Top Stories category, Page 1769
White House: Trump ‘deadly serious” about Mexico tariffs
WASHINGTON — A top White House official said Sunday that President Donald Trump is “deadly serious” about slapping tariffs on imports from Mexico but acknowledged there are no concrete benchmarks being set to assess whether the U.S. ally was stemming the flow of migrants enough to satisfy the administration. “We...
Auditor general releases look at Game Commission finances
Lack of oversight is the biggest problem with how the Pennsylvania Game Commission handles its money. So says Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. His office audited the commission, looking at the years from July 2014 through June 2017. It released its report on May 30. The audit outlined 11 findings...
Rare color footage brings D-Day memories alive, 75 years onVideo
WASHINGTON — Seventy-five years ago, Hollywood director George Stevens stood on the deck of the HMS Belfast to film the start of the D-Day invasion. The resulting black-and-white films — following Allied troops through Normandy, the liberation of Paris, Battle of the Bulge, the horror of the Dachau concentration camp...
Did ‘silencer’ make a difference in Virginia Beach carnage?
The shooter who killed 12 people in a government office building in Virginia Beach used a firearm equipped with a suppressor that muffles the sound of gunfire. It’s the nightmare scenario that gun-control advocates have warned about amid efforts in recent years to ease restrictions on the devices, which they...
Is your favorite swimming pool being inspected?
More than 3,600 swimmers took a dip in Rogers-McFeely Memorial Pool in Latrobe last year. Located in downtown Latrobe, the community pool is one of 130 public swimming facilities in Westmoreland County. Unlike ones in Derry, Greensburg and Youngwood, which were all last inspected by the Pennsylvania Department of Health...
After success in Africa, Open Field launches programming in Pittsburgh
Soccer’s more than football. It can — and has — made a difference in people’s lives, thanks to enthusiasts like Justin Forzano. In 2010, Forzano founded the Cameroon Football Development Program, a non-profit that uses soccer as a means to help youth in the central African nation. On Saturday, the...
PPG donates new paint job to iconic Mars flying saucer
She’s gleaming now, Jim. The flying saucer that’s been a landmark in Mars has a new paint job that “Star Trek’s” James T. Kirk would appreciate, thanks to PPG. The Pittsburgh-based coatings company donated a new paint job to the spaceship that’s been in the Mars town square since the...
Police: Bethel Park crash that injured 4 was driver’s attempt to kill girlfriend
A Finleyville man is accused of attempting to kill his girlfriend by wrecking his pickup truck into another vehicle Thursday in Bethel Park. Jeffrey Dezardo, 27, fled on foot from the crash, which injured his girlfriend and two occupants of the other vehicle, Bethel Park police said. Dezardo’s truck flipped...
Hempfield National Guard drill delivers goods to local charities
Thirty recent recruits with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard detachment in Hempfield completed a march with a mission Saturday. Packing most of it on their backs, the young men and women delivered more than an estimated 1,200 pounds of non-perishable items to the Saint Vincent College campus in Unity for...
Hogan will not challenge Trump, leaving president’s GOP critics with limited options
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who was considering an insurgent White House bid that would have championed traditional GOP values, will not challenge President Donald Trump for the Republican Party’s 2020 nomination. “I’m not going to be a candidate for president in 2020,” Hogan said in an interview. Hogan’s choice dashes...
A list of the 12 killed in a shooting in Virginia Beach
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Twelve people were killed in a shooting Friday at a Virginia Beach municipal building. On Saturday, city officials named them, showed their photos, and gave details of their lives during a news conference. Eleven of the twelve were city employees; one was a contractor. The victims...
Car struck by bullet in New Kensington
At least one bullet struck a four-door sedan sitting on the New Kensington side of North Street on Saturday afternoon. Westmoreland County dispatchers said officers responded to a call for shots fired around 12:40 p.m. near the intersection of North Street and Leishman Avenue at the New Kensington/Arnold border. Nearby...
