Top Stories category, Page 450
North Huntingdon aiming to rewrite backyard chicken rules after flap over fowl
North Huntingdon officials plan to create new rules for keeping backyard chickens in an attempt to balance the rights of those who want them against those who cry foul over the fowl. Township commissioners this week voted to repeal an ordinance that allowed chickens to be kept in residential neighborhoods...
Defense lawyers cry foul over lack of investigation into murder weapon in Wilkinsburg homicide trial
Allegheny County homicide detectives never followed up on information they received more than 2½ years ago that a gun seized in a traffic stop matched one used to kill a teenager in Wilkinsburg four months earlier. The gun’s existence was a surprising piece of evidence that suddenly appeared this week...
Local Holocaust survivors’ stories counter rising trend in antisemitism
Voices from the past that keep alive the horrors of the 20th century Holocaust carry an urgency today. Those voices are demanding increased attention through programs based in Southwestern Pennsylvania and New York, even as the current tragedies of the Israel-Hamas conflict reverberate around the world and antisemitic incidents continue...
Former Pittsburgh radio host Larry O’Brien, known via ‘O’Brien & Garry’ show, dies at 81
Pittsburgh radio host Larry O’Brien, who comprised half of the popular morning duo “O’Brien & Garry” for 20 years, has died. “He was a funny, bright man, and he kept up on Pittsburgh sports until the very end,” his wife, Winkie O’Brien, said from their home in Hilton Head, S.C....
State court sends Christopher Columbus statue removal debate back to Allegheny County Court, advocates react
The fate of the Christopher Columbus statue in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park must once again be debated before an Allegheny County judge. A Commonwealth Court ruling last week, in its primary effect, reversed an Allegheny County Common Pleas judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit the Italian Sons and Daughters of America (ISDA)...
Man lights self on fire outside Trump trial courthouse in NYC
NEW YORK — A Florida man set himself on fire in a park across from Manhattan Criminal Court Friday where former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial continues, according to a report. Court officers and cops monitoring the press outside raced over to help put out the fire, which erupted...
Hempfield man accused of seeking to pay to have his sister murdered
A Hempfield man is charged with attempting to hire someone to kill his sister, apparently motivated by a proposed change in the family estate. Westmoreland County detectives and sheriff’s deputies arrested Peter John Cute, 63, Friday afternoon after he met with a man that Cute allegedly offered to pay to...
Beaver County man gets 10-year prison term for severe abuse of disabled residents
A Beaver County man was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison Friday in Pittsburgh on federal hate crime charges stemming from severe abuse of disabled residents he was responsible for assisting at an in-patient health care facility in the county. U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan imposed the...
Most farmers don’t mind record-setting April rain
It’s been a soggy April. And it’s about to be the soggiest, according to the National Weather Service. “Prior to today, we’re 0.27 inches away from tying the wettest April on record,” said weather service Meteorologist Fred McMullen on Friday. What that means to local farms is highly dependent on...
Penn Hills health care facility owner indicted on federal charges
The owner of a Penn Hills facility that services people with intellectual disabilities faces a federal indictment on charges of health care fraud and other crimes. Kelley Oliver-Hollis, 59, of Pittsburgh faces 33 counts, including making false statements to health care matters and money laundering, federal officials announced. Oliver-Hollis is...
PennWest presidential search narrowed down to 3 candidates
The search for a leader who can quell enrollment and financial woes at Western Pennsylvania’s largest state-owned university has narrowed to three people. Still in the running for the presidency of Pennsylvania Western University are: • Jon Anderson, provost and vice president for academic affairs/professor at Southern Utah University (Cedar...
Emergency rooms refused to treat pregnant women, leaving one to miscarry in a lobby restroom
WASHINGTON — One woman miscarried in the lobby restroom of a Texas emergency room as front desk staff refused to admit her. Another woman learned that her fetus had no heartbeat at a Florida hospital, the day after a security guard turned her away from the facility. And in North...
