Top Stories category, Page 1828
Excela’s top 2 executives are out, effective immediately
Excela Health System’s two top executives, CEO Robert Rogalski and COO Mike Busch, will step down immediately as the Westmoreland County hospital system seeks “fresh perspectives,” board chair Teresa Petrick said Friday. Petrick announced the unexpected personnel changes in an email. “We have been privileged to have Bob and Mike...
Canonsburg mother donates kidney to honor her late sonVideo
Laura Gillum of Canonsburg wanted to keep the memory of her son alive. In 2015, Gillum and her husband, Paul, lost their 2-year-old, Dean, in a swimming pool drowning accident. The couple donated Dean’s organs to help people in need. A few weeks ago, Laura Gillum, 46, became an altruistic...
Pittsburgh’s Fresh Fest among USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice beer festivalsVideo
Pittsburgh’s Fresh Fest ranks second in USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice contest for beer festivals in the United States. Billed as the nation’s first black beer festival, the annual event attracts brewers from across the country, along with Pittsburgh-based brewers in collaboration with black artists and businesses. According to...
Pitt researchers receive $175K grant for Pittsburgh water study
University of Pittsburgh researchers will study the environmental impact of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority’s use of a chemical to reduce lead levels in city drinking water. The National Science Foundation awarded professors Sarah Haig and Emily Elliott a $175,000 grant to study the environmental effect of orthophosphate, which...
Bun-less Buc Night draws frank apology from Aramark
Aramark was frank in its promise to avoid another bun-less hot dog night at Friday’s Pirates game. A repeat of Wednesday’s Buc Night fiasco would be the wurst. The PNC Park concession provider promised to do better in a meaty response. “Last (Wednesday) night, our team was prepared, but unfortunately...
YouTuber arrested after livestreaming himself driving over 185 mph
A self-proclaimed YouTube celebrity who livestreamed himself driving in excess of 185 mph ended up being arrested by police. On March 31, Beau Alan Rogel took his 2017 Ford Mustang on the road and filmed himself speeding down a Mississippi highway, announcing the increasing speeds as he went. Apparently, someone...
5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: April 5-7
It’s springtime and baseball is back along with other fun things to do this weekend. Festival time The Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour is Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Byham Theater, Downtown. Stories of “remote journeys, ground-breaking expeditions, and cutting-edge adventures told through the eyes of adventurers,...
Ross house heavily damaged by fire, 2 escape unharmed
A three-alarm fire early Friday morning in Ross Township caused significant damage to a two-story home, according to authorities. Multiple fire departments responding to the blaze shortly after 6:30 a.m. in the 4500 block of Peoples Road encountered heavy smoke pouring from the frame structure. Peoples Road between Ivory Avenue...
Pennsylvania flu hospitalizations up 62% in 2018
The flu sent more than 8,600 Pennsylvanians to the hospital last season, a 62% increase over the previous season, a new report shows. Released last week by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, the report found a wide variation in admissions over the past several flu seasons. The 8,647...
Police arrest Pittsburgh man in fatal Arnold shooting
A Pittsburgh man faces charges in an early Friday shooting that left a 27-year-old Arnold man dead, according to detectives. Shawden L. Ross, 32, of Pittsburgh is charged with homicide and other charges in the shooting death of Lamont Simmons, 27, investigators said. At about 4 a.m. Friday, police responded...
Turtle Creek man gets 4 years behind bars for illegally owning AR-15 engraved with ‘Let it rain’
A Turtle Creek man was sentenced to four years and three months behind bars after twice getting caught illegally owning weapons — including an AR-15 rifle with the engraving, “Let it rain,” prosecutors said Thursday. Iklas Richard Davis, 38, pleaded guilty to federal firearms charges following three days of trial...
Cheswick approves police merger with Springdale Township
The proposed Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department took another step toward reality Thursday night. Cheswick Council voted unanimously to approve a merger of police services with neighboring Springdale Township. Soon, Springdale Township will take a similar vote that, if it passes, would make the merger happen. The combined force could...
