White House grants S.C. foster care group waiver to deny gays, Jews
The Trump administration granted a waiver to South Carolina this week allowing the state to provide federal funding to a foster care agency that works only with Protestant foster parents. In its decision, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it was approving the request from Gov. Henry...
Suspect in 4 slayings accused of selling victims’ jewelry
CARSON CITY, Nev. — A suspect in four fatal shootings in Nevada was accused in court Thursday of being in the U.S. illegally and possessing weapons and selling jewelry stolen from some of the dead. Wilber Ernesto Martinez-Guzman, a 19-year-old immigrant from El Salvador, appeared before a judge in Carson...
Key to weed control — strategy and timing
Question: Need suggestions to how to get rid of weeds throughout my yard and garden — not using a herbicide. I see those propane flame throwers, but I wonder what they will do to my landscape fabric. What is your suggestion? I have koi ponds as well as many planted...
New Kensington-Arnold teachers show up en masse to remind board a contract isn’t done
With at least 70 teachers watching Thursday, the New Kensington-Arnold School Board approved a 2019-20 preliminary budget with the same teachers’ payroll number as this school year. Whether that number increases when the final budget is approved in June remains to be seen as negotiations between the district and the...
Landslide risk forces evacuations of several Squirrel Hill homes
The threat of landslides forced the evacuation of two homes in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood Thursday night, officials said. Police and fire crews responded about 7 p.m. to Rosemont Lane, said Public Safety spokeswoman Alicia George. She said the land shifted behind two of the homes. City engineers were called...
The Great Backyard Bird Count set for Feb. 15-18 worldwide
The 22nd Great Backyard Bird Count is set for Feb. 15- 18. Volunteers from around the world are invited to count the birds they see for at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count. Participating counters enter their bird checklists at birdcount.org. Anyone with internet access...
Jeannette woman passionate about volunteering, literacy
Gladys Peltier was a take-charge type of person, according to her family. It’s a good thing, too, because for many years she was in charge of both the annual Italian festival at Ascension Church in Jeannette and the weeklong High Park Jubilees in town. “She was always giving back,” said...
Tamburitzans will leave building but not Pittsburgh, official says
The Tamburitzans, Pittsburgh’s consummate Eastern European folk music and dance group, is making plans to leave its building, but will stay in the city. There is a pending sale for the Tamburitzans building in the city’s 1800 block of the Boulevard of Allies, said Pam Pleash Weigand, a former performer...
Official: Asylum seekers to wait in Mexico starting Friday
SAN DIEGO — The Trump administration on Friday will start forcing some asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases wind through U.S. courts, an official said, launching what could become one of the more significant changes to the immigration system in years. The changes will be introduced at...
Residents argue for and against Pittsburgh gun ban during public hearingVideo
Scores of people stood for hours Thursday night in a reconfigured first floor of Pittsburgh’s City-County Building to argue for three minutes each for or against the city’s proposed firearms ban. They included military veterans, attorneys, moms, dads, friends of people killed in Squirrel Hill’s Tree of Life synagogue on...
Reward offered for info on Braddock man who fled hospital with IV still attached
Area police are seeking the public’s help to find a man accused of robbery, assault and other charges and fleeing a hospital with an IV attached before police could arrive to arrest him. Jerome Solomon, 30, of Braddock, is named in Allegheny County Police warrants for a May 11 incident...
Union Avenue, Sycamore Street eyed for new trees in Harrison
More trees could be coming to Harrison. Part of Union Avenue in the Natrona Heights neighborhood and Sycamore Street in Natrona are being considered for planting, said Tom Cajka, chairman of the township’s tree committee. A total of 50 trees are being considered. Of those, 30 would be planted along...
Nobody hurt in Monessen crash involving pregnant woman
First responders shut down part of Grand Boulevard in Monessen following a two-car crash that left a pregnant woman trapped inside her vehicle, according to Westmoreland County 911. Nobody was hurt in in the crash, which was reported around 7:30 p.m. Thursday dispatchers said. People were trapped inside both vehicles...
