Justin Vellucci stories, Page 25
Teen charged as adult in connection with deadly shooting in Munhall
A 16-year-old boy remained in Allegheny County Jail on Friday afternoon on charges that he fatally shot a man two weeks ago in Munhall. Allegheny County Police responded around 4 a.m. Nov. 15 to the 500 block of East Ninth Avenue for reports of a shooting, police spokesman Jim Madalinsky...
Pittsburgh fuzz-rockers Melt to host live set Friday to celebrate vinyl debut
Ask 10 people for the best way to describe fuzz-rock band Melt and nine of them likely will talk about the Pittsburgh trio’s thunderous volume. Just ask Jacob Gardner. Earlier this summer, the South Side resident and part-time punk bassist discovered Melt while scrolling through websites, searching for concerts to...
Squirrel Hill native prepares to go to war alongside Israel Defense Forces
As a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas entered its seventh day Thursday, Isaac Nadoff waited. The fourth-generation Pittsburgher said Wednesday he was prepared to march with the Israel Defense Forces into the war-torn Gaza Strip whenever the cease-fire ended. “I’m just in a steady state of readiness,” said Nadoff,...
White Oak man faces sex assault charges
A White Oak man is accused of sexually assaulting two young girls. Allegheny County Police filed charges against Yosef Hirsch, 53, including aggravated indecent assault, indecent exposure, indecent assault, corruption of minors and unlawful contact with a minor, court records show. Hirsch’s attorney was not listed in court records. He...
Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa falls victim to cyberattack, feds say
Federal and state security officials said a poor or even default password could be the weak link that enabled hackers to break into a Pittsburgh-area water system. The Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa suffered the cyberattack on Saturday, with several media outlets displaying images of a screen from the authority...
Woman identified who died after shuttle bus struck her in Oakland
The woman who died Wednesday morning after a shuttle bus struck her in Oakland has been identified. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Emily Watson, 29, of Pittsburgh. Watson was a UPMC employee and was struck by a UPMC shuttle while she was walking, according to...
New Kensington man gets court date in fentanyl-related Route 28 crash case
A New Kensington man accused of being under the influence of fentanyl this summer, blacking out on Route 28 and crashing his car with his 5-year-old son in the back seat is headed to Allegheny County Court. Ryan Joseph Walsh, 29, was driving a Chevrolet Silverado southbound on Route 28...
Former Pittsburgh man reunites with nephews held hostage by Hamas for over 50 days
It took Ziv Gome four hours to race from Israel’s Eilat to Tel Aviv — roughly the distance from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg — to reunite with his two young nephews, who were released late Monday after being held hostage by Hamas militants for more than 50 days. The trek across...
Man shot in leg in Clairton, hospitalized
A man was hospitalized Saturday night after being shot in Clairton. Police responded to the 500 block of Elm Street at 7:49 p.m. and found the victim suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg, Allegheny County Police spokesman Jim Madalinsky said. The man, an adult who Madalinsky did not...
TSA nabs 40th gun of year at Pittsburgh International Airport
Pittsburgh International Airport security stopped a North Hills man Saturday from boarding a flight while carrying a handgun, the 40th firearm Transportation Security Administration officers have confiscated this year to date at the Findlay airport. The man’s .380-caliber handgun — which was loaded with seven bullets, including one in the...
Pittsburgh diocese merges two parishes into one, dropping total to 60
Two Catholic churches will be combined into a new parish in 2024, diocesan officials announced Saturday. The Saint Maria Goretti and Our Lady of the Angels parishes will become the Saint Pio of Pietrelchina Parish on Jan. 1, Bishop David Zubik said. The new parish will serve the Bloomfield, Garfield...
Shoppers flock to New Ken for 3rd annual Small Business Saturday
Mary Ringbloom grabbed an ax by its wooden handle Saturday afternoon and lunged toward at a target on the nearby wall. The ax missed the bull’s-eye, ricocheting to the ground. “Try to hold it steady and throw hard,” said her coach — and co-owner of the ax-throwing venue — Brian...
Shoppers forgo the internet, fill Oakmont business district for Small Business Saturday
When Mystery Lovers Bookshop opened in 1990 on Oakmont’s brick-lined Allegheny River Boulevard, it didn’t contend with online shopping. There was no Amazon Prime service, no Target app, no click-n-ship from Walmart.com. But co-owner Tara Goldberg-DeLeo said the quaint bookstore, with its checkerboard floors and the smell of fresh paper...
