Top Stories category, Page 649
Hunter Biden sold ‘illusion of access’ to his father, former business partner tells CongressVideo
WASHINGTON — Hunter Biden’s former business partner insisted in testimony to Congress Monday that President Joe Biden was never directly involved in their financial dealings, though Hunter would often put his famous father on speakerphone to impress clients and business associates. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee conducted a more than-five...
Thrasher ends tenure as Westmoreland commissioner
Gina Cerilli Thrasher’s title will remain the same. In her next role, Thrasher will serve as a commissioner on the state’s Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board when she starts her new job Tuesday. Her more than seven years as a member of Westmoreland County’s Board of Commissioners ended Monday. “It’s bittersweet...
Idaho mom Lori Vallow Daybell sentenced in deaths of 2 children and her romantic rivalVideo
BOISE — Idaho mother Lori Vallow Daybell has been sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday in the murders of her two youngest children and a romantic rival in a case that included bizarre claims that her son and daughter were zombies and that she was a goddess sent...
Westmoreland coroner turns tragedies into prevention program
After two infants in Westmoreland County died this year following unsafe sleep practices at home, Coroner Tim Carson started searching for a way to prevent more parents from suffering that loss. He landed on Cribs for Kids, a Pittsburgh nonprofit that connects families with free cribs and education classes. “Two...
$1.05 billion Mega Million jackpot is among a surge in huge payouts due to more than just luck
DES MOINES, Iowa — Another day, another billion dollar lottery jackpot. At least, that’s how it seems ahead of Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing for an estimated $1.05 billion top prize. It’s a huge sum of money, but such giant jackpots have become far more common, with five prizes topping...
Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman, dead at 70Video
Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural phenomenon through films and TV shows, has died. Reubens died Sunday night after a six-year struggle with cancer that he did not make public, his publicist said in a statement. “Please accept my apology for not going...
8-year-old girl ejected from SUV during Arnold police pursuit
An 8-year-old girl was ejected from the window of an SUV that Arnold police were chasing Saturday. The vehicle was driven by a woman who didn’t have a license because of a DUI suspension, police said. An officer arrested Amanda Nicole Shaw, 30, of Arnold at gunpoint after she drove...
Jurors deliberating whether Pittsburgh synagogue shooter is sentenced to death or life in prison
Eleven times, the prosecutor repeated the same sentence, changing only the subject. “Her loss, alone, is sufficient to justify a sentence of death.” “His loss, alone, is sufficient to justify a sentence of death.” Eleven times, one for each person killed in the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue nearly...
Gas prices soar amid heat-related refinery outages, analyst says
The Pittsburgh area’s brief stint of hot weather may be over, but drivers are still feeling the heat at the gas pump. Gas prices in the region and across the nation have soared over the past week because of heat-related outages impacting some of the country’s largest refineries, said Patrick...
Bushy Run prepares for 260th anniversary of Penn Township battle
About 90 reenactors are registered for this year’s Bushy Run Battlefield reenactment, which was in jeopardy earlier this year after a change in state policy. The reenactment traditionally held the first weekend in August portrays a 1763 clash between the British and Native Americans during Pontiac’s War. It will take...
Mark Madden: Pirates would be wrong to delay turning point further at trade deadline
As the Pittsburgh Pirates stumble through the latest phase of their never-ending rebuild, it’s easy to doubt the franchise’s implied (if not outright declared) optimism that 2024 is going to be a turning point. This season’s 47-58 record (27-50 after a 20-8 start) says otherwise. What the Pirates do before Tuesday’s...
Passenger fatally stabbed on Greyhound Bus traveling from Pittsburgh to D.C.
An 18-year-old Detroit man charged with fatally stabbing a fellow passenger Sunday night aboard a Greyhound bus just outside Pittsburgh told first responders it was the first time he had killed anyone and referred to a “demon” who “took many souls,” according to a criminal complaint. Police said Javon Garrett...
Police, firefighters searching for alligator in Kiski River
Local police and firefighters are actively searching the Kiski River between Avonmore and Apollo for a wayward alligator spotted by kayakers over the weekend. A state humane officer is putting out baited traps for the animal, assumed to be a pet that escaped or was released when its owner no...
