Top Stories category, Page 1025
Former priest facing sex charges dies 8 days after being found unresponsive in Allegheny County Jail
A 77-year-old man being held in Allegheny County Jail died Sunday at a local hospital — eight days after being found unresponsive in his cell. Paul Spisak, who was jailed Jan. 4 after police said he used a cellphone to record a 13-year-old boy in a Target bathroom stall in...
Fayette County coroner releases identity of woman killed in duplex fire
The Fayette County Coroner’s office has released the identity of a 90-year-old woman who was killed after a fire broke out in her Grindstone home Tuesday afternoon. Coroner Dr. Phillip Reilly said Peggy L. Caringola died in the blaze that severely damaged her home on the 100 block of E....
Pittsburgh City Council defends proposed 15% pay raise
Pittsburgh City Council members on Tuesday defended a proposed pay raise for themselves, but froze the proposed increase until they could further consult with the city’s legal department and other officials. Council President Theresa Kail-Smith said former Mayor Bill Peduto’s administration proposed boosting council members’ pay from $72,000 to $83,000...
2 men charged with abuse of corpse as missing woman’s body found in Washington County
Two men are charged with abuse of a corpse and other violations related to the discovery Tuesday of the body of a Washington County woman who was reported missing on Jan. 19. The suspects — Matthew Shashura, 24, of Vestaburg, and Christian Panyko, 44, of Washington — also were charged...
Winter storm packing snow, freezing rain moves across U.S.
CHICAGO — A major winter storm with millions of Americans in its path brought a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow to the middle section of the United States on Wednesday as airlines canceled hundreds of flights, governors urged residents to stay off roads and schools closed campuses. The...
Fired Harmar gas station clerk faces charges he stole $4,300 worth of winning lottery tickets, cash
Harmar Township police arrested a former gas station clerk on charges that he stole more than $4,300 worth of winning lottery tickets and cash during a one-week period in November. Joshua Andrew Lang, 19, of Spruce Street, Verona was charged Jan. 26 with a felony count of theft by deception...
Fern Hollow Bridge collapse viewing area closed ‘indefinitely’ just 2 days after opening
The observation platform meant to satisfy curious onlookers of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse site was short-lived, as Pittsburgh officials shut it down indefinitely Wednesday morning as crews prepare to rebuild the well-traveled span. The public viewing area, opened Monday on the Squirrel Hill side of the Fern Hollow Bridge,...
Extra ticket release, lottery coming for ‘Hamilton’ in Pittsburgh
If you are looking for “Hamilton” tickets and are seeing the “No Availability” notice on the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust website, don’t despair. “Additional seats will be made available for sale closer to the engagement,” said Marc Fleming, the Trust’s vice president of marketing, communications and Broadway programming. “We encourage people...
As Pittsburgh considers studying mergers, neighboring communities say they’re not interested
Officials from several of Pittsburgh’s neighboring municipalities say they aren’t interested in merging with the city, which last week introduced legislation to explore such possibilities. As Pittsburgh City Council seems poised to vote down a proposal to annex Wilkinsburg, they are considering a measure to launch broader investigations into merging...
Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie among Rock Hall nominees
NEW YORK — Dolly Parton, Eminem, Lionel Richie, Duran Duran and A Tribe Called Quest are among this year’s first-time nominees for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Cleveland-based institution announced 17 artists and groups being considered for Rock Hall induction, including Rage Against the Machine,...
Allegheny County preps for winter storm, offers online info for reporting problem roads
Allegheny County plans to have 32 trucks on the road to deal with snow, ice and freezing rain that is expected to hit the region by early Thursday, the county’s Department of Public Works said Wednesday. The National Weather Service in Moon issued an advisory calling for at least 3...
Water gushes from Stanwix Street garage in Pittsburgh
Water gushed down the floors of a Pittsburgh parking garage Wednesday morning on Stanwix Street near Fort Duquesne Boulevard. An Allegheny County 911 supervisor confirmed emergency crews were sent to the scene shortly before 3:30 a.m. WPXI-TV reported that water was continuing to pour down the building and onto the...
