Top Stories category, Page 385
Former high school teacher pleads guilty to possession of child porn
A former Indiana County high school teacher pleaded guilty Tuesday to possession of child pornography. Charles Kirkland, 33, of Derry Township, was arrested in late 2022 after a state police investigation revealed he downloaded as many as nine pornographic images of children on his home computer. Kirkland pleaded guilty to...
FBI investigating suspicious packages sent to election officials in more than 12 states
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The FBI and U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday were investigating suspicious packages that have been sent to or received by elections officials in more than 10 states, but there were no immediate reports that any of the packages contained hazardous material. The latest packages were sent...
Man charged in suspected Rostraver road rage killing rejects plea deal
A Belle Vernon man awaiting trial for the alleged road rage killing of a motorist two years ago in Rostraver has rejected a plea deal to a lesser charge. During a pretrial hearing Tuesday, prosecutors confirmed they proposed a deal that called for Anthony Hairston, 29, to serve 25 to...
Senate Republicans again block legislation to guarantee women’s rights to IVFVideo
WASHINGTON — Republicans have blocked for a second time this year legislation to establish a nationwide right to in vitro fertilization, arguing that the vote is an election-year stunt after Democrats forced a vote on the issue. The Senate vote was Democrats’ latest attempt to force Republicans into a defensive...
Jeannette youth football coach: Opposing players were using racial slurs
The head coach of the Jeannette Hawks youth football squad said he pulled his players off the field during a game Sunday after team members reported being called racial slurs by some opposing players from Penn-Trafford. “At the beginning of the game, everything was fine,” said Hawks coach Tim Moore....
Judge grants leniency for key witness in New Kensington killing
A Pittsburgh man who testified during a criminal trial last year against three co-defendants charged with killing a New Kensington man was granted leniency Tuesday by a Westmoreland County judge. “You are going to get a second chance because of those two people,” said Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani...
Here’s why the auto industry supports a US Steel sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel
WASHINGTON — With a deal still in flux, the U.S. auto industry keeps pushing top government officials to allow the proposed acquisition of United States Steel Corp. by Japanese rival Nippon Steel Corp. That push, analysts told The Detroit News, signals how much the global auto industry operating in the...
Report: Railroads, regulators must address the dangers of long trains
OMAHA, Neb. — As freight trains have grown ever longer, the number of derailments related to the forces created when railcars push and pull against each other also increased, so the National Academies of Sciences said Tuesday in a long-awaited report that regulators, Congress and the industry should reexamine the...
Penn State taps consultant to assess academic programs
Penn State University has hired a consultant to help determine “if it is teaching the right courses in the right places,” given shifting enrollments and employer demand. Hanover Research, headquartered in Arlington, Va., is expected to begin work in early October on the university’s Academic Portfolio and Program Review (APPR)...
Prep work for Parks Township nuclear waste cleanup about halfway done, officials say
New buildings are popping up at a Parks Township nuclear waste dump site as the Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors continue preparations to remove radioactive material there in a project that is expected to cost over a half-billion dollars. Steve Vriesen, a project manager with the Army Corps,...
Police charge couple in fatal shooting after Pittsburgh roommates argue over messy house
An argument Monday between roommates over a messy house in Pittsburgh turned deadly, police said. When the squabble was over inside the South Side Slopes home, Eddie Kimber was fatally shot and two people were under arrest. Police charged one of the roommates, Destiny Jenkins, 23, and her boyfriend, Lee...
British Airways to expand flights from Pittsburgh to London
Five years after launching flights between Pittsburgh International Airport and London’s Heathrow Airport, British Airways is filling out its weekly schedule of flights between the Steel City and London. The airline recently announced it will be flying between Pittsburgh and London Heathrow seven days a week starting March 31 ....
Hezbollah hit by a wave of exploding pagers and blames Israel. At least 9 dead, thousands injuredVideo
BEIRUT — Pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded near simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria on Tuesday, killing at least nine people — including an 8-year-old girl — and wounding several thousand, officials said. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel for what appeared to...
