Top Stories category, Page 529
Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls are set to rise again
Pennsylvania Turnpike toll rates are set to rise starting Sunday for the 16th consecutive year. Here’s what motorists can expect: • A 5% increase. • For passenger vehicles, the most common toll will increase from $1.80 to $1.90 for E-ZPass customers and $4.40 to $4.70 for Toll by Plate. •...
Pittsburgh police: Missing Braddock girl found safe Saturday
A 17-year-old girl with Down syndrome who went missing after she was dropped off early Friday morning at Sto-Rox High School has been found safe, Allegheny County Police said Saturday afternoon. The girl, Kayla Durler, of Braddock, was last seen at a nearby bus stop in Stowe shortly before 10...
Pennsylvania case at center of challenge to police use of Google search data
Civil liberties advocates are mounting a new challenge to the use by police of Google search data for help in solving criminal cases, as the practice draws greater scrutiny nationwide. After a Pennsylvania woman was raped in 2016, police submitted a search warrant to Alphabet’s Google for information about users...
Iowa principal wounded in school shooting risked himself to protect students, police say
PERRY, Iowa — An Iowa principal critically injured in a school shooting put himself in harm’s way as he tried to protect students from a teenage shooter armed with a shotgun and a handgun, state authorities said Friday. Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger and six other staffers and students...
New round of Epstein documents offers another look into his cesspool of sexual abuse
NEW YORK — Nearly 100 more court files were unsealed Friday in a lawsuit involving Jeffrey Epstein, providing yet more detail about the late millionaire financier’s sexual abuse of underage girls and interactions with celebrities. The latest round of documents included additional excerpts of testimony from people who worked for...
Snowstorm forecast prompts vehicle restrictions on Pennsylvania Turnpike, other major routes
Vehicle restrictions will be in place beginning Saturday on portions of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and other major highways in the state as officials prepare for an expected weekend snowstorm. Starting at noon, PennDOT restrictions will take effect on the section of the toll road stretching from the New Stanton exit...
Biden invokes George Washington, calls Trump a threat to democracy
President Joe Biden pitched his reelection as a defense of democracy Friday, visiting a historic Revolutionary War site to accuse Republican Donald Trump and his supporters of having “abandoned the truth” about what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The president, speaking at a campaign event in Blue...
Records reveal gun arrests for suspect in Monroeville police shooting
The man accused of shooting a Monroeville police sergeant after robbing a cookie shop Wednesday night is a convicted criminal with a history of arrests on gun charges dating back nearly a decade. Jamal Brooks, who is charged with wounding the sergeant while spraying his marked police car with 16...
River Road from Apollo to Vandergrift reopens following widespread fuel spill
River Road from Apollo to Vandergrift reopened Saturday morning after a truck leaving Apollo Plaza had its fuel tank damaged Friday afternoon, dumping hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel onto the road. According to Armstrong County 911 dispatchers, the road was reopened by about 7:18 a.m. Saturday, and the spill...
2 men wanted in connection with ATM theft from Downtown business have been apprehended
Both men wanted for allegedly stealing an ATM from a Downtown business on Christmas Eve have been arrested, the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday. Raymond Fields III, 59, of Pittsburgh was apprehended Thursday night without incident at a residence along the 2600 block of South 18th Street on Pittsburgh’s...
‘I will never be who I was before the shooting,’ woman shot on Pa. Turnpike tells gunman
As Morgan King drove to her Eastern Pennsylvania home after a weekend in Pittsburgh, the last thing she expected was to be shot in a fit of road rage. King, 40, was hospitalized for five days for injuries suffered from the shot fired by Andrew Skinner, 33, of Monroeville moments...
Judge again orders engineering firm to turn over Fern Hollow Bridge records
A judge on Friday again ordered a balky engineering firm to turn over voluminous records about the Fern Hollow Bridge for his review before he decides whether to give them to lawyers representing victims of the span’s collapse nearly two years ago. The records — unredacted bridge inspection reports and...
