Woman pleads not guilty in fatal butt injections
NEW YORK — A New York City woman accused of killing a patient at an illegal cosmetic surgery clinic has pleaded not guilty to charges including manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Whalesca Castillo, 44, was arraigned Thursday in the June 17, 2018 death of Lesbia Ayala of Philadelphia. Prosecutors say...
2 juveniles detained in connection with McKees Rocks shooting
Police detained two juveniles in connection with a shooting in McKees Rocks on Thursday. A man was shot in the chest shortly after 11:30 a.m. in the 700 block of Bouquet Street, according to Allegheny County police. McKees Rocks police went to the area to investigate 911 calls about a...
Cell phone helps Greensburg police identify alleged shoplifter
A cell phone dropped in the parking lot of a Greensburg grocery store Sunday during an altercation between a security guard and an alleged shoplifter helped lead city police to a suspect. Police obtained an arrest warrant Thursday for Patrick Dominique Davis, 31, a Greensburg man accused of getting into...
Conor Lamb upholds promise not to vote Nancy Pelosi as speaker
Democratic Congressman Conor Lamb kept a campaign promise Thursday by not voting for Nancy Pelosi for speaker of the House. Even without Lamb’s vote, Pelosi secured enough support to reclaim the speaker gavel. Lamb, who won his first full term in Congress in November by beating Keith Rothfus in the...
Frazer police arrest 3 with stolen car, merchandise at Pittsburgh Mills Walmart
A Homewood woman is accused of using a stolen car to steal merchandise from the Walmart in the Pittsburgh Mills shopping complex. Frazer police charged Janlynn Marie Jordan, 31, with receiving stolen property, retail theft, criminal conspiracy, and traffic violations in connection with the incident at about 6:40 p.m. Wednesday....
Murrysville police searching for car involved in hit and run of pedestrian
Murrysville police were looking for a car that fled after hitting a pedestrian, according to a Westmoreland 911 dispatcher. The male victim was hit near the intersection of William Penn Highway and Vincent Hall Road at about 1:15 p.m. Thursday. His injuries appeared to be minor, the dispatcher said. An...
Pennsylvania mom charged with assaulting infant triplets
BETHLEHEM — A Pennsylvania woman has been charged with battering her infant triplets. Lehigh County prosecutors said Thursday that 52-year-old Ann Henry of Bethlehem injured her children in September 2016, when they were 8 weeks old. One infant suffered a broken arm, another suffered fractured ribs and the third had...
AP report: Big jump in U.S. Catholic dioceses naming names
PHILADELPHIA — Over the past four months, Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. have released the names of more than 1,000 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children in an unprecedented public reckoning spurred at least in part by a shocking grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania, an Associated Press...
Westmoreland Symphony seeks entries for 2019 Tribune-Review Young Artists Competition
The Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra is seeking applicants for the 2019 Tribune-Review Young Artists Competition. The competition is open to all instrumental students up to and including high school seniors who are residents of Westmoreland or Fayette counties, or who are taking private lessons in those counties. Participants compete for performance...
Detecting depression: Phone apps could monitor teen angst
Rising suicide rates and depression in U.S. teens and young adults have prompted researchers to ask a provocative question: Could the same devices that some people blame for contributing to tech-age angst also be used to detect it? The idea has sparked a race to develop apps that warn of...
Democrats plan to hold hearings on Medicare-for-all legislation
WASHINGTON – The new Democratic majority in the House will hold the first hearings on Medicare-for-all legislation, a longtime goal of the party’s left, after Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi lent her support for the process. “It’s a huge step forward to have the speaker’s support,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who...
Watch live: House gavels in as 116th Congress begins
WASHINGTON — The House and Senate have convened for the 116th Congress with the most diverse class of lawmakers in history. The House is returning the first woman to the speaker’s office as Democrats take the majority with a large class of freshman lawmakers. They’re ready to confront President Donald...
