Arnold woman charged with assaulting her autistic son
Police charged an Arnold woman with assaulting her 6-year-old autistic son after he soiled his pants. Elena Lovorn, 27, of Fifth Avenue faces felony charges of strangulation and endangering the welfare of children and misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment and simple assault. She remained in Westmoreland County Prison on Monday...
Harrison man accused of sexually assaulting 2 teenage girls
An 18-year-old Harrison man is accused of sexually assaulting two teenage girls over the last two years. The girls were 14 and 13 at the time, according to police. Jason Richard Martin faces felony charges of aggravated incident assault and misdemeanor indecent assault in connection with the alleged incidents, which...
Actress Rose McGowan pleads no contest to misdemeanor drug charge
LEESBURG, Va. — Actress Rose McGowan has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor drug charge in Virginia after cocaine was found in a wallet she left behind at Dulles International Airport two years ago. Loudoun County court records show she received a $2,500 fine and a suspended jail sentence Monday....
Boy killed, 2 siblings injured when car hits kids waiting for bus in Butler County
Sun glare is being blamed for a crash that left an 11-year-old boy dead and two of his siblings injured Monday morning in Summit Township, Butler County. The fatal accident happened shortly before 9 a.m. on Pine Drive near Geibel Road, directly across from the two-story house on the rural...
How Pennsylvania achieved its steepest decline in state prison population
Pennsylvania cut its prison population by just over a thousand inmates during 2018 — a figure equivalent to the population of one entire state prison. “The 2018 calendar year reduction represents the single largest year-over-year decrease of inmate population on record,” Gov. Wolf said in a statement that credited the...
‘Miracle on the Hudson’ flight survivors mark decade of thankfulness
NEW YORK — It’s been 10 years, but there isn’t anything Tripp Harris doesn’t remember about the cold January day he cheated death on US Airways flight 1549. The jolt when the plane collided with a flock of geese and the engines stopped moments after takeoff from New York City’s...
Judge agrees to outside jury for cop accused of killing Antwon Rose
Jurors from outside Allegheny County will hear the homicide case against a former East Pittsburgh police officer accused of killing an unarmed teen in 2018, a judge decided Monday. Patrick Thomassey, an attorney for former officer Michael Rosfeld, argued in a Dec. 20 hearing that the extensive media coverage surrounding...
Bon Journey to headline Norwin Relay for Life event
“Don’t Stop Believin’” will help ring in the first fundraiser of 2019 for the annual Relay for Life of Norwin. On Feb.1, Bon Journey, a Bon Jovi and Journey tribute band, will take the stage at Antonelli’s Event Center in Irwin, raising money for the fight against cancer. Safety Last,...
Red Cross seeks donors amid blood shortage
The American Red Cross has less than a three-day supply of most blood types on hand and is seeking donors to help alleviate a blood shortage it has experienced since the holidays. During the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s, the organization collected more than 27,000 fewer blood and platelet...
Polish mayor dies after being stabbed in heart at age 53
WARSAW, Poland — The popular liberal mayor of the Polish port city of Gdansk died on Monday after he was stabbed during a charity event the evening before by an ex-convict who stormed onstage and said it was revenge against a political party the politician once belonged to. Pawel Adamowicz,...
Murrysville, state forestry service will partner on backyard sustainability workshop
When state forestry officials piloted a 2018 workshop showing people how to maximize the natural use of their property, they were impressed with the results. “We had a great turnout with more than 200 people at Butler County Community College,” service forester Celine Colbert said. “The feedback we got was...
Pa. state police seize more than $66 million worth of drugs in 2018
State troopers seized more than $66 million worth of illegal drugs from communities around Pennsylvania in 2018. That includes nearly 200 pounds of heroin and fentanyl, both of which are contributing to drug overdose deaths around the state and country, according to a news release. In the last three months...
