Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1692
Ski slopes at Seven Springs, Hidden Valley to open this weekendVideo
A late Thanksgiving means an early start to the ski season at Seven Springs and Hidden Valley resorts. Sort of. “Typically the past few years, we’ve been opening on Black Friday (Nov. 23, 2018, and Nov. 24, 2017), which we’ve called ‘White Friday,’” said Katie Buchan, spokeswoman for Seven Springs,...
Officials: 2 students arrested after gun found on Seneca Valley school campus
Two Butler County students were taken into custody Tuesday after officials said one of the students a sold a gun to another student at Seneca Valley Intermediate High School. No one was injured. The district said on its website Tuesday that the incident was reported shortly after school started. High...
Jury deliberations underway in Chelsa Wagner trial
A jury in Michigan’s Wayne County heard two versions Tuesday of what happened in the 10th-floor corridor of the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel during a March 6 altercation between a Detroit police officer and Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner. Wagner’s attorney said she was the victim of overzealous cops who...
Pirates post opening for Pierogi jobVideo
Do you have what it takes to be a Pierogi? The Pittsburgh Pirates have put the call out for a new team member by posting a job listing: “2020 Pierogie.” (Of course, the misspelling leads us to wonder if they meant to write “Pierogies,” plural.) The team’s mascots are famous...
Meteorologist Kevin Benson no longer with WPXI
Meteorologist Kevin Benson is no longer with WPXI. News Director Scott Trabandt confirmed Tuesday that Benson no longer works at the station. He did not elaborate on the circumstances. “We do not comment further on employee matters,” Trabandt wrote in an email to the Tribune-Review. Benson declined to comment when...
Jeffrey Epstein jail guards charged with falsifying records
NEW YORK — Two jail guards responsible for monitoring Jeffrey Epstein the night he killed himself were charged Tuesday with falsifying prison records to conceal they were sleeping and browsing the internet during the hours they were supposed to be keeping a close watch on prisoners. Guards Toval Noel and...
Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez faces 21 new child sex-related chargesVideo
Prosecutors filed 21 new charges Tuesday against suspended Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Felipe Vazquez after investigators found evidence of child pornography on devices they say he owned. Vazquez, 28, was ordered to stand trial Tuesday on 10 counts of child pornography, 10 counts of unlawful contact with a minor and...
Judge: Trust fund can’t be used to pay victims of clergy abuse in Pittsburgh diocese
The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh can’t use an $8 million trust fund intended to help needy boys to pay victims of clergy sexual abuse, an Allegheny County judge has ordered. Judge Lawrence O’Toole issued a three-paragraph order last week dismissing the diocesan request to use the 120-year-old Toner Trust that’s...
Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb enters already crowded 2020 auditor general race
Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb announced Tuesday that he will run for Pennsylvania auditor general in 2020. Lamb, 57, of Mt. Washington, touted audits conducted during his 12 years as city controller that exposed waste and abuse of tax dollars and led to savings and improvements. “I look at this job...
Police: Father charged after 2-year-old shoots mom in Derry Township
A 2-year-old boy accidentally shot his mother in the leg this month as she tried to take a loaded weapon out of his hands in Derry Township. On Tuesday, state police charged the father, David Vincent Marghella Jr., 25. Trooper Steve Limani said the weapon was left unsecured Nov. 1...
Ross police lieutenant gets 5-day unpaid suspension; force ordered to sensitivity training
A Ross police lieutenant accused of making unprofessional and sexually explicit comments to fellow officers will serve a five-day suspension without pay. Township commissioners voted Monday night to suspend Lt. Matthew Grubb and ordered him and the entire police department to under go sensitivity, implicit bias and sexual harassment training....
Sunday hunting bill heads to Gov. Wolf’s desk
A bill that would allow hunting on up to three Sundays per year in Pennsylvania is headed to Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk. Senate Bill 147 would provide for hunting on three Sundays annually: one during rifle deer season, one during the statewide archery deer season and one determined by the...
Andrew McCutchen, Mayor Peduto serve chili, talk reducing poverty on Pittsburgh’s North SideVideo
Former Pirates player Andrew McCutchen spent Monday night serving up bowls of chili alongside Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto while the pair discussed ways to reduce poverty across Western Pennsylvania. Between scoops, the hairnet-donning outfielder — whom fans affectionately refer to as “Cutch” or “No. 22” — fist-bumped, shook hands and...
