Chuck Biedka stories, Page 8

Chuck Biedka
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Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Refurbished Leechburg Public Library reopens 
Leechburg’s public library reopened Tuesday. The early afternoon turn-out was slow, but appreciative. In recent days, the refurbished library got attention from about 10 community volunteers who spruced up the facility, library board President Karen Freilino said. Librarian Lisa Kimbrugh welcomed Brooklyn Redmond, a sixth grader, as the first patron,...
Man, woman face drug charges following Kiski Township arrest
Kiski Township police said a phony car inspection sticker and a confidential informant’s tip helped them stop a suspected methamphetamine deal last Thursday. A criminal complaint filed in the case said a pickup driven by Jacqueline D. Pratt, 50, of Avonmore drew an officer’s attention because it appeared to have...
New Kensington traffic stop yields drugs, gun
New Kensington police say they found drugs and a gun on a man they pulled over along Seventh Street last week. Matthew Bryant Mojica, 27, of Strabane, Washington County, faces drug, gun and related charges after the incident on Aug. 27. Police say Mojica had bags of powdered fentanyl, heroin...
Leechburg Public Library reopening on Tuesday
Leechburg Public Library is scheduled to reopen Tuesday inside Leechburg Junior/Senior High School, just in time to celebrate the library’s 93rd birthday, the new library board said. The library abruptly closed May 30. Since then, the new board of directors was formed and numerous volunteers stepped up to keep the...
Avonmore family charged with hiding fugitive from police
Two men and their mother are facing charges of trying to hide a fugitive. Jessica Sue Thorpe, 39, Luke Robert Thorpe, 18, and Leroy William Thorpe, 22, all of Maple Terrace Lane, Avonmore, are accused of hindering the apprehension of Donald Thomas Phillips, 40, of Avonmore. A police affidavit states...
2 accused of selling drugs near children in Vandergrift house
An early morning raid in Vandergrift resulted in the arrest of two men on drug and child endangerment charges. Lonnell Alexander Moore, 29, and Carlos Cordoba, 22, both of Sherman Avenue, were arrested Wednesday. Police said they found four grams of cocaine and about a half-pound of marijuana inside the...
Route 28 north wreck cleared after snarling traffic for 2 hours 
It took almost two hours to clear a three-vehicle crash on Route 28 northbound just before the Highland Park bridge, according to PennDOT. The wreck was reported at about 8:20 a.m. during morning rush hour. The lanes were reopened at about 10:20 a.m., PennDOT’s Steve Cowan said. The wreck involved...
Shaler man pleads guilty to sharing child porn
A Shaler man pleaded guilty to one count of sharing child porn on the internet, the U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh announced Wednesday. Brian R. Reddinger, 36, pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon. In 2017, he pleaded not guilty to three child pornography counts. When he changed his...
Leechburg man accused of inappropriately touching girl
A 31-year-old Leechburg man is charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. Mark Faiola was being held in the Armstrong County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Sept. 4. According to a criminal complaint, Faiola is accused of touching the girl inappropriately on June...
Duquesne man charged in connection with Homestead shooting
Allegheny County police have charged an 18-year-old man in connection to a report of a shooting Tuesday night in Homestead. Police are looking for tips about a second suspect seen with him. The motive for the shooting is not known, according to police. It is also not know if anything...
Construction rolls on at Logans Ferry Road bridge at Lower Burrell-Plum border 
A construction crew will soon be pouring concrete for the deck for the Logans Ferry Road bridge on the side heading toward New Kensington. Soon after, a crew from Plum Contracting will prepare to build the lanes in the other direction. That will happen starting next month, according to Plum...
Woman found dead in duct-taped room in New Kensington is identified
The Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office identified a woman whose body was found Aug. 8 inside a New Kensington residence. Marcia Smock, 68, was discovered inside a Victoria Avenue home in a room that had the windows and door duct-taped shut, Westmoreland County Coroner Ken Bacha Jr. said. The woman had...
