Western PA Local News category, Page 2714
North Huntingdon garbage complaints shrink, township officials sayVideo
North Huntingdon residents are filing fewer complaints about the township’s new trash hauler failing to pick up their garbage on time, township officials said this week. The township administrative staff “is not spending nine hours (a day),” fielding phone calls from residents upset that County Hauling of Rostraver failed to...
Water main break closes North Allegheny’s Marshall middle and elementary schools
North Allegheny’s Marshall elementary school and middle schools will be closed Thursday because of a water main break on the Marshall campus, the school district said. All after-school activities scheduled for Thursday, including the Marshall Elementary School Orchestra concert that was scheduled to be held at the North Allegheny Senior...
Authorities say man shot, killed at East Ken Manor in New Kensington
A man was shot and killed at East Ken Manor in New Kensington on Wednesday, authorities said. The shooting was reported just before 5:30 p.m. on Dent Drive, according to a Westmoreland County 911 dispatcher. Police Chief Bob Deringer confirmed a man was found inside a car with multiple gunshot...
McKees Rocks woman pleads guilty to narcotics trafficking for the GBK street gang
A McKees Rocks woman accused of conspiring to distribute crack, cocaine and heroin pleaded guilty in federal court, authorities announced . Tamra Moore, 35, admitted violating federal narcotics laws before Senior U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab. Authorities said Moore and her co-conspirators distributed the drugs November 2017 through June...
Food Podcast: How to keep public aware of hunger as communication landscape changes
Making the public more aware of hunger in the United States is a key priority of Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the country. “Feeding America only has about 50 percent awareness in the U.S., and that’s because we changed our name about 10 years ago,” Feeding America Chief...
Woman captures footage of swimming bear in Beaver CountyVideo
Lori Pepka had just finished pulling ticks off her mother’s dog following a walk in Raccoon Creek State Park early Monday evening when she saw something she had never seen before in the Beaver County park: a black bear. Not only that, it was swimming in Raccoon Lake. “My heart...
Westmoreland judge: Case against Greensburg man accused of threatening woman can proceed
Assault charges against a Greensburg man accused of threatening to shoot his live-in girlfriend last year can be prosecuted, a Westmoreland County judge has ruled. Chad Neil Snyder, 33, was charged with two counts each of simple assault and making terrorist threats after police said that on Nov. 8, 2018,...
Latrobe day care owner’s appeal rejected
A judge has rejected an appeal from the former owner of a Latrobe day care who is serving a 27-year prison sentence for endangering the welfare of children by allowing a convicted sex offender access to the minors at her business. Lisa Knecht, 59, of Derry, was convicted in 2015...
State attorney general: Washington County woman kept sister in wooden cage
A Washington County woman allegedly kept her 53-year-old sister in a wooden cage with a dirty mattress, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. His office charged Leona Biser, 51, of Vestaburg, with neglect of a care-dependent person, abuse of a care-dependent person, recklessly endangering another person, unlawful restraint, and...
West Newton man pleads guilty to heroin, gun charges
A West Newton man accused of being part of a Western Pennsylvania drug trafficking operation pleaded guilty in federal court to distributing heroin. William Kalna, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and one count of possession of firearms and ammunition by a person addicted to...
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...