Judge orders Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs to be jailed in sex trafficking and racketeering charges
NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs presided over a sordid empire of sexual crimes, coercing and abusing women for years while using blackmail and shocking acts of violence to keep his victims in line, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday. The music mogul pleaded not guilty, standing to speak, after...
Pittsburgh politicians rip mayor’s pledge to spend $1M on 2026 NFL Draft
Some Pittsburgh City Council members are criticizing Mayor Ed Gainey for pledging to spend $1 million in taxpayer money to support the 2026 NFL Draft in a city already on precarious financial footing. “That is just irresponsible,” said Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview. “It seems like a lot of money.” They...
Morning Roundup: Shaler man caught with child pornography; new rules for Cupples Stadium
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Tuesday, Sept. 17: Shaler man arrested on child pornography charges An online user known as “creepjoe” suspected of trading child pornography has been identified as Andrew Britsch, 32, of Shaler. He was arraigned Friday on five felony counts of...
Sen. Josh Hawley releases whistleblower info showing ‘pattern of negligence’ by Secret Service
The second assassination attempt on Donald Trump sparked calls from President Joe Biden and lawmakers to bolster the Secret Service protection for the former president with either more resources, strategic changes or more agency oversight. On Monday, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., issued a report based on information he says he’s...
Trump, Harris are courting the Black male vote — here’s what those voters have to say
Quaadir Bey has seen the landscape shift, even if slightly, when it comes to how Black men view politics. Casting a vote in favor of a Democratic candidate isn’t a guarantee, he said. “It’s Black men looking for other options that exist within the Republican Party,” said Bey, 27, civic...
Former Woodland Hills football standout dies in Larimer shooting
A man who was fatally shot late Monday in Pittsburgh’s Larimer neighborhood was a Woodland Hills High School football standout and high honor roll student who went on to the gridiron at a Baltimore university. Gavin Yarbough, 21, of Braddock Hills was shot multiple times and taken to UPMC Presbyterian...
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs arrested, expected in court after New York indictment
NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs was expected to appear before a federal judge in New York on Tuesday after his indictment on undisclosed criminal charges. The music mogul was arrested late Monday in Manhattan, roughly six months after federal authorities conducting a sex trafficking investigation raided his luxurious homes...
Ohio state police to protect schools after furor over Haitian immigrants in Springfield
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — Ohio state police will help protect schools in a city at the center of a political furor over Haitian migrants, the governor announced Monday, while local officials canceled an annual celebration of cultural diversity in the fallout over former President Donald Trump’s false claims about pet-eating. Ohio...
Pennsylvania court rejects Cornel West’s bid to get on ballot and clears way for mail voting
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling that rejected a bid to get independent presidential candidate Cornel West on the ballot for the November election in the battleground state. The courts sided with the secretary of state’s office under Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro in rejecting...
Oakmont Country Club restoration is complete; course ready to host 2025 U.S. Open
It has been said that if the United States Golf Association needed to hold an event pronto, they would put in a call to Oakmont Country Club, and the course would be ready. After more than 18 months of bunker restoration, Michael McCormick, the club’s grounds superintendent, declared the course...
Argument over house cleanliness ends in fatal shooting in South Side Slopes
Pittsburgh police said a dispute over the cleanliness of a house Monday afternoon led to the fatal shooting of a man in the city’s South Side Slopes neighborhood. Eddie Kimber, 25, of South Oakland was shot inside a Sharon Street home and transported to UPMC Mercy, where he died shortly...
McKeesport woman names husband as suspect in her own killing
At 5:06 a.m. Saturday, a McKeesport man called 911 and told police someone outside had shot his wife. When police arrived at his apartment, he told them she shot herself. But, police said, before his wife died in a nearby hospital an hour later, she fingered her husband as the...
