Top Stories category, Page 1546
U.S. appeals court upholds Trump rules involving abortions
SEATTLE — In a victory for the Trump administration, a U.S. appeals court on Monday upheld rules that bar taxpayer-funded family-planning clinics from referring women for abortions. The 7-4 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned decisions issued by judges in Washington, Oregon and California. The court...
Feds: Oakmont native kidnapped, killed Bethel Park woman in Nevada desert ‘for her money’
An Oakmont native who confessed to killing a Bethel Park woman in the Nevada desert now faces federal charges of kidnapping resulting in death, court records filed Monday show. John Matthew Chapman, who’s originally from Oakmont and more recently lived in Maryland, was arrested in connection with Jaime Feden’s disappearance...
Family laments that Hempfield doctor avoided jail for their daughter’s fatal overdoseVideo
Don Howard pulled no punches Monday in a Westmoreland County courtroom as he called for his daughter’s former doctor to be sent to jail. “He’s nothing but a pill pusher, and I guess he doesn’t mean his Hippocratic oath,” Howard said during a hearing in which Dr. Edgar Peske, 81,...
Work to remove Ohiopyle graffiti underwayVideo
Cleanup got under way Monday along the Youghiogheny River in Ohiopyle’s Ferncliff Peninsula Natural Area after an act of vandalism left spray-painted symbols and words on rocks just across from the visitors center. Four employees dragged a pressure washer and generator nearly 500 yards down a trail, hoping the high...
Sen. Casey asks AG Barr to end Pittsburgh’s involvement in Ukraine probe
Pennsylvania’s senior U.S. senator on Monday urged Attorney General William Barr to stop diverting law enforcement resources from the Pittsburgh region to vet information about Ukraine. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, wrote that he questions whether Barr and the Department of Justice’s leadership is more interested in helping the president’s...
North Hills gets good grades from parents on work-at-home snow days
The North Hills School District’s first use of a state program that lets kids work at home when school is cancelled because of weather or for other reasons was a success, according to a survey of district parents. The state Department of Education gave the district permission in November to...
Walmart training employees for in-home delivery at empty townhouse in SewickleyVideo
There is an empty townhome in Sewickley. No one lives there, but the fridge is stocked full of food and drinks. The home is one of a few in the country being rented by Walmart for the sole purpose of training employees for the company’s new in-home delivery service. Walmart...
Woman, 84, sinks putt across basketball court to win new carVideo
OXFORD, Miss. — All that 84-year-old Mary Ann Wakfield needed to do to win a new car was sink a putt across the entire length of the court at the University of Mississippi’s basketball stadium. Wakfield did just that during a promotional segment at Saturday’s game between Ole Miss men’s...
Owner of 4 Shop ‘n Saves given probation for $300K coupon scheme
The owner of four North Hills grocery stores was sentenced Monday to four years of probation after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors for a long-running coupon scheme that bilked nearly $300,000 from manufacturers. Michael Mihelic, 60, of Franklin Park pleaded guilty to a single count of theft. “It was...
Amid lower natural gas prices, Chevron Appalachia to begin layoffs at Moon headquarters
Chevron Appalachia informed Pennsylvania it will begin layoffs at its regional headquarters in Moon. The layoffs, beginning April 6 and continuing through the end of the year, will affect 288 employees, according to a WARN notice filed with the state Department of Labor & Industry. The layoffs at the 700...
Harvey Weinstein found guilty in landmark #MeToo moment
NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein was convicted Monday at his sexual assault trial, sealing his dizzying fall from powerful Hollywood studio boss to archvillain of the #MeToo movement. He was found guilty of criminal sex act for assaulting production assistant Mimi Haleyi at his apartment in 2006 and third-degree rape...
Slippery Rock student, Pittsburgh native survives 80-foot fall off cliff at McConnells Mill
A Slippery Rock University student survived an 80-foot fall off a cliff when she “slipped on some leaves” Sunday afternoon near a climbing area at McConnells Mill State Park. Jocie Van Kirk, 21, originally from Pittsburgh, was flown to a hospital around 3:30 p.m. Sunday to be treated for neck,...
