TribLive stories, Page 2071

Hello, Sewickley, Want to beautify the area? Join the 2019 River Sweep Cleanup from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday. Volunteers will meet at the Kilbuck Fish Commission boat ramp in Glenfield, 340 E. Beaver St., to clean up the river bank. Garbage bags, gloves and water will be provided. Volunteers,...

Chartiers Valley School District is taking steps to improve safety and security in its schools. Board members on June 11 unanimously approved the hiring of longtime law enforcement officer Edward Joyner to serve in the district’s newly created administrator of safety and security/school police officer role. He will earn a...

Nick Lachey has been television host, a reality television star, a dance contest competitor, an actor, a teen pop star (with 98 Degrees) and a music solo artist. Wearing many hats suits him well. “I’d like to think I’m kind of hard to label. I enjoy being diversified,” Lachey said...

A summer weekend filled with cool jazz by hot local and national artists is on tap for audiences at the ninth annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival. Produced by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center and presented by Citizens Bank, this year’s festival June 20-23 will feature traditional jazz and...

Prior to the start of this season, Elizabeth Forward softball coach Harry Rutherford approached athletic director Tim Guffey with three goals for his team: Win a section title, a WPIAL championship and state gold. The veteran coach has crossed two of those goals off his list. And he and his...

Before every practice this season, the Frazier softball team takes a lap around Commodore Park. As they circle the field, they touch the banners on the outfield fence. On Wednesday morning as they prepared for the Class 2A state championship game, the Commodores made their run for the last time...

Baseball PIAA Playoffs Class 6A Championship Friday’s schedule Souderton vs. Central Bucks South at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, 10:30 a.m. Class 5A Championship Thursday’s schedule Red Land vs. Lampeter-Strasburg at Penn State’s Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, 7 p.m. Class 4A Championship Friday’s schedule Selinsgrove vs. Beaver...

SAN FRANCISCO — In a first-of-its kind experiment, San Francisco prosecutors are turning to artificial intelligence to reduce racial bias in the courts, adopting a system that strips certain identifying details from police reports and leaves only key facts to govern charging decisions. District Attorney George Gascon announced Wednesday that...

SAN DIEGO — The wife of U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter is planning to change her not-guilty plea in a federal corruption case alleging the couple spent more than $250,000 in campaign funds on vacations and other personal expenses, setting up the possibility she will testify against her husband, a close...

To the mothers, the 13-year-old boy appeared largely unsupervised as he roamed among the clusters of townhomes on the U.S. Air Force base in Japan. It would have been unremarkable — the neighborhood was full of kids — except that young girls were starting to report the boy had led...

BALTIMORE — U.S. Catholic bishops voted Wednesday to create a new national sex-abuse hotline run by an independent entity, a decision that represents one of the church’s most tangible steps yet in confronting its sex-abuse crisis. The hotline, which would field allegations that bishops committed abuse or covered it up,...

LONDON — Katie Jones sure seemed plugged into the Washington’s political scene. The 30-something redhead boasted a job at a top think tank and a who’s-who network of pundits and experts, from the centrist Brookings Institution to the right-wing Heritage Foundation. She was connected to a deputy assistant secretary of...

LOS ANGELES — The Utah man accused of shooting an off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy Monday and killing another man an hour earlier had told his family he wanted to “make it on his own or die,” police said Wednesday. The family of Rhett Nelson, 30, contacted St. George...

DURHAM, N.C. — Moments after a North Carolina man pleaded guilty to gunning down three Muslim university students, a prosecutor played a cellphone video of the slayings in court Wednesday as one of the victims’ relatives fainted, others wept and a man cursed the confessed killer openly. Craig Stephen Hicks,...

NEW ORLEANS — The son of a Louisiana sheriff’s deputy is facing federal hate crime charges in connection with three fires that destroyed African American churches this year. Holden Matthews , 21, was charged in a six-count federal indictment that was unsealed Wednesday. The indictment charges Matthews with three counts...

WASHINGTON — With a familiar chant, President Trump’s backers regularly called for Hillary Clinton to be thrown in prison during the 2016 campaign. Now top Democrats are grappling with fraught questions about whether to lock HIM up. As Democrats in Congress press for continued investigation of Trump while he remains...

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Senate is advancing legislation that backers say will help make health care more available through nurses, and less expensive. The Senate voted 44-6 Wednesday to allow certified nurse practitioners to practice independently of physicians. Supporters say 22 other states have similar laws. The Pennsylvania Medical Society opposes...

LAS VEGAS — Two backers of a pioneering Nevada law to prevent employers from rejecting job-seekers based on a pre-employment marijuana test cast the effort Wednesday as an anti-discrimination measure in a state where recreational pot sales are booming and rules about legal marijuana consumption are evolving. The law, which...

AUSTIN, Texas — A Dallas-based law firm placed the winning $1.435 million bid for a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that the city put in an online auction almost two years after removing it from a state park. Holmes Firm PC made the top offer for the bronze...

About 30 people die in an impaired driving crash every day, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That is one every 48 minutes. It’s a horrifying figure but considerably less grim than 30 years ago when it was one death every 15 minutes. We know that people pay...

WASHINGTON — A House committee voted Wednesday to hold two top Trump administration officials in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with subpoenas for documents related to a decision adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The Democratic-controlled House Oversight Committee voted 24-15 to advance contempt measures against...

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine legalized medically assisted suicide Wednesday, becoming the eighth state to allow terminally ill people to end their lives with prescribed medication. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, who had previously said she was unsure about the bill, signed it in her office. Oregon was the first state to...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Pope Francis on Wednesday deemed the first known black Roman Catholic priest in the United States to be “venerable,” positioning the former slave for possible sainthood. The pontiff’s designation of the Rev. Augustine Tolton as venerable, meaning the church intensely scrutinized his life and recognizes it as...

WASHINGTON — Former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks has agreed to a closed-door interview with the House Judiciary Committee, the panel announced Wednesday. The panel subpoenaed Hicks last month as part of its investigation into special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and obstruction of justice. The interview will be held...

WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously in support of a bill that would give fresh money to a compensation fund for those who are sick or dying from illnesses linked to their work amid the toxic debris at 9/11 attack sites. The vote comes a day...