Trump rejects suggested short-term fix for government shutdown
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday rejected the suggestion that he temporarily reopen government while negotiations continue on his proposed border wall, signaling no speedy resolution to the partial government shutdown now into a fourth week. Leaving the White House for a trip to New Orleans, Trump said he...
China sentences Canadian to death, raises diplomatic tension
BEIJING — A Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to death Monday in a sudden retrial in a drug smuggling case that is likely to escalate tensions between the countries over the arrest of a top Chinese technology executive. The court in northeastern Liaoning province announced that it had given...
Chicago high school student charged with murder in shooting of transgender escort
CHICAGO — A Cook County judge on Sunday denied bail for a high school senior accused of fatally shooting his transgender lover in a death that drew public attention to violence against transgender women of color. Dressed in a brown juvenile detention sweatshirt, shackled at the waist and surrounded by...
Report: 2 killed, 40 detained in new gay purge in Chechnya
MOSCOW — The Russian republic of Chechnya has launched a new crackdown on gays in which at least two people have died and about 40 people have been detained, LGBT activists in Russia charged Monday. The new allegations come after reports in 2017 of more than 100 gay men arrested...
Fact check: Trump isn’t holed up nonstop at White House
WASHINGTON — Eager to defend a prolonged government shutdown over his border wall, President Donald Trump is pretending that he’s holed up nonstop at the White House waiting for a deal with Democrats. He’s also rewriting history regarding his promise to make Mexico pay for the wall. Trump says he...
Tarentum wage increases follow pay freezes for some
Some Tarentum employees are getting pay raises in 2019 after having their pay frozen last year. The salaries hikes are included in the borough’s $3.58 million 2019 general fund budget. There was no increase in property taxes, which remain at 5.48 mills. The borough’s public works, water plant and office...
Man accused of leading police on nearly 10-mile chase in Sewickley Township
A Madison man is accused of leading police on a 9½-mile chase Saturday with an open bottle of vodka in his car, according to arrest papers. Brian Allen Smith, 47, allegedly caused at least $1,000 worth of damage to a state police cruiser during the incident. He was being held...
Attorney Bob Manzi running for Indiana County D.A.
A White Township man and former assistant district attorney has announced that he will seek the Republican nomination for Indiana County District Attorney. Bob Manzi, 41, works as a partner at Indiana law firm Holsinger, Clark and Armstrong, P.C. An Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Widener School of Law graduate,...
4 weddings and a robbery? Hugh Grant seeks script return
LONDON — British actor Hugh Grant has a plea for the thief who broke into his car: Please return the script that was inside. Grant, who shot to fame in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” in 1994, tweeted about the robbery late Sunday night. He said that in “the unlikely...
‘So happy.’ Chris Pratt engaged to Katherine Schwarzenegger
LOS ANGELES — A whirlwind romance is leading to an engagement for actor Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger. Pratt posted a photo of his 29-year-old partner sporting an engagement ring on Instagram Monday. He wrote, “Sweet Katherine, so happy you said yes!” There’s no word on when and where the...
Driver seriously hurt after vehicle goes off Parkway East near Churchill
A Pittsburgh man was injured when his SUV went over a steep hillside along the Parkway East early Monday morning. The incident occurred just after 6:30 a.m. at mile-marker 80.7, which is between the Business US-22 and Rodi Road exits. State police said Lamonte Lewis, 58, was driving eastbound in...
Congress to face same question: When will shutdown end?
WASHINGTON — Congress returns to Washington for its first full week of legislative business since control of the House reverted to Democrats, but lawmakers will be confronted with the same lingering question: When will the partial government shutdown end? One Republican senator says he’s offered President Donald Trump a possible...
Developers, not farmers, get biggest hit from wetlands rule
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump often points to farmers as among the biggest winners from the administration’s proposed rollback of federal protections for wetlands and waterways across the country. But under longstanding federal law and rules, farmers and farmland already are exempt from most of the regulatory hurdles on behalf...
