Michigan State President Engler resigns after he said sexual abuse victims enjoyed spotlight
The embattled interim president of Michigan State University sent a letter Wednesday that he is resigning, becoming the school’s second leader in a year to step down under pressure because of the scandal involving a university physician convicted of sexually abusing girls and women. John Engler, a former Republican governor...
Georgia man plotted attack on White House, authorities say
ATLANTA — Federal authorities Wednesday arrested a Georgia man they said was plotting to attack the White House but instead got entangled with the FBI. Hasher Jallal Taheb, 21, of Cumming was taken into custody in Gwinnett County while allegedly trying to exchange his vehicle for explosives. He later appeared...
Family, 7 pets escape from Jeannette house fireVideo
A family of three and their seven pets were temporarily displaced when an electrical fire damaged their Jeannette home Wednesday evening. Robert Rundle said he’d been gone just 15 minutes from the home in the 300 block of Margaret Street when his wife, Magi, called at about 7 p.m. with...
Trump administration to roll out new missile defense plan
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will roll out a new strategy Thursday for a more aggressive space-based missile defense system to protect against existing threats from North Korea and Iran and counter advanced weapon systems being developed by Russia and China. Details about the administration’s Missile Defense Review — the...
Building inspectors find code violations at R. Kelly studio, including evidence of use as residence
CHICAGO — Building inspectors on Wednesday identified a number of code violations at R. Kelly’s Chicago recording studio, finding evidence that the industrial space was used as a residence even though it was not zoned for that purpose, the city Buildings Department announced. A team of inspectors spent about an...
‘Where’s Mitch?’ As shutdown grinds on, Dems accuse McConnell of ducking members of Congress
WASHINGTON — Furloughed federal workers have displayed their unpaid bills at Mitch McConnell’s Senate office in protest. House freshmen marched to his office Wednesday to urge a vote. And he’s drawn the ire of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newest star of the Democratic Party. Yet through it all, the Senate majority...
Officials: Abducted Penn Hills teen found safe, suspect arrested
A 19-year-old man accused of assaulting and kidnapping a 16-year-old girl from her Penn Hills home Wednesday afternoon was in the Allegheny County Jail Thursday morning. Jermaine LaQuay Rodgers was taken into custody after a standoff in McKeesport, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. Rodgers allegedly broke into the Glenbrook...
Mercer County DA takes stand to defend himself from obstruction charges
Mercer County District Attorney Miles K. Karson has been practicing law in this western Pennsylvania county for more than four decades. In that time, he’s prosecuted and defended clients in a wide variety of matters. On Wednesday morning, Karson, a 73-year-old McKeesport native who lives in Sharon, was sworn under...
Greek PM survives confidence vote after coalition collapse
ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s left-wing prime minister narrowly won a confidence vote in parliament late Wednesday days after the governing coalition he leads collapsed over an agreement to end a long-running dispute over neighboring Macedonia’s name. Lawmakers voted 151-148 on a motion called by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, giving his...
Unbearable stench: Giant sewage spill befouls Peru’s capital
LIMA, Peru — Amid an unbearable stench, thousands of workers, police and soldiers struggled Wednesday to contain and clean up a flood of sewage that has caused the government to declare a health emergency in one of the most populous parts of Peru’s capital. The foul flood was caused by...
Watchdog: GSA ignored emoluments in OKing Trump hotel lease
WASHINGTON — The General Services Administration improperly “ignored” the U.S. Constitution’s emoluments provision outlawing foreign gifts when it green-lit President Trump’s management of his Washington, D.C., hotel after his 2016 election, the agency’s inspector general said Wednesday. In a 47-page report, GSA watchdog Carol F. Ochoa concluded that the “president’s...
Carry Nation, the fiery feminist who helped launch Prohibition 100 years ago
It was a divorcee wielding a hatchet — an ultimate revenge scenario — who largely got America into rehab 100 years ago ago. Carry Amelia Nation, who also liked to be known as Carry A. Nation, didn’t live to see the ratification of the Constitution’s 18th Amendment — better known...
