Gas, drain line work could delay some Allegheny Township paving this year
Allegheny Township’s paving projects for this summer are temporarily on hold. Shawn Kuhn, public works director, told supervisors that a large drain pipe along Victoria Way, just off Melwood Road, needs to be replaced. After that work is done, remaining budgeted money will determine the direction of summer road projects....
Police: 13 more victims say Derry Township constable took money for fake warrants, sponsorships
Thirteen more victims have reported that a Derry Township constable took nearly $8,000 from them last year after he claimed some had warrants for their arrest, according to court papers. A few victims told county detectives they believed they were sponsoring Brian William McDowell, 35, in a shooting competition that...
Court: Attorney who created fake child porn must pay $300K
CLEVELAND — An Ohio attorney has been ordered to pay $300,000 to two women whose photos from when they were young girls were manipulated to create fake child pornography used by the attorney in court cases. Cleveland.com reports a federal appeal court in Cincinnati ruled Wednesday that a bankruptcy judge’s...
‘300 Cups of Coffee’ project tells clergy to stay connected, caffeinated
Google “300 cups of coffee” and you’ll get stories about what happens when one person drinks the equivalent of 300 cups of coffee. That’s not what Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania, an ecumenical group representing 28 Christian bodies, is proposing with its new #300CupsOfCoffee initiative. The project is intended to...
How bad is measles? Pediatrician who has seen it kill patients implores vaccinating
Measles is back. German measles and chickenpox will undoubtedly follow unless more people vaccinate their children. Some think they are “innocuous childhood diseases”, but if you had ever seen a child who was very sick with any of these vaccine-preventable diseases, you would know better. In 1977, I was a...
Police looking for $500k in cryptocurrency missing from New Stanton man
State police are looking for $524,594 worth of cryptocurrency that appears to have vanished from a New Stanton man’s online account. The 54-year-old man said he discovered the missing money this week, but it could have disappeared anytime since early December, according to state police. Cryptocurrencies are a form of...
‘Atmospheric river’ dumps more rain and snow across the West
LOS ANGELES — A storm fueled by a plume of moisture stretching over the Pacific Ocean almost to Hawaii dumped rain on California Thursday, boosting the threat of debris flows from saturated slopes and flooding from rising creeks and rivers. The storm made stronger by the phenomenon called an atmospheric...
Ex-FBI official: Justice Department discussed removing Trump from office
WASHINGTON — Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview aired Thursday that he worried that investigations into President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia and possible obstruction of justice would be shut down after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. According to CBS, which conducted the interview, McCabe...
Watch: Pittsburgh Banjo Club remembers its founder at Elks Lodge Banjo NightVideo
The Pittsburgh Banjo Club honored its founder Wednesday just the way Frank Rossi would have wanted them to. They played. Rossi, who founded the club 30 years ago, died Tuesday. He was 83. The club played some of Rossi’s favorite tunes during its weekly performance Wednesday at the Allegheny Elks...
Highlands senior champions ‘feeling good in your own skin’Video
“Let me take a selfie.” That familiar phrase is a daily norm for Highlands High School senior Olivia Grace Fertig. Fertig, 18, of Tarentum has almost 12,000 followers and subscribers on her Instagram and YouTube social media accounts. “I post a lot of make-up, fashion and daily life on there,”...
Saint Vincent senior gets Iowa writers scholarship
A Saint Vincent College senior from Belle Vernon, whose professors challenged her to be a “curious learner” and take risks, is extending her education at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in Iowa City. Mallory Truckenmiller, a graduate of Belle Vernon Area High School, is receiving a no-teaching fellowship and...
Contemporary Craft moving to new $5.5 million home in Lawrenceville
Contemporary Craft is on the move. The cutting-edge, contemporary arts hub is leaving its longtime location in the historic Produce Terminal Building in the Strip District and buying a permanent home in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood. At the ceremony announcing the move, Contemporary Craft Executive Director Janet McCall said finding a...
