Top Stories category, Page 781
Westmoreland DA: Crash involving county vehicle was ‘minor’
Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli on Friday said a crash involving her government take-home vehicle was “minor” and caused by weather conditions. Ziccarelli, the first-term Republican from Lower Burrell, was driving the SUV on a snow- and sleet-covered road in Murrysville shortly after 3:30 a.m. Dec. 18 on Cherry...
Pa. state system schools look to outfit police with body cameras
Slippery Rock University is seeking grants to begin outfitting its 11 police officers and five patrol cars with body and vehicle cameras that can record interactions with students, employees and the general public. The school with 8,200 students isn’t the only state-owned university poised to take that step. Campuses across...
Police seek suspect in South Side Slopes fatal stabbing
Pittsburgh police are looking for a city resident who they say is a suspect in a fatal stabbing Thursday in the South Side Slopes neighborhood. Police identified the suspect as William L. Fitzgerald, 50. He is wanted for the fatal stabbing of Tarae Washington, 47. Washington was found dead on...
2 victims identified who were fatally shot in Pitcairn apartment
The two people found fatally shot in an apartment in Pitcairn on Friday afternoon have been identified. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victims are Andre Johnson, 21, and Jade Baker-Wright, 20, both of Pitcairn. Johnson’s death was ruled a suicide by the medical examiner. Baker-Wright’s death was...
2 years later: An update on Western Pennsylvania Capitol riot cases
A South Fayette man who has been in custody for nearly two years is expected to plead guilty on Monday to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Jorden Mink, 29, will join nearly 500 other defendants from across the country who have pleaded guilty...
Sutersville woman pleads guilty to sex offense
A Sutersville woman pleaded guilty to sexual assault and corruption offenses after she was charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy she was helping with schoolwork. Ashley Sherry, 23, was accused of sexually assaulting the teen and using marijuana with the juvenile while working with him on remote school assignments when...
NFL owners approve playoff plan after Bills-Bengals canceled
NFL owners approved a resolution that could lead to a neutral site for the AFC championship in response to the cancellation of Monday night’s Bills-Bengals game after Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. The league held a special meeting Friday to consider the recommendation of commissioner Roger Goodell...
McCarthy elected House speaker in vote 15 after chaotic week
WASHINGTON — Republican Kevin McCarthy was elected House speaker on a historic post-midnight 15th ballot early Saturday, overcoming holdouts from his own ranks and floor tensions boiling over after a chaotic week that tested the new GOP majority’s ability to govern. After four days of grueling ballots, McCarthy flipped more...
Majority of 16k canceled Pa. mail-in ballots were from Democrats
HARRISBURG — New data from Pennsylvania’s elections agency shows an early November state court decision that barred mail-in ballots without accurate handwritten dates on their exterior envelopes resulted in otherwise valid votes being thrown out. The Department of State said this week more than 16,000 mail-in ballots were disqualified by...
Bills’ Damar Hamlin breathing on his own, joins team via video
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — It was uplifting enough for the Buffalo Bills staff and players to see Damar Hamlin appear on the video screen in the team’s meeting room Friday — “larger than life,” as coach Sean McDermott put it — for the first time since the safety collapsed and...
Effort underway to ‘Flood Freeport Road’ in honor of fallen Chief Justin McIntire
A Tarentum man who credits Justin McIntire with saving his life plans to honor the late Brackenridge chief with a proper farewell. Bill Pacek of Tarentum will be among thousands who are expected to “Flood Freeport Road” during a funeral procession Wednesday , Jan. 11 for the fallen chief. “It’s...
2 years after Jan. 6, speaker scrap paralyzes Congress again
WASHINGTON — Such are the fractures in the country, between the political parties and inside the Republican Party itself, that one time-honored specialty of Washington — memorializing and coming together over national trauma — isn’t what it used to be. Friday’s moment of silence at the Capitol to contemplate the...
