Top Stories category, Page 653
Fire damages attic, basement of former South Huntingdon coffee shop
Fire damaged a former coffee shop in South Huntingdon Township on Tuesday evening. According to a Westmoreland County 911 dispatcher, fires were found in the basement and the attic of the former Breaktime Coffee Services building, located at 2246 First St. in Wyano. No one was found in the building...
Blaze on Brunot reignites interest in historic Pittsburgh island
It’s certainly no Herr’s, much less a Neville. But Brunot Island — small, scrappy and often overlooked locally compared to its better-known cousins — is no slouch when it comes to its place in Pittsburgh history. Nestled snugly in the Ohio River just a few miles from The Point and...
Embattled Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer could go to sheriff’s sale
The Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer could go to sheriff’s sale this fall. According to court filings, a notice of sheriff’s sale for real estate that includes the mall property will be held at 9 a.m. Oct. 2 in the Allegheny County Courthouse. Filings indicate Pitt Galleria Reality LLC, Pitt...
Allegheny County Jail inmate who died over the weekend identified
A man who died in Allegheny County Jail over the weekend was identified Tuesday as Douglas Bonomo, 59, of McKeesport. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet provided a cause or manner of death. Bonomo, an inmate at the jail, was pronounced dead by paramedics around 7:20 a.m....
Connellsville native Johnny Lujack, 1947 Heisman winner who led Notre Dame to 3 national titles, dies at the age of 98
Connellsville native Johnny Lujack, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who led Notre Dame to three national championships in the 1940s, died Tuesday in Florida following a brief illness. He was 98. Lujack’s death was confirmed by his granddaughter, Amy Schiller, who said he had entered hospice care recently after having been...
Witness testifies that Pittsburgh synagogue shooter saved his life as a teen
When Pittsburgh synagogue shooter Robert Bowers was a teenager, he saved a friend who was struggling to stay afloat in the Monongahela River. Frank Ray testified Tuesday in federal court that he and other boys went to find a rope swing hanging underneath the Glenwood Bridge and go swimming in...
Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh workers seek to unionize
About 100 workers at the Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh are seeking to unionize with the United Steelworkers union. It’s the latest in a series of efforts to organize workplaces in the region and nationally at a time when more workers are going on strike — or have been on...
Fitzgerald, Catena spar over vetoed Allegheny County property assessment bill
Two of Allegheny County’s top elected officials are trading barbs over a bill that sought to address the county’s property tax assessment role. Allegheny County Council passed a bill by a 9-6 vote early this month to establish a new chief assessment officer appointed by council that would render calculations...
UPS reaches contract with 340,000 unionized workers, averting potential strike
NEW YORK — UPS has reached a contract agreement with its 340,000-person strong union Tuesday, averting a strike that had the potential to disrupt logistics nationwide for businesses and households alike. The agreement was announced after UPS and the Teamsters came back to the negotiating table Tuesday to talk over...
City’s office cleaners march in Pittsburgh ahead of contract negotiations
Dozens of unionized office cleaners marched to Pittsburgh’s City-County Building on Tuesday to call for better wages and support. Their current four-year labor agreement — which covers more than 1,200 office cleaners in Pittsburgh — expires at the end of October. The workers are represented by the 32BJ SEIU union....
DA Zappala’s son charged with assault in connection with alleged domestic dispute
The son of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. has been arrested in connection with a domestic incident, police said. Stephen John Zappala, 31, of Ben Avon Heights, was charged by Ohio Township police Sunday with simple assault and harassment, court records show. He was arraigned early Monday...
DeSantis uninjured in car crash on way to Tennessee presidential campaign events
WASHINGTON — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was involved in a multi-car accident on Tuesday in Tennessee but was uninjured as he traveled in a motorcade to a campaign stop for his 2024 presidential bid. The crash happened before 8:15 a.m. when traffic slowed on Interstate 75 in Chattanooga, causing four...