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet rips Ted Cruz’s ‘crocodile tears’ over shutdown
WASHINGTON — Signs of strain from the 34-day partial government shutdown are emerging on the Senate floor. Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado tore into Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Thursday after Cruz backed a GOP bill to pay Coast Guard members but not reopen the government. The...
Pittsburgh Pirates spend day at Painting With a Twist, prepare for PiratesFest
Several members of the Pittsburgh Pirates put down their bats, stepped off the field and picked up a paint brush Thursday afternoon. Working with Passavant Memorial Homes children’s programs, the players and coaches helped kids with intellectual disabilities, autism and behavioral health issues paint a picture at Greensburg’s Painting With...
Mac Miller featured in Los Angeles mural
Although he’s from Pittsburgh, rapper Mac Miller now has a place on a Los Angeles store front. Venice, Calif.-based artist Gustavo Zermeno Jr. painted a mural of the singer, finishing it just in time for Miller’s Jan. 19 birthday. He would have been 27. “I really am a huge fan,”...
Trial for Arnold woman accused of helping accused police killer is delayed until April, at least
An Arnold woman’s trial on charges she helped a friend avoid apprehension after the fatal shooting of a police officer was delayed until at least April. The case against Lisa Harrington, 33, was postponed Thursday to allow for a new defense attorney to represent her. She faces charges that she...
Florida Secretary of State Michael Artel steps down after blackface photos surface
FORT LAUDERDALE — Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel resigned Thursday when photos emerged of him wearing blackface as a Hurricane “Katrina victim” at a Halloween party in 2005. The stunning development ended the former Seminole County election supervisor’s 16-day stint as Florida’s top elections officer. The Tallahassee Democrat obtained...
Hempfield High student to face charges after allegedly issuing threat
A Hempfield Area High School student will face charges after allegedly using social media to threaten students at the school, Principal Kathleen Charlton said in a letter posted on the school’s website. According to the letter, the student sent a message Thursday to friends that threatened the safety of students...
Mt. Pleasant man convicted in cousin’s fatal overdose seeks new trial
The first man convicted in Westmoreland County of violating a 2011 law allowing prosecution of drug dealers in connection with fatal overdoses was in court Thursday to ask for a new trial. Michael Ulysses Peterson, 45, of Mt. Pleasant, is seeking to overturn a verdict against him following a 2016...
Public can see preliminary Highlands school budget beginning Tuesday
Highlands School District residents can get a look at the district’s preliminary $46 million budget for the 2019-20 school year beginning Tuesday, according to a legal notice from the district. The district will seek approval from the state Department of Education to increase property taxes by more than its state-imposed...
Pittsburgh Marathon CEO to step down in May
The CEO of Pittsburgh Three Rivers Marathon, Inc. (P3R), which manages the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, is stepping down in May. “At the end of the day, I really think that my 11 years have been so phenomenal, and I’m just looking forward to what’s next in my life,”...
Judge refuses to dismiss murder charge in crash that killed East Huntingdon pedestrian
A Westmoreland County judge on Thursday rejected a request from a New Stanton man to dismiss a charge of third-degree murder in connection with the death of a pedestrian killed when he was hit by a car on Christmas Eve 2016. Prosecutors contend Matthew Ramsay, 31, was under the influence...
‘I’m sick of him:’ McKeesport woman gets up to 15 years in fatal 2017 stabbing of boyfriend
A McKeesport woman who declared, “I’m sick of him,” after she stabbed her boyfriend to death in a South Side apartment building will spend at least 7½ years in prison, a judge ruled Thursday. Cassandra Locke, 53, faces up to 15 years in prison for the Nov. 7, 2017, death...
Police: St. Louis officer killed in accidental shooting
ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis police officer “mishandled” a gun and accidentally shot and killed a colleague early Thursday, authorities said. The shooting happened around 1 a.m. at an officer’s home, police Chief John Hayden told reporters during a news conference shortly after the shooting. Two on-duty male officers...
