Allegheny County News category, Page 340
Sharpsburg police seek help finding missing man
Sharpsburg police are asking for help to find a man missing since Sept. 7. Michael Schrack, 30, is 5-foot-6 and about 190 pounds, Sharpsburg Officer Brett Carb said. Schrack wears glasses and has a notable tattoo of a Chinese dragon on his left forearm. Carb said someone last spoke to...
Herd of hungry goats brought in to nosh on invasive knotweed along Harmony TrailVideo
Clearing highly invasive Japanese knotweed along the Harmony Trial can be backbreaking work for volunteers trying to maintain the mile-long bucolic walking and biking path. But for a dozen goats and their donkey protector, keeping the ornamental plant from crowding out native species is just another chance to chow down...
Lawyer: Notes on report show Wilkinsburg police may have been chasing the wrong man before deadly shooting
There’s no video footage of the 43-second pursuit of Romir Talley by Wilkinsburg police in December 2019, which ended in Talley’s death after being shot seven times by police. But an emergency medical services log obtained by the attorney representing Talley’s family indicates that police may have been going after...
Robert Levin works to keep his promises as furniture chain celebrates 100 years
Robert Levin is stunned by the reception his reconstituted family-owned furniture chain received since reopening 19 stores in Pennsylvania and Ohio two months ago. Levin, who sold the chain to Michigan-based Art Van Furniture in 2017, came out of retirement this year to rescue the business from bankruptcy. Now, he...
Pittsburgh-based Top Hat branding agency to open Necromancer Brewing Co. in North Hills
Top Hat, a Pittsburgh-based creative branding agency known for collaborating with the craft beer industry, is opening its own brewery. Necromancer Brewing Co. is scheduled to open by the end of the year in the North Hills. The exact location will be announced in a few weeks, said Ben Butler,...
Allegheny County posts 142 new covid cases over past 2 days
On Monday, the Allegheny County Health Department announced 142 new covid-19 cases — but over a two-day span. Pennsylvania’s Department of Health said last week it will begin skipping a Sunday update on cases, choosing instead to publish a two-day report on Mondays. The result could lead to a seemingly...
Greenfield woman, 89, crafts hundreds of pandemic masks to donateVideo
Jackie Stebler pushes her walker among the rows of fabric. She’s in search of the perfect material. When she finds what she needs, she places it on the seat of the walker and keeps moving. Her daughter, Karen Culley, transfers the fabric pattern to a shopping cart. Jackie is on...
Pittsburgh Symphony and Opera performers grateful to play live concertVideo
A small group of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians and a pair of singers from the Pittsburgh Opera stepped on an outdoor stage in front of a live audience Sunday night. It was the first high-profile concert in Pittsburgh since the start of the covid-19 pandemic and the first time these...
Mediterra Cafe to open second location in Mt. Lebanon
Cars have barely left the parking lot for the final dinner service at The Fairlane, but there’s already a taker for the space that caps one end of Mt. Lebanon’s Beverly Road retail district. Mediterra Cafe will open its second location there by early November. Mediterra Cafe, also a bakery...
VA Pittsburgh nurse accused of illegally obtaining opioid painkillers
A former nurse at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System faces drug charges in the theft of opioid painkillers, federal prosecutors said. Ann Makepeace, 30, of Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood was indicted by a grand jury in Pittsburgh for violating federal narcotics laws, U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said. According to...
Here’s what you should know about different covid-19 tests
Allegheny County and state officials have each begun including antigen test results in daily updates of covid-19 case counts. The new protocol, beginning in late August at both agencies, is approved by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. But it can still cause confusion when analyzing covid-19 data trends....
Because of pandemic, Pittsburgh Fashion Week has virtual look this year
Pittsburgh Fashion Week will have a signature look this year. Because of the pandemic, the event is being held virtually Sept. 21-25. There won’t be an in-person runway show, but there will be plenty of style, said John Valentine, executive director of the Downtown Community Development Corp., which is hosting...
