Top Stories category, Page 1045
Brackenridge woman accused of hitting man with car with 1-year-old inside
A Brackenridge woman is accused of hitting a man with a car on the side of Route 28, then fleeing with her 1-year-old son in her car. State police charged Shakeira Ladaisa Hardin, 25, with felony counts of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child and misdemeanor charges...
Death ruled a homicide at scene of East Hills shooting
The death of a 20-year-old man shot in Pittsburgh’s East Hills Tuesday has been ruled a homicide. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man as Michael Smith, who died at the scene at 2300 Wilner Drive and East Hills Drive. According to police, officers responded to alerts of...
Pitt gets $100M infusion to build biomanufacturing hub at Hazelwood Green brownfield site
Pittsburgh’s last brownfield-turned-tech hub just got another $100 million infusion. The Richard King Mellon Foundation announced Wednesday that it’s gifting the money to the University of Pittsburgh to develop a large swath of the 178-acre Hazelwood Green development along the Monongahela River into a biomanufacturing powerhouse. The $100 million grant...
Buffalo Trace kicks off holiday round of PLCB’s rare liquor lotteries
Anyone who ever wanted tickets to a massively popular concert is familiar with the scenario: Tickets go on sale, and immediately giant blocks of them are snapped up in the first few minutes. Before the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board instituted its limited-release lotteries in 2015, the same thing happened to...
Penguins fans sound off on potential ownership change
The news traveled faster than a Sidney Crosby slap shot. By game time Tuesday, fans at PPG Paints Arena to watch the Penguins host the Buffalo Sabres had already heard. Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park, is in advanced negotiations to purchase the Penguins....
Carnegie man gets 5 to 10 years state prison in fatal DUI crash on Parkway West
A Carnegie man pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing a South Park woman in a 2019 crash in which he was under the influence of drugs. Aaron Hutchison, 21, pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, as well as his fourth DUI offense, and related charges. As...
Boosters for all adults in U.S. closer with panel meeting set
NEW YORK — An influential U.S. advisory panel will discuss expanding eligibility for covid-19 vaccine booster shots to all adults Friday, a move that could make the shots available nationwide as early as this weekend. Some cities and states already allow all adults to get boosters of Pfizer’s vaccine, but...
Butler woman pleads guilty in fatal 2020 wrong-way crash on Route 8
In February 2020, Kaitlyn Eckelberry’s life was all coming together. Her years of hard work in college and graduate school had paid off, and she had just passed her boards to become a physician’s assistant. She was hired at her dream job in orthopedics, had just signed a lease for...
Woodland Hills School District to offer gun buyback program
Woodland Hills School District officials announced they have secured partnerships and funding to provide a gun buyback program within its communities. “This is an idea that has been a couple of years in the making,” Superintendent James Harris said in a press release Tuesday. “Our students and staff have been...
Police testify suspected murder weapon in Arnold slaying was found in a shoe
Detectives who searched the Arnold home where police said a man was gunned down last year testified Tuesday the suspected murder weapon was found hidden inside of a shoe left behind at the home. Statepolice Detective Nick Iera said he initially didn’t see the weapon as he walked through the...
UPMC Mercy hospital’s $510M expansion on track for spring 2023 opening
Hot orange sparks rained down on freshly erected steel beams Tuesday morning as construction workers welded and hammered while harnessed to high-rise scaffolds and aerial lifts overlooking the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh. Two giant cranes rotated nonstop, hoisting building materials weighing thousands of pounds across the busy construction site of...
Pa. school mask mandate will expire Dec. 4 if state Supreme Court doesn’t issue new stay
The school mask mandate in Pennsylvania will end on Dec. 4 unless the state Supreme Court grants a stay to Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration. On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court granted a motion to lift a stay of its order from last week that found the acting secretary of health...
Bishops urged to listen as they consider Communion document
BALTIMORE — Pope Francis’ top envoy to the United States cautioned the country’s bishops on Tuesday that the church needs to listen before it teaches as they deliberated at their fall meeting on a sensitive document about Holy Communion that emerged amid debates over Catholic politicians’ support for abortion. “It...
