Westmoreland happenings: Feb. 2 and beyond
Fundraisers • Have A Heart Buffet Pasta Palooza is planned 1-4 p.m. Feb. 10 host by the Humane Society of Westmoreland County at Lakeview, Route 30 Greensburg. Cost: $25. Tickets: 724-837-3779. • 80’s party band Velveeta will perform 7 p.m. Feb. 16 in Harrison City VFD, 1010 Mill St. Cost:...
Sheriff: Louisiana suspect confesses to killing 5; used dad’s gun
BATON ROUGE, La. — The 21-year-old man accused of killing five people including his parents in a multi-parish shooting over the weekend before fleeing to his grandmother’s house has confessed, authorities said Tuesday. Dakota Theriot told authorities he used a gun he stole from his father, Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason...
Hate-crime charges added against accused synagogue gunman Robert Bowers
A federal grand jury has added 13 hate-crime charges to the indictment against Robert Bowers, accused gunman in the Oct. 27 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill. Bowers, 46, of Baldwin Borough, originally faced 44 federal charges in the anti-Semitic attack that left 11...
Chief: Injured Houston officer shot 3 times in line of duty
HOUSTON — Houston’s police chief says one of four narcotics officers shot while serving a search warrant at a suspected drug house has been struck by gunfire two other times during his career. Police Chief Art Acevedo said Tuesday that the 54-year-old police supervisor, whose name hasn’t been released, was...
Pittsburgh police officer performs CPR, saves baby who wasn’t breathing
A Pittsburgh infant is expected to make a full recovery after she was saved by a police officer Sunday. Pittsburgh police Officer Aaron Conner was among the officers who responded to the 5700 block of Centre Avenue for a call about a 3-week-old child who was not breathing after inhaling...
Pennsylvania resumes push to recognize Eastern hellbender
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania’s Senate is resuming a push to make the Eastern hellbender the state’s official amphibian, an effort to highlight the plight of a creature whose numbers researchers say are declining because of pollution in rivers and streams. The bill emerged unanimously Tuesday from a Senate committee. A...
‘Empire’ star Jussie Smollett victim in possible hate attack
“Empire” star Jussie Smollett was hospitalized Tuesday in Chicago after he was targeted by two attackers who hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him and tied a rope around his neck. The incident is being investigated by the Chicago Police Department as a possible hate crime, chief spokesman Anthony Guglielmi...
Ohio pastor pleads guilty to sex trafficking of teen girls
TOLEDO, Ohio — A second of three Ohio ministers accused of enticing teenage girls to have sex with them has pleaded guilty. Cordell Jenkins agreed to plead guilty Tuesday to federal charges that include child sex trafficking. Federal authorities say he was among three Toledo-area pastors who paid teenage girls...
Gov. Wolf objects to proposed Title IX changes
One day before the deadline for comments, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf went on record opposing the federal government’s proposed rollbacks in regulations governing allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault in schools and colleges. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Wolf voiced concerns Tuesday about proposed...
FBI finds no specific motive in Las Vegas shooting
LAS VEGAS — A high-stakes gambler who rained a hail of gunfire down on a crowd of country music fans, killing 58, took any specific motive for the 2017 attack to his grave, the FBI said Tuesday as it concluded the investigation into the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S....
Murrysville activating shelter plans for Wednesday, Thursday
With wind chills plunging below zero on Wednesday and Thursday, Murrysville is making a warming center available both days on an as-needed basis. Anyone in need of emergency shelter should contact police Capt. Chuck Tappe at 724-309-2369 or ctappe@murrysvillegov.org and request assistance. “If I receive a call, I will notify...
Insulin cost in focus as Congress opens drug price hearings
WASHINGTON — A senior Republican lawmaker said Tuesday that he plans to investigate the “unacceptable” cost of insulin, as Congress opened hearings on high prescription drug prices and how government might put the brakes on a pharmaceutical industry used to setting its own terms. “I have heard stories about people...
