Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1206
Woman struck and killed by train in Aspinwall
A woman reported missing early Tuesday by Pittsburgh police was later struck and killed by a train in Aspinwall, authorities said. The victim was identified as Ying-Fen Johnson, 78, of Oakmont, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office. Emergency responders were called to the 800 block of Freeport Road...
Pa. House votes to end Wolf’s pandemic disaster declaration
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives voted on party lines Tuesday to put an end to the governor’s pandemic disaster emergency declaration, less than a month after voters dramatically expanded lawmakers’ powers to control such declarations. The 113-90 vote sent the Republican-penned measure over to the Senate, where the GOP...
Pa. House sends local gun law pre-emption bill to state Senate
The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday that would leave cities and towns that have tried to craft local gun control laws on the hook for all court costs associated with a successful court challenge to those ordinances. Carried by 112 of the 113 Republican votes and 12...
Pa. House advances ban on abortions over Down syndrome diagnoses
HARRISBURG — Republicans in the Pennsylvania House pushed through a bill Tuesday that would ban abortions that are prompted by a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis, although the Democratic governor has vowed to veto it. State representatives voted 120-83 for legislation that the prime sponsor, Republican Rep. Kate Klunk of York...
Walter Cable testifies he had no role in Vandergrift woman’s murder
Walter Cable told a Westmoreland County jury Tuesday he and another man dropped Ronny Cable off about a block from her front door about midnight Feb. 17, 2017, and never heard from her again. Cable, 28, of Greensburg testified during the sixth day of his murder trial that he had...
Parents give public schools high grades for instruction during covid pandemic
Pennsylvania parents have shown strong support for public schools during the covid-19 pandemic, which is a statewide trend that has been borne out at many local districts. Of parents who responded to a Pennsylvania School Boards Association poll April 20-26, 69% gave the school their child attends a grade of...
Man dies after falling into Allegheny River in Downtown Pittsburgh
A man who had fallen into the Allegheny River near the Seventh Street Bridge on Tuesday afternoon has died, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety officials. Pittsburgh River Rescue divers found the man around 4:20 p.m. He went into cardiac arrest. Public Safety spokesperson Cara Cruz said medics performed CPR and...
Kiski Township mother accused of assaulting teen, having child live in deplorable conditions
A Kiski Township woman is accused of having her child live in deplorable conditions and assaulting a teen Monday evening. Mindy M. Smith, 44, was taken into custody in a welfare check at a home in the 500 block of Flat Rock Road. Police said the officer responding to the...
Black political advocacy group asks Supreme Court to investigate Zappala’s conduct
The Black Political Empowerment Project sent a letter Tuesday to the state Supreme Court’s Disciplinary Board seeking sanctions against Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. for a now-rescinded policy he issued last month banning his office from offering plea deals to a Black defense attorney. Zappala issued an...
Wabtec Corp. opens 3D printing operation near Pittsburgh InternationalVideo
Instead of using a mill to fabricate aluminum into the parts used in railway systems, Wabtec Corp. will be using a $2.5 million 3D printer that’s among the largest in the world at its new 11,000-square-foot facility in Findlay. The company is the successor of Westinghouse Air Brake Corp. Founded...
Suspected human remains found in basement of commercial Tarentum building
Suspected human remains were discovered Tuesday morning in the basement of a Tarentum building undergoing renovations. Bones including what appeared to be part of hip or shoulder bones and a leg bone were found by a contractor who had been digging in the basement of 305 E. Fifth Ave., a...
Investigators believe Penn Hills teen’s killing was retribution for theft
Investigators believe a Penn Hills teen was killed last month as retribution for stealing drug proceeds two days earlier, according to charges filed. Deontae Deshawn Nalls, 21, was charged Monday with homicide in connection with the death of 17-year-old Darin Hobdy on May 23 on Vantine Street in Wilkinsburg. Two...
