Local category, Page 1854
Homicide charges added against suspected U-Haul carjacker
Charges against a man accused of shooting a U-Haul employee in Pittsburgh last week during a botched carjacking have been upgraded to include homicide, days after the victim in the shooting died from his wounds. Braijon Burton, 21, is charged with homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, fleeing police, firearms violations...
Sewickley mother pleads guilty in child’s cocaine consumption
A Sewickley woman was sentenced Thursday to serve three years on probation for allowing her two-year-old son to ingest cocaine. Arrica Ann Holwell, 23, pleaded guilty to one felony charge of child endangerment. According to court records, police responded to her home in July 2020 after a Westmoreland County Children’s...
Latrobe man sent to prison for New Year’s party sexual assault
A Latrobe man will serve up to four years in prison for the sexual assault of an unconscious woman at a New Year’s party last year in Hempfield. Hunter Hoyle, 22, told a Westmoreland County judge on Thursday he was sorry for his actions in the early morning hours of...
Allegheny County to require covid-19 vaccination for all new hires
Allegheny County will make covid-19 vaccination a requirement for new hires going forward, county Executive Rich Fitzgerald said Thursday. “We are not going to hire anybody going forward that does not have a vaccine card,” he said, noting the county hires anywhere from 500 to 1,000 people each year. Current...
Second suspect in armed robbery at Tarentum home arrested
A second person wanted in connection with an armed robbery at a Tarentum home in June is in custody. Wilnal Anthony Reddix, 21, of Harrison was arrested Wednesday night during a traffic stop in the township, Tarentum police Chief William Vakulick said Thursday. Vakulick said Reddix was arrested without incident....
19-year-old man charged with sexually assaulting girl in New Florence
State police this week charged an Indiana County man with sexually assaulting an underage girl in New Florence, according to court records. Michael Troy Matson, 19, of Robinson, formerly of New Florence, was arraigned on three counts each of corruption of minors and indecent assault of a child less than...
Police: South Side man charged with killing his mother told dispatchers ‘this is what she gets’
A South Side man told Pittsburgh police he had no interest in saving his mother’s life when he called 911 to report she was unresponsive Monday in what would ultimately become the 85th time police were called to the Sarah Street home. “This is what she gets for being so...
Gibsonia man with multiple sclerosis crowned ‘Fittest in the World’ at CrossFit’s first adaptive competitionVideo
By age 21, Brett Horchar had already proved to himself that he possessed the willpower to transform himself from a skinny kid with no self-confidence into a professional fitness trainer. But like anyone else, learning from doctors that he was suffering from multiple sclerosis was “terrifying.” “When I was laying...
Freeport officials trying to determine how to pay for sewage plant, make it affordable
Freeport Council has authorized its engineer to apply for grants to finance the estimated $15 million Freeport sewage plant construction project. On Monday, council unanimously gave the green light for project engineer Kevin Creagh of KLH Engineers to start applying for as many grants as possible. Creagh told council he...
Laurel Highlands baseball coach DeBerry dies following stomach cancer diagnosis
A few years ago, Scott DeBerry of Uniontown needed a French drain around his home, but there really wasn’t room to bring a backhoe in to do the digging. “He hand-dug the whole perimeter. That was an incredible amount of work for one person,” said Shawn Bernarding of Dormont. “He’s...
Former Fox Chapel cardiologist gets 6½ years in prison for health care fraud
A former Fox Chapel cardiologist convicted of health care fraud for falsely billing more than $13 million in specialized treatment his patients didn’t need asked for mercy at his sentencing Thursday. Dr. Samirkumar J. Shah, who failed to show at his original sentencing hearing last month, and for whom the...
Monroeville woman surprised with party for 100th birthday
Turning 100 feels no different for Monroeville resident Mary Jane Murphy, who reached the milestone Aug 1. Born in Scottdale in 1921, she attended schools in the area through eighth grade before moving to Charleroi and graduating from Charleroi High School in 1939. Murphy married in 1943 and had four...