6 accused in conspiracy to smuggle drugs into Westmoreland County Prison
A Cambria County woman is accused of working with four Westmoreland County Prison inmates in failed attempts to bring drugs into the jail, according to court papers. Matraca Lynn Vrana, 26, was arraigned Friday and jailed on $50,000 bail. She and five others, including the mother of one of the...
Dow drops more than 1,000 as outbreak threatens the economy
NEW YORK — The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped more than 1,000 points Monday in the worst day for the stock market in two years as investors worry that the spread of a viral outbreak that began in China will weaken global economic growth. Traders sought safety in U.S. government...
Crash on Route 28 snarls early-morning commute
A crash with multiple vehicles snarled traffic on inbound Route 28 on Monday morning, backing up traffic considerably just before the heart of rush hour. Several vehicles were involved in the crash near the former site of St. Nicholas Church between the 31st Street Bridge and East Ohio Street. The...
Tunnel Hill Farms near Leechburg home to unusual herd of animalsVideo
Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series that features Alle-Kiski Valley residents and the notable things that they do. Few people know about Tunnel Hill Farms, a plot of around 100 acres, tucked away near Leechburg. And probably fewer know it contains a barnyard of unusual farm animals...
Vandergrift dance studio joins aerial yoga trendVideo
Take your workout to new heights with aerial yoga. Sandra Lynn’s School of Dance in Vandergrift recently added two weekly classes of this hybrid way of practicing yoga. Kim Stewart, owner and certified yoga instructor at Sandra Lynn’s, says the new classes are a hit and aerial yoga has a...
Israel strikes Gaza, Syria after Palestinian rockets attacks
JERUSALEM — The Israel military said early Monday that it struck Palestinian militants targets in Gaza and Syria in response to rockets fired toward southern Israel on Sunday evening, hours after Israel said it killed a Palestinian militant who tried to place a bomb along the Israel-Gaza barrier fence. The...
Report: Pittsburgh woman hurt after fall from cliff at McConnells Mill
A woman from Pittsburgh was hurt after falling 80 feet from a cliff at McConnells Mill State Park in Slippery Rock Township on Sunday. Tribune-Review news partner WPXI reported the 21-year-old woman was flown to a hospital to be treated for head and back injuries. Lawrence County law enforcement and...
Penn State students raise more than $11 million in annual dance marathonVideo
STATE COLLEGE — Hundreds of Penn State students have raised almost $11.7 million dollars for pediatric cancer patients in the annual 46-hour dance marathon known as Thon. The $11,696,942.38 total was announced Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the Penn State Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, billed as the world’s largest...
Arnold Girl Scout Stella Van Why inches closer to her 4K cookie box goalVideo
Daisy Scout Stella Van Why has a lofty goal, but she just might see it through. The determined girl told her troop co-leader that she was going to sell 4,040 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. As of Sunday, she had already sold more than 2,900 boxes. And sales aren’t over...
Cops: Woman caught with stolen purse kicked trooper during arrest
A Vandergrift woman who authorities say kicked a state police trooper as she was being arrested in Oklahoma Borough last week remained in the Westmoreland County Prison on Sunday, according to court records. Court records show Melissa Ann Gourley, 46, failed to post $3,000 bond on charges of aggravated assault,...
Fashion icon, Southmoreland graduate B. Smith dies at 70
Fashion icon and Everson native Barbara “B.” Smith, who also became a restaurateur and author, died Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020, at her home on Long Island, N.Y., her family announced on social media. She was 70. Smith was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2013, when she was 64....
Volunteers clean up graffiti on 3 Rivers Heritage trailVideo
A dozen volunteers painted over graffiti to clean up about six panels of a large wall Sunday along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail in Pittsburgh’s Hays section where bald eagles fly. It’s a popular section of trail, part of the Great Allegheny Passage to Cumberland, Maryland, where a nearby bald...
Lawsuit against Pa. Lt. Gov. Fetterman still looms over Twitter fallout
The back-and-forth between Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and the Harrisburg attorney retained to represent two men claiming Fetterman violated their First Amendment rights when he blocked them on Twitter has continued offline. Jason Lindemuth, of Harrisburg, and Sean Guay, of Hummelstown, were unblocked one day before a deadline attorney...
