Top Stories category, Page 885
Laurel Highlands in running again for best fall foliage honors
For the third consecutive year, the Laurel Highlands region is in the running to be named the 2022 Best Destination for Fall Foliage in USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards. The region finished eighth in last year’s voting and third in 2020. The contest includes 20 destinations across the...
3 Arkansas cops suspended after video captures beatingVideo
MULBERRY, Ark. — Three Arkansas law enforcement officers were suspended, and state police launched an investigation after a video posted on social media showed two of them beating a suspect while a third officer held him on the ground. The officers were responding to a report of a man making...
Arrest warrant issued for man wanted in fatal North Braddock shooting
Allegheny County police have obtained an arrest warrant for a man wanted in connection with a fatal shooting in North Braddock. When police and paramedics responded to a shooting near the intersection of Jones and Baldridge avenues shortly after 6:30 p.m. Aug. 14, they found Leonard S. Morris-Graham, 29, of...
Special training, equipment prep emergency crews for water, physical rescues
When divers pulled the body of a 3-year-old Armstrong County boy from the Allegheny River about a year ago, the emotional impact of the untimely death was cause for concern — for the recovery team as well as for the young victim’s loved ones. “Anything like that that’s associated with...
Social media posts draw attention to Pa. election races, but will they affect the outcomes?
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman has repeatedly taken to social media to mock his Republican rival, Dr. Mehmet Oz, during this year’s campaign — using celebrity cameo videos to call out Oz for moving from New Jersey to run, memes to criticize his vast wealth and even Oz’s own...
Jury selection to start in death penalty trial in 2017 triple fatal Homewood fire
Jury selection begins Monday in a death penalty case against a man accused of setting fire to a house in Homewood in 2017 and killing three people, including a 4-year-old child. Martell Smith, 45, is charged with 13 counts, including three counts of criminal homicide, stemming from the fire Dec....
Kansas recount confirms results in favor of abortion rights
OLATHE, Kan. — A decisive statewide vote in favor of abortion rights in traditionally conservative Kansas was confirmed with a partial hand recount, with fewer than 100 votes changing after the last county reported results Sunday. Nine of the state’s 105 counties recounted their votes at the request of Melissa...
Pittsburgh’s Bishop Zubik to undergo back surgery
Pittsburgh’s leader of the local Catholic Church will undergo spinal surgery Monday at UPMC Mercy Hospital. According to a news release from the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop David Zubik, 72, has suffered from continuing problems with collapsing discs, and the surgery should address those. Zubik has a history of...
Police: Driver shoots at car after sideswiping it near Parkway East ramp
A driver sideswiped a vehicle Sunday morning on Ardmore Boulevard in Wilkinsburg then shot at the car, striking its hood, state police said. According to a release from the Pittsburgh office, a gray sedan drove alongside a red Toyota Avalon at 11:35 a.m. and sideswiped the Toyota. The driver of...
Church dome struck by lightning in Pittsburgh’s North Side
Just before Mass on Sunday, parishioners at St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church in Pittsburgh’s North Side got a visit from Zeus, as the dome of the large Catholic church was struck by lightning. The Rev. Larry DiNardo said a lightning bolt hit the dome of the church on East Street...
Court puts on hold Lindsey Graham’s testimony in Ga. election probe
ATLANTA — A federal appeals court on Sunday agreed to temporarily put on hold a lower court’s order requiring that U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham testify before a special grand jury that’s investigating possible illegal efforts to overturn then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. A subpoena had instructed the...
Car blast kills daughter of Russian known as ‘Putin’s brain’Video
MOSCOW — The daughter of an influential Russian political theorist often referred to as “Putin’s brain” was killed in a car bombing on the outskirts of Moscow, authorities said Sunday. The Moscow branch of the Russian Investigative Committee said preliminary information indicated 29-year-old TV commentator Daria Dugina was killed by...
Cellphones in schools: Some districts take steps to eliminate devices from class while others balance benefits
Wake up. Check your phone. Go to class. Check your phone. Start homework. Check your phone. Go to bed. Check your phone. For some high schoolers, cellphone use is almost on par with blinking, with the average teenager raking in up to nine hours of screen time each day, according...
