Local category, Page 2681
Witness in Jeannette murder trial says she can recognize defendant from twin brother
A woman whose former boyfriend was fatally shot nearly three years ago in Jeannette told a Westmoreland County jury Wednesday that she can identify the alleged killer by a tiny mole on his left cheek and by his stride. Sharnell Jackson testified she was in Jeannette on April 13, 2017,...
Pittsburgh steering new development toward neighborhoods
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto on Wednesday introduced the city’s new economic team to a group of local leaders and outlined plans for steering development toward neighborhood business districts and blighted, city-owned property rather than large-scale projects. Peduto noted that the city owns nearly 17,000 vacant lots, houses and buildings. He...
Allegheny Health Network expands partnership with Johns Hopkins to women’s health
Allegheny Health Network and Johns Hopkins Medicine will expand an existing collaboration to focus on women’s health, pulmonary disease and lung transplantation, the organizations announced today. This new expansion will create one of the largest coordinated research programs for gynecological and obstetrical health research programs in the country. AHN and...
Penn Township man charged with new stalking count after ex finds tracking device on her car
A Penn Township man was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday on accusations he stalked his ex-girlfriend for months after their breakup and damaged her new boyfriend’s truck. Instead, the hearing was postponed after the woman discovered a tracking device hidden inside her car. Charged in October with retaliation against...
Excela granted Magnet status for nursing care
Nurses at Excela Health System facilities now can count themselves among a small percentage nationwide who work at institutions that have earned the Magnet Recognition for nursing care. Excela officials announced the new designation Wednesday. Only 505 of the nation’s 6,300 hospitals have achieved the designation from the American Nurses...
McDonald’s in Pittsburgh’s Strip District closes without explanation
Pittsburgh’s Strip District has a case of fallen arches. A McDonald’s restaurant that been a longtime fixture along Penn Avenue in the Strip has closed without explanation, according to Dan Kamin, president of Kamin Realty and the property owner. Kamin said McDonald’s corporate offices notified him in late fall that...
Murrysville teen opened First Night festivities in PittsburghVideo
Most high school juniors spend New Year’s Eve enjoying themselves with friends or family. Lavanya Anantharaman, 17, of Murrysville, spent it a little differently: performing for thousands of Pittsburgh-area residents to open the First Night festivities Downtown. “I’ve been singing since I was 5 or 6 years old, and our...
South Fayette retiree, daughter sue to recover $82K seized at Pittsburgh airport
A 79-year-old retired railroad engineer and his adult daughter Wednesday sued two federal agencies in an effort to recover more than $82,000 seized last summer inside Pittsburgh International Airport. Rebecca Brown, 54, of Lowell, Mass., said her father, Terry Rolin, a resident of the South Fayette village of Morgan, had...
Police: 2 charged in Carrick child rape case
A New Castle man and an Ingram woman were charged Wednesday with allegedly beating and raping two young children more than 10 years ago in Pittsburgh’s Carrick neighborhood. Seth Price, 36, of New Castle, and Trista Price, 36, of Ingram, are facing a host of charges in the case. Both...
Pittsburgh native Bari Weiss wins book award for work on anti-Semitism
Pittsburgh native Bari Weiss won a 2019 National Jewish Book Award for her book “How to Fight Anti-Semitism.” Weiss, who grew up in Squirrel Hill and graduated from Shady Side Academy, won the Myra H. Kraft Memorial Award in the category Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice. Hers was one of...
$125K state grant to help Arnold bring back city administrator post
Arnold is bringing back the position of city administrator two years after it eliminated the post to have a clerk oversee day-to-day operations, and the state will pick up some of the costs for at least three years. “We need to have someone who can be more focused and given...
3 new officers join Monroeville police department
Monroeville welcomed three new, full-time police officers to its force Tuesday. Kevin Persichetti, 25, Joseph Susalla, 28, and Brian Frank, 26, who were sworn in by Mayor Nick Gresock, will bring the Monroeville Police Department to 47 officers. They join six others that were hired in 2019 following retirements. Police...