As 2024 election approaches, voting officials worry Pa. isn’t prepared for misinformation
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — As the 2024 presidential election approaches, the people who run voting in Pennsylvania say the commonwealth must prepare to be at the center...
Rostraver father will stand trial after July accidental shooting of 4-year-old son
A 4-year-old Rostraver boy continues to recover from a head wound after accidentally shooting himself in July with his father’s gun. Meanwhile, his father was ordered Friday to stand trial on charges of child endangerment and reckless endangerment. The gun was left loaded and unsecured under a bed next to...
NRA chief Wayne LaPierre says he’s resigning days before trial scrutinizing his leadership, spending
NEW YORK — The longtime head of the National Rifle Association said Friday he is resigning, just days before the start of a New York civil trial that’s poised to scrutinize his leadership of the powerful gun rights organization. Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president and chief executive officer, said...
Hundreds of convictions, but a major mystery is still unsolved 3 years after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot
WASHINGTON — Members of far-right extremist groups. Former police officers. An Olympic gold medalist swimmer. And active duty U.S. Marines. They are among the hundreds of people who have been convicted in the massive prosecution of the Jan 6, 2021, riot in the three years since the stunned nation watched...
Pittsburgh Technical College leaders mull possible sale, merger as enrollment falls
Leaders of a nearly 80-year-old technical college in Oakdale are weighing options that include selling or merging the institution amid falling enrollment and financial strains. The issues facing Pittsburgh Technical College resemble those confronting higher education generally. But they have been complicated by recent infighting over leadership, accusations of misconduct...
As more Pa. residents rack up medical debt, hope hinges on a state solution
An innovative plan to help Pennsylvanians with crippling medical debt is delayed but not dead, supporters say. The plan calls for using state funds to buy unpaid medical bills from hospitals and health care providers, which are commonly sold at a steep discount. A $10 to $15 million investment by...
Meteorologists say weekend’s expected snow to be a ‘non-event’
Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh are debunking social media posts that have predicted a foot of snow to be dumped across Pittsburgh early Saturday. “It’ll be a non-event,” said Lee Hendricks, from the weather service in Moon Township. “We will see little to no accumulation Saturday or...
Morning Roundup: Crews battle fires in Manchester and Elizabeth Borough; break-in reported at Monroeville pizza shop
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, Jan. 5: Two-alarm fire in Elizabeth Borough Crews battled a two-alarm structure fire early Friday in Elizabeth Borough. The fire was reported at about 5:10 a.m. along South Third Avenue, according to TribLive news partner WTAE. No injuries...
TV Talk: WQED-produced PBS documentary explores ‘The Cost of Inheritance’
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. Former WQED-TV vice president of content Darryl Ford Williams executive produced the revealing new one-hour PBS documentary, “The Cost of Inheritance: An America ReFramed Special” (10 p.m. Jan. 8, WQED), which explores the complex issue...
Lack of snow, where rainfall ends up factors in declining Beaver Run reservoir levels
There’s been little change to an extended dry spell that has dropped water levels to rarely seen lows in the region’s reservoirs. But water customers who’ve been asked to cut back on their use are doing their job, according to municipal authority officials. Customers have been conserving, said Michael Kukura,...
With more records, world sees how Jeffrey Epstein leveraged powerful to abuse vulnerable girls
NEW YORK — A new batch of unsealed documents pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls was released Thursday, adding several hundred pages to a trove of information detailing how the financier leveraged connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit his victims and cover up his...
House Democrats say Trump hotels got foreign money during presidency
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump-owned hotels received at least $7.8 million in payments from foreign governments and their representatives during his presidency, according to a report from House Democrats. The 155-page report shows this money came from China, Saudi Arabia and more than 20 other countries — and that the amount...
Hospitals seeing ‘exponential’ rise in flu cases in Western Pa.
After a holiday season filled with travel, family gatherings and relatives breathing on each other, respiratory illnesses are on the rise in Western Pennsylvania — with flu cases spiking the fastest. Area hospitals are seeing an “exponential increase” in flu diagnoses, said Dr. Graham Snyder, medical director of infection prevention...
