Justin Vellucci stories, Page 15

Police have charged two Pittsburgh teens with the armed robbery of a South Side vape shop last month. Jermaine Strong, 18, and Llaila Ahkunke, 17, wielded a shotgun and pistol when they stole cash and vape cartridges from Keystone Vapes on East Carson Street on Dec. 13, according to a...

After traveling for 10 days and hundreds of thousands of miles in space, a Pittsburgh company’s lunar lander appears to have burned up in the atmosphere Thursday afternoon after returning to Earth. The spacecraft, the first American effort to attempt a moon landing in decades, closed the book on its...

Millions of dollars in federal funds will go to help repair and upgrade three major Pittsburgh bridges, federal and state officials announced Thursday. A total of $132 million will help repair steel components, joints and bearings on the McKees Rocks, West End and Fort Duquesne bridges, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey,...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, Jan. 19: Police find 60 animals — 10 dead — at Butler County home A total of 60 animals were recovered — and several found dead — when Pennsylvania State Police executed a search warrant for animal cruelty...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Thursday, Jan. 18: The Pittsburgh area could see a few inches of snow in the coming days, with a “winter weather advisory” in effect for most of southwestern Pennsylvania from 1 a.m. Friday to 10 a.m. Saturday, according to...

More than 300 schools in Western Pennsylvania delayed or canceled classes Wednesday morning in the face of continued frigid temperatures, sub-zero wind-chill readings and lingering snow. Pittsburgh Public Schools closed for a second straight day Wednesday, a move its leaders announced Tuesday night. Other districts, such as Greensburg-Salem, Hempfield Area...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Wednesday, Jan. 17: 1 hospitalized in Homestead shooting A man was hospitalized Wednesday morning after being shot in the back in Homestead, Allegheny County Police said. The non-fatal shooting was reported at about 4:20 a.m. in the 1000 block...

Allegheny County health officials ordered an Asian market in Whitehall to close after it racked up 14 food safety and sanitation violations during an inspection last week. A health department inspector found Noble Asian Grocery Store was selling expired kimchi, a fermented vegetable dish, with “severe black mold-like growth” on it;...

A Baldwin Township police officer has been arrested on charges that he held a woman against a wall by her throat after she refused to have sex with him. The officer, Christopher Fry, 44, of South Fayette, was drinking with the woman at his Station Street home around 10:45 p.m....

More than 200 schools and school districts — from Academy Charter School in Pittsburgh to the Yough School District in Westmoreland County — either closed or delayed the opening of school Tuesday morning, as the Pittsburgh area was hit with snow and frigid temperatures. Pittsburgh Public Schools canceled classes for...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Tuesday, Jan. 16: Fire damages Dollar Tree in Homestead A fire was reported early Tuesday at a Dollar Tree store in Homestead. Firefighters, police and paramedics responded to the store, located near Heisel Street, at about 3 a.m., according...

Yellow police tape fluttered last week like paper streamers from the trees along Lamar Road in Upper St. Clair, a grim reminder for Christopher Shepherd’s family and friends of his violent death at the hands of police. Shepherd, who battled mental illness for more than 20 years, was gunned down...

The mysterious death last summer of a New Castle baby was officially deemed a homicide Monday morning. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said Iris Rita Alfera, 1, of New Castle died June 29 from acetone poisoning. The manner of death was deemed a homicide. Iris, an 18-month-old Lawrence County...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Monday, Jan. 15: 1 injured after tractor-trailer fire at New Stanton exit of Turnpike One person was injured after a tractor-trailer carrying vehicles burned for more than an hour after the trailer rolled over early Sunday along a Pennsylvania...

Western Pennsylvanians should expect to snuggle up, as freezing temperatures and snow don’t seem to be going away anytime soon. According to the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, temperatures dropped to as low as 0 degrees in Clarion County on Monday morning. Readings in Pittsburgh lingered around 10 degrees, the...

The crowd that packed a Point Breeze bookshop Friday to celebrate a book release by Pittsburgh-bred photographer Erik Bauer could’ve been pulled right out of a 1981 punk show at Oakland’s now-shuttered Electric Banana. Or cheering on The Bats, a local post-punk outfit led in May ‘84 by Pulitzer Prize-winning...

The family of an Upper St. Clair man killed by police Sunday while in the throes of a mental health crisis is accusing the SWAT officers who shot him of using excessive force and questioning their tactics. “The mental health system failed us,” Shepherd’s half-sister, Micki Kippelen, said Wednesday. “And...

A Brighton Heights woman was jailed Tuesday on charges that she fatally shot an Arlington man last month in a confrontation that police said revolved around illicit drugs, sex and a $700 CashApp payment. Jaelyn Nowlin, 20, is charged with killing Grant Gibeault, 25, in his apartment in the 2200...

A Pittsburgh man will be tried in Common Pleas court on charges stemming from an August shooting at a North Side afterhours club that left another man critically injured. Sheridan Marsh, 34, was arrested by Pittsburgh police and U.S. Marshals in October, two months after 34 rounds of gunfire were...

Officers from three South Hills police departments opened fire on an Upper St. Clair man having a mental health crisis late Sunday, killing him after he approached them outside his home with a knife, according to Allegheny County Police officials and court records. The man was identified in court records...

The man accused of shooting a Monroeville police sergeant after robbing a cookie shop Wednesday night is a convicted criminal with a history of arrests on gun charges dating back nearly a decade. Jamal Brooks, who is charged with wounding the sergeant while spraying his marked police car with 16...

The armed robbery suspect who sprayed a Monroeville police sergeant with gunfire Wednesday night has been identified as 32-year-old Jamal Brooks. Brooks has been charged with striking the officer three times as he sat inside his marked car, according to a criminal complaint. The sergeant — who was not identified...

A Pitcairn man faces eight to 16 years in prison for beating his 71-year-old neighbor with a hammer last summer. Commons Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara imposed the sentence on William Alan Jackson, 43, on Thursday for the Aug. 10 attack, court records show. Jackson had negotiated a guilty plea...

A McKeesport man is headed to prison for up to seven years for drinking an alcoholic slushee and smoking marijuana in his car shortly before he struck a PennDOT worker in a construction zone and dragged her 30 feet on the city’s Jerome Street Bridge. Common Pleas Judge Kelly Bigley...

At 18, Taylor Orlowski stood just 5 feet tall and weighed no more than 98 pounds, her sandy blonde hair falling on petite shoulders. Those who survive her in the tight-knit horse-riding community of Pittsburgh’s North Hills, however, remember the Beaver County teen as a giant in their extended family....