Western Pa. amateur bakers make taking the cake look easy as pie at Westmoreland Fair contest
As she baked her chocolate cake for the Westmoreland Fair’s Cake and Pie Showdown Contest, Jennifer Lang had one person in mind: her mom. Lang’s mother has terminal cancer and couldn’t make it to the fairgrounds to watch her daughter take first prize in the Saturday morning cake contest. “I...
Wendy’s pulls lettuce from sandwiches amid E. coli outbreak
The fast-food chain Wendy’s says it is pulling lettuce from sandwiches in its restaurants in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania after people eating them there reported falling ill. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday it is trying to determine whether romaine lettuce is the source of an E....
Sweet corn, tomatoes are foundation for more diverse offerings from Western Pa. farmers
Hempfield farmer Neil Palmer says that for 50 years his operation has been focused on growing fresh produce, which is sold at his own farm market. “This year, we have a little more than 20 acres of fresh vegetables,” said Palmer, a fourth-generation farmer. “For the most part, it’s been...
Changing agricultural landscape leaves fewer farmers to work larger farms
When Ralph Myers, 85, looks at the farming operations around him, the difference is stark compared to three decades ago. “In 1995, there were about 195 dairy farmers in Armstrong County,” said Myers, a fourth-generation farmer from Gilpin and patriarch at Myers Pickle Farm, which dates to 1866. “Today, there...
Low-interest loans available to Aug. 5 Western Pa. flood victims
Residents and business owners in nine Western Pennsylvania counties whose property was damaged by the Aug. 5 flood can apply for low-interest loans through the federal government, the state said Friday. Flood victims in Westmoreland, Fayette, Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Cambria counties are eligible for the loans...
Doug Mastriano, Florida’s Ron DeSantis focus on crime, pandemic closures at Pittsburgh rally
Over one thousand people attended a rally in Downtown Pittsburgh on Friday evening where Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized Democrats over rising crime rates and boasted about Republicans’ record for keeping schools open during the pandemic. DeSantis, who has been floated as a potential...
Police say Pittsburgh man was selling drugs out of New Kensington house, nearly 2 ounces of crack confiscated
A Pittsburgh man was arrested Friday morning on felony charges after a drug task force raided a house in New Kensington and found him in possession of close to 2 ounces of crack cocaine and other evidence of drug dealing, according to authorities. Jordan Edwin James, 30, of the 3400...
Former Shondell Mike Vale’s Crystal Blue Band to hold final concert Saturday in Latrobe
Mike Vale can vividly recall the details of the night his life changed dramatically in January 1966. He and his band, The Raconteurs (not to be confused with the modern Jack White-affiliated band), were playing at the Thunderbird Lounge in Greensburg. “Who, of all people, walks into the Thunderbird Lounge...
Driver’s license scanners could help reduce problems on Pittsburgh’s South Side, DA says
Bars on Pittsburgh’s South Side could start checking patrons’ driver’s licenses — not just to make sure they’re old enough to drink, but also to see if they’ve caused problems at other bars in the neighborhood. In a meeting with South Side bar owners Tuesday, District Attorney Stephen Zappala said...
Gatto Harley-Davidson moving from Tarentum; watersports, bike sales will remain
A cycle shop that has grown to become a Tarentum institution since opening in 1964 will move part of its operations from the borough. Gatto Cycle Shop announced it will close its Harley-Davidson dealership along East Sixth Avenue. It will merge it with a shop along Glenn Avenue in Shaler,...
Hempfield Area hopes first 49 queens will join 50th at homecoming ceremony this fall
When Renee Lytwak walked onto Hempfield Area High School’s football field in the fall of 1973, she never expected to leave it adorned with a crown and bouquet of flowers. That day, Lytwak — then a high school senior dressed in a floor-length red gown trimmed with white lace —...
Pittsburgh woman bitten by shark at Myrtle Beach; she’s one of 2 victims
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Two swimmers survived being bitten by sharks this week at South Carolina’s most popular beach. Both people were attacked in Myrtle Beach on Monday with one suffering a serious injury to the forearm and the second a more glancing bite to the leg, police told media...