GOP senators protect Trump administration plan to lift Russian sanctions
WASHINGTON — Republican senators on Wednesday successfully defended the Trump administration’s plan to lift sanctions on companies controlled by a Vladimir Putin ally — despite the defection of nearly a dozen Republicans who broke ranks to vote with the Democrats. The Democratic effort to block the relaxation of sanctions on...
Less beef, more beans; Experts say world needs a new diet
NEW YORK — A hamburger a week, but no more — that’s about as much red meat people should eat to do what’s best for their health and the planet, according to a report seeking to overhaul the world’s diet. Eggs should be limited to fewer than about four a...
State takes charge of debt-ridden Penn Hills School District’s financial recovery efforts
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has placed the Penn Hills School District in financial recovery status in an attempt to get the debt-ridden, shrinking district back on track to solvency, officials announced Wednesday. The oversight move means that the state will appoint a full-time chief recovery officer to work with...
Derry Township’s Torrance State Hospital marks centennialVideo
Patients, staff and retirees from Torrance State Hospital gathered in the public mental hospital’s once grand auditorium Tuesday for a worship service to mark the beginning of the institution’s centennial year. Torrance chaplain, the Rev. Cletus Hull, led the group of about 150 in a service of prayer and thanksgiving...
Pennsylvania sued over limits on state coverage of abortion
HARRISBURG — The operators of 15 abortion clinics sued Pennsylvania on Wednesday in a bid to persuade state courts to reverse a decades-old decision upholding limits on the use of state Medicaid dollars to cover abortions. The lawsuit, filed in Commonwealth Court, seeks an order requiring the state’s Medicaid program...
Mayor’s killing in Poland sparks anger against hate speech
WARSAW, Poland — Poles on Wednesday heatedly condemned the power of hate speech to trigger real-life violence after the slaying of a popular liberal mayor, with many calling for stronger actions against those who threaten others. Not only did the killer, an ex-convict, take the life of the 53-year-old Gdansk...
Mexico to ship gas on trains, thieves siphon whole pipelines
MEXICO CITY — Fuel thieves in Mexico have grown so bold they are drilling illegal taps under warehouses in big cities and siphoning off the entire contents of pipelines, Mexico’s president said Wednesday. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that at one pipeline carrying gasoline to Mexico City, thieves didn’t...
Pennsylvania casino revenue climbs above $3.2 billion
Pennsylvania’s 12 casinos generated more than $3.2 billion in revenues in 2018, setting a record for the most money earned in a year since gambling was legalized in 2006. The record revenues topped the previous high, set a year earlier, by more than $21 million. Revenue figures were released Wednesday...
Rare snow goose, gadwall duck found during Christmas Bird Count
A snow goose in Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville and a gadwall duck in Harmar were among the rare finds for the Pittsburgh Christmas Bird Count, part of the annual census of the birds. On the Dec. 29 count day, Pittsburgh’s bird count tallied 24,877 birds of 71 varieties, according to...
Officials: Lancaster woman gave birth at work, left baby in toilet
LANCASTER, Pa. — Officials in Pennsylvania say a woman gave birth in a restroom at her work and left the baby boy partially submerged in the toilet. Police in Lancaster County say 23-year-old Emmanuella Osei has been charged with felony endangering the welfare of a child. The Lancaster District Attorney’s...
Candidate challenging Pittsburgh council president opposes gun restrictions
A University of Pittsburgh student announced plans this week to challenge Pittsburgh City Council President Bruce Kraus for his District 3 seat during this year’s Democratic primary. Chris Kumanchik, 25, of Central Oakland is the third Democrat to oppose Kraus, who is seeking a fourth term. The other candidates are...
TSA officers to rally Friday at Pittsburgh International Airport
Transportation Security Administration workers are ready to show their frustration with the current government shutdown. A rally by union leaders representing TSA workers in Pennsylvania has been planned for 11 a.m. Friday at the Pittsburgh International Airport’s ticketing level. On Wednesday, those leaders called for an end to the shutdown....
TV journalist Chris Hansen accused of bouncing checks
STAMFORD, Conn. — A TV journalist known for confronting would-be child predators has been snared himself in a police investigation alleging he wrote bad checks for $13,000 worth of marketing materials. Former “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen was arrested Monday in his hometown of Stamford, Conn. He was...
