Top Stories category, Page 1441
Former Speaker Mike Turzai starts as Peoples’ general counsel
Former Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai’s whirlwind week continued Tuesday, when he started his life in the private sector as general counsel of Peoples, the Pittsburgh-based gas utility. His last day in office as speaker Monday was spent advancing two bills out of committee that would change how police are...
Man sentenced for sending pornographic images to Derry Township girl
A Forest County man will serve time in jail for sending pornographic pictures of himself to a 15-year-old Derry Township girl last year. Shawn M. Negley Jr., 19, pleaded guilty to two felony offenses in connection with pictures police said he sent to the juvenile via social media. According to...
Pittsburgh residents decry grant funding for city police
Pittsburgh is getting separate grants totaling about $1.6 million for a violence prevention program and as reimbursement for police overtime during two past high-profile events, and at least five residents strongly urged officials to spend it on anything other than the police bureau. City Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to...
Pittsburgh City Council overwhelmed with calls for police reform
Messages to Pittsburgh City Council calling for a reduced police budget are arriving daily by the hundreds. Council members responded Tuesday by saying they would work to enact police reform, but they aren’t inclined to disband the police department. Councilwoman Deb Gross of Highland Park said she’s received nearly 3,000...
YWCA Greater Pittsburgh’s Downtown building is on the market
YWCA Greater Pittsburgh’s building on Wood Street Downtown is on the market, its leader said Tuesday. The move was in the works before the coronavirus pandemic and is part of the YWCA’s new organizational strategy to focus its resources to supporting race and gender equity, especially for women of color,...
Scott residents ask commissioner to resign for health secretary comments
A group of Scott Township residents have penned a letter asking Commissioner Paul Abel to resign for his recent public comments about the state health secretary’s gender. The letter, from a newly formed group called Building Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, also includes a list of demands the township must enact...
Westmoreland officials planning to dole out $30 million in pandemic relief money
Westmoreland County will allocate $30 million to help local governments, small businesses and nonprofit organizations that suffered financial losses during the coronavirus pandemic. That broad spending plan constitutes a baseline of how county officials said they intend to dole out the $31.5 million grant awarded this month as part of...
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter sues newspaper over protest coverage ban
A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter is suing the newspaper, claiming racial discrimination and retaliation after management barred her from covering local protests stemming from the death of George Floyd. The federal lawsuit filed Tuesday is the latest in a series of events that began June 1, the date on which the...
Butler woman accused of fatally stabbing boyfriend
Police said a Butler woman stabbed her boyfriend to death in their apartment on Sunday. Butler City Police on Monday charged Shaina Ann Helen Grush, 31, with criminal homicide in connection to the death of Robert Wagner, 43. The two lived together in an apartment on the city’s West Jefferson...
Scott man accused of hurting 3 Pittsburgh cops during Downtown protest
A 24-year-old Scott man who is accused of hurting three Pittsburgh police officers during the May 30 protests Downtown has schizophrenia and is in jail after an unrelated June 10 incident at his grandparents’ home, according to criminal complaints. Authorities used surveillance camera footage to identify Andrew Augustyniak-Duncan as the...
In touting executive order, Trump says police reform ‘might have prevented’ Antwon Rose’s death
Following weeks of national protests since the death of George Floyd, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on policing Tuesday that would encourage better police practices and establish a database to keep track of officers with a history of excessive use-of-force complaints. In touting the order, Trump said this...
Health officials: Some Lyme, covid-19 symptoms are similar
Preliminary data is showing that Pennsylvania is on track for its third year of declining incidents of Lyme disease, but an estimated 8,500 cases in 2019 still puts the state among the top five nationwide. As tick season ramps up to its peak in July, state health officials urge residents...
Pa. reports 33 new coronavirus deaths, 362 new cases
The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 33 new covid-19 deaths and 362 new cases in the state Tuesday. That brings the state’s total case count to 79,483, with 6,276 deaths. The state considers 630 patients as probable cases, but they are not confirmed. More than half of coronavirus cases in...
