Top Stories category, Page 547
Pittsburgh City Council members propose 7.1% pay raise for themselves
Pittsburgh City Council members are proposing to increase their pay by 7.1% in the city’s budget for next year — more than double the raise that Mayor Ed Gainey had proposed for council members. Gainey had included a 3% increase for council members in his proposed budget. Council members introduced...
Cottage on Sewickley Heights estate explodes; 1 person hospitalized
One person was taken to a hospital after an explosion Tuesday at a cottage on a Sewickley Heights estate. According to Aleppo fire Chief Bill Davis Jr., a plumber was working in the cottage at 543 Backbone Road when the explosion occurred. He was taken to a local hospital by...
Holidays usher in flu season: When should you visit doctor or ER?
This time last year at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Chief of Emergency Services Dr. Raymond Pitetti and his team were overwhelmed with sick children. At the beginning of December 2022, the department saw a spike in activity from a combination of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), covid-19 and flu cases,...
U.N. General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to demand a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to demand a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza in a strong demonstration of global support for ending the Israel-Hamas war. The vote also shows the growing isolation of the United States and Israel. The vote in the 193-member world body...
Former Pittsburgh building inspector accused of taking bribes from Downtown developer
A former Pittsburgh building inspector faces a felony bribery charge after police said he solicited at least $5,000 in connection with a development project in Downtown Pittsburgh. Walter Eiseman was charged Nov. 28 in Western Pennsylvania’s U.S. District Court with one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, court...
Study identifies glaring racial disparities, recommends changes in Allegheny County’s justice system
A comprehensive study on racial disparity in Allegheny County’s criminal justice system shows that Black people are five times more likely to be arrested than white people, 10 times more likely to be held in jail while awaiting trial and nine times more likely to be convicted of a felony....
McKnight Road in McCandless reopens after multi-vehicle crash
All lanes of McKnight Road have reopened following a multi-vehicle crash on McKnight Road in McCandless on Tuesday, according to Allegheny County Dispatch. Police and EMS reported to the scene of a multi-vehicle crash on McKnight Road near Perrymont Road in McCandless that occurred just before 11 a.m., according to...
Man faces more charges after becoming unruly during hearing in Monessen district court
A defendant became unruly this month during a preliminary hearing on drug charges at district court in Monessen, threatening police, an attorney and the judge, according to court papers. City police were called to the courtroom when Judge Wayne Vlasic reported Michael A. Whitfield-Bronson, 36, was causing a disturbance Dec....
No Christmas Eve launch for Astrobotic lunar lander
Pittsburgh space startup Astrobotic’s lunar lander Peregrine won’t be leaving for the moon on Christmas Eve after all. The lander had been scheduledto launch on Dec. 24 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carried by a Vulcan Centaur rocket from Colorado-based United Launch Alliance. However, on Sunday, United...
Backlash to House testimony shines spotlight on new generation of Ivy League presidents
WASHINGTON — The university presidents called before a congressional hearing on antisemitism last week had more in common than strife on their campuses: The leaders of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and MIT were all women who were relatively new in their positions. In that sense, they represented the changing...
3 girls escape from Baldwin facility, lead police in chase on turnpike
Three teenage girls are facing charges after state police said they escaped from a Baldwin facility and led troopers on a chase on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Somerset. A trooper on patrol Dec. 1 around 8 a.m. noticed a work van driving erratically eastbound in Somerset County. The driver of...
Therese Rocco, Pittsburgh’s 1st female assistant police chief, dead at 97
Therese Rocco, a devout Catholic, Pittsburgh native and trailblazing police officer who became a role model for women and embraced the saintly task of tracking down missing children as her life’s work, died Monday after several weeks in hospice care at West Penn Hospital. She was 97. Diminutive and dogged,...
Morning roundup: Woman found after going missing from Knoxville; fire at Beaver County manufacturing business
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Tuesday, Dec. 12: Missing woman A woman who went missing from the Knoxville area was found safe after four days, according to Pittsburgh police. Caitlin “Cait” Hilpert had last been seen around 10 p.m. Saturday. Police put out a...
