Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1886
Pine-Richland French Club students witness Notre Dame Cathedral fire
Thirty minutes after members of Pine-Richland High School’s French Club visited Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the iconic fixture was ablaze. The students watched and took photos as parts of the 850-year-old church burned before them. “The loss of such a cultural and religious staple is truly devastating,” senior Elaina...
Brew Gentlemen expanding with outdoor space for summer
Brew Gentlemen is looking to stretch out with an outdoor summer space in time for the local craft brewer’s weeklong fifth anniversary bash starting May 20. Additionally, the Braddock business plans to renovate its the 28,000-square-foot warehouse behind its Braddock Avenue taproom to create a full-scale production brewhouse and canning...
Trump administration to withhold bail from asylum seekers in latest border crackdown
Migrants who come to the United States seeking asylum may instead wind up jailed indefinitely while they wait for their claims to be processed, the Trump administration ruled Tuesday in its latest crackdown at the border. Attorney General William Barr’s written decision, a policy reversal, applies to migrants who have...
For Penguins, offseason roster changes all but guaranteed after first-round sweepVideo
A sullen group of Pittsburgh Penguins players sat in their stalls in a losing locker room Tuesday night knowing full well they just finished the last game this team would play together a group. Being swept in the first round of the playoffs inevitably leads to personnel changes. Even if...
Lawmakers hope to change Pennsylvania’s rules on police shootings
HARRISBURG — A group of Democrats in the General Assembly said Tuesday shootings by police show the need to change the rules for when Pennsylvania officers can use deadly force and to reform their oversight and training. Members of the Legislative Black Caucus outlined a legislative agenda that would also...
Columbine threat by woman with gun shuts Denver-area schoolsVideo
LITTLETON, Colo. — Denver-area public schools will be closed Wednesday as authorities search for a young Florida woman who flew to the city and bought a gun after becoming “infatuated” with the mass shooting at Columbine High School. The FBI said Sol Pais, 18, is “considered to be extremely dangerous”...
Derry mayor free on bond while charged with pointing gun at kids
Derry Mayor Kevin Gross is out on bond as he awaits a hearing on charges he pointed a gun at four children in a local park. Gross was released from the Westmoreland County Prison on Tuesday after Rosanne Neiman of Latrobe posted his $20,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear...
Playoffs by period: Penguins couldn’t solve Islanders’ strategy or avoid a sweep
THIRD PERIOD: Islanders 3, Penguins 1 The strategy for the New York Islanders is simple: Sit back and wait for the opponent to make mistakes. The Penguins were all too happy to comply. That made their Stanley Cup playoffs first-round series a bad matchup for the Penguins, despite the two...
Police: Man impersonated UPMC worker, tried to steal car
An Altoona man is accused of posing as a UPMC Mercy hospital worker, threatening a woman and climbing into her car as she tried to exit a parking garage, then assaulting another man who tried to intervene, police said. Byron Lamont Leverette, 28, was arrested on robbery, public drunkenness and...
What the public will not see in the Mueller reportVideo
WASHINGTON — The special counsel’s Trump-Russia report will be out on Thursday for all to see. But not all of it. The Democrats’ demands for a full, unredacted version of Robert Mueller’s report are likely to prompt a political and legal battle that could last for months, if not much...
Police: Former Canon-McMillan wrestler attacked mom with sword, gun
A champion Canon-McMillan wrestler attacked his mother with a sword and a handgun before police were called to his Canonsburg home and shot him as he pointed an AR-15 rifle at them, police said. Police charged Logan Macri, 19, with 21 crimes Tuesday including six felonies as the teen recovered...
New Kensington police nab 27 drivers in speeding crackdown
A crackdown on speeding by New Kensington police resulted in more than two dozen traffic stops Tuesday morning, including one involving a motorist who police said was traveling more than twice the speed limit on a city road. New Kensington police Chief Bob Deringer said the crackdown is in response...
