Top Stories category, Page 1081
Prosecution rests in rape and sexual assault trial of Allegheny Township man
Two more women told a Westmoreland County jury on Wednesday they were raped by an Allegheny Township man. Their testimony came during the third day in the trial of Eric Wright, 49, who prosecutors claim sexually assaulted and raped three juveniles and three adult women, dating back to the early...
Pandemic caused a drinking boom in Pa. as liquor control board reports record sales, profits
Pennsylvanians bought more wine and liquor during the pandemic than ever before, according to financial numbers released Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board. Sales for the fiscal year ending June 30 totaled $2.9 billion, including sales taxes. It was $349.4 million — 13.7% — higher than the 2019-20 fiscal...
Solicitor advises Greater Latrobe School Board to honor mask mandate as protests continue
Greater Latrobe School Board this week amended its health and safety plan to formally include a state mask mandate that has been in place since Sept. 7. Several residents called for the school board to contest it, but solicitor Ned Nakles advised the panel to honor the order while legal...
Lawsuit alleges Bethel Park McDonald’s hired sex offender who raped teen employee
A teenage girl and her parents sued McDonald’s and a Bethel Park franchise operator Tuesday, alleging that she was harassed and raped by a shift manager with whom she worked, that the defendants knew about it and did nothing to stop it. The complaint, filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas...
More than 100 Penn State students suspended for bucking vaccine-or-test requirement
More than 100 Penn State University students are on interim suspension for failing to comply with the university’s covid-19 testing requirement, according to a release from the school. As of Tuesday, according to the release, 117 students at Penn State’s University Park campus have been placed on interim suspension after...
Pittsburgh council advances law banning cat declawing surgery
Declawing cats could soon be banned in Pittsburgh. Under legislation advanced by City Council on Wednesday, the surgery, which many veterinarians say causes behavioral issues and long-term pain for the animals, would be prohibited. “I think veterinarians know better and want this to stop,” said Jennifer Conrad, a California veterinarian...
Trump sues niece, NY Times over records behind ’18 tax story
NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday sued his estranged niece and The New York Times over a 2018 story about his family’s wealth and tax practices that was partly based on confidential documents she provided to the newspaper’s reporters. Trump’s lawsuit, filed in state court in New...
Va. authorities believe missing 3-year-old girl died in care of couple arrested in South Greensburg
Virginia authorities investigating the disappearance of a 3-year-old girl believe she died while in the care of a couple police arrested in South Greensburg this month. Augusta County Sheriff Donald L. Smith said the determination came after a Monday search of a Virginia home where the couple lived. Investigators were...
Officials: Many Haitian migrants on Texas border are being released into U.S.
DEL RIO, Texas — Many Haitian migrants camped in a small Texas border town are being released in the United States, two U.S. officials said Tuesday, undercutting the Biden administration’s public statements that the thousands in the camp faced immediate expulsion. Haitians have been freed on a “very, very large...
Pittsburgh introduces $2M proposal to reduce Mt. Washington landslides
Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday introduced legislation that would allocate $2 million to a project designed to mitigate landslides at Mt. Washington, where several have occurred in recent years. Mt. Washington, well known for its views of the city below, has seen multiple landslides, which have forced the city to...
Water main break floods basement of Downtown Pittsburgh hotel
A water main break flooded basement of a Pittsburgh hotel Wednesday morning. The break was at Fort Duquesne Boulevard and Barkers Way, a Pittsburgh Public Safety spokesperson said. The subbasement of the Renaissance Hotel Pittsburgh on Sixth Street was taking on water. There was 6 to 8 feet of water...
Man arrested in prowling incidents in, around Pitt campus
A man has been arrested in a series of prowling incidents in and around the University of Pittsburgh campus, Pittsburgh police announced. Erik Robert Demarco, 36, was arrested Tuesday by Pittsburgh detectives working with university police. Demarco faces two felony counts of criminal trespass and misdemeanor charges of escape and...
