Top Stories category, Page 1410
Editorial: Names of jurors in Held trial should be released
A jury has a job. Everything that happens in a criminal trial plays to an audience of 12. The jury is entrusted with the solemn responsibility of hearing evidence and legal arguments and setting aside preconceptions to determine whether or not someone committed a crime. It’s arguably the most important...
Scavenger race spotlights downtown Greensburg featuresVideo
Kelly Mazon and her three friends nearly missed a valuable landmark Saturday morning as they raced along the sidewalks of downtown Greensburg. Looking up near the corner of West Second Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, they used their phones to snap a shot of a spiral staircase — part of a...
Maxine Bruhns, longtime Pitt Nationality Rooms director and ‘citizen of the world,’ dies
E. Maxine Bruhns spent most of her life ensuring University of Pittsburgh students and visitors learned something about the many diverse cultures from around the globe. She served at least 54 years as director of the Oakland campus’ Nationality Rooms, which were described as mini-museums representing the Steel City’s ethnic...
Protesters hit with gas as locals demand feds leave Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. — Militarized federal agents deployed by the president to Portland, Oregon, fired tear gas against protesters again overnight as the city’s mayor demanded that the agents be removed and as the state’s attorney general vowed to seek a restraining order against them. Federal agents, some wearing camouflage and...
Westmoreland County reports 18 new coronavirus cases
Westmoreland County saw 18 new cases of covid-19 in the past 24 hours, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reported Saturday, but no additional deaths. The county had seen increases of at least 20 cases every day in July with the exception of July 12 and 13, when the state reported...
Pennsylvania surpasses 100,000 covid-19 cases, 1 million tests
Pennsylvania achieved an unwanted trifecta after the Department of Health released the state’s coronavirus case results Saturday. As of July 18, the Keystone State had surpassed 100,000 positive cases and 7,000 deaths after administering more than 1 million tests. There were 763 new cases and 15 new covid-19 deaths reported...
As schools’ reopening plans balance safety with education, officials left feeling they’re picking ‘the best bad option’
Some school officials say their districts are in a no-win situation as they draw up reopening plans meant to balance health and education amid a pandemic that closed schools in the spring and upends any hope of normalcy in the fall. Those plans, required by state health and education officials...
Bob Full, former Allegheny County emergency services chief, dies at 65
Bob Full, former Allegheny County emergency services chief and chief deputy director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, died on Friday, according to his family and county officials. County Executive Rich Fitzgerald remembered Full as “a true public servant who dedicated his life to public safety and the protection of...
Blaze causes extensive damage to steel manufacturer in Ambridge
A Beaver County manufacturing plant was extensively damaged in a Saturday morning fire, while the workers inside were safely evacuated. The five-alarm fire was reported at about 5 a.m. at Sukup Steel Structures in the 300 block of 14th Street in Ambridge, according to a county 911 dispatcher. Ambridge Fire...
Hempfield teacher details desperate dash for medical evacuation from Africa to save eyesight
It was mid-June in Lagos, Nigeria, and Andrew Mewbourn was desperate. After more than two decades as a teacher at American International Schools in Brazil, Eritrea, Mongolia and Nigeria, it took a lot to rattle the Hempfield man. Mewbourn, his wife Pamela and their two children had traveled the world...
John Lewis, lion of civil rights and Congress, dies at 80
ATLANTA — John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress, died. He was 80. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed Lewis’ passing late...
Pittsburgh police: Ross man provided teen girl drugs, sex for years
A Ross Township man was arrested Friday by Pittsburgh police on numerous child sex charges. Justin Sircely, 26, faces numerous charges after the Violent Crimes Against Children Task Force was notified on July 14 of an inappropriate sexual relationship between Sircely and an unidentified juvenile victim. Task force members, which...
Bars introduce cheap eats to comply with coronavirus ‘meal’ restrictions
Many Pennsylvania bars, pubs, taverns and breweries introduced a few new menu items this week, or put deep discounts on existing offerings. French fries, popcorn, potato chips and other simple fare are being offered as a way to adapt to a new state rule that prohibits on-premises alcohol consumption —...
