Local category, Page 2642
Authorities seek man who escaped police custody in Pittsburgh
Police are searching for a suspect who escaped custody in Pittsburgh on Monday. Authorities said Robert Logsdon, 22, was in custody with a constable heading to the Allegheny County Jail on three arrest warrants when he got out of the vehicle at the intersection of Fort Pitt Boulevard and Stanwix...
Norwin adds 5 college courses for students
Norwin High School students will be able to choose from five new courses next school year, allowing them to earn college credits from two universities and Westmoreland County Community College, as well as save money in the future. The school board Monday approved the new College in High School courses...
Elizabeth man pleads guilty to sabotaging railroad signals in Braddock, McKeesport
An Elizabeth man pleaded guilty to sabotaging railroad signals at multiple locations in Allegheny County, federal prosecutors said Monday. William Curry Brown, 26, admitted to removing and vandalizing equipment along CSX Transportation railroads in November 2017, U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said. Brown’s guilty plea acknowledged the acts resulted in...
Report: Greensburg development snarled in red tape
Regulations governing construction and development in Greensburg are riddled with red tape, unnecessary complexity, redundancies and contradictions, according to a new city-commissioned report. The planning department wants to change that as soon as possible, planning director Jeff Raykes said. Greensburg hired planning consultant Denny Puko, who wrote a 25-page report...
Kennametal closes Carbidie plant in Hempfield; 60 jobs lost
Kennametal Inc. closed its Carbidie plant in Hempfield a few months earlier than it stated in its initial plant closing announcement last year. The plant along Arona Road closed at the end of last year, said Christina Sutter, a spokeswoman for the company, which is headquartered in Pittsburgh with corporate...
What does soil health mean to me? A lot. Learn more at Kittanning workshop
Penn State Extension will host the workshop, “Making Cover Crops Pay,” Jan. 21 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Armstrong County Extension Office, 120 S. Grant Ave., Suite 1, in Kittanning. The workshop is free to the public, but registration is required. A free breakfast will be offered....
Greensburg to amend legal documents after former police chief disputes retirement account
Greensburg will amend its responses to two lawsuits because of concerns by former police chief Walter J. Lyons, who said the documents gave an inaccurate account of his 2016 retirement. Lyons is not a part of either suit, but he was mentioned in both. Former planning director Barbara Ciampini and...
Grant-funded programs to benefit Highlands students’ computer learning, vision care
Highlands School District will use one grant to improve computer science education, while another grant-funded program is aimed at improving students’ eyesight. The district has been awarded a $35,000 Smart Grant from the state to improve its elementary and middle school computer science programs, with a focus on increasing participation...
Plum’s 80-year-old Meals on Wheel volunteer will ‘keep going up until I can’t go anymore’
Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series that features Alle-Kiski Valley residents and the notable things they do. Anna Betti plans to start this year the same way she closed out the last one: making meals for fellow Plum residents. “I’m going to keep going up until I...
Latrobe Historical Society to revisit centennial through archival film
Rock ‘n roll had its first major impact about 65 years ago, with the release of the Elvis Presley single “That’s All Right (Mama).” Also in 1954, doctors began a mass trial vaccination of children against polio and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. That...
Cooling U.S.-Iran tensions bring lower oil, gas prices, analyst says
Gasoline prices fell in Pittsburgh and across the nation in the past week as oil prices fell along with tensions between the U.S. and Iran, according to price tracking service GasBuddy. “With Iran and the United States de-escalating rising tensions last week, oil prices plummeted back under $60 per barrel,...
Turf field would reduce water runoff in Leechburg, officials say
A proposed artificial turf field at Leechburg’s Veterans Memorial Stadium would reduce water runoff to neighboring streets, according to an architect and the company that makes the turf. Drainage from the field was a concern of at least one Veterans Avenue resident, who said runoff from the current grass field...
Philadelphia man gets 6 to 12 years for raping 2 girls in Harrison
A Philadelphia man accused last year of sexually assaulting two girls in Harrison was sentenced to prison after accepting a plea bargain Monday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Willie James Porter III, 46, was sentenced to six to 12 years for rape of a child and five years of...