Tempers flare briefly on 8th day of jury selection in Wilkinsburg mass shooting case
Tempers briefly flared before interviews began Wednesday on the eighth day of jury selection in the 2016 Wilkinsburg mass shooting case. Cheron Shelton, 32, and Robert Thomas, 31, both face five counts of homicide, one count of homicide of an unborn child and a multitude of other charges related to...
Larry Jock, former Valley News Dispatch publisher, dies while hunting at 58
Standing 5 feet 7 inches tall, Larry Jock had such a big personality that he proved he didn’t need to be the tallest one in the room to command its attention, his former colleagues, friends and family recalled. “He was a smaller guy, bulky and short, but he was a...
Delmont residents seek to establish historical society
Vicki Walters of Delmont doesn’t want to turn her hometown into Colonial Williamsburg. But the borough has plenty of history, and prospective members of the Delmont Historical Society would like it to have a more prominent place. “What we’ve got going for us is this strong history of Delmont,” Walters...
New charges filed against Allegheny Township man accused of raping girls
A 48-year-old man already accused of raping two Alle-Kiski Valley girls faces new charges after another alleged victim has said she was assaulted as a child and as an adult. Eric A. Wright, who had been living in Allegheny Township, is accused of exposing himself to the third girl, watching...
Some Western Pa. Guinness World Record seekers who preceded Frzy’s freestyle rap
Frzy is not the only Western Pennsylvania resident to attempt a world record. The Emmy-winning music artist is just the latest. He rapped for 31 straight hours over the weekend at The Block Northway in Ross. Frzy, 34, whose real name is Harvey Daniels, hopes he shattered the Guinness World...
Hempfield Steak ‘n Shake joins list of ‘temporarily closed’ locations
Over 100 Steak ‘n Shake restaurants across the country — including at least six in the Pittsburgh region — sit empty as the burger chain moves toward a franchise-based business model. The Hempfield location most recently joined Steak ‘n Shake locations in Frazer, Robinson and Center Township, while locations in...
Pittsburgh police nab suspect in North Side graffiti case
A Sharpsburg man with a history as a graffiti artist was arrested Tuesday by Pittsburgh police for allegedly painting on Norfolk Southern property near Federal Street on the city’s North Side. The graffiti covered 264 square feet and could cost $7,000 to clean up, according to Detective Alphonso Sloan, the...
Who wants to buy a house-bus in Pittsburgh?
One can’t help but notice this house rolling down the road that’s for sale. Pennsylvania native Andrew Weidman, 27, is visiting Pittsburgh for the winter, hoping to sell “Lucy Half-Bus.” It’s a 2003 Ford E350 converted former school bus, powered by Ford’s legendary 7.3 diesel, with 137,000 miles on the...
Pa. man gets up to 5 years in state prison for 9th DUI conviction
A judge in Warren County hopes the ninth time’s the charm: He’s sentenced a man to one to five years in state prison for his ninth charge of driving under the influence, Erie News Now reported. Fletcher Kay, 64, of Warren was stopped by Conewango police July 20 with a...
Police: Carrick man arrested with 6 bricks of suspected heroin on Route 22 in Salem
An Allegheny County man was arrested Tuesday after state police said they found six bricks of suspected heroin in his car during a traffic stop on Route 22 in Salem, according to court papers. Michael Patrick Crawley, 39, of Carrick, was being held in the Westmoreland County Prison on $100,000...
Baldwin Spanish Club makes cards for women waiting on asylum at Mexico border
Nikol Muslimovic hoped the bright, colorful cards she and her classmates at Baldwin High School created for women awaiting asylum at the Mexican border would give them hope and encouragement to keep going. For her, this was personal. Just two decades ago, her parents immigrated to the United States from...
Suspected meth lab dump site found in Indiana County
State police in Indiana County are investigating after an apparent methamphetamine lab dump site was found in a rural area not far from the Westmoreland County border. Troopers got a tip about the site and discovered several plastic bags discarded in a wooded area along Lower Laurel Road in Buffington...
Coroner identifies 2 victims of Fayette crash
A man and woman were killed early Wednesday morning in a one-car crash east of Brownstville, the Fayette County Coroner said. Both Jamal Ryan, 22, and Julie Ann Olsen, 25, who were traveling in the car, were dead at the scene, said Dr. Phillip Reilly, Fayette coroner. Reilly said his...