Morning Roundup: Man shot in foot in Beltzhoover
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Monday, July 31: Man shot in foot in Beltzhoover Pittsburgh police are investigating a shooting Sunday night in the city Beltzhoover’s neighborhood. Officers responded around 11:15 p.m. to reports of 24 rounds fired in the 200 block of Industry...
Teen killed in Mt. Oliver shooting
Pittsburgh police are investigating the death of a 17-year-old boy Sunday night in Mt. Oliver. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Andrew Lavaughn Smith of Pittsburgh. Police responded to a report of shots being fired in the 400 block of Brownsville Road around 9:15 p.m. Pittsburgh...
Indiana County fan preserves Steelers history, 1 news clipping at a time
Ed Griffith’s wife, Joyce, rarely has to wonder where he is. The Indiana County man’s daily routine includes hanging out in his basement man cave, adding to the more than four decades of news clippings he has saved to document the Steelers and other favorite regional sports teams and figures....
Thousands turn out for iconic-themed Vandergrift Artfest
Tommy Scanga got serious with his spuds Sunday in anticipation of feeding hundreds of hungry festivalgoers in Vandergift. Scanga, owner of Del Vecchio’s Sausage & Fries, had 1,000 pounds of potatoes at the ready in his food truck to make his specialty fresh-cut fries for the 16th annual Vandergrift Artfest,...
Steelers tasked with fitting 3 inside linebackers on field with addition of Kwon AlexanderVideo
Forget about a two dogs-one bone scenario — Mike Tomlin’s terminology for two players competing for one job — taking place at inside linebacker this summer for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Where that ever-expanding position group is concerned, it’s more like three dogs competing for two bones. The signing of Kwon...
Pittsburgh woman charged in Friday shooting outside Texas Roadhouse in Collier Township
Police have charged a 22-year-old woman in relation to a shooting Friday in the parking lot of a Collier Township shopping plaza, according to Tribune-Review news partner WTAE. August Lashea Poole, 22, of Pittsburgh’s Marshall-Shadeland neighborhood, is charged with aggravated assault and possession of a criminal weapon, WTAE reported. Police...
Gatling gun fires off interest at Historic Hanna’s Town Civil War event
As a young boy, Keith Takacs knew he wanted a Gatling gun. The rapid-fire weapon, a precursor to modern machine guns patented in 1862, looked cool in old cowboy movies. Fast-forward a few decades, and Takacs dropped about $12,000 on one in 2019. “Saw it, wanted it, made it a...
Person freed from ticket booth at Idlewild amusement park after vehicle crash
Firefighters freed a person from a ticket booth Sunday afternoon at Idlewild & SoakZone amusement park after a vehicle crashed into it. A Westmoreland 911 dispatch supervisor said a person in the vehicle had a medical emergency around 2 p.m. at the park in Ligonier Township off Route 30. The...
Rookie Steelers fullback Monte Pottebaum abruptly placed on reserve/retired listVideo
No more “Monte the Mullet” at Pittsburgh Steelers training camp. Rookie fullback Monte Pottebaum — given a nickname to represent the style of his long blonde hair — was placed on the reserve/retired list, the Steelers announced Sunday afternoon. Signed soon after the draft ended out of Iowa, Pottebaum was...
Building the Valley: Ash Taphouse fires up service at former Beermuda in New Kensington
Jenn Toney takes pizza seriously. The New Kensington businesswoman attended a three-day “boot camp” in Chicago to learn how to make dough for wood-fired pizzas. She went to Las Vegas for a class on her rectangular, thick-cut “grandma” style, similar to Sicilian. And she bought a large, Italian wood-fired oven...
Joe Biden, America’s oldest sitting president, needs young voters to win again. Will his age matter?
At 24, Alberto Rodriguez has grandparents younger than Joe Biden. But he’s more interested in the 80-year-old president’s accomplishments than his age. “People as young as me, we’re all focusing on our day-to-day lives and he has done things to help us through that,” Rodriguez, a cook at Mandalay Bay...
Facing legal peril, Trump calls on GOP to rally around him as he threatens primary challenges
NEW YORK — At a moment of growing legal peril, Donald Trump ramped up his calls for his GOP rivals to drop out of the 2024 presidential race as he threatened to primary Republican members of Congress who fail to focus on investigating Democratic President Joe Biden and urged them...