Jury selected in trial of Penn Hills man accused in deadly Jeannette shooting
Opening statements are expected to begin Tuesday in the murder trial of a Penn Hills man accused of killing a man in Jeannette. A 12-member jury and two alternates were seated Monday at the Westmoreland County Courthouse to hear evidence in the case against Darrelle Tolbert-McGhee, 30. He is charged...
2 injured in crash on northbound Route 28 near Harrison
Two people were injured in a crash on Route 28 near Harrison during Monday’s afternoon commute, initial reports indicate. Emergency dispatchers received a report of the crash involving multiple vehicles in the highway’s northbound lanes about 2:50 p.m., an Allegheny County 911 shift commander said. Medics and police responded. Two...
Bill Cowher’s Hall of Fame nod a winner in his hometown of CraftonVideo
The 1.14 square miles of space that is Crafton felt much bigger Monday. Residents of former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher’s hometown beamed with pride as they discussed Cowher’s ascension into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. From the borough’s public library to Bob’s Barber Shop, they lauded the hometown...
County commissioners leaning toward reopening Westmoreland’s 2020 budget
Westmoreland County commissioners said Monday they still plan to reopen the county’s 2020 budget in hopes of nixing a 2.4% property tax increase, but they concede there isn’t much time left to do so. State law allows a newly constituted board of commissioners to recast budgets approved by the previous...
United Methodists talk more about potential split over same-sex marriage, gay clergy
As Methodists in Western Pennsylvania consider the future of their denomination, a group that has proposed an amicable split explained the proposal in more detail Monday. Known as the “Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation,” the proposal allows for the formation of a new “traditionalist” Methodist denomination that would...
Solar co-op schedules Westmoreland meetings, seeks members
A nonprofit that organized solar power co-ops in Allegheny and more than a half dozen other Western Pennsylvania counties scheduled three informational sessions for prospective members of a similar co-op that is forming in Westmoreland County. Solar United Neighbors of Pennsylvania set the first meeting for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at...
Scottdale man given house arrest in fatal crash involving crane truck in Pine
A 72-year-old Scottdale man accused of texting on a cellphone minutes before the 43,500-pound crane truck he was driving crashed into three other vehicles on Route 910 in Pine, killing a Sewickley man, reached a plea deal Monday. Charles Hunter will be on house arrest and probation for causing the...
2nd bankruptcy hearing canceled after no-show by Pittsburgh regatta promoter
The owner of a Ross company blamed for last year’s Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta cancellation and his attorney failed to show for a bankruptcy hearing Monday in federal court, prompting the hearing to be canceled. Rosemary C. Crawford, court-appointed bankruptcy trustee for LionHeart Event Group LLC, said she would file...
2 guns confiscated at Pittsburgh airport security
Two guns were confiscated at the Pittsburgh International Airport security checkpoint in a span of three days, the Transportation Security Administration reported Monday. A woman from Cartagena, Colombia, was caught Saturday with a .38 caliber handgun. Then an Ohio woman was caught Monday with a .22 caliber handgun loaded with...
Police: Burglary call turned into potential hostage situation in the Hill District
A burglary call prompted a response by SWAT for a possible hostage situation Monday afternoon in the Pittsburgh’s Hill District, according to public safety spokesman Chris Togneri. The burglary was reported at about 12:25 p.m. in the 300 block of Miller Street in the Crawford-Roberts section of the Hill District....
Gary Van Horn officially out at Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh
The volunteer leader of one of the Pittsburgh region’s LGBTQ advocacy groups has resigned as he awaits a hearing on charges he billed himself as a first responder and forged documents to back it up. Gary Van Horn, 40, of Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood, resigned Monday afternoon as president of the...
Men plead guilty in thefts of rare books from Carnegie Library
The two men accused of stealing and reselling more than $500,000 worth of rare books, maps and other artifacts from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh reached a plea deal Monday with prosecutors who agreed to drop most of the charges they faced. Still, the men could be sentenced to more...