Yough welcomes Carnegie Mellon’s free computer science curriculumVideo
Yough Senior High School in Herminie sits amid the rural countryside of Westmoreland County, a world away from the tech hubs that have cropped up in Austin, Silicon Valley and even Pittsburgh. But that hasn’t kept Yough students from accessing a cutting-edge computer science curriculum on Python, a computer coding...
Western Pa. gets a shout-out on ‘SNL’s’ Weekend Update
Don’t expect a bump in tourism from this late-night skit featuring Western Pennsylvania Saturday night. Saturday Night Live’s satirical news segment Weekend Update featured a Spring Break travel segment that took a comical wrong turn. Host Michael Che welcomed guest commentator Carrie Krum, played by Aidy Bryant, to present some...
Double the dill: Picklesburgh food festival to expand
Fresh off national accolades, organizers of Pittsburgh’s award-winning Picklesburgh announced Tuesday the festival will double in size this summer. The festival used to pack the the Roberto Clemente Bridge. Now, there’s more: In addition to the bridge, the pickle celebration festival will extend to the riverside lanes of Fort Duquesne...
‘Sesame Street’ to film in Pittsburgh in June
“Sesame Street” will celebrate the iconic program’s 50th anniversary with a visit to Pittsburgh in June. As part of a nationwide road trip, “Sesame Street” will host a free family festival and stage show on Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park on June 15. The show’s production crew will also film...
Leechburg couple recounts horror of Monday shooting
Janelle Stankiewicz and Dennis Gronski II don’t know why an armed man shot his way into their Leechburg home early Monday or what might have happened if the man hadn’t died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in their kitchen. Stankiewicz said she does know the incident will be hard to...
Police: $200K in pot was headed for Southwestern Pennsylvania
State police in Greensburg arrested two New York men Tuesday for allegedly attempting to deliver more than $200,000 worth of marijuana to Southwestern Pennsylvania. Trooper Stephen Limani said 75 one-pound, vacuum-sealed plastic bags of marijuana were seized just after 8:30 a.m. during a traffic stop at the New Stanton interchange...
Pittsburgh to pay $77,500 to settle police brutality lawsuit
Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to pay a South Park man $77,500 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging a former city police officer assaulted him and violated his civil rights during high school football championships at Heinz Field in 2015. Gabriel Despres, 23, sued the city and Landmark...
Elizabeth cops trying to ID teens in ‘riot-like’ Snapchat brawl
Police in Elizabeth Borough are trying to identify more than two dozen teens and young adults involved in an April 11 brawl that investigators said was organized on social media. Charges will be filed once investigators identify the people involved or who attended the fight, police Chief William Sombo said....
Highlands School District puts third employee on unpaid leave
For the third time since January, a Highlands School District employee has been suspended without pay. The school board on Monday approved a statement of charges against the employee, who was placed on unpaid leave. The board did not identify the employee at its meeting Monday. The person was identified...
Donations flow in as crews assess damage to Notre Dame Cathedral
PARIS – France on Tuesday was confronting the scorched remains of Notre Dame Cathedral as officials announced they had extinguished the inferno that partly damaged a symbol of the nation. Authorities said their first investigations suggested that the fire started by accident, perhaps in connection with much-needed renovations that left...
Rivers Casino’s $12M leads sharp uptick in Pa. sports betting in March
HARRISBURG — Sports betting leaped by almost one-third in Pennsylvania’s fourth full month, as more venues opened amid March Madness. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said Tuesday that gamblers bet a record $44.5 million in March at six casinos and two off-track betting parlors where sports betting is approved. That...
French president wants Notre Dame Cathedral rebuilt within 5 years
PARIS — The Latest on the fire that swept through Paris’ Notre Dame cathedral (all times local): 8:20 p.m. French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants to see the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral to be rebuilt within five years. Macron said Tuesday in a televised address to the nation that...
Repairs to Mon Incline nearly done, could reopen in May
Work to repair damage to the Monongahela Incline caused by a series of water main breaks in January is expected to be completed this week. But the 149-year-old cable rail car will likely not reopen to the public until May, according to the Allegheny County Port Authority, which owns the...
