Top Stories category, Page 677
Ligonier Valley police justified in fatal shooting of man with machete, DA says
Police were justified in their fatal shooting of a man armed with a machete in a July 2 domestic incident in Ligonier Township, Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole W. Ziccarelli said Friday. Westmoreland County detectives said Robbie Thomas Saunders, 59, aggressively approached two Ligonier Valley Police Department officers and was...
Penn Avenue getting upgrades, bike lane improvements in Pittsburgh
Penn Avenue in Downtown Pittsburgh is set to see upgrades that will improve bike lanes and update loading zones, city officials said Friday. A $150,000 mobility enhancement project will update the corridor from Point State Park to 11th Street. Work is expected to include repaving Penn Avenue from 9th Street...
Pleasant Hills woman’s passion for Barbie dolls inspired by her late mother
Dressed in bold red, bright green and shimmery pink ball gowns, Kim Bennear Fancsali’s Barbies are perched atop two shelves in the corner of the room. Some have sparkling tiaras, others are adorned with colorful capes and puffy faux fur. Fancy necklaces and earrings complete the look. They are from...
2 teens captured after carjacking Uber driver in Pittsburgh, police say
A Homewood teen cut off his probation ankle monitor and joined a second teen to carjack an Uber driver early Thursday, before leading Pittsburgh police on a high-speed chase that ended in Penn Hills with their capture, officials said. Police charged Patrick Beatty, 16, with robbery of a motor vehicle,...
Murders down this year in Pittsburgh, many U.S. cities, report says
Pittsburgh’s homicide rate is down in 2023 but still higher than its pre-pandemic levels, a trend mirrored in violent crime rates in 37 U.S. cities, according to a report from the Council on Criminal Justice. Homicides in the city plunged 34% in the first half of 2023, compared to the...
Pa.’s latest attempt to regulate cyber charter schools would lower tuition payments, increase transparency
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 — A bill making its way through the Pennsylvania legislature would cap the amount of money public school districts send...
Salem barn destroyed by fire following lightning strikeVideo
Ed Immel was getting ready for bed on Thursday night when a loud clap nearly shook him out from under the covers. “I thought it was just thunder,” he said. A few minutes later, he saw a dull orange glow out the window and knew that his barn was on...
Sara Innamorato’s state House exit triggers Allegheny County special election
Allegheny County will see another special election this September, the fourth time in 2023 that voters in the county will pick a replacement for state representative. With State Rep. Sara Innamorato, D-Lawrenceville, resigning to focus on her run for Allegheny County Executive, the 21st state House District is vacant and...
Officers begin added South Side patrols
Pittsburgh police has deployed a dedicated unit patrolling the entertainment district in the city’s South Side neighborhood on weekends. The unit includes seven Pittsburgh police officers Thursdays through Sundays, Police Chief Larry Scirotto told the Tribune-Review last week. That effort has started this week, public safety spokesperson Cara Cruz said...
Pa. antlerless deer license sales double last year’s pace as 2nd round nears
The second round of 2023-24 antlerless deer license sales begins at 8 a.m. Monday as the Pennsylvania Game Commission tries to catch up with a huge increase in the number of permits sold during the first round. The agency is allowing antlerless deer licenses to be purchased anywhere hunting licenses...
Judge sets a trial date for May 2024 in Trump’s classified documents case in Florida
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Florida has scheduled a trial date for next May for former President Donald Trump in a case charging him with illegally retaining hundreds of classified documents. The May 20, 2024, trial date, set Friday by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, is a compromise between...
Morning Roundup: 3 injured in 2-vehicle crash on North Side
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, July 21. 3 injured in 2-vehicle crash on North Side A two-vehicle crash on the North Side of Pittsburgh has left three people injured, one in critical condition. A report from Pittsburgh Public Safety said the crash occurred...
Tony Bennett, masterful stylist of American musical standards, dies at 96
NEW YORK — Tony Bennett, the eminent and timeless stylist whose devotion to classic American songs and knack for creating new standards such as “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” graced a decadeslong career that brought him admirers from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga, died Friday. He was 96,...
