shot last week in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood died late Monday. Bryon Lewis, 36, of Pittsburgh was shot in the chest around 1 a.m. Friday outside a home in the 400 block of Omega Court, according to authorities. First responders took Lewis to UPMC Presbyterian hospital in critical...
Developers to break ground on $740M Esplanade project on Pittsburgh’s North Side
Developers plan to break ground next week on a $740 million project that aims to turn a North Side brownfield into a bustling entertainment district. Officials said they plan to put the ceremonial shovel in the ground on the Esplanade development at 1 p.m. Monday at a vacant parking lot...
Allegheny County rules infant’s death by drugs a homicide
Police are investigating how a toxic mix of antidepressants and a pill used to treat high blood pressure killed a nine-month-old infant this spring, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said Friday. Lena Bedri died early on April 27 at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh due to the combination of...