Plans for Dollar General in Hempfield underwayVideo
Despite some back and forth between township supervisors, a proposed Dollar General store is one step closer to opening in North Hempfield. Supervisors during a meeting last week granted final conditional approval for proposed plans in a 3-2 vote. Supervisors Rob Ritson and John Silvis voted against the project. Proposed...
Renowned Periwinkle’s Bakery & Café returns after 15 years
All it took was one bite of a fresh maple-cinnamon roll for a patron to know he was in the right place. Periwinkle’s Bakery & Café, a descendant of the iconic Harmar bakery Periwinkle’s, has finally opened the doors at its new location in O’Hara along Route 28, at Exit...
Longtime AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, a Nemacolin native, has died
WASHINGTON — Richard Trumka, the powerful president of the AFL-CIO who rose from the coal mines of Pennsylvania to preside over one of the largest labor organizations in the world, died Thursday. He was 72. The federation confirmed Trumka’s death in a statement. He had been AFL-CIO president since 2009,...
PA CareerLink will host an outdoor job fair Aug. 12 in Hempfield
With employers across a variety of industries in search of workers, PA CareerLink Westmoreland County will host an Aug. 12 job fair. “Employers in this region are really in need of workers,” said Janice Albright, administrator for PA Career Link Westmoreland County. “We’ve been open for quite a while, but...
Ibex to add 400 jobs at new customer-service center in Wilkins
Ibex, a national customer-service company with a longtime Pittsburgh operation, plans to open another center this fall in Wilkins, employing an additional 400 people. The company is building out a 33,000-square-foot facility in the Penn Center East office complex near Monroeville Mall, with a target opening date of Oct. 1....
Reenactment of 18th century battle returns to Bushy Run this weekend
After a year’s hiatus because of pandemic conditions, reenactors will gather this weekend at Bushy Run Battlefield in Penn Township to restage the clash between British and Native American forces that took place on the site in August 1763. The British victory at Bushy Run helped lift a Native American...
Fox Chapel author’s debut novel tells story of resiliency, self-acceptance
Fox Chapel resident Carolyn Skowron spins a tale of triumph and chips away at the stigma of mental health in her debut novel, “Unbreakable.” A story of acceptance, self-discovery and the value of being “perfectly imperfect,” the book follows Skowron’s struggle with mental health issues and her path to self-improvement....
Neighbor Spotlight: Oakmont conversations always a delight for historical society president
Editor’s note: Neighbor Spotlight is a monthly feature that aims to let our readers learn more about the people in their communities who are working to make them a better place, who have interesting stories to tell or who the community feels deserve “15 minutes of fame.” If you would...
Neighbor Spotlight: Monroeville girl, 10, creates her own newspaper to bring together neighborhood
Editor’s note: Neighbor Spotlight is a monthly feature that aims to let our readers learn more about the people in their communities who are working to make them a better place, who have interesting stories to tell or who the community feels deserve “15 minutes of fame.” If you would...
Neighbor Spotlight: Penn Hills resident makes impact in community through Shade Tree Commission leadership
Editor’s note: Neighbor Spotlight is a monthly feature that aims to let our readers learn more about the people in their communities who are working to make them a better place, who have interesting stories to tell or who the community feels deserve “15 minutes of fame.” If you would...
Neighbor Spotlight: Retiring Pine manager Scott Anderson reflects on opportunity to help shape the community
Editor’s note: Neighbor Spotlight is a monthly feature that aims to let our readers learn more about the people in their communities who are working to make them a better place, who have interesting stories to tell or who the community feels deserve “15 minutes of fame.” If you would...
Ross Township police welcome new K9 ‘Tyr’ to their ranks, will be deployed by mid-October
The Ross Township police have a new officer in their ranks — a 15-month-old Belgian malinois shepherd from Holland named Tyr, who is completing training to serve in the department’s K9 unit. Tyr was born at the De Stroete Kennels in Holland and sent to trainer Bertil Leezer when he...
Hampton envisions ‘even better community’ over the next decade
Trails, land use and the appearance of the Route 8 corridor are among key priorities in Hampton’s newly approved comprehensive plan. Council approved the 10-year package during its meeting July 28, after two years working to collect input from residents. “The goal of the implementable comprehensive plan is how to...