Tarentum, Cheswick eyeing regional riverfront development
Boat docks are all but gone from the Tarentum riverfront, but they could return in the coming years, alongside a fishing pier, bike trail, canoe rentals or places to eat. The borough is teaming with Cheswick to devise a riverfront development plan to focus on public access to the shoreline...
Pitt launches grad program to make data science more accessible
Understanding how to work with data is a skill that once seemed important only for those with careers tied at the hip to a computer. Not any more. Artists, accountants, health care workers and just about anyone else in an increasingly digitized world can benefit from being able to assemble,...
Charged teens simply walked away from Westmoreland shelter; county reopens shuttered juvenile center in response
There was nothing to prevent two teens facing criminal charges from just walking out of the Westmoreland County- administered shelter where they were staying, the county’s juvenile detention director said Monday. The teens, Braedon M. Dickinson, 16, who was charged last year with second-degree murder, and Robert Cogdell, 14, who...
Veteran GOP lawmaker from Penn Township says he won’t run again for state House
George Dunbar’s upcoming 14th year representing residents of Westmoreland County’s 56th District in the state House will be his last. A Penn Township resident who has served as the Republican caucus chair since 2021, Dunbar announced Monday he doesn’t intend to seek an eighth two-year term in the House. “It’s...
$13M project to address landslide risks in Pittsburgh’s Mt. Washington
Pittsburgh is spending $13 million on a project that officials say will reduce landslide risks in Mt. Washington. The neighborhood has endured several significant landslides in recent years, with debris falling onto streets or walking paths where hillsides are unstable. City are focusing the latest project on three areas that...
Developer plans apartments, townhouses at UPMC South Side hospital site
A developer is planning to replace a former hospital on Pittsburgh’s South Side with apartments and townhouses. Walnut Capital has acquired the 5.5-acre former UPMC South Side hospital complex on Mary, Jane and Josephine streets in the South Side Flats for $9.3 million. The deal was inked in November through...
Texas woman who sought court permission for abortion leaves state for the procedure, attorneys sayVideo
AUSTIN — A pregnant Texas woman who was seeking court permission for an abortion in an unprecedented challenge to one of the most restrictive bans in the U.S. could not wait any longer and went to another state, her attorneys said Monday. The announcement came as Kate Cox, whose fetus...
Can the Pa. legislature finish the budget before a leaky roof closes the state House for months?
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 — State lawmakers will return to Harrisburg next week in hopes of finally ending nearly six months of partisan deadlock on the last pieces...
4-year-old’s shooting leads to charges for Rostraver couple
The parents of a 4-year-old Rostraver boy who accidentally shot himself in the head this summer are charged with endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangering, according to court documents. Laura C. Steele, 32, and Michael Lynn, 37, kept the loaded gun unsecured under the bed in their...
Southwestern Pa. Commission to look for ways to reduce traffic deaths in Allegheny County
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission has received $520,000 in federal funding to develop a plan to make streets safer in Allegheny County, which is coming off its deadliest traffic year in nearly two decades. Last year, Allegheny County saw 84 traffic fatalities, the most since 2005, according to PennDOT. After a...
Mike Tomlin says T.J. Watt was cleared to return for Steelers against Patriots
Mike Tomlin believes the Pittsburgh Steelers took the necessary steps to ensure that All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt didn’t return to their game last Thursday night with concussion symptoms. Watt was placed in concussion protocol on Saturday, two days after he played 52 of a possible 57 defensive snaps in...
Stew Wood Fire Fusion opens in former Fuel and Fuddle space in Oakland
Stew Wood Fire Fusion is set to open Monday, bringing an eclectic mix of meats, sandwiches — and yes, stews — to Oakland. It’s not the first restaurant venture for owners Karen Perdomo and John Ortiz. The couple opened The Colombian Spot in Pittsburgh’s South Side in 2017 and added...