Defense seeks to exhume corpse of Pittsburgh synagogue shooter’s father to verify paternity
Defense attorneys for the man found guilty of killing 11 people at a Squirrel Hill synagogue are seeking to have his father’s body exhumed to confirm paternity. Robert Bowers, 50, of Baldwin, was found guilty of all 63 counts against him for the Oct. 27, 2018, attack on the Tree...
Morning Roundup: Trader Joe’s recalls cookies for possible rocks
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Tuesday, July 25: Trader Joe’s recalls cookies for possible rocks Trader Joe’s warned customers over the weekend that some cookies purchased from the store might contain an unpleasant surprise: rocks. The grocery store, which has three locations in the...
Closed New Kensington Bridge a headache for some, a hope for others
Ron Weidenhoff spent the early morning hours Monday setting up a porch sale at his home along West Seventh Avenue in Tarentum. By 8:30 a.m., he could tell there was an uptick in traffic. “My porch was actually rattling from the trucks,” he said. “So many big trucks.” Just a...
Pa. is competing for billions to build hydrogen hubs. Will they really be green?
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — As the federal government prepares to dole out billions of dollars to encourage states to invest in hydrogen production...
Alabama woman confesses to fabricating kidnapping
HOOVER, Ala. — Authorities in Alabama said Monday that a woman has confessed to fabricating a story that she was kidnapped after stopping to check on a toddler she saw walking on the side of the interstate. Hoover Police Department Chief Nicholas Derzis said Carlee Russell’s attorney, Emory Anthony, provided...
Duquesne Light plant reactor failure sparks fires on Pittsburgh’s Brunot IslandVideo
Crews from Duquesne Light remain on the scene of an overnight fire at the company’s power station on Brunot Island on the Ohio River in Pittsburgh. Fire crews extinguished the fire, caused by explosions at the power station, overnight, authorities said. Pittsburgh Public Safety said the blasts were the “result...
Somerset man sentenced for 2019 crash that killed Hempfield bicyclist
Nearly four years after Jason Zollinger was killed as he pedaled up Route 30 toward Laurel Mountain summit in Ligonier Township, his family on Monday finally obtained a level of closure. “I am speaking for my son because he can’t. It’s been 1,392 days since my life changed forever. I...
Fort Pitt Bridge ‘street takeover’ stunt leads to another arrest
A social media influencer has become the second person arrested in the aftermath of Friday’s Fort Pitt Bridge street takeover, police said. State police on Monday charged Graham Carvins Liberal, 24, of Sunrise, Fla. with rioting, recklessly endangering another person, disorderly conduct and being a pedestrian walking on a highway,...
‘There’s a mismatch’: Office vacancies continue to climb in Pittsburgh region
The lights have gone out in more office buildings in the Pittsburgh area, resulting in a new record high for vacancies in the region. It’s a continuing trend that’s throwing the local market out of whack as everyone figures out what a post-pandemic workplace should be. “With the office market...
Police investigating gunshot death in North Versailles
Police are investigating the death of a North Versailles man whose body was found Monday morning in a parking lot off of Route 30. Officers were called to a parking lot on the 1700 block of Lincoln Highway in North Versailles just after 7 a.m. They arrived to find the...
McKees Rocks mom pleads guilty to shooting rifle at people who fought with her daughter
A McKees Rock woman, accused of opening fire with a rifle on three people who got into a fight with her daughter at a Pittsburgh bar, has pleaded guilty in the case to lesser charges. Artiella G. Bennett, 43, pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated assault and two counts of recklessly...
Derry Township man loses $1,000 in gift card scam
A Derry Township man is out $1,000 after state police said he fell victim to a gift card scam this month. Troopers said the man believed he was buying an enclosed trailer from Montana for $1,000 with free shipping through an ad on Craigslist that was related to an eBay...
Jump in oil prices driving gas price hike in Pittsburgh area, analyst says
The average gasoline price in the Pittsburgh area increased more than 9 cents per gallon in the past week, according to price-tracking service GasBuddy. The average on Monday stood at $3.71 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 731 stations in the area. That’s 9.2 cents more than last week...
