Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1232
15-year-old charged as an adult in connection with Hill District homicide
One teen is charged with killing another as a group of friends were hanging out last month in Pittsburgh’s Bedford Dwellings, according to court paperwork. Deron Darby, 15, is charged as an adult in connection with the April 24 death of 17-year-old Isaiah Freeman. Witnesses told police a group of...
Uniontown man raises over $57K for new liver thanks to Facebook group that mocks baby boomers
Gary Rider of Uniontown needed a liver transplant. But he couldn’t afford the medical bills. So he did what many people in similar situations do and started a GoFundMe page. He also started selling his possessions, one of which was an air compressor. He put an ad up for the...
State posts lowest number of new covid cases in 7 months
Not since early October has the daily covid case report for Pennsylvania been so low. New case numbers were down across the state, with Allegheny and Westmoreland counties posting their lowest numbers of the year — marks not seen for seven months. On Monday, the Pennsylvania Department of Health posted...
2 accused of boarding Jeannette school bus; driver hurt during attack
Two people are accused by police of boarding a Jeannette school bus, with one of them attacking the driver, according to court papers. Aaron Blocker Jr., 40, of Jeannette, is wanted on an arrest warrant. He is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, unauthorized school bus entry and harassment. Lacy...
2nd winning ‘Strike It Rich’ lottery ticket, worth $360K, sold in Westmoreland County
Someone will be able to finance quite the summer vacation after purchasing a prize-winning lottery ticket worth more than $360,000 in Murrysville. A progressive top-prize ticket worth $360,832 for the Pennsylvania Lottery’s “Strike It Rich” game was sold at the Sunoco fuel station and Choice Cigarette Discount Outlet at the...
Wendy Bell out of WJAS lineup
Wendy Bell is no longer in the weekday lineup on talk radio station WJAS. “All I can tell you is it’s a personnel matter and it’s currently being handled by the company,” said Michele Bradac, a spokeswoman for St. Barnabas, which owns the radio station. The radio station posted a...
Pittsburgh’s mayoral election features 2 established candidates and 2 novices
Pittsburgh’s mayoral race pits two political insiders, the incumbent and a longtime state representative, against two outsiders, a retired cop and an Ivy League-educated math tutor/ride-hailing driver. Talk of equity and reform unite the men, but each have different approaches to the subject. The May 18 Democratic primary likely decides...
2 charged in Jeannette break-in, assault of resident
A Jeannette man is being held without bail after police said he broke into a city home and attacked a sleeping woman, according to court papers. Police said Jamar Abdul McIntosh, 42, pointed a gun at the woman and punched her several times. He was arrested Thursday. Police said the...
Drenched: Steady rainfall sets records in Western Pa.
May showers bring May flowers? Yes they do. The steady rains the area has received in the early part of this month are setting records. The seven straight days of precipitation that fell in the Pittsburgh-area from May 3 through May 9 brought an unprecedented total of 2.32 inches of...
U.S. trashes unwanted gear in Afghanistan to be sold as scrap
BAGRAM, Afghanistan — The twisted remains of several all-terrain vehicles leaned precariously inside Baba Mir’s sprawling scrap yard, alongside smashed shards that were once generators, tank tracks that have been dismantled into chunks of metal, and mountains of tents reduced to sliced up fabric. It’s all U.S. military equipment. The...
AP-NORC poll: Biden approval buoyed by his pandemic response
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is plunging into the next phase of his administration with the steady approval of a majority of Americans, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The survey shows Biden is buoyed in particular by the public’s broad backing...
TV Talk: Stacy Smith to retire from KDKA-TV
Another veteran KDKA-TV news anchor will depart the station with the May 30 retirement of Stacy Smith. Unlike the recent news about Paul Martino’s retirement, this departure was more expected and had been in the works for some time. Smith departs after 38 years at KDKA and 50 years in...
35K pounds of medication collected in Pa. during Take Back Day
About 420 tons of prescription medication was collected nationwide during the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Take Back Day last month. In Pennsylvania, about 35,000 pounds of unused, expired and unwanted medication was turned in on April 24, according to agency statistics. The event, held twice a year, is meant to prevent...