New Aldi store near Mt. Pleasant opening Jan. 17
German discount grocery chain Aldi will expand its Westmoreland County footprint this month with the grand opening of a store in East Huntingdon near Mt. Pleasant. The store, at 100 Crossroads Plaza on the site of the former Mt. Pleasant Kmart, will hold a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony Jan....
Homicides in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County mimic past years despite high-profile shootings
Pittsburgh was on pace for the fewest number of homicides since 2012 until October when a gunman cut down 11 congregants inside a Squirrel Hill synagogue. While the Oct. 27 shooting at Tree of Life will leave many associating 2018 with a year of bloodshed, homicide statistics in Pittsburgh and...
Trump kicks off new year with ‘Sanctions are coming’ poster
President Donald Trump returned from the holidays and convened a Cabinet meeting with his team on Wednesday. But the star of the meeting, so to speak, was a large mock movie poster featuring his photograph and the words “SANCTIONS ARE COMING, NOVEMBER 4.” It mimicked the HBO’s “Game of Thrones”...
Officials: ‘It was me,’ Wilkinsburg man said of child porn investigation at his home
A Wilkinsburg man allegedly told police he used the internet to ask children in at least two states to send him nude photos and videos. “It was me,” Jason Gerade Harris Jr. reportedly said when police confronted him with a search warrant for his home and arrested him Dec. 6....
Truck driver in fatal 2017 Route 28 crash charged
The driver of a tractor-trailer truck involved in a fatal crash on Route 28 more than a year ago has been charged. Arther Wells, 70, of Mississippi, is charged with homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person, reckless driving and following too closely. He remains in the Allegheny...
Cleveland man pleads not guilty in mom’s death, held on $1M bond
CLEVELAND — An Ohio man suspected of killing his mother by hitting her with a vehicle on Christmas Day has pleaded not guilty to charges including aggravated murder. Thirty-five-year-old Vincent Varone, of suburban Cleveland, remained held on bond of $1 million after his arraignment Wednesday. He also is charged with...
Sheriff: Fake pastor carrying drug-filled Bible visited jail
LAURINBURG, N.C. — Authorities say a man posing as a pastor tried to smuggle drugs into a North Carolina jail by hiding them in a Bible. News outlets cite a Facebook post from the Scotland County Detective Division that says 28-year-old James A. Morman III visited the Scotland County jail...
Power outage sends Clayton Academy students home
Clayton Academy in the Pittsburgh Public Schools is closed today due to a power outage. The district tweeted the announcement just before 9 a.m., saying students were being sent home. The school is at 341 South Bellefield Ave. in Oakland. All other schools in the district remain open. Tawnya Panizzi...
Kansas City Walmart stabbing suspect: ‘I tried to kill her’
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City man has been charged with stabbing his ex-girlfriend in the neck while she was working at a Walmart store. Twenty-two-year-old Brian Lenoble Jr. is charged with first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action. No attorney is listed for him in online court records....
Sheriff: Vandals targeted teen for interracial relationship
GOLDSBORO, N.C. — A North Carolina sheriff says the vandalism of two vehicles is being investigated as a hate crime stemming from an interracial relationship between two teens. A Wednesday release from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says that on Dec. 27 a white family’s minivan was found spray-painted with...
Sanders contrite as 2016 aides face harassment allegations
NEW YORK — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and his chief lieutenants are offering contrition as some of his 2016 campaign staffers face allegations of sexual harassment that threaten to derail a second White House bid before it begins. Hours after a New York Times report detailed allegations of unwanted sexual...
Police: 17-year-old girl arrested after police car joyride
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Authorities say a 17-year-old girl took a police cruiser on a joyride following a traffic stop early on New Year’s Day in western Michigan. Grand Rapids police say the girl was a passenger in a minivan that was pulled over about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday following a...
WCCC professor pushed disability rights
Mary Ellen Beres was a champion of people with disabilities before disability rights was a national priority. Mrs. Beres was a student support counselor and professor for special populations at Westmoreland County Community College for 30 years, retiring in 2015. During her career, she worked to make WCCC a more...
