Top Stories category, Page 1682
U.S. investigation of priest sex abuse produces first charges
PHILADELPHIA — Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia have charged a former Roman Catholic priest with lying to the FBI about whether he knew an accuser and his family. The charges against 81-year-old Robert Brennan are the first from a sweeping Justice Department investigation into child sexual abuse by priests in Pennsylvania....
Mac Miller life celebration at Blue Slide Park rescheduled
The Blue Slide Park tribute to Mac Miller has been moved to Friday. The Mac Miller Memoir posted the date change on Twitter. “Due to circumstances beyond our control, the memorial will occur on Friday, September 6, instead of the 7th.” Due to circumstances beyond our control, the memorial will...
Search, rescue and therapy dog doubles as mascot at Franco Harris’ Super BakeryVideo
Oakley the border collie is much more than the unofficial mascot at a bakery’s office in McCandless. She’s a 4-year-old certified search, rescue dog that has helped sniff out clues in a number of emergencies. She’s also a therapy dog. The bakery’s owner is none other than Pittsburgh Steelers Hall-of-Famer...
Hey, big guy! Wanna be in a Pittsburgh-filmed movie with Seth Rogen?
Are you an Eastern European-looking man who wears a size 40 suit and a size 10 shoe? If so, you could be cast as a military guard in “Untitled Pickle Project,” a Seth Rogen movie filming this weekend in Pittsburgh. Based on a Simon Rich novella, the movie “stars Rogen...
All soda — even diet — linked to risk of early death, study says
In researchers’ continuing mission to ruin everything fun, a new expansive study shows that sodas — even diet ones — could be deadly. And it’s not like the study was quick and dirty. Published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers looked at more than 450,000 people in 10 European...
DA: Sharena Nancy only suspect in Nalani Johnson abduction, homicideVideo
A Penn Hills woman already in custody is the only person thought to be involved in Nalani Johnson’s suspected kidnapping and death over the Labor Day weekend, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said Thursday. Nalani’s father, Paul Johnson, isn’t implicated in the case, has cooperated with authorities...
Suicide awareness walk to spread ‘Hope’ in Greensburg’s Twin Lakes Park
“A Promise of Hope” is the theme for Westmoreland County’s 13th annual Suicide Awareness and Prevention Walk, slated for Saturday at Twin Lakes Park near Greensburg. The theme underlines the importance of “being a rainbow in somebody’s life,” said Rachel Cunningham Ravis, who is coordinator for Ray of Hope, a...
Driver killed in Hempfield crash
Speed is believed to be a factor in a creash that killed a 23-year-old man in Hempfield, officials said. Mario Paulone, of Lakeridge Drive, Hempfield, died from injuries suffered when his Chevy Trailblazer crashed at 1:37 a.m. at 1316 Middletown Road, according to a report from Westmoreland County Coroner Kenneth...
Elizabeth Forward officials say elementary student made list of 20 classmates to harm
Officials in the Elizabeth Forward School District said they are working to ensure safety following a disturbing letter written by an elementary student, WPXI reported. Police were notified after a student at William Penn Elementary School compiled a list of other classmates to harm. There were about 20 children on...
Latest Pittsburgh Irish Festival green with upgradesVideo
Most Pittsburghers claim Irish heritage at least twice a year — on St. Patrick’s Day and during the annual Pittsburgh Irish Festival. Dig out your tartans and work on that brogue. The popular Irish Festival returns Sept. 6-8 with a new location, the Lots at Sandcastle, and some new events...
Dorian creeps up U.S. coast; near-record storm surge fearedVideo
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A weakened but still deadly Hurricane Dorian crept up the Southeastern seaboard Wednesday, and millions were ordered to evacuate as forecasters said near-record levels of seawater and rain could swamp the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas. The storm, which ravaged the Bahamas with more than a...
Knoxville fire likely a total loss for family
The relatives of a family of four displaced by a fire that gutted their longtime home in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood are seeking help from the community. Sarah and Ed Holzwarth, their 11-year-old son, Trent, and 18-year-old daughter Jocelyn are one of two families whose houses on Reifert Street were destroyed...