The white sedan: How police found suspect in Idaho slayings
The white sedan cruised past the gray, three-story rental home on a dead-end street in Moscow, Idaho. Then again. And again. It was unusual behavior in the residential, hillside neighborhood in the quiet hours before dawn. And according to a police affidavit released Thursday, surveillance videos showing the vehicle that...
5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: Jan. 6-8
It’s the first full weekend of 2023 and if one of your goals this year is to run the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, it’s a good time to begin your training. Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon Training Session Saturday marks the official start of Marathon Weekend Training. There will...
Man fired shots at postal worker in Pittsburgh, police say
Pittsburgh police are investigating the shooting Thursday of a postal carrier in Pittsburgh. Martinel Humphries, 28, was arrested and faces multiple charges in connection with the incident, police said. A U.S. Postal worker told police he was delivering mail just after 2 p.m. in the 200 block of Waldorf Street...
On track: Rail line plans improvements at Greensburg, Latrobe stations
Greensburg Amtrak station caretaker Mark Kuhns follows a strict daily routine. Every day at 7:30 a.m., Kuhns unlocks the doors of the station and waits for the passengers catching the 8:08 a.m. eastbound Pennsylvanian. He sits in his familiar “cage,” waiting to assist anyone who needs it. He helps travelers...
6 arrested on crack cocaine, heroin charges in McKeesport
Authorities seized more than $147,000 worth of cocaine, as well as crack cocaine, heroin and three guns last week during a drug raid that netted seven people allegedly involved in a major drug trafficking ring in McKeesport, as well as illegal gambling in McKeesport, the state attorney general said. Curtis...
Woman fatally stabbed in South Side Slopes identified
A Pittsburgh woman was found dead Thursday evening with multiple stab wounds in South Side Slopes. Tarae C. Washington, 47, was found inside her Arlington Avenue residence Thursday, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner. Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said officers were dispatched shortly before 7 p.m. to the...
Hundreds gather in Brackenridge to honor Chief Justin McIntire
A squadron of Pittsburgh police motorcycles roared down Morgan Street in Brackenridge just before 7 p.m. Thursday to lead a procession for fallen borough police Chief Justin McIntire. Rounding the corner onto First Avenue, their sirens wailed to greet a crowd of about 1,000 people who converged at Brackenridge Memorial...
Police say gunman fired at man, then held Eat ‘n Park employees hostage in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh police said they arrested a man who fired at least three gunshots at another man in a parking lot along Banksville Road on Thursday afternoon before holding two Eat ‘n Park employees and a restaurant manager hostage. A man told police that an unknown man fired the gunshots at...
Brighton Heights man with schizophrenia gets prison term for killing neighbor
In November 2019, Laron Smith was forbidden by airline officials from taking his connecting flight from Chicago to Arizona because of his erratic behavior. Airline employees called Smith’s father in Arizona, as well as his mother in Pittsburgh, and said he’d been acting strangely. Smith, now 26, believed then that...
Will a surprise speaker pick make the Pennsylvania House less partisan?
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 — A surprising pick for speaker of the Pennsylvania House has some lawmakers and good-government groups hopeful the chamber might...
2 injured, 5 cars struck after shooting along McKnight Road in Ross
One motorist was hospitalized and another injured after a shooting Thursday afternoon caused a two-hour closure of McKnight Road in Ross. Ross Detective Sgt. Brian Kohlhepp initially said there was an exchange of gunfire just after 2 p.m. along the busy North Hills corridor McKnight Road, near the intersection with...
Sarver VFC treasurer faces felony charges after $150K is stolen from fire company
Editor’s note: This story was update Saturday, Jan. 7 to include a statement from the fire company. State police accused the treasurer of the Sarver Volunteer Fire Company in Buffalo Township of stealing nearly $150,000 over a seven-year period by making unauthorized cash withdrawals from ATMs. William Richard George, 66,...
NFL announces Bills-Bengals game won’t be resumed
The NFL said Thursday it will not resume the Bills-Bengals game that was suspended Monday night after Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin collapsed and went into cardiac arrest on the field. The league said some of the factors in coming to its decision included that “not playing the Buffalo-Cincinnati game to...
