Top Stories category, Page 1655

The voice of a local legend leaves the airwaves at 7 p.m. Wednesday. WDVE disc jockey Sean McDowell will host his final show after more than 40 years in radio, 25 of them at WDVE, Pittsburgh’s preeminent classic rock station. He announced his retirement May 14 on the station’s morning...

Officials still don’t know what caused the fire that destroyed a shopping plaza along one of Penn Hills’ busiest roads earlier this week. “We haven’t developed any new details,” said Chuck Miller, Penn Hills Fire Marshal, who is leading the investigation into the fire. He did say, however, he does...

Well, looks like back-to-school gear just got ramped up another notch. Office Depot is now selling bulletproof backpacks for students. The Guard Dog Security ProShield backpack is made of “nylon fabric and soft tactical armor” and has been independently tested by a third-party laboratory “to be impervious to certain gunfire.”...

Additional voting precincts will be established in Murrysville for next year’s presidential election to deal with overcrowding frequently seen at particular polls. Westmoreland County’s elections board has agreed to seek a judge’s approval for a redistricting plan that, if approved, would redraw voting districts to ease long wait times that...

NEW YORK — Harold Prince, a Broadway director and producer who pushed the boundaries of musical theater with such groundbreaking shows as “The Phantom of the Opera,” ”Cabaret,” ”Company” and “Sweeney Todd” and won a staggering 21 Tony Awards, has died. Prince was 91. Prince’s publicist Rick Miramontez said Prince...

A 31-year-old Mt. Lebanon man was sentenced Wednesday to 21 to 42 years in prison for the 2017 death of his 4-month-old daughter. Allegheny County Judge Randal Todd previously found Joseph Gazzam guilty of third degree murder and Gazzam pleaded guilty to one count of recklessly endangering another person and...

A 35-year-old man was found dead on train tracks in Baldwin Borough on Wednesday morning, Allegheny County police and medical examiner said. Michael Thomas Plocki was found at 6:13 a.m. in the middle of the train tracks in the area of East Carson Street and the Glenwood bridge. He was...

EAGLEVILLE — A former Pennsylvania attorney general who served about eight months in jail for leaking grand jury material and lying about it was released Wednesday. Kathleen Kane left the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in the Philadelphia suburbs about 8:20 a.m. When asked by a reporter how she felt, Kane...

A Pittsburgh man is accused of homicide in the May 28 death of Donovan James Goodwine. Police said Lavaar Peters, 19, shot Goodwine in the head in the 7300 block of Forrest Way in the city’s Homewood neighborhood. Investigators linked Peters to the shooting when two people came forward in...

A Mt. Pleasant woman became a victim of an online secret shopper scam, according to state police. Troopers said the unidentified 46-year-old woman signed up online to be a secret shopper at Walmart. An unknown person sent her instructions along with a check for $4,000, which she cashed at her...

Apollo’s loss could be the Kiski Area School District’s gain. Apollo police Chief Jarred Kier submitted his resignation this month to take a full-time patrolman’s job in Washington Township. His resignation is effective Aug. 15. Kier will become the ninth full-time officer for Washington Township. He will be paid about...

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Allegheny County and Westmoreland County late Tuesday night. County officials reported flooding in Pleasant Hills in the area of Curry Hollow Road and Clairton Boulevard. Flooding was reported in Baldwin on East Willock Road and Doyle Road. Three vehicles were...

CINCINNATI — Jared Hughes’ errant pitch threw a load of fuel on one of the majors’ most flammable rivalries. Call it Pirates vs. Reds, round two — and a fitting farewell for Yasiel Puig. Hughes hit Starling Marte with his first pitch in the ninth inning Tuesday night, setting the...

DETROIT — Liberal firebrands Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren slapped back against moderate rivals who ridiculed “Medicare for All” during a fierce Democratic presidential debate Tuesday night in which lesser-known pragmatists warned that “wish-list economics” would jeopardize the presidency. The tug-of-war over the future of the party early in the...

A Penn Borough man was hit and killed by an eastbound freight train Tuesday night in Hempfield, according to the Westmoreland County coroner. Thomas R. Brown, 57, was found dead on Norfolk Southern Corp. railroad tracks at about 9:30 p.m. according to the coroner. He was found near the Wegley...

A 20-year-old Indiana University of Pennsylvania student died in a jet ski accident while visiting Hilton Head in South Carolina, officials said Tuesday. Ciara Eiriz was pronounced dead near a boat dock at Mackay Creek between the islands of Pickney and Hilton Head, Beaufort County Coroner’s officials told Trib news...

A Pittsburgh woman previously dubbed the “Monroeville Madam” faces another prostitution charge. Amy Schifano, 43, agreed to perform a sex act on a Pittsburgh detective for $200 on July 29, according to a criminal complaint filed against her Tuesday. Schifano gained notoriety in 2008 when she pleaded guilty to charges...

SAN DIEGO — More than 900 children have been separated from their families at the border since a judge ordered that the practice be sharply curtailed, the American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday. One parent was separated for property damage valued at $5, the ACLU said. Six parents were separated...

A West Mifflin man accused in five 2017 gas station and convenience store robberies in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties was arrested Tuesday in South Carolina by the U.S. Marshals Service. Bennie J. Carter, 54, is accused of being the getaway driver in an alleged conspiracy with three other suspects, according...

The former University of Pittsburgh researcher convicted in 2014 of poisoning his wife with cyanide is asking for a new trial. Robert Ferrante is claiming his attorneys provided an ineffective defense, according to a petition filed July 18 in Allegheny County court. Ferrante, 70, is serving a life sentence at...

A Derry Township man is accused of exposing himself to three boys and a 16-year-old girl last month at Legion Keener Park in Latrobe, according to court papers. Jesse Phillip Hollick, 61, is charged with open lewdness and public drunkenness. Latrobe police said the girl, who was babysitting the boys,...