Penguins on verge of sale to Fenway Sports Group; Mario Lemieux would stay on as minority owner
Fenway Sports Group LLC, which owns the iconic Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park, is in advanced negotiations to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sources familiar with the Penguins and Fenway Sports Group confirmed the nature of the negotiations, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday afternoon....
Pittsburgh’s Roberto Clemente Drive renamed to also honor late wife Vera
Roberto Clemente Drive in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood will officially be renamed to Roberto and Vera Clemente Drive, a nod to the baseball legend’s late wife. Roberto Clemente was a Hall of Fame outfielder for the Pirates who also is remembered for his philanthropic work off the field. The beloved Pittsburgh...
Ex-Penguins minor league hockey coach charged with sexual assault
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A former minor league coach in the Pittsburgh Penguins system who also had a brief NHL playing career has been indicted on multiple sexual assault charges in Rhode Island, the state attorney general’s office announced Tuesday. Clark Donatelli, 55, of South Kingstown was indicted by a grand...
Shadyside mansion adorned for Pittsburgh Symphony Association holiday tour
Pittsburgh Symphony Association members weren’t hopeful that they would be able to present their Symphony Splendor Holiday House Tour this year. Then, Scott Cavanaugh and Ron Graham offered their Gilded Age Shadyside mansion for the much-anticipated event. “With the current situation, you can understand that homeowners wouldn’t permit hundreds of...
$4.9M redevelopment project planned on Pittsburgh’s North Side
Pittsburgh and the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority are partnering with the Historic Deutschtown Development Corp. to redevelop three vacant buildings on the North Side’s East Ohio Street in a proposed $4.9 million project. The URA owns properties at 624 and 628 East Ohio St., while the Historic Deutschtown Development Corp....
Jury begins deliberations at Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial
KENOSHA, Wis. — The jury has begun deliberating at the murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse after listening to two weeks of dueling portrayals of Rittenhouse. Prosecutors say he was a “wannabe soldier” who instigated the bloodshed; the defense says he acted in self-defense after coming under attack. The 18-year-old Rittenhouse...
5 questions with Pittsburgh doctor on rethinking covid mitigation measures
Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Pittsburgh-based infectious disease expert and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, has said it since the beginning of the pandemic — that covid-19 was a respiratory virus and we were going to be living with it for a long time. In a...
Pfizer asks U.S. officials to OK promising covid-19 pill
WASHINGTON — Pfizer asked U.S. regulators Tuesday to authorize its experimental pill for covid-19, setting the stage for a likely launch this winter of a promising treatment that can be taken at home. The company’s filing comes as new infections are rising once again in the United States, driven mainly...
State police say missing Indiana County woman found safe in Allegheny County
A 79-year-old Indiana County woman who was reported missing Monday evening was found Tuesday in Allegheny County and is safe, state police said. Relatives reported Nancy C. Smith, 79, of Dilltown, missing when she did not return home from a shopping trip Monday evening, state police said. Trooper Cliff Greenfield...
Heights Plaza wreaths a sign of the holidays, nod to the past
Passersby at Heights Plaza in Harrison likely will notice the 28 oversized pine wreaths hung Saturday by Harrison Commissioner Chuck Dizard and a group of fellow holiday elves. The 4-foot wreaths are illuminated with tiny white lights and appointed with a large red bow. Dizard said the sight might evoke...
Point State Park holiday tree will be lit once again
The Christmas tree in Point State Park, Downtown, will illuminate once again. After last year’s announcement that 2020 would be the final time for the holiday season, a group of citizens started a petition for its return. They got more than 10,000 signatures. Duquesne Light confirmed via email: “Duquesne Light...
Peduto proposes legislation to require e-signatures, ‘socially responsible’ procurement practices
Mayor Bill Peduto’s administration has proposed an ordinance to require the use of electronic signatures across all city departments, as well as one that it said would ensure the city is engaging in “sustainable and socially responsible” procurement practices. During the pandemic, the use of electronic signatures on contracts and...