Trump tweets video mocking Biden over contact with women
One day after Joe Biden posted a video acknowledging that his past behavior had made women uncomfortable, President Donald Trump tweeted out a parody video Thursday in which a second Biden approaches the former vice president from behind, puts his hands on his shoulders and appears to sniff his hair....
Firefighter saves woman in New Kensington fire, 2nd woman jumps from window
Several New Kensington residents were left homeless, a woman was hurt and a dog died when fire broke out Thursday afternoon at an apartment house along Seventh Street. One of the residents credits a firefighter who, by chance, was driving by with saving her life. The fire broke out in...
TSA: Irwin man had loaded gun in carry-on bag at Pittsburgh airport
Federal security officers on Thursday said they stopped an Irwin man from bringing a loaded handgun onto a plane at Pittsburgh International Airport. It is the eighth gun found at the airport this year, according to the Transportation Security Administration. The .380-caliber handgun, loaded with six bullets, was in the...
Derry woman accused of filming sex acts with 4-year-old boy
A 32-year-old Derry woman was arraigned Thursday on child pornography charges after state police alleged her cellphone contained videos of her in sexually explicit positions with a 4-year-old boy. Westmoreland County Sheriff’s Department deputies located Tiffany M. Beeman at a drug rehabilitation facility in Greensburg, where she was arrested. Troopers...
Westmoreland pays $75K for fall at nursing home
Westmoreland County agreed Thursday to pay nearly $75,000 in state and federal fines imposed after a resident was injured last year at the county-owned nursing home. Those fines were issued following a state inspection last May at Westmoreland Manor, which revealed a nurse’s aide improperly attempted to lift a patient...
Vandergrift man charged in wreck that seriously injured a Leechburg woman
Allegheny Township police are accusing a Vandergrift man of causing a wreck that seriously injured a Leechburg woman. Brett William Mego, 23, of Sherman Avenue is charged with aggravated assault by vehicle and 13 related offenses in connection with a March 22 wreck along South Leechburg Hill Road in which,...
Homicide charge filed after woman dies in McKees Rocks Bridge crash
A McKees Rocks man has been charged with homicide after a woman injured in a crash police say he caused two months ago died this week. Allegheny County police filed charges Thursday against Christopher Vuckovich, 39. Police said Vuckovich was driving eastbound on the bridge at 62 mph in a...
Luke Skywalker put on ‘trial’ for murders in Death Star destruction
It may well be the trial of the millennium. A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Luke Skywalker is accused of 5,999 counts of murder — when on May 25, 1977, and during innumerable repeats thereafter — he destroyed the Death Star in “Star Wars.” The...
Man claims Pittsburgh K-9 attacked him, witness says it was his fault
Pittsburgh would pay a North Side man $5,400 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging a city police dog attacked and injured him after he reported a 2016 break-in at an auto shop. The shop owner, however, said the man — not the dog — was at fault for being bitten....
California shoplifter stuffs chain saw down his pantsVideo
A man stretched the limits of shoplifting, and his waistband, when he slid a chainsaw down his pants in a California store. Jeff Bennett of RG Equipment in Fresno told the Fresno Bee his security camera caught the suspect Wednesday stuffing the chainsaw blade in his pants and then covering...
Ozzy Osbourne injury delays 2019 Pittsburgh show
First Mick Jagger, now Ozzy Osbourne. Another septuagenarian British rock star has had to postpone a tour due to health reasons. Osbourne announced Thursday he is postponing all of his 2019 tour dates in North America and Europe, including a June 13 appearance at Key Bank Pavilion in Burgettstown, because...
Pittsburgh gun bills have little chance in courts, legal experts say
Legal experts gave Pittsburgh good marks for creativity in crafting ordinances aimed at regulating firearms in the city but said the bills have little chance of surviving the legal challenges that are sure to come. The courts might uphold some provisions in the package of bills, but the city would...
U.S. Steel: Equipment damaged in Clairton Coke Works fire repairedVideo
Desulfurization equipment at the Clairton Coke Works facility is back online and operational after over three months of repairs, U.S. Steel announced Thursday. The equipment has been down since a Dec. 24 fire at the facility caused significant damage and hindered the plant’s ability to clean coke oven gas, a...