Scientists warn ‘zombie’ deer disease could spread to humans
Just as mad cow disease eventually spread to humans, scientists are concerned that chronic wasting disease, or CWD, could end up infecting people. Speaking last week to lawmakers in Minnesota, Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said, “It is...
Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto prepared to take city gun bills to Supreme Court
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said he’s prepared to battle all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court over the city’s proposed gun ban. The mayor, in an interview with reporters Wednesday, said the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is another possibility “depending on what’s being challenged.” Gun activists have promised to sue...
Scrutiny, family woes pile pressure on pregnant Meghan
LONDON (AP) — When Meghan Markle became engaged to Prince Harry, the American TV star seemed to charm everyone she met. She and Harry toured Britain to adoring crowds, and she pledged to hit the ground running once she officially joined the royal circle. Britain’s rambunctious, royal-obsessed press praised her...
One hurt in Rostraver school bus crash
One person was hurt in a crash involving a school bus in Rostraver Thursday morning, according to Westmoreland County 911. The crash between a car and the Belle Vernon Area School District bus on Fayette Street happened around 8:20 a.m. None of the 11 students on the bus was injured,...
Border security brawl seems near a serene resolution
WASHINGTON — Congress is set to resolve its clattering brawl with President Donald Trump in uncommonly bipartisan fashion as lawmakers prepare to pass a border security compromise providing a mere sliver of the billions he’s demanded for a wall with Mexico and averting a rekindled government shutdown this weekend. With...
School massacre 1 year later: A time to remember the victims
PARKLAND, Fla. — The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre a year ago renewed the national debate on guns and school safety, turned some victims’ parents and surviving students into political activists and at least temporarily ended the local sheriff’s career. But Thursday’s anniversary will primarily be about remembering the...
Prince Philip won’t be charged in UK car crash
LONDON — British prosecutors say Prince Philip won’t face charges in connection with a car collision that left two women injured. The decision came just days after Buckingham Palace said the 97-year-old royal would stop driving. Prosecutors said Thursday they had decided that it would not be in the public...
Oakland CVS robbed at gunpoint
Police are looking for two men who robbed a CVS pharmacy at gunpoint in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood early Thursday morning. The men went into the store on Centre Avenue around 3 a.m. and robbed a clerk at the register, fleeing with an undetermined amount of cash, according to the Pittsburgh...
Their love story began at the Allegheny Valley School of Nursing
More than a thousand young women came of age and had courtships in the building that once housed the Allegheny Valley Hospital School of Nursing in Harrison. Reba Weltner Blackburn was one of them. The women not only studied there, they also lived in the brick building along Carlisle Street....
Power outage closes California University of Pennsylvania
California University of Pennsylvania was closed and all Thursday classes canceled because of a power outage, the university posted on its website. The announcement said “only essential personnel” were to report for work. The university set up a warming center in its Convocation Center. Dining services were still available, and...
Cancer death racial gap narrows but still higher for blacks
NEW YORK — For a long time, blacks have died of cancer at higher rates than other Americans. But a new report says the gap is narrowing. Nearly 30 years ago, black men had a 47 higher cancer death rate than white men. Now it’s 19 percent higher. Black women...
Allegheny County Democrats sponsor campaign kickoff in Harmar next week
Allegheny County Democrats are holding a petition kickoff next week to gather support in the Alle-Kiski Valley. Allegheny County District Attorney Steve Zappala, Controller Chelsa Wagner, Treasurer John Weinstein, Councilman Nick Futules and county Labor Council President Darrin Kelly are hosting the event, which will be held from 6 p.m....
Baby doll hung from Pittsburgh light pole prompts police investigation
A baby doll found hanging from a light pole in Pittsburgh’s Homewood section Thursday morning has prompted a police investigation and outcry from a local state representative. Pittsburgh police officers found a weather-beaten, African-American doll hanging from a light pole at the intersection of Bruston Avenue and Mohler Street, said...
