Top Stories category, Page 1827
Cassandra Gross family grapples with one-year mark of her disappearance
There is little joy left at Kathe Gross’ home. She’s gotten rid of most of her Christmas decorations. Mother’s and Father’s Day aren’t the same. “I refuse to do holidays,” she said. “There’s no holidays left in this house.” But there are still anniversaries — of the worst kind. Kathe...
Census director: 2020 count will be test of technology, public trustVideo
There’s more riding on the 2020 census than a national head count. Beyond the population numbers, demographic information and statistics the census will sort out, the process the U.S. Census Bureau will use will test the reliability of smartphone technology. “There are some concerns,” said Fernando E. Armstrong, regional director...
Erie Catholic diocese will open files to priest sex abuse victims
The Catholic Diocese of Erie, which recently settled a $2 million clergy sexual abuse complaint, is making “relevant” internal files available to abuse survivors for the asking, church officials said. The policy has been in effect since the diocese launched its compensation fund for abuse survivors in February, said Pittsburgh...
Pittsburgh Mills mall’s uncertain future worries shoppers, Frazer officials
It’s been nearly a year since a new owner bought the Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer, touting plans to redevelop the struggling, 14-year-old facility. Despite the owner’s hopeful nature in May, township officials say they still haven’t met or had any communication with Long Island-based Mason Asset Management and are...
Trump: Democrats would ‘leave Israel out there’
LAS VEGAS — President Trump warned on Saturday that a Democratic victory in 2020 could “leave Israel out there,” as he highlighted his pro-Israel actions in an effort to make the case for Jewish voters to back his re-election. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Trump...
West Deer priest removed after he admits to inappropriate contact while a seminarian
A West Deer priest has been placed on administrative leave after he admitted to inappropriate behavior with a minor that didn’t involved sexual contact, according to the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik placed the Rev. Thomas Wilson, 74, on leave, according to a diocesan news release sent...
Pittsburgh police: Missing Carrick teen found safe, returned to family
Pittsburgh police have found the Carrick teen who had been missing since Wednesday. “Thanks to all for your shares and concern,” the department posted on its Facebook page....
Hammer-wielding burglar caught on video breaking into Beaver County homeVideo
Authorities in Beaver County are seeking the public’s help to identify a hammer-wielding burglar who smashed a glass door to enter a house and steal a jewelry box. It happened at 4 a.m. Saturday and was captured on surveillance video. Hopewell police said it happened on Grand Avenue and the...
Volunteers turn out to get Tarentum’s community garden ready for spring
A Boy Scout pointed out a big worm in the freshly placed compost, and Widgie Carson picked it up. “They’re not like a snake,” she said to a few Scouts she was giving tiny red beets to plant. “They won’t hurt you.” The Scouts, members of Troop 180, and Carson,...
3 hurt when Duquesne police car chasing speeder crashes into Port Authority bus
A Duquesne police officer crashed his marked patrol car into a Port Authority bus while chasing a speeder Saturday afternoon, the department said. The crash happened shortly before 12:30 p.m. at Duquesne Boulevard and Grant Avenue. The officer involved, who was not identified, was not hurt but was taken to...
Band of toddlers escapes Louisiana day care, found wandering near highway
Several 1-year-old children apparently escaped a Louisiana day care and were found wandering near a highway, prompting state officials to yank the facility’s license. According to the New York Daily News, four 1-year-old children at the Color Wheel Learning Center in Ascension Parish “found their way out of the facility’s...
Ex-US Sen Ernest ‘Fritz’ Hollings of South Carolina dead
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings, the silver-haired Democrat who helped shepherd South Carolina through desegregation as governor and went on to serve six terms in the U.S. Senate, has died. He was 97. Family spokesman Andy Brack, who also served at times for Hollings as spokesman during his...