Severe thunderstorms move through Western Pa.; thousands left without power
Severe thunderstorms and damaging winds moved through Western Pennsylvania late Thursday, leaving thousands in the region without power. As of 11:30 a.m., just under 2,000 customers remained without electricity, including about 1,600 West Penn Power customers. While the number of outages has dropped as the day wears on, the bulk...
Think pink: Barbie-mania takes over Western Pennsylvania
Sorry, Taylor Swift, you’re old news. This week, it’s all about Barbie. The long-awaited, first live-action movie about the world’s best-selling fashion doll arrives in theaters this weekend with Margot Robbie in the title role and Ryan Gosling as her perpetual boyfriend, Ken. “Barbie” finds the pair kicked out of...
5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: July 21-23
We’ve made it to the weekend. If you aren’t attending Picklesburgh or the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix in Schenley Park, here are some other things to do. Edible garden The fifth annual Swissvale Edible Garden Tour is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. The free event showcases gardeners...
$25 million in upgrades underway at Highlands schools
With the start of school just over a month away, Highlands is readying its buildings with safety upgrades such as lighting and new sidewalks in time for the first class bell. Projects are underway at all four campuses as well as the community center. The cost is about $25 million....
Hempfield closes on former state prison property, bulks up security
Hempfield officially received a full box of keys to the former SCI Greensburg state prison facility after closing on the property last week. “There are a lot of keys to a prison, I found out,” township manager Aaron Siko joked at a meeting this week. The township supervisors announced the...
Penn State tuition to increase by 2% for in-state University Park students
In-state undergraduate tuition is going up this fall and next by 2% on Penn State University’s main campus, but will be frozen for Pennsylvania undergraduates both years on branch campuses statewide. University trustees, meeting Friday at Penn State Behrend in Erie, locked in 2023-24 and 2024-25 tuition schedules for the...
Tiny downtown LA store near Skid Row sells winning Powerball jackpot ticket worth over $1 billion
LOS ANGELES — A tiny neighborhood store in downtown Los Angeles sold the winning ticket for the Powerball jackpot worth an estimated $1.08 billion, the sixth largest in U.S. history and the third largest in the history of the game. The winning numbers for Wednesday night’s drawing were: white balls...
Johnstown couple charged in death of man whose body was found in Indiana County
A Johnstown couple has been charged in connection with the shooting death of a man whose body was discovered July 14 along an Indiana County road. State police have charged Justin Allen Green, 41, with homicide and robbery in the death of Daryl Vincent Lee Jr., 44, of Johnstown. Green...
Pollution from Canada’s wildfires was similar to breathing secondhand smoke indoors, study shows
The Canadian wildfires this summer exposed people to secondhand smoke at levels not seen since smoking was banned indoors in 2006, according to preliminary findings from Rutgers University researchers. Since the worst of the pollution from June 6 to 8, Philadelphia and other East Coast cities have continued to experience...
RFK Jr. denies making antisemitic comments as congressional Republicans give him a platformVideo
WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. worked to defend himself Thursday against accusations that he traffics in racist and hateful online conspiracy theories, testifying at a House hearing on government censorship despite requests from outside groups to disinvite the Democratic presidential candidate after his recent antisemitic remarks. The Republican-led Select...
Pittsburgh’s South Side not getting more violent, crime stats show
Though some have voiced concerns that Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood is more dangerous, crime data from Pittsburgh police indicate violent crime there is decreasing. From January through June, the neighborhood saw eight aggravated assault charges, 21 simple assault charges and four criminal mischief charges, according to crime statistics provided by...
Pittsburgh area baristas strike as part of Starbucks union national bus tour
Starbucks workers from across the country joined local baristas at the company’s Bloomfield and Eastside locations on Thursday in a strike against stalled contract negotiations and alleged union busting tactics. The pickets are part of a 13-city Starbucks Workers United bus tour that kicked off in Louisville on July 16....