Mayor of Portland to Trump: Get your troops out of the city
PORTLAND, Ore. — The mayor of Portland demanded Friday that President Donald Trump remove militarized federal agents he deployed to the city after some detained people on streets far from federal property they were sent to protect. “Keep your troops in your own buildings, or have them leave our city,”...
Greensburg Diocese Bishop Malesic prepares for yet another leg on his journeyVideo
Roman Catholic Diocese of Greensburg Bishop Edward Malesic thought it was odd when he received a cellphone message from the Papal Nuncio on July 1 as he was traveling between Catholic schools to celebrate record scholarship contributions. Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the pope’s diplomatic envoy to Washington, D.C., asked Malesic to...
Washington Township man pleads guilty to 2018 assault on elderly woman, police during rampage
A Washington Township man pleaded guilty Friday to the assault of an elderly woman and against police during a rampage two years ago. David A. Gibson, 46, could face up to more than 20 years in prison by virtue of his pleas to four counts of aggravated assault, unlawful restraint,...
First Westmoreland prison inmate tests positive for covid-19
Westmoreland officials confirmed Friday that an inmate who was placed in custody last week at the county prison tested positive for coronavirus. This is the first confirmed case involving inmates or staff at the lockup. Warden John Walton said the inmate was arrested July 11 by New Kensington police and...
Indiana County man arrested after troopers find ATV buried in yard
An Indiana County man attempted to hide the theft of an all-terrain vehicle this month by burying it in his backyard, state police said. Stephen P. McCloskey, 23, of Homer City, is charged with receiving stolen property, alteration of a vehicle identification number and theft after troopers dug up the...
License plate shortage affects auto industry as PennDOT works to catch up after pandemic shutdowns
Car dealerships and notaries throughout Pennsylvania are experiencing a hiccup in the supply chain for license plates — often leaving management at those retailers scrambling to continue doing business during the coronavirus pandemic. The problem, according to dealerships, notaries and state officials, is twofold: License plate stockpiles at car dealerships...
State Police Liquor Control issues 44 warnings for pandemic compliance
Pennsylvania State Police Liquor Control Enforcement officers issued 44 warnings this week for licensed liquor establishments failing to follow covid-19 requirements, officials said Friday. Liquor Control Enforcement officers visited 3,904 businesses from Monday through Thursday. These compliance checks were unannounced and focused on areas with high covid-19 transmission rates. Officials...
Pirates confirm starting right fielder Gregory Polanco has tested positive for covid-19
The Pittsburgh Pirates’ starting lineup suffered a big blow with the announcement Gregory Polanco has tested positive for covid-19, which threatens to force the right fielder to miss the start of the season. Pirates manager Derek Shelton confirmed the positive test Friday afternoon after receiving consent from Polanco to go...
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says cancer has returned, but won’t retireVideo
WASHINGTON — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said Friday she is receiving chemotherapy for a recurrence of cancer, but has no plans to retire from the Supreme Court. The 87-year-old Ginsburg, who spent time in the hospital this week for a possible infection, said her treatment so far has succeeded in...
How delays in covid-19 test results hamper virus control
Delays in the reporting of coronavirus test results are making it more difficult to control the outbreak, health experts said. “If you’re waiting seven days for a test result, the value of that test becomes much less useful,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Pittsburgh-based fellow with the Infectious Diseases Society...
Westmoreland County reports 28 new coronavirus cases, no deaths
Westmoreland County has reported double-digit cases of cornavirus for the 17th consecutive day. The county on Friday reported 28 new coronavirus cases, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, bringing the total to 1,117. Of those, 1,085 are listed as confirmed and 32 are probable cases. Westmoreland County coronavirus by...
Ex-West Penn employee accused of videotaping co-workers in bathroom
A former West Penn Hospital employee spied on co-workers in the bathroom by using a small video camera he taped to a chair and then downloaded the recordings to his personal laptop, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office alleges in charges filed Friday. The camera footage led to the arrest...