1 new coronavirus case, no new deaths reported in Westmoreland County
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Tuesday reported one new covid-19 cases and no additional deaths in Westmoreland County. The countywide case total is now 493 with 38 deaths, according to the department . There have been no reported coronavirus deaths in Westmoreland County since May 18. County Coroner Kenneth...
Shaler man accused of destroying Pittsburgh police SUV pleads not guilty to federal charges
A Shaler man accused of sparking violence at a peaceful protest last month in Downtown Pittsburgh pleaded not guilty to federal charges Tuesday morning. Brian Bartels, 20, faces federal charges of obstruction of justice during civil disorder as well as criminal charges filed by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office...
Allegheny County reports 27 new covid-19 cases, 1 new death
Allegheny County health officials reported 27 new covid-19 cases, one new death and no new hospitalizations on Tuesday. That brings the county’s total number of coronavirus cases to 2,113, including 1,979 confirmed cases and 134 probable cases, county health officials said. The total number of deaths increased by one to...
Same driver suspected of causing 2 crashes that injured 3 in South Huntingdon
A 75-year-old man may have been under the influence of alcohol when he allegedly caused two crashes Sunday on State Route 31 in South Huntingdon, according to police reports. State troopers said the suspect was driving his SUV eastbound on Route 31, or Mt. Pleasant Road, just after 3 p.m....
Dog charging toward children shot and killed in Penn Hills
No one was hurt over the weekend when a man shot and killed a pit bull after he thought the dog put children in danger on a residential street in Penn Hills, according to police. Police Chief Howard Burton said the incident happened around 10 p.m. Saturday on the 100...
Ohio restaurant names Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf employee of the month for driving business
An Ohio barbecue joint just across the border from Erie named Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf its employee of the month for bringing so much business to the lakefront eatery over the past weeks. The Facebook post from Breakwall BBQ owner Mike Morgan is a wink and a nod to Pennsylvania’s...
Cheap drug is first shown to improve covid-19 survival
Researchers in England say they have the first evidence that a drug can improve covid-19 survival: A cheap, widely available steroid reduced deaths by up to one third in severely ill hospitalized patients. The results were announced Tuesday and the British government immediately authorized the drug’s use across the United...
Woman taken to hospital after crashing car down Shaler hillside
A woman in her 80s suffered a minor arm injury after losing control of her car, which then went down a hillside, Shaler police Chief Sean Frank said. The accident happened around 7:15 a.m. Tuesday in the 100 block of Seavey Road. Frank said the woman, whose name he did...
PennDOT: Sewickley Bridge to be closed around-the-clock for 24 days
The Sewickley Bridge will be closed for 24 days for repairs starting next month, PennDOT announced Tuesday. The around-the-clock closure of the bridge spanning the Ohio River between Route 51 in Moon and Route 65 in Sewickley is scheduled to run from July 17 through Aug. 10. About 20,000 vehicles...
Children’s Place to close 300 stores by end of 2021
The Children’s Place will close nearly a third of its stores by the end 2021, the specialty apparel retailer announced recently in revealing its first quarter 2020 results. The company said it plans to close 200 stores in 2020, and another 100 in 2021. The Children’s Place had 920 stores...
North Korea blows up inter-Korea liaison office, raising tensionsVideo
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea blew up an inter-Korean liaison office building just north of the heavily armed border with South Korea on Tuesday in a dramatic display of anger that sharply raises tensions on the Korean Peninsula and puts pressure on Washington and Seoul amid deadlocked nuclear diplomacy....
ATI to lay off union, nonunion workers, cites covid-19 pandemic as reason
Allegheny Technologies Inc. anticipates laying off union and nonunion employees between now and late September because of declining customer demand during the coronavirus pandemic, a company spokeswoman said Monday. ATI spokeswoman Natalie Gillespie said the company would not disclose how many hourly and salaried employees will be affected. “In response...