Police: Man in critical condition after shooting in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood
A man is in critical condition after police say he was shot in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood early Monday morning. Officers who responded to 911 calls for a person shot in the 300 block of Mathews Avenue around 2:20 a.m. found a man with gunshot wounds to the buttocks and legs,...
California man used $5 million in coronavirus relief loans to buy luxury cars, federal authorities say
LOS ANGELES — An Irvine man was arrested on fraud charges this week after authorities say he used $5 million in pandemic relief loans to buy luxury sports cars, take lavish vacations and cover his personal expenses. Mustafa Qadiri, 38, submitted bogus applications for federal loans under the Paycheck Protection...
‘Stress-free’ Jim Rutherford watches, enjoys Penguins’ success, considers future
Jim Rutherford is mindful of his pronouns. It’s not “we.” It’s “they.” The Pittsburgh Penguins would be “they.” “I’m usually very careful with my words, as you’ve known over the years,” the team’s former general manager said by phone Saturday. “I went to ‘they’ relatively quickly as I left.” Rutherford...
7 dead including gunman in Colorado birthday party shooting
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A gunman opened fire at a birthday party in Colorado, slaying six adults before killing himself Sunday, police said. The shooting happened just after midnight in a mobile home park on the east side of Colorado Springs, police said. Officers arrived at a trailer to find...
Ownership of Pucketa Creek bridge split between 2 counties; repair plans underway
It’s not usual for residents to complain about potholes. But when Upper Burrell residents recently complained about huge potholes on the Lincoln Beach bridge off of Greensburg Road (Route 366) at Lincoln Boulevard, township officials had to check who exactly owned the span over Pucketa Creek. They knew it wasn’t...
Cyberattack on U.S. pipeline is linked to criminal gangVideo
NEW YORK — The cyberextortion attempt that has forced the shutdown of a vital U.S. pipeline was carried out by a criminal gang known as DarkSide that cultivates a Robin Hood image of stealing from corporations and giving a cut to charity, a person close to the investigation said Sunday....
Police: Leechburg man accused of assaulting woman on a sidewalk
A Leechburg man is charged with assaulting a woman on a sidewalk and inside a residence in Leechburg, according to a criminal complaint. Brad Lee Reidy, 21, was arraigned Wednesday and faces a felony strangulation charge and misdemeanor charges of simple assault and unlawful restraint from an incident Tuesday night....
What are cicadas and why do they bug some people?
Cicadas, red-eyed bugs singing loud sci-fi sounding songs, can seem downright creepy. Especially since the trillions of them coming this year emerge from underground only every 17 years. But they’re not monsters or a plague of locusts. Once you get to know them, scientists say you can appreciate the wonder...
Vax Live concert raises $302 million, exceeds vaccine goalVideo
LOS ANGELES — The Global Citizen fundraising concert advocating the importance of vaccine equity has pulled in $302 million, exceeding the goal for the organization’s campaign. Global Citizen announced Saturday that the funds raised helped procure more than 26 million doses at the “Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the...
Tearful reunions mark second Mother’s Day under pandemic
Joyous reunions among vaccinated parents and children across the country marked this year’s Mother’s Day, the second one celebrated during the coronavirus pandemic. Some families separated by worries of transmitting the virus saw each other for the first time in over a year, emboldened by their vaccinations. Jeanie Codianni of...
China says most rocket debris burned up during reentry
BEIJING — China’s space agency said a core segment of its biggest rocket reentered Earth’s atmosphere above the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and that most of it burned up early Sunday. Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who tracked the tumbling rocket part, said on Twitter, “An ocean reentry was always...
Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ imperils Republicans who don’t embrace it
WASHINGTON — Allegiance to a lie has become a test of loyalty to Donald Trump and a means of self-preservation for Republicans. Trump’s discredited allegations about a stolen election did nothing to save his presidency when courtrooms high and low, state governments and ultimately Congress — meeting in the chaos...
