Top Stories category, Page 436

Allegheny County’s top emergency management official confirmed Thursday that investigators have not uncovered any links among five house explosions in Plum since the mid-1990s, including the one Saturday that killed six people and decimated part of a subdivision. Emergency Services Chief Matt Brown, who is also the county fire marshal,...

A pair of Westmoreland County animal rescue groups Monday said they rescued pets from what one group described as “a house of horrors” in Penn Township. Greensburg-based Ninth Life Rescue Center and North Huntington-based All But Furgotten said they combined efforts to save the animals from an undisclosed location in...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Thursday, Aug. 17: Man accidentally shot at South Side bar, police say A man was accidentally shot in the bathroom of a South Side bar Wednesday night, Pittsburgh police said. Police, EMS and fire personnel responded to the incident...

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the Washington County man killed just before midnight Wednesday in a hit-and-run crash on the Parkway West as Husam Raji Shuibat. A vehicle hit Shuibat, 53, in the area of mile marker 67 near Green Tree and drove away, police said. The medical...

Shortly after his eye-opening debut in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first preseason game, rookie linebacker Nick Herbig got on Instagram to celebrate the win and his 1.5 sack, three-tackle performance. But Herbig also made sure to subtweet the NFL’s efforts to raise funds for wildfire relief on Maui. Please help my...

James Jerry “J.J.” Vas-Patterson wasn’t born into an easy life. After his father died unexpectedly on Sept. 7, 2010, when Vas-Patterson was just 10 years old, he and his younger brothers entered foster care, family members said Wednesday. Later, he added Patterson to his last name after being adopted by...

Alex Highsmith is typically gracious with his time when it comes to signing autographs or mingling with Pittsburgh Steelers fans. Thursday, though, Highsmith went overtime, making the rare double-back for a second extended period of autograph-signing at Saint Vincent College. After all, this group of young fans was different. About...

Penn Hills Superintendent Nancy Hines is calling it a career after more than 25 years in public education. A search is underway for her replacement. Her last day is scheduled for Oct. 1. “It just feels right,” Hines said. “It feels like the district is stable. I think the energy...

ATLANTA — The prosecutor in Atlanta who obtained an indictment this week against former President Donald Trump and 18 others wants to take the case to trial in March. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said in a proposed scheduling order filed with the court Wednesday that she wants the...

Peoples natural gas company officials said Wednesday there does not appear to be a common denominator linking last weekend’s fatal house explosion in Plum with four previous blasts in the borough since the mid-1990s. “At this point, there’s not any indication of any relationship,” said spokesman Nick Paradise, adding that...

Amazon’s plans to open a massive warehouse in New Stanton may be just the first step in a wave of economic development, Westmoreland officials said Wednesday. Amazon confirmed Tuesday it will occupy a 1 million-square foot warehouse in what has become an industrial hub for the county near the intersection...

For four days, Paul Oravitz fought for his life in the UPMC Mercy burn unit as the Rustic Ridge community prayed. On Wednesday, his fight ended. Oravitz died as a result of injuries suffered in a house explosion Saturday in his home in the Rustic Ridge neighborhood of Plum. He...

MARION, Kan. — A Kansas prosecutor said Wednesday that he found insufficient evidence to support the police raid of a weekly newspaper and that all seized material should be returned in a dispute over press freedoms that the White House acknowledged it is watching closely. “This administration has been vocal...

Andy Zarroli got to know Michael Thomas first as a friend, and then as Plum’s borough manager. And their friendship overcame the fact that Zarroli, 56, is from Philadelphia and Thomas, 57, grew up in Pittsburgh’s Morningside neighborhood. “Mike was a friend of mine. He was a close friend of...

An online dashboard has been launched to provide data on Downtown Pittsburgh as it attempts to reinvent itself after the covid-19 pandemic. IndexPGH is designed to provide metrics including monthly visitors, public transportation ridership, hotel occupancy as well as health and public safety. The numbers are collected by the Allegheny...

Follow live updates about wildfires that have devastated parts of Maui in Hawaii, killing more than 100 people and destroying the historic town of Lahaina. The wildfires are the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century. Videos showing downed power lines apparently sparking some of the early blazes...

For the first time in its history, the Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland is undergoing major interior restoration and renovations. The project got underway in late June and includes the installation of air conditioning and new seating, restoration of murals and the grand proscenium arch and electrical upgrades. The music...

More than five years after Rachael DelTondo was gunned down in the driveway of her mother’s Aliquippa home, the Beaver County District Attorney’s Office has named a new suspect in the case. Tribune-Review news partner WTAE-TV reported that District Attorney David Lozier named Sheldon Jeter, 25, as the prime suspect...

Keeping a home fueled by natural gas safe is pretty simple, said Dennis Caveglia, who has operated Valley Plumbing & Heating in his native Leechburg for 40 years. Caveglia, like many working with natural gas, wouldn’t hypothesize about what caused the Plum house explosion Saturday morning that killed six people...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Wednesday, Aug. 16: 1 killed, 3 hospitalized in Butler County crash State police are investigating after one person was killed and three other people were injured Tuesday in a head-on crash in Butler County’s Oakland Township. Tribune-Review news partner...

A pint-sized Plum Area School District student put her grief to good use Saturday with an on-the-spot charity event to raise money for victims of the house explosion in Plum. Emmy Halasowski, 7, was understandably shaken and scared Saturday as events unfolded after the deadly explosion on Rustic Ridge Drive...

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds the powerful to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — For at least 50 years, Pennsylvania has used taxes drivers pay at the pump to fund...

PHILADELPHIA — Among the 18 lawyers, aides, and allies who were charged Monday alongside Donald Trump for their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia, there are several who played key roles in the former president’s similar push in Pennsylvania. Here’s a breakdown of some...

Teresa Champion-Feigel and her husband, Tim, walk on the weekends in the neighborhood of Rustic Ridge in Plum. On Saturday, she said she didn’t feel like walking. Her husband suggested they go to the nearby park — Ridge Top Park. “We were walking, and that’s when we heard the explosion,”...