Latest polls show voters blaming Trump for the government shutdown
WASHINGTON — President Trump said a month ago that he’d gladly take the blame for a government shutdown over his proposed border wall. Polls show he’s getting it. Six surveys taken since the partial government closure began last month tell a consistent story — half or more Americans believe Trump...
KDKA’s Marty Griffin relishing ‘cancer-free’ news
KDKA radio host Marty Griffin is cancer-free. Griffin joyfully shared the news hours after undergoing PET and CT scans Monday morning, six weeks after completing treatment for HPV-related cancer. Griffin said he feels “excellent.” “I’m thrilled, crying like a baby,” he said. Griffin, 59, announced in September that he was...
Texas woman drinking wine from Pringles can banned from Walmart
WICHITA FALLS, Texas — Police in northern Texas say a woman has been banned from a local Walmart because she spent several hours driving an electric shopping cart around the store’s parking lot while drinking wine from a Pringles can. Police tell the Times Record News that officers responded to...
House GOP leaders move to strip Rep. King of committee assignments over comments
WASHINGTON — A panel of Republican leaders voted unanimously Monday to keep veteran Iowa lawmaker Steve King off of House committees, a firm rebuke to a influential opponent of illegal immigration who sparked outrage last week after openly questioning whether the term “white supremacist” was offensive. House Minority Leader Kevin...
Jeannette man gets up to 23 months in jail for stabbing man in chest
A Jeannette man will serve up to nearly two years in jail for assaulting another man on the porch of his home last spring. Marlon C. “Star” Williams, 40, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment for the stabbing. Police said Williams used a three-inch knife...
Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board selling $800 bourbon in special lottery
Good things come to those who wait — or so says the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. Connoisseurs of bourbon have until 11 p.m. Saturday to bid on various rare, high-demand products in the first limited-release lottery of 2019. A total of 871 bottles are available, including $800-a-bottle Kentucky straight bourbon...
Police say former inmate was on drugs when he carjacked woman outside jail
Police say a Philadelphia man was under the influence of anxiety medication, marijuana and opioids on Dec. 4 when he carjacked a West Leechburg woman and sped away with her infant grandson in the backseat minutes after being released from Westmoreland County Prison, according to new court documents. County park...
Cops: Stats show violent crime down, community outreach working in Pittsburgh
Gun violence in Pittsburgh decreased across the board last year, from homicides to calls for shots fired, city officials said Monday. Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich credited more officers, more technology and more community outreach for the declines. Homicides fell by 5 percent between 2017 and 2018, from 58 to...
Troopers: Former inmate was on drugs when he carjacked woman outside county jail
A Philadelphia man was under the influence of anxiety medication, marijuana and opioids on Dec. 4 when he carjacked a woman and sped away with her infant grandson in the backseat minutes after being released from the Westmoreland County Prison, according to new court documents. County park police already had...
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...
