Pittsburgh category, Page 214
South Side church among buildings hit by graffiti vandal
Pittsburgh police said they are working to identify a graffiti tagger whose recent targets include a South Side church. A custodian discovered graffiti on the front and back of Holy Assumption of St. Mary Orthodox Church, Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV reported. Pittsburgh police detectives are asking for the public’s help...
Tensions boil over in UPMC hearing over secret recording
A court hearing over a secretly recorded conversation between two UPMC physicians on Thursday devolved into shouting and threats to have an attorney jailed before cooler heads prevailed. Dr. James Luketich, the head of cardiothoracic surgery for UPMC, filed a motion for an injunction to prohibit the use of the...
Crews shut down homeless encampment on Pittsburgh’s North Side
Pittsburgh officials on Wednesday shut down a homeless encampment in the city’s North Side and helped to relocate most people who had been living there. City officials worked to develop “transition plans” for people living at the encampment along Stockton Avenue near Sue Murray Pool before closing it down and...
Report: Reliability, low fares, short trips key to transit in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia
(The Center Square) – As transit agencies across the country struggle to recover from pandemic-induced ridership loss, getting back to the basics of reliability might matter most. A new report from Moovit, a trip-planning app, analyzed user data in 2022 in 10 major American cities. Transit riders complained of unreliable...
A holiday gift? Reopening Fern Hollow Bridge will clear some headaches for businesses, customers
For almost a year, driving around parts of Pittsburgh’s East End has been pretty tricky. With the Jan. 28 collapse of Fern Hollow Bridge, an important artery connecting the Squirrel Hill and Regent Square neighborhoods and points beyond, traffic jams and detours — and the stress that comes along with...
Pittsburgh police arrest 2 men after a chase on and off the Parkway, at least 2 cars struck
Two men were arrested by Pittsburgh Police after a chase ended in a crash downtown Wednesday evening. Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz reported plainclothes detectives saw a man wanted on a federal drug warrant in the parking lot of a gas station at Beechwood Boulevard and Browns Hill Road shortly...
Hearing on secret recording between UPMC doctors continues
A surreptitious recording of a conversation between UPMC’s head of cardiothoracic surgery and the doctor treating him with suboxone was “part of a years-long vendetta,” an attorney for the hospital behemoth said in court on Wednesday. UPMC attorney John Conti argued during a preliminary injunction hearing that circumstantial evidence in...
Pittsburgh City Council makes additional budgetary changes ahead of Monday’s final vote
Pittsburgh City Council gave preliminary approval Wednesday to several proposed changes to next year’s budgets, including measures that would again revise the city’s American Rescue Plan Act spending plan and give themselves a pay raise. Mayor Ed Gainey last month introduced a 2023 budget for American Rescue Plan Act funding...
National award for I-579 cap project, local donations to support Pittsburgh youth programs
A national award for Pittsburgh’s I-579 cap project will provide funding for youth programs. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials awarded the I-579 cap project — which reconnected the Lower Hill District and Downtown Pittsburgh — the national grand prize in the America’s Transportation Awards last month....
Carnegie Science Center puts moon rock from Apollo mission on display
A moon rock collected during a 1971 Apollo mission to the moon will be making its home at Carnegie Science Center for at least the next five years. The moon rock was taken by crew members of Apollo 15, in the fourth human landing on the moon, from the top...
Woman killed in Downtown Pittsburgh apartment building fire identified
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office on Wednesday identified the individual who died in a Downtown fire this week as 80-year-old Barbara Johnson. Police said Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene, where a five-alarm fire consumed the 12th floor of The Roosevelt Building at Penn Avenue and Sixth Street....
Pittsburgh police sergeant graduates from FBI academy
Pittsburgh Police Sgt. Carla Kearns has graduated from the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va., a program that fewer than 1% of officers in the U.S. have the opportunity to attend, police announced Wednesday. The academy offers 10 weeks of advanced communication, leadership, and fitness training, police said. Typically, officers...