2 hurt in related shootings in Pittsburgh
Two people were hurt in shootings in Pittsburgh late Tuesday night, Pittsburgh police said. Officers responded to reports of a person being shot just before 11:30 p.m. on Lemington Avenue just past Lincoln Avenue. According to police, officers found a man who had been shot in the leg. He was...
After near-death experience, Bishop Canevin senior writing comeback story on football field
In a helmet and shoulder pads, Eli Wilson looks just like thousands of other high school football players across Western Pennsylvania. But the Bishop Canevin senior has a remarkable life story that started tragically before turning triumphant. He’s mostly kept the story to himself. “I thought people were going to...
Quaker Valley School District officials: No critical race theory is taught in QV schools
Critical race theory is not part of the Quaker Valley curriculum and is not being taught in its schools, district officials said on Sept. 21. Assistant Superintendent Andrew Surloff said it’s a college and law school level topic and is not something he has found being taught at the K-12...
House OKs debt and funding plan, inviting clash with GOP in Senate
WASHINGTON — The House voted Tuesday night to fund the government into early December, suspend the federal debt limit and provide disaster and refugee aid, setting up a high-stakes showdown with Republicans who oppose the package despite the prospects of a looming fiscal crisis. The Democratic-led House passed the measure...
1 dead, 1 flown to hospital after head-on collision in East Huntingdon
A head-on collision between a car and a pickup truck killed a Mt. Pleasant Township woman and severely injured another person Tuesday in East Huntingdon, according to the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office and a fire official. Brandalyn Pomaibo, 35, died at the scene of the Water Street crash reported at...
Gabby Petito confirmed dead of homicide, autopsy finds
NORTH PORT, Fla. — Gabby Petito was killed by another person, a coroner concluded while also confirming that the human remains found recently at a Wyoming national park were those of the 22-year-old woman who disappeared months after she set out on a cross-country road trip with her boyfriend, the...
‘Soul-crushing’: U.S. covid-19 deaths are topping 1,900 a dayVideo
Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. have climbed to an average of more than 1,900 a day for the first time since early March, with experts saying the virus is preying largely on a distinct group: 71 million unvaccinated Americans. The increasingly lethal turn has filled hospitals, complicated the start of...
Pa. health leaders ready covid boosters for 65 and older population
Pennsylvania health officials on Tuesday pledged that covid-19 vaccine providers would be ready when federal guidance on potential booster shots comes down, something that is expected to come Thursday. An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration last week issued a narrow recommendation in terms of which Americans should...
Options shrink for Haitian migrants straddling Texas borderVideo
DEL RIO, Texas — Options narrowed Tuesday for thousands of Haitian migrants straddling the Mexico-Texas border as the United States government ramped up expulsion flights to Haiti, and Mexico began flying and busing some away from the border. Dozens of migrants upset about being deported to Haiti tried to rush...
Warden pauses militaristic training at Allegheny County Jail after board voteVideo
Allegheny County Jail Warden Orlando Harper on Tuesday said that he has “paused” controversial militaristic training at the facility being offered by Joseph Garcia and his company, Corrections Special Applications Unit — a day after the Jail Oversight Board voted to cancel a no-bid contract with them. Harper said at...
Steelers’ JuJu Smith-Schuster learns to sign during school for deaf visitVideo
Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster learned something at The Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Edgewood on Tuesday. Students in one of the classrooms showed him how to sign the words “defense,” “special teams” and, of course, “offense.” During his surprise visit to the school, he interacted with elementary,...
Arnold woman to stand trial for supplying heroin in 2020 overdose death in Lower Burrell
An Arnold woman will stand trial on charges of selling heroin last spring to a Lower Burrell woman who overdosed and died. Sentrilla A. McDonald, 41, of Victoria Avenue, waived her right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday before District Judge Cheryl Peck Yakopec in connection with the May 4, 2020,...
Pittsburgh man indicted in connection with New York torture-murder case
A grand jury in New York this week indicted a Pittsburgh teenager in connection with the gruesome kidnapping, torture and murder of a man found dead earlier this year in rural Potter County. Malik Weems, 18, was indicted alongside two New York men on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping...