Nalani Johnson’s mother says father threatened violence, according to court papersVideo
The father of a toddler found dead Tuesday in an Indiana County park threatened to kill the girl’s mother and himself in April during a domestic argument, according to court documents filed by the girl’s mother. Investigators found the body of Nalani Johnson on Tuesday afternoon in Pine Ridge Park...
YouTube to pay $170M fine after violating kids’ privacy lawVideo
WASHINGTON — Google will pay $170 million to settle allegations its YouTube video service collected personal data on children without their parents’ consent. The company agreed to work with video creators to label material aimed at kids and said it will limit data collection when users view such videos, regardless...
Congressional committee on Homeland Security holds roundtable in Pittsburgh
If the problem involved anything but guns, something would have been done to stop it long ago, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto told three visiting members of Congress. “There would not only be hearings like this, but actions taken,” Peduto said Wednesday, as the city hosted a roundtable of the House...
Burrell grads set to ride out Hurricane Dorian in N.C.
Erika Fitch and Patrick Duffey wanted to try something new, so the 2012 graduates of Burrell High School packed up their apartment in Robinson and moved to North Carolina three months ago. Preparing for a hurricane wasn’t the new experience they were looking for, but that’s what they’ve found themselves...
Trump offers altered hurricane chart, appearing to double down on ‘Alabama’ warningVideo
President Trump presented a doctored Hurricane Dorian map to possibly justify the fact he had warned that the state of Alabama was in direct path of the storm. The President of the United States altered a National Hurricane Center map with a sharpie to falsely extend the official forecast toward...
Feds: Man sold rapper Mac Miller drugs before overdose death
LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles man was arrested Wednesday on charges that he sold counterfeit opioid pills to Mac Miller two days before the rapper died of an overdose. A Drug Enforcement Agency affidavit unsealed after the arrest of Cameron James Pettit alleges that Miller asked him for oxycodone...
Gov. Wolf announces new fees for Pennsylvania charter schools
Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday announced that the state Department of Education will enact new fees directed at charter schools. The “fee-for-service model” will charge charter schools to resolve payment disputes with local school districts. It is part of a sweeping charter school reform plan that Wolf announced earlier this...
Elizabeth Smart to speak in Pittsburgh for United Way women’s leadership event
Kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart will share her story of hope and survival with nearly 800 women during this year’s United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Women Leadership Council’s campaign kickoff. The luncheon starts at 11:45 a.m. on Sept. 13 at the Wyndham Grand Hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh. The local Women’s Leadership...
Woman pecked to death by her own rooster
A woman in Australia was killed in a freak rooster attack. And experts say it should be a warning to us all. As published in the journal Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology, a 76-year-old Australian woman was gathering eggs on her rural property when her own rooster attacked her, pecking...
Lower Burrell man accused of almost hitting trooper, fleeing DUI checkpoint
A Lower Burrell man is in the Butler County Jail, accused of nearly running down a state trooper at a DUI checkpoint over the weekend. Terrell Eugene Leonard, 27, of Craigdell Road faces nine charges, including felony aggravated assault on a police officer. Police said the incident began Saturday night...
Florida man parks Smart car in kitchen so it won’t blow away in DorianVideo
A man in Jacksonville, Florida, is keeping his car safe from the ravages of Hurricane Dorian by parking it in his kitchen. Jessica Eldridge posted on Facebook that her husband, Patrick Eldridge, was “afraid his car might blow away” so he moved it indoors. She explained that there are double...
Online hospital threat was ‘extremely disruptive,’ Pittsburgh police sayVideo
Pittsburgh area hospital employees were justifiably afraid after an online threat was made Tuesday threatening to “commit a hate crime” at an undisclosed hospital in the city, police said. The threat came from a teen and was traced to Beaver County, police said. “It was extremely disruptive,” spokesman Chris Togneri...
Court takes up doctor liability in Pittsburgh psych clinic shooting
Pennsylvania’s highest court will determine if a woman shot seven years ago in the psychiatric clinic where she worked can sue the University of Pittsburgh over the assailant’s treatment before the attack. The Supreme Court announced Tuesday it will decide whether a former Allegheny County judge made the right decision...