Casey touts Senate legislation to improve coal miners’ access to black lung benefits
It’s been difficult for Tony Kodric to breathe since an injury a decade ago ended the Uniontown man’s 36-year career as a coal miner. He’s seen specialists, repeatedly measured the oxygen in his blood and battled coal companies. Despite Kodric’s efforts, the federal government won’t grant him monetary benefits for...
North Oakland woman accused of striking woman in wheelchair with her car, driving away
Pittsburgh police filed charges Wednesday against a North Oakland woman who they say drove her car into a woman crossing Centre Avenue in a wheelchair earlier this month and then drove away. Police said Kelda Gorman was crossing Centre just after 7 a.m. Nov. 13 when she was struck by...
Pittsburgh detectives who took down Brackenridge chief’s killer lauded alongside their peers
Pittsburgh police Detectives Sean Stumpf and Mike Slatcoff still remember rushing to the city’s Homewood-Brushton neighborhood on Jan. 2 to chase the fugitive who killed Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire. The fugitive — Aaron Lamont Swan Jr., 28, of Duquesne — emerged from a wooded area after crashing a stolen...
McKeesport mayor arrested, jailed in Nashville
The mayor of McKeesport said he’s embarrassed about being jailed early Sunday after Nashville police said he was drunk and became belligerent with staff at a city gastropub. Michael Cherepko, 46, was “causing a scene” outside the Nashville bar/restaurant Whiskey Row and accused staff of stealing his credit card shortly...
Wheeling-area man accused of abandoning dog at Pittsburgh International Airport
A West Virginia man is accused of abandoning a dog at Pittsburgh International Airport last week in the second such incident in about 2½ months. Allegheny County Police, who patrol the airport, said they charged David Mittelberger Sr., 68, of Windsor Heights, W.Va., near Wheeling, with abandonment of animals, animal...
North Side man sexually assaulted girl over 4 years, impregnating her at 13, police say
A Pittsburgh man is accused of sexually assaulting the daughter of a woman he knew over four years, starting when the girl was 10 and impregnating her at 13. Todd Keith Summers, 30, of Northview Heights, was arraigned early Friday and taken to Allegheny County Jail after being denied bail,...
Pittsburgh tourism bounces back from pandemic freefall, new report shows
Andrew Masich said he started to notice a change last year. The Sen. John Heinz History Center president and CEO watched attendance numbers dip at the Strip District museum during the covid-19 pandemic. Then, this summer, he saw attendance soar when the Allegheny Regional Asset District provided funding allowing the...
Man shot in Pittsburgh’s North Side, no arrests made
A man was taken to an area hospital Friday morning after being shot in Pittsburgh’s North Side. Emergency crews responded to the 100 block of Sheffield Street in Manchester around 9:15 a.m. after receiving a ShotSpotter alert that six rounds had been fired in the area, police spokeswoman Cara Cruz...
Police seek man for questioning in connection with abandoned dog at Pittsburgh airport
Allegheny County Police are sharing surveillance video in an attempt to identify and track down the man who abandoned a dog this week at Pittsburgh International Airport. At about 1:15 p.m. Thursday, a traveler at the airport told an Allegheny County Police officer that they saw a dog tied to...
Man critically injured after being shot multiple times in Wilkinsburg
A man was hospitalized after being shot multiple times Thursday morning in Wilkinsburg. The shooting happened in the 200 block of Penn Avenue around 11:15 a.m., said Allegheny County Police spokeswoman Jim Madalinsky. The wounded man, who police did not name, was taken to an area hospital in critical condition,...
Additional beds open for homeless Pittsburghers as winter approaches
John Goosby has lived under the Liberty Bridge in Downtown Pittsburgh for a month now. He said a series of unrelated events led him there, including a romantic partner draining his bank account and then disappearing. The 74-year-old retired steelworker used Social Security money to buy a thick winter jacket,...
Harrison mom accused of nearly killing daughter with drug-contaminated cotton balls
An 11-month-old Harrison girl nearly died this summer after chewing on cotton balls soaked with remnants of the opioids her mother had used intravenously at a Union Avenue home, police said. Now, the girl’s mother is facing charges. Lenae Elizabeth Mills, 29, noticed her daughter, whom police did not name,...