Police: Trafford man intimidated victim by calling her 157 times after assault arrest
A Trafford man is being held without bail after police said he made 157 phone calls to a woman who he previously was arrested for assaulting. Authorities said Nigel Christopher Hogan, 29, threatened the woman on Sunday to not testify against him at a hearing today or “she would regret...
Cops: Women tried to steal $3K worth of merchandise at Hempfield Walmart
Two 20-year-old women were arrested early Tuesday by state police trying to flee the Walmart store in Hempfield without paying for $3,276 worth of items. Megan M. Bender of Connellsville and Julie L. Thomas of New Stanton were arraigned on charges of robbery, retail theft and harassment following the incident...
Some journalists wonder if their profession is tweet-crazy
NEW YORK — If Twitter is the town square for journalists, some are ready to step away. That’s happening this week at the online news site Insider — by order of the boss. Reporters have been told to take a week off from tweeting at work and to keep TweetDeck...
North Allegheny student grows massive cabbage, earns $1,000 scholarship
If she were so inclined, Lily Ries could probably use the cabbage she grew in 2018 to make a life-sized version of pigs-in-a-blanket — with actual pigs. Ries, 9, now a fourth-grader at Peebles Elementary School in the North Allegheny School District, earned a $1,000 scholarship as the Pennsylvania winner...
Baltimore will longer prosecute marijuana possession cases
BALTIMORE — The state’s attorney in Baltimore says her office will no longer prosecute any marijuana possession cases, regardless of the quantity of the drug or an individual’s prior criminal record. Marilyn Mosby says pot possession cases have no public safety value, waste money, and disproportionately impact communities of color....
Trump friend Roger Stone pleads not guilty in Russia probe case
WASHINGTON — Roger Stone, a longtime adviser and confidant of President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges in the Russia investigation after a publicity-filled few days spent torching the probe as politically motivated. The political operative and self-proclaimed dirty trickster appeared for his arraignment at the federal courthouse...
Pittsburgh area jobless rate remains at 4.2 percent
The Pittsburgh region’s unemployment rate remained at 4.2 percent in December, a drop of .7 percent from a year ago as the region added 9,600 nonfarm jobs compared to December 2017. Among the seven counties in the Pittsburgh region, Allegheny County’s jobless rate held steady at 4.2 percent, while Westmoreland...
AP-NORC poll: President Trump’s marks on the economy slip
WASHINGTON — The public continues to give President Donald Trump his best ratings on the economy, but a new poll finds the share who approve of how he’s handling that issue has slipped since last fall. And as his promise of a U.S.-Mexico border wall brought a stalemate over funding...
Hazardous sub-zero wind chills to cripple Pittsburgh region through early Friday
Southwestern Pennsylvania residents who have to venture outside Wednesday or Thursday will need to bundle up to protect against bitter cold and strong winds that can quickly lead to frost bite on exposed skin. Wind chills dipping as low as minus 20 degrees are expected between 5 a.m. Wednesday and...
New air quality monitor added in Clairton
The first of two new air quality monitors in Clairton is operational this week. Located at the Clairton Education Center, the new monitor will also measure sulfur dioxide, or SO2, emissions, according to an update provided by the Allegheny County Department of Health. Residents have been calling for increased monitoring...
Spy agencies doubt North Korea will give up nuclear weapons
WASHINGTON — In an assessment casting doubt on President Donald Trump’s goal of a nuclear-disarmed North Korea, U.S. intelligence agencies told Congress on Tuesday that the North is unlikely to entirely dismantle its nuclear arsenal. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, noted that...
Poll: Most Americans see nation on the wrong track
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — The state of the union is dark. A large majority of Americans say they are pessimistic about the state of the country and few expect things will get better in the year ahead, according to a poll released Tuesday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs...
Commission recommends Pennsylvania security measures for elections
Pennsylvania lawmakers and county leaders must move quickly to secure the state’s election infrastructure in advance of the 2020 presidential election, an independent bipartisan commission said Tuesday. The Blue Ribbon Commission on Pennsylvania’s Election Security recommended that the state and federal government provide money to help underwrite the costs for...