Harmar bald eagles suspected to have hatched an eaglet
The Harmar bald eagles reportedly welcomed a newly hatched eaglet early Friday in their nest on a hillside above Route 28. Confirmation was still pending Saturday morning from the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. Without the benefit of a live webcam, observers including a photographer documented the birds likely feeding...
Pittsburgh man accused of attacking woman in McCandless parking lot
A Pittsburgh man is accused of attacking a woman in a McCandless parking lot this week and trying to steal her wallet, according to court papers. Taylor Dale Wible, 18, of the Terrace Village neighborhood, was being held in the Allegheny County Jail on $100,000 bail. He is charged with...
Wrong-way driver killed, other driver hurt in crash on I-79 in Washington County
A wrong-way driver died early Saturday in a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 79 in Washington County, according to investigators. Amanda Sue Towns, 25, of Morgantown, W.Va., was traveling north in the southbound lanes at 3:50 a.m. in North Strabane Township, just north of the Canonsburg exit, according to a news...
Police: Vandergrift man robbed by 3 others — including an armed boy, 15
Two Vandergrift men and a teen are charged with armed robbery and other counts in the holdup of another resident. Officer Bill Moore said the incident took place Friday afternoon along the 100 block of Custer Avenue. He said the victim, a man in his early 30s, went to visit...
Attempted child luring in Monroeville park under investigation
Monroeville police are investigating a child luring attempt made April 12 at Garden Park in the municipality’s Garden City neighborhood. A teenage babysitter of a 5-year-old said a man tried to grab the child in the park about 4:30 p.m., according to police Chief Doug Cole. The alleged assailant was...
Think you can lie about hitting a deer? 25 charged in Western Pa. insurance fraud sweep
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro sent a message Friday to anyone who thinks they can get away with lying to pocket an insurance check: We’re going to catch you. State prosecutors from the Western Regional Office have charged 25 people in a far-reaching insurance fraud sweep during February and March,...
Pirates make ‘bun’ of themselves in Instagram post
The Pittsburgh Pirates PR team had a bun time on social media explaining the mystery of why they appeared to run out of hot dog buns on Wednesday. They’ve tackled the problem head-on and aren’t being weenies about it. In a Friday evening Instagram post, the Pirate Parrot, one of...
Mayor Bill Peduto meets with Parkland, Fla., survivorsVideo
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and survivors of the Parkland, Fla. mass shooting vowed Friday to join forces in efforts to end gun violence in America. Peduto said the three-hour meeting in his City Hall conference room included members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community and students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School...
Parkland survivors visit Tree of Life to help community find voice
The message from Parkland to Pittsburgh on Friday was simple: You matter — and you have a voice. Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. visited Pittsburgh to start three days of talking and sharing with students at Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill and others in...
Kiski Township’s Staff Sgt. Stevon Booker receives military’s second-highest honor
Thirty-one soldiers who participated in the Thunder Run mission near Baghdad on April 5, 2003, received the Silver Star for valor. Only one of them — Army Staff Sgt. Stevon Booker of Kiski Township — has had that award upgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross, the military’s second-highest honor, according...
Feeling Graeter’s in Castle Shannon as shop opensVideo
When Andy Webster heard Graeter’s Ice Cream was opening a Castle Shannon shop Friday, he hurried down for his two favorite scoops– black raspberry chocolate chip and coconut chocolate chip. “I am so happy it’s here,” said Webster, of Mt. Lebanon, who knew the company from his time in Columbus,...
ATI lands $45M pipeline contract, plans to hire workers in Harrison
Allegheny Technologies Inc. secured a $45 million contract for a pipeline project in South America, and it comes at a time when the company is hiring new workers in the Alle-Kiski Valley. The specialty steelmaker’s $1.1 billion hot rolling mill and processing facility in Harrison played a key role in...
Parkland survivors visit Tree of Life to help community find voice
The message from Parkland to Pittsburgh on Friday was simple: You matter — and you have a voice. Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. visited Pittsburgh to start three days of talking and sharing with students at Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill and others in...