Officials ID Virginia Beach gunman as city employee
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The gunman who killed 12 people in a Virginia Beach municipal building was identified by police Saturday as a 15-year city employee who had served in the military and was described by neighbors as quiet and rarely smiling. Virginia Beach Police Chief James Cervera identified the...
Armstrong County locks closed on Allegheny River this weekend due to high water
Due to high water, the Allegheny River Development Corp. and with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have decided to keep four locks closed in the Armstrong County portion of the Allegheny River. The closed locks are located in South Buffalo, West Kittanning, Boggs, and Madison townships. During the summer,...
Police arrest McKeesport man in Swissvale shooting that killed 1, injured 2
Allegheny County Police have charged a McKeesport man in a shooting Saturday in Swissvale that killed a man and sent two other people to area hospitals. According to court documents, Charlton Mitchell, 21, is charged with homicide and related charges. The shooting was reported at about 1:45 a.m. in the...
Sounding off: Pittsburgh sisters welcome immigrants
Pittsburgh’s templed hills have long provided refuge to persons of diverse heritages and faiths whose virtues tempered our city of steel. The Catholic Sisters Leadership Council of Western Pennsylvania wishes to join Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto in welcoming vulnerable migrants and refugees seeking asylum from violence, injustice and other life-threatening...
Indiana County man charged after gun seized at Palmer airport checkpoint
An Indiana County man was arrested on a weapons offense after he was stopped from bringing a loaded handgun and a knife onto a flight Thursday at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity. Transportation Security Administration officers detected the weapons — a folding knife and a .380-caliber handgun — in...
Record floods breach Arkansas levee, overtop 2 in Missouri
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Relentless flooding in the central U.S. on Friday inundated communities and damaged or spilled over levees on three major rivers in two states, and authorities discovered the body of a drowning victim at a Missouri lake. The fast-flowing Arkansas River smashed a 40-foot hole in a...
Beau Berman leaves WTAE, pursues job at school district
Pittsburgh native and WTAE news reporter Beau Berman announced Friday that he has moved on from reporting television news. In a Friday evening Facebook post to his followers, Berman described his time as a journalist in the Steel City as “an absolute honor.” Berman was hired to the station in...
Frank Lucas, druglord portrayed in ‘American Gangster,’ dies
NEW YORK — Frank Lucas, the former Harlem drug kingpin whose life and lore inspired the 2007 movie “American Gangster,” has died, a relative said Friday. Lucas, who was 88, died Thursday in New Jersey, nephew Aldwan Lassiter said. Lucas had been in declining health, according to his former lawyer....
Disaster drill planned for Forbes Hospital in Monroeville on Saturday morning
Folks who may see a lot of EMS, police and related activity at Forbes Hospital in Monroeville on Saturday morning should not be alarmed. Emergency responders and staff of the Allegheny Health Network’s hospital at 2570 Haymaker Road will be involved in a disaster drill from 8 a.m.-10 a.m. Actors...
Police: City worker kills 12 in Virginia Beach; suspect dead
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A longtime city employee opened fire in a municipal building in Virginia Beach, killing 12 people on three floors and sending terrified co-workers scrambling for cover before police shot and killed him following a “long gun battle,” authorities said. Four other people were wounded in Friday’s...
15-foot python at large in MorgantownVideo
Morgantown police were looking for a 15-foot python Friday after it apparently escaped from a truck the previous night. According to news partner WPXI, officials warned people to keep an eye on children and small pets — especially when outdoors. The station sent its news chopper to the city to...
Survivor begs judge to release child predator away from Pittsburgh
A tearful and at times angry Alicia Kozakiewicz stood feet from the man who abducted and raped her 17 years ago and begged a federal judge on Friday to keep the man from moving into her hometown. “Today I am both a 13-year-old victim and 31-year-old advocate,” Kozakiewicz told Judge...
1 injured after car plows into house in Spring Hill
Authorities believe health issues caused a man to drive into a house in Pittsburgh’s Spring Hill-City View neighborhood Friday morning,. The incident happened about 11:15 a.m. on Beckfield Street, said Public Safety spokesman Chris Togneri. The car went off the road on Rhine Street, through a fence, down a hill,...