Lower Burrell engineer, a whole week into his career, helps team lift 60-foot bus out of ravine
Alex Delp was seven days into his engineering career with Allegheny Crane and Rigging last week when he found himself hovering 250 feet in the air overlooking the rubble of Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge. “It started out like any normal Friday,” said Delp, 23, of Lower Burrell. The day quickly...
Police from dozens of departments show up in force to support boy battling cancer at Children’s HospitalVideo
Fox Chapel, Sewickley and Plum police officers were among the cavalcade of crime fighters that came out Tuesday to support a boy battling cancer at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Police from 76 departments spanning Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Westmoreland, McKean and Washington counties rode in 87 vehicles around the facility...
Body of Washington, Pa., woman missing since mid-January found in Cecil
A 33-year-old woman who was reported missing in January was found dead Tuesday in Washington County, officials said. Rebecca Jordan Kloster, of Washington, was found in a wooded area near the 300 block of Hahn Drive in Cecil, according to the Washington County Coroner’s Office. Kloster was reported missing on...
Motorist in driveway crash that injured 3 at Derry birthday bash found not guilty of assault
A Greensburg man was found not guilty of serious felony offenses for the assaults of three people caused when he ran over them with his pickup two years ago in the driveway of a Derry Township apartment building. Police said Dominic G. Bellone, now 21, was drunk when he backed...
90-year-old woman dies in Fayette County fire
A 90-year-old woman was killed after a fire broke out in a Fayette County home Tuesday afternoon, Grindstone Fire Chief Rich Lenk confirmed. Crews responded to the 100 block of E. Second Street in Grindstone around 2:10 p.m. for reports of the fire at the duplex house. Officials believe the...
East Deer merger with Allegheny Valley Regional Police moves closer to reality
East Deer is coming closer to merging its police force with the Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department after receiving two approvals for its application. The Allegheny Valley Regional Police Commission approved East Deer’s application during a special meeting Jan. 25. Then, on Friday, Jan. 28, the Springdale Township commissioners voted...
Etna rallies against swastika flag with messages of love
Legal but not acceptable — that’s how many Etna residents are describing a swastika flag hanging from a porch along Greeley Avenue. “We have been working to positively respond with love and inclusion,” said Robert Tunon, chairman of the Etna Community Organization (ECO). It was late 2021 when neighbors first...
2 charged in homicides on Parkway East, Route 28 last year
Over the course of one deadly night, Howard Milligan shot and killed two people in separate incidents on Route 28 and the Parkway East last May, according to police. Milligan, 26, of Turtle Creek faces 17 charges in connection with the May 22 shootings, including two counts of homicide and...
2 Virginia college officers killed; suspect in custody
BRIDGEWATER, Va. — A gunman shot and killed two campus officers at a private college Tuesday, prompting a protracted campus lockdown and search before the suspect was apprehended, state police and school officials said. The lockdown began in the early afternoon when Bridgewater College officials sent out a tweet in...
$25.3M in federal funding set aside to replace Pittsburgh’s collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge
PennDOT said $25.3 million in federal funding has been allocated to replace the collapsed Fern Hollow Bridge, and the state transportation agency will assist in design and construction. Ten people were injured Friday when the bridge in Pittsburgh’s Frick Park collapsed, sending a Port Authority bus and several other vehicles...
TV Talk: Janelle Hall moves to mornings on WTAE as part of shakeup
The other shoe finally dropped following the abrupt departure of Kelly Frey from WTAE-TV last fall: Janelle Hall, most recently an anchor at 6 and 11 p.m., will join Michelle Wright weekday mornings, 4:30-7 a.m. Ryan Recker, who has been filling in since Frey’s departure, will also be a co-anchor...
Pittsburgh considers proposal to buy, rent additional snow plows
Pittsburgh City Council is considering a measure that would allow the city to buy and rent additional snow plows this year. Legislation sponsored by Councilman Anthony Coghill would reallocate more than $470,000 from the capital budget to buy six new snow plow trucks and rent six more. The funding was...
Pa. hunters turn in 5th-largest bear harvest, including 722-pounder in central Pa.
Hunters killed 3,659 Pennsylvania black bears in 2021, the fifth-best bear harvest ever and the second largest since 2011. That total included a 722-pound male, taken with a shotgun Dec. 4 during the extended season for bear, in Letterkenny Township, Franklin County, by Wade Glessner of Shippensburg. That was the...