Victim of Larimer shooting identified
Authorities have identified a 48-year-old man killed Friday inside a home in Pittsburgh’s Larimer neighborhood. Nathaniel Walker of Pittsburgh died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. Pittsburgh police were called about 2 p.m. to the 500 block of Lowell Street, where Walker was found...
Latrobe man will serve at least 15 years in prison for Derry Township dagger, bat attack
A Latrobe man was ordered to serve 15 to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges related to a brutal assault in Derry Township that left three people severely injured. Westmoreland County prosecutors say Nicholas McIntyre broke into the Fourth Street apartment where his former girlfriend and...
The Monongahela Incline is open again
The Monongahela Incline reopened Friday, six weeks after it was closed for repairs to its electrical system. Pittsburgh Regional Transit closed the nation’s oldest such incline on March 5, when a pair of resistors failed. That issue caused the brakes to engage when they weren’t supposed to, according to the...
Greensburg man charged in connection with drug overdose death
A Greensburg man is facing charges in connection with a fatal drug overdose last year. City police charged Hugh J. Hawkey Jr., 48, on Friday with drug delivery resulting in death and related offenses. In a criminal complaint, police said they believe Hawkey is responsible for providing a fatal dose...
FBI investigates violent threats to Pittsburgh Diocese, Jewish community
The FBI’s Pittsburgh office is investigating violent threats made this week against religious schools and places of worship in Western Pennsylvania. They included two threatening emails sent to a Catholic school and a handful of antisemitic online messages sent to members of the Jewish community in the city. The Jewish...
Mark Madden: Penguins no longer an elite team, have to realize nothing is guaranteed
The Pittsburgh Penguins need to understand what they are. They are underdogs. They have been for quite some time. Yes, you can be an underdog with Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin. The evidence is plentiful, not least finishing 10th in a terrible conference with 38 wins and 44...
Injunction sought against Post-Gazette for alleged labor violations
The National Labor Relations Board authorized a request this week to seek a temporary court injunction against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for allegedly violating its workers labor rights. Union representatives said the move could put an end to the 19-month strike carried out by journalists and production workers at the paper....
Ukraine, Israel aid advances in rare House vote as Democrats help Republicans push it forward
WASHINGTON — With rare bipartisan momentum, the House pushed ahead Friday on a foreign aid package of $95 billion for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian support as a robust coalition of lawmakers helped it clear a procedural hurdle to reach final votes this weekend. Friday’s vote produced a seldom-seen outcome...
Final jurors seated for Trump’s hush money case, with opening statements set for Monday
NEW YORK — The final jurors were seated Friday in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, and an appellate judge rejected the former president’s latest bid to halt the case as a hectic day in court set the stage for opening statements to begin Monday. The panel of New Yorkers who...
Bitcoin’s latest ‘halving’ has arrived. Here’s what you need to know
NEW YORK — The “miners” who chisel bitcoins out of complex mathematics are taking a 50% pay cut — effectively reducing new production of the world’s largest cryptocurrency, again. Bitcoin’s latest “halving” appeared to occur Friday night. Soon after the highly anticipated event, the price of bitcoin held steady at...
Luxury Sewickley Village condominium hits market
“For those looking to downsize, that doesn’t have to mean downgrade,” Piatt Sotheby’s International Realty associate broker and real estate advisor Kathe Barge said of a Centennial Avenue condo in Sewickley Village. That’s apparent from the get-go — a governor’s drive winds in front of the red brick and cast...
FAFSA mess leads to deadline extension for students to apply for state grants
Students hoping for a Pennsylvania state grant to help pay for college have an extra month — until June 1 — to submit the federal form that is needed to be considered for financial aid. The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) on Thursday announced that it has pushed back...
Rostraver man killed in crash on I-70
A Rostraver man was killed Friday morning when his car crashed along Interstate 70 in Rostraver. State police said Joseph E. Troyer, 35, was pronounced dead at the scene after the eastbound Ford Focus he was driving struck a tree with its passenger side and flipped onto its roof, trapping...