Plum police accuse Penn Hills man of S&T Bank robbery last December
A Penn Hills man already accused of robbing a bank in Unity, Westmoreland County, in January is now accused of threatening to stab a bank clerk during the robbery of the S&T branch along Golden Mile Highway in Plum last December. According to a police affidavit filed Wednesday, Demetriyaiss Lamar...
Missing Lake Erie boater identified as Plum man
A man missing in Lake Erie since Saturday morning is from Plum, according to information provided by Ohio authorities. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources identified the missing man as Raymond Burns, 58. The agency said Burns was in a recreational fishing boat that was swamped by a squall around...
Tractor-trailer overturns on Tarentum Bridge, sending scrap onto tracks below 
A tractor-trailer that overturned on the Tarentum Bridge early Monday afternoon dropped part of its load off the bridge onto Norfolk Southern railroad tracks below. The crash happened just before 1 p.m., according to an Allegheny County emergency dispatcher. It was just before the First Avenue exit ramp off the...
Duquesne police: Traffic stop nets drugs, $15K
Duquesne police said they confiscated $15,000 in cash and 13 bags of marijuana in a weekend traffic stop. According to police, Anthony Barton, 29, of Monongahela, was circling North Second and North Fifth streets about 11:30 a.m. Sunday. He then was driving 51 mph in a 35-mph zone along Route...
Psychics investigate Tarentum fire hall on A&E Network show 
Things don’t go “bump in the night” at Summit Hose Fire Hall in Tarentum, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some strange happenings there. Some of those strange things will be the focus of a TV show at 10 p.m. Wednesday on the A&E Network. “Just about everybody has...
Kitchen fire heavily damages home of New Kensington councilman
A father and his two daughters were outside on the front porch of their New Kensington home when they heard smoke alarms going off inside at 5 p.m. Sunday. “We were playing Legos, and the girls decided to go to the back porch. That’s when I heard the alarms,” city...
Almost 80 displaced from West Oakland apartment building fire
People displaced by Saturday’s major apartment fire in West Oakland will continue to get temporary shelter at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center at least through Monday morning, according to the Red Cross. The fire at their apartment building at Deraud Street started just after 2 p.m and grew into...
Severe thunderstorm warning until at least 3 p.m. Sunday
Conditions exit for severe thunderstorms to pop up in a huge part of the state from east of Pittsburgh to Bradford through this afternoon until 4:45 p.m. , according to the National Weather Service. Weather service meterologist Pat Will said a warning is in effect until 3 p.m. Westmoreland, Armstrong,...
St. Margaret Mary Festival proceeds to help ministries, Lower Burrell fire companies 
The first night of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church’s festival Friday was more like a vibrant community party in the heart of Lower Burrell. Sunny weather aided the parish’s biggest fundraiser to attract a huge crowd that was hungry for family fun for young to old, music and games, congenial...
Duquesne water conservation order lifted
A mandatory water conservation order in effect after more than 2 ½ hours in the city of Duquesne was lifted at 4 p.m., city police tweeted. The order was put into effect at about 11 a.m. when an electrical problem was discovered at the McKeeport Water Treatment Plant that processes...
Mars, Butler County man gets 48 months in federal prison for distributing child porn
A federal court judge in Pittsburgh has sentenced a 64-year-old Mars man to four years in prison for having and distributing a half-million photos and videos showing the sexual exploitation of a girls. U.S. Senior District Judge Nora Barry Fischer imposed the sentence on David McAnally. Prosecutors said that in...
Longtime Arnold councilman, clerk Oscar Doutt dies
A former longtime Arnold councilman and city clerk has died. Lifelong Arnold resident Oscar Scott “Pudgy” Doutt Jr. was born in a Third Avenue house in 1937 and died Wednesday at his home while with his family. He was 82. Doutt had been a councilman for more than a dozen...
Allegheny Township man’s family seeks answers 11 years after his murder 
It’s been 11 years since Alan Charles Wills Sr. was found murdered in his Allegheny Township home the day before what would have been his 52nd birthday. Four members of Wills’ family told the Tribune-Review they are frustrated because, not only has the case never been solved, they say they...


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