Hempfield Area to eliminate dozen positions, will save $923,000
Leaders in the Hempfield Area School District on Monday unanimously voted to eliminate about a dozen positions through attrition, a response to declining enrollments and a decision that supported a balanced 2021-22 budget, officials said. The vote, which took place during the district’s workshop meeting and required a suspension of...
Vandergrift suspends cop whose encounter with Black restaurant patron went viral
Vandergrift has suspended a police officer who had been the target of an internal investigation concerning his conduct while on duty. Officer William Moore’s unpaid suspension took effect Tuesday and will last four weeks, into early July. The decision was made Monday after council emerged from behind closed doors following...
Westmoreland Museum plans pop-up Spring Fling artisan market
Shopping, entertainment and visits with authors will be available during the Museum Shop Spring Fling pop-up artisan market this weekend at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. The event will take place on the Swank Terrace and Jack and Anne Robertshaw Garden walkways outside of the Greensburg museum at 221...
With $10B to spend, advocates press Wolf, Pa. lawmakers to prioritize poor people
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 — As Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-led legislature begin the final month of budget negotiations, a coalition of groups...
Scratch-off ticket worth $3 million sold in Ligonier
A scratch-off ticket worth $3 million was sold to a 30-year-old Indiana County man at the Giant Eagle in Ligonier, the Pennsylvania Lottery announced Tuesday. The ticket sold was a MONOPOLY 100X scratch-off, the lottery said. The store at 117 South Walnut St. will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling...
Allegheny County election results certified; Moreno still undecided on running as Republican
Voters may have a choice in the fall Pittsburgh mayoral election, if Tony Moreno claims the Republican nomination he earned by getting 1,379 write-in votes in the May primary. Moreno has previously said he was awaiting for certification of the results before announcing whether he will continue his campaign for...
Senate report details sweeping failures around Jan. 6 attack
WASHINGTON — A Senate investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has uncovered broad government, military and law enforcement missteps surrounding the violent attack, including a breakdown within multiple intelligence agencies and a lack of training and preparation for Capitol Police officers who were quickly overwhelmed by...
Alcohol seized from Strip District bar Savoy, owner arrested
A Strip District restaurant was raided last week and its owner arrested on misdemeanor charges, according to police and court records. Officers from the state Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement received several tips that Savoy on Penn Avenue was operating without a valid liquor license. Officers said the situation was...
Swaths of internet go down after cloud outage
LONDON — Multiple websites went offline briefly across the globe Tuesday after an apparent outage at the cloud service company Fastly, revealing how critical a handful of companies running the internet’s plumbing have become. Dozens of sites including the New York Times, CNN, some Amazon sites, Twitch, Reddit, the Guardian,...
Pa. advocates optimistic about new FDA-approved Alzheimer’s disease drug; doctors mixed on whether it will work
Advocates for nearly 300,000 Pennsylvanians living with Alzheimer’s disease celebrated the federal government’s approval Monday of a controversial new drug some say could prove “life-changing” for those showing early signs of the memory-destroying disorder. Though debate persists over just how well the novel treatment could work, the Food Drug and...
‘A lot of anxiety’ for Democrats as Biden agenda stalls
WASHINGTON — Hopes for a big infrastructure investment are teetering. An ambitious elections and voting bill is all but dead. Legislation on police brutality, gun control and immigration has stalled out. After six months of Democratic control in Washington, the party’s progressive wing is growing increasingly restless as campaign promises...
Leader in Pittsburgh Pagans Motorcycle Club pleads guilty to violating firearms laws
A top leader in the Pagans Motorcycle Club Pittsburgh chapter pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to one count of violating firearms laws, according to the Department of Justice. Patrick Rizzo, 46, of McKees Rocks, vice president of the club, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge Robert J. Colville....
Ex-college athlete sentenced for burning Minneapolis police station
MINNEAPOLIS — A U.S. District Court judge sentenced the last of the four men who have pleaded guilty to burning a Minneapolis police station last summer to two years and five months in federal prison and to help pay $12 million in restitution for the damage. In court Monday morning,...