Third year a charm for North Park Bald Eagle chicks?Video
The bald eagle pair known as Ms. Rachel and Mr. Carson have returned to North Park, presumably for a third attempt at nesting with courtship expected to ramp up later in the fall. The pair have created buzz in the only Allegheny County park with an eagle’s nest. Although the...
Private, online civil jury program seeks to move cases forward in Western Pa. during pandemicVideo
The proceedings took just over eight hours, including opening statements, five witnesses, closing arguments and deliberations. At the end of the day, the six-person jury delivered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $230,000 — finding that the woman who was injured in a slip-and-fall at a local grocery...
Allegheny County reports 57 additional coronavirus cases, 1 new death
Allegheny County on Saturday reported 57 new coronavirus cases and one additional death, according to a report by the county’s health department. The additional cases — 43 of which were confirmed, 14 probable — bumped the county’s seven-day average to 60 per day. There were 1,127 total tests recorded during...
Single-lane closures scheduled for part of Findlay Connector
Single-lane closures will begin along part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Findlay Connector starting next week. The restrictions will only be in effect weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting Monday and running through Oct. 16, turnpike officials said. Work will be conducted along the connector between exits two and...
West Mifflin recalling student computers for ‘urgent security updates’
The West Mifflin Area School District is recalling student devices for “urgent security updates,” according to a post on the district’s website. The recall will begin Monday and will run through the week. Members of the technology department will work to resolve issues reported by students during the first week...
State grants awarded for 13 historic preservation projects in Pittsburgh region
Renovations of landmark Pittsburgh buildings are among 13 projects in Southwestern Pennsylvania that have been awarded funds though the Keystone Historic Preservation Grant program. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission this week announced 52 of the preservation grants, totaling $2.6 million, for projects in 24 counties. Nine approved projects in...
Westmoreland leads region in fatal overdose prosecutions
Carmen Capozzi knows all too well the horrors associated with drug addiction. For three days in 2015, he sat quietly in a Westmoreland County courtroom and watched the trial of a Wilkinsburg man charged with selling his 20-year-old son a fatal dose of heroin three years earlier. Capozzi’s silence ended...
Small breweries take advantage of liquor laws to create ‘Pennsylvania Loophole’ beer
Small breweries, like so many other businesses, have been hit hard by the health and safety restrictions of the covid-19 pandemic. Those who don’t have the means of selling their beer beyond pints and growlers are in an especially difficult position. “We’re just a small, family-owned brewery with a two-barrel...
Man charged in connection with fatal Wilkinsburg shooting
Allegheny County police arrested a man Friday morning in connection with a deadly July shooting in Wilkinsburg that left another man dead, authorities said. Jordan Cobb, 23, of Pittsburgh, is charged with homicide, tampering with evidence and firearms violations. A criminal complaint against Cobb was not immediately available. The late-morning...
Allegheny County reports triple-digit new covid-19 cases for 2nd time this month
Allegheny County on Friday reported 100 new cases of coronavirus out of 1,134 tests. The highest number of cases reported this month was 105 on Sept. 3, which was the only other day so far this month with 100 or more cases. The lowest reported number of new cases was...
Sewickley woman sentenced to more than 5 years in federal prison for wire fraud, false income tax returns
A Sewickley woman who pleaded guilty to embezzling about $8.7 million from her employer has been sentenced in federal court to five years and four months in prison for wire fraud and filing false income tax returns. Authorities said Sue O’Neill, 55, stole millions starting in 2009 from Marco Contractors...
Police: 2 Allegheny County plumbing inspectors fudged their reports
Two Allegheny County plumbing inspectors have been arrested and charged with multiple felony counts of tampering with public records. Michael O’Toole, 57, of Pittsburgh and Timothy Chelosky, 53, of McKeesport were taken into custody and taken to the Allegheny County Jail on Thursday, Allegheny County Police reported. The arrests are...
Appeals court upholds conviction of former state trooper from Plum
A former Pennsylvania State Police trooper’s appeal of his conviction for assaulting and threatening his wife was denied Thursday. A three-judge panel of the state’s Superior Court upheld the guilty verdicts issued by an Allegheny County judge against Scott Richard Mang, 34, on charges of simple assault and making terroristic...