Kevin Gorman: New Pirates GM changes culture by refusing to sing small-market blues
That the Pittsburgh Pirates hired Ben Cherington as general manager made so much sense, as he has previous experience at the position and a World Series championship on his resume. Pirates chairman Bob Nutting and president Travis Williams took turns highlighting Cherington’s 1) track record of building a winner, 2)...
Post-Gazette union votes ‘no confidence’ in management
In a move deemed “unprecedented,” the unionized employees who represent a majority of the Post-Gazette’s newsroom voted Monday that they have “no confidence” in their executive editor, publisher or parent company, Block Communications Inc. Starting Wednesday, as a form of protest, the newsroom’s journalists will withhold their names from all...
Officials hope changes at Routes 66, 366 make intersection safer
The flowers of a makeshift memorial at a Washington Township intersection where a Brackenridge woman died in a July 27 crash haven’t faded yet. The fatal crash happened when Haley Montgomery’s northbound car tried to turn left from Route 66 onto Route 366 but was struck by an oncoming SUV....
Detroit police officer testifies in Chelsa Wagner trial
DETROIT — Attorneys spent several hours Monday wrangling over a few seconds of video in the trial of Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner. In a hearing marked by multiple arguments, objections and Wayne Circuit Judge Dalton Roberson repeatedly chiding both defense attorneys and prosecutors, two Detroit police officers testified about...
House lawyer says committee investigating whether Trump lied to MuellerVideo
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives’ top lawyer told a federal appeals court Monday that the House is investigating whether President Donald Trump lied to special counsel Robert Mueller, and the attorney urged the judges to order the release of still-secret material from Mueller’s investigation. Two of the three judges...
Police: Venango man topped 120 mph on Route 28 after driving away from traffic stop
A Venango County man drove more than 120 mph while holding a woman against her will in his car as police pursued him on Route 28, according to state police. Kirk Edward Heath, 43, was arraigned Monday on 19 charges, including kidnapping to facilitate a felony and fleeing or attempting...
Police: Maryland man confessed to killing Bethel Park woman during bondage-themed photo shoot in Nevada
The sheriff of a rural Nevada county plans to send investigators to Pennsylvania to talk with Bethel Park police to build a homicide case against a Maryland man who has confessed to killing Jaime Mae Feden. Authorities said the man left Feden’s body in the desert about 170 miles north...
New Kensington cop killer’s cousin charged with stashing murder weapon
Just four days after Rahmael Holt was sentenced to death for the Nov. 17, 2017, killing of New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw, Westmoreland County detectives charged his cousin, Lisa D. Harrington, with hiding the murder weapon and hindering apprehension. Assistant District Attorney James Lazar said the decision to charge...
6 questions with ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ star Matthew Rhys
Friday’s opening of “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” starring Tom Hanks as Latrobe native Fred Rogers is fast approaching. In the highly anticipated movie filmed in Pittsburgh, actor Matthew Rhys plays Lloyd Vogel, the fictional version of journalist Tom Junod, who is not quite ready to buy into the...
Police release photo of suspect in deadly Wilkinsburg home invasion
Allegheny County police released photos of a man suspected in a deadly home invasion Thursday in Wilkinsburg. A 42-year-old man was shot and killed in the home invasion, police said. The victim has not been identified. Police obtained video from inside the house that showed one of the suspects and...
OpenTable names top Pittsburgh-area restaurants for November 2019
The restaurant booking service OpenTable has released its monthly tally of eateries that diners rate the highest. The top-ranked spots in the Pittsburgh region include six in the city proper and four that are farther afield. Siempre Algo Siempre Algo is a casual neighborhood favorite along the transforming East Ohio...
Police chief: 3 killed in shooting in Oklahoma Walmart parking lotVideo
DUNCAN, Okla. — Two men and a woman were fatally shot Monday morning outside a Walmart store in southwestern Oklahoma, and the shooter is among the dead, authorities said. Two victims were shot inside a car and the third was killed in the parking lot just before 10 a.m. outside...