Fern Hollow Bridge could open before Christmas, officials say
Less than one year after collapsing, the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh could reopen before Christmas and reconnect a vital artery in the city’s East End. PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said the Fern Hollow Bridge in Pittsburgh’s Frick Park is anticipated to reopen before the end of 2022, and possibly...
Pittsburgh City Council approves $10M budget for Housing Opportunity Fund
Pittsburgh City Council has approved a $10 million budget for the city’s Housing Opportunity Fund. More than $3.8 million of the budget is allocated for rental gap financing, which aims to help in building more affordable rental housing units in the city. Most of that money — about $3 million...
Resonance Works’ ‘Amahl’ stars Victory Brinker in first full opera role
Victory Brinker of Unity has been singing opera arias since she was 6. Now 10, the “America’s Got Talent” veteran is taking on her first full opera role as the title character in “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” Brinker will sing the role on the first two nights of the...
Police investigating armed robbery of Brookline gas station
Pittsburgh police are investigating the armed robbery of a Brookline gas station on Tuesday night. Police said officers responded to the reported robbery at a Sunoco gas station in the 1600 block of Saw Mill Run Boulevard around 10:30 p.m. A store clerk told officers that a man with a...
Defense: Former Pirates pitcher was humiliated when he was forced to walk like a woman at sex assault trial
When former Pittsburgh Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez was on trial for statutory sexual assault of a teenage girl last year, the Westmoreland County judge on the case forced the 6-foot, 3-inch Venezuelan man to demonstrate the way the victim walked — including swaying his hips in front of the jury...
Pittsburgh City Council makes several changes to city’s proposed budgets
Pittsburgh City Council made a series of changes Tuesday to its proposed 2023 budgets, including amendments to refund the Land Bank, keep the city’s cable bureau and print shop out of the mayor’s office and nix plans for several new positions. Council preliminarily voted to move $4 million in American...
Former Pittsburgh mayoral candidate accused of threatening man with shotgun
A former Pittsburgh mayoral candidate and retired police officer is facing charges after police said he threatened a man with a shotgun. Anthony “Tony” Moreno, 54, the Republican nominee for mayor in 2021, called Pittsburgh police Monday to report that a man was trying to remove dogs from a McClure...
Pittsburgh considers using $1 million from rescue plan to alleviate residents’ medical debt
Pittsburgh City Council will consider legislation that would use $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to help alleviate medical debts for residents. Councilman Bobby Wilson introduced a proposal Tuesday that would allow the city to partner with RIP Medical Debt, a New-York based nonprofit that would buy dischargeable...
Former Letsche Elementary School in Hill District to be converted to mixed-income housing
Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has agreed to sell the former Letsche Elementary School in the city’s Hill District to a developer that will revitalize the historic building as part of a mixed-income housing development. The project, called Letsche School Apartments, will include 42 apartments in the former school building, as...
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander readied for 2023 touchdown
A lunar lander built by Astrobiotic in Pittsburgh has passed a battery of critical tests, moving one step closer to touching down on the moon early next year. The Peregrine lunar lander, which stands a bit more than 6 feet tall and is about 8 feet in diameter, is expected...
Beaver County man’s death in fall at Acrisure Stadium ruled an accident
A Beaver County man’s death at Acrisure Stadium was an accident, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office has ruled. Dalton Ryan Keane, 27, of Center Township died after falling from an escalator at the stadium following an Oct. 2 Steelers game. The medical examiner said Keane died from multiple blunt...
Pittsburgh’s URA sells Hill District properties to clear way for affordable housing, restaurants, gallery space
Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority has sold a dozen Hill District properties to a city-based firm that wants to build a $3.4 million development with affordable housing, restaurants and gallery space. The URA board voted unanimously Thursday to sell the properties to the Pittsburgh-based Studio Volcy for $94,500, plus costs. Studio...
Barb Warwick sworn in as Pittsburgh city councilwoman
Newly elected Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Barb Warwick was sworn in Monday morning, filling a vacant seat on council. Warwick, 45, of Greenfield, handily won a special election in November to fill the District 5 seat left vacant by Corey O’Connor, who now serves as Allegheny County controller. She launched her...
