Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1559
Liberating Dachau concentration camp uncovered horrors, area veteran saysVideo
At age 23 in the spring of 1945, Guy Prestia was in the Army fighting his way across southern Germany when his unit walked into hell on earth — the Nazi death camp at Dachau. “It was terrible. I never saw anything like those camps,” said Prestia, 97, who still...
Farmers, conservation districts applaud rollback of Obama-era clean water rule
Not long after he took office, President Trump issued an executive order asking the EPA to review a clean water rule that he said exemplified federal government overreach in the Obama years. The 2015 Waters of the United States regulation increased the number and types of waterways — reportedly 60%...
SWAT use on the rise in Pittsburgh, across Western Pa.
As the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police has used its SWAT team more in recent years, critics are questioning whether that’s improving public safety. City officials say the department is taking precautions to keep situations from escalating, which protects officers and the public. “We understand that a SWAT callout can be...
SWAT response ends after man accused of attacking Pittsburgh paramedics taken into custody
Two Pittsburgh paramedics were injured while responding to a call Saturday afternoon, prompting a SWAT team response, authorities said. The paramedics were responding to a medical call about 3:30 p.m. at a home on Windgap Avenue in the city’s Windgap neighborhood, according to Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV. The initial call...
Xi calls situation grave as China scrambles to contain virus
BEIJING — China’s leader on Saturday called the accelerating spread of a new virus a grave situation, as cities from the outbreak’s epicenter in central China to Hong Kong scrambled to contain an illness that has infected more than 1,200 people and killed 41. President Xi Jinping’s remarks, reported by...
Pittsburgh police: Man shot in back in Uptown neighborhood, woman questioned
A man was shot in the back and a woman detained for questioning Saturday in Pittsburgh’s Uptown section, according to police. Pittsburgh police responded about 12:15 p.m. to a ShotSpotter alert followed by notification that a man had shown up to a nearby hospital with a gunshot wound to his...
St. Joseph High School mom recounts March for Life experience in Washington
Nearly three dozen people from the Alle-Kiski Valley took a whirlwind trip to Washington, D.C., on Friday to attend the yearly March for Life on the National Mall. The locals, which included students from St. Joseph High School in Natrona Heights, Harrison, were among the tens of thousands that attended...
Heavily armed Troy Hill man allegedly obsessed with Nazis held on federal weapons charges
A Troy Hill man with an alleged obsession with Nazis and mass shootings will remain in federal prison while he awaits trial on weapons charges, a judge ruled Friday. Dennis A. Riggs, 50, was arrested by FBI agents about 6 a.m. Wednesday when authorities served a search warrant on his...
Driver in critical condition after crashing into Downtown Pittsburgh wall
A driver is in critical condition after crashing into a wall coming off the Liberty Bridge at Forbes Avenue on Saturday morning. Pittsburgh police responded to a report of a single-vehicle collision at about 8:10 a.m. just off the bridge. The vehicle crashed into a wall on the inbound side...
Route 130 reopens in Penn Township following 2-vehicle crashVideo
A two-vehicle crash shut down Route 130 in Penn Township for more than four hours Saturday afternoon, according to authorities. The crash, involving a car and a pickup truck, was reported at 12:20 p.m. on Route 130 near Hungry Hank’s Pizzeria, a 911 supervisor said. “We had one patient in...
Trump defends Sanders, stoking Democratic divisions
WASHINGTON — As tensions between Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren rose earlier this month, Sanders found himself with an unusual ally: President Donald Trump. During a raucous campaign rally in which Trump critiqued some of his Democratic challengers, the president launched into an unprompted defense of Sanders....
Trump lawyers argue Democrats just want to overturn election
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s lawyers plunged into his impeachment trial defense Saturday by accusing Democrats of striving to overturn the 2016 election, arguing that investigations of Trump’s dealings with Ukraine have not been a fact-finding mission but a politically motivated effort to drive him from the White House. “They’re...
Senate floor belongs to Trump team as defense case opens
WASHINGTON — The floor of the Senate now belongs to President Donald Trump’s lawyers as they push the Republican-led chamber for his impeachment acquittal on charges that he abused his power and obstructed Congress. The president’s lawyers planned to begin their arguments Saturday in the impeachment trial and were expected...
McKeesport shooting victim in critical condition
A 29-year-old man is in critical condition following a shooting early Saturday morning in McKeesport, according to police. McKeesport officers were dispatched to the 1400 block of Maple Street just after 2:15 a.m. Saturday for a report of shots fired. They arrived to find a 29-year-old man with multiple gunshot...
Spacewalking astronauts plug leak, finish fixing cosmic ray detector
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Spacewalking astronauts plugged a leak in a cosmic ray detector outside the International Space Station on Saturday, completing a series of complex repairs to give the instrument new life. The $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer could resume its hunt for elusive antimatter and dark matter by...
Teen in stable condition following Wilkins Township shooting
A 17-year-old boy is in stable condition Saturday morning after a shooting Friday night in Wilkins Township. Police responded to the 100 block of Ivy Street at 8:47 p.m. Jan. 24 and discovered the teen with a gunshot wound to the right shoulder and lower right abdomen. Allegheny County detectives...
Trump’s lawyers prepare a blistering defense
WASHINGTON — Over the last three days, House Democrats have presented compelling evidence in the form of snappy video clips, punchy PowerPoint slides and impassioned oratory, building a case that removing President Donald Trump from office is imperative to protect the Constitution and the country. Starting Saturday, Trump’s lawyers will...
Federal agent: Cops offered payment to witness in Wilkinsburg mass shooting case
A federal agent testified Friday that Allegheny County Police offered financial assistance to the family of the key witness against one of two men charged in the 2016 Wilkinsburg mass shooting. Defense attorneys contend that prosecutors knew this information some time ago, but failed to disclose it. The homicide case...
Report: Recording links Trump to Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch’s ousterVideo
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump can be heard in a taped 2018 conversation saying he wants to get rid of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, whose removal a year later emerged as an issue in Trump’s impeachment. The president was talking with a small group that included Lev Parnas,...
Shoppers return to Delmont Walmart following gas leak
The Delmont Walmart store was temporarily evacuated shortly after 5:30 p.m. Friday as area firefighters investigated an odor of natural gas. Crews traced the odor to a small leak in a gas line that supplies a roof heating unit near the store’s pharmacy, Forbes Road Fire Chief Bob Rosatti said....
Trump, a late convert to cause, attends anti-abortion rally
WASHINGTON — President Trump vowed to stand with anti-abortion activists Friday as he became the first sitting president to speak at the March for Life, an annual gathering that is one of the movement’s highest profile and most symbolic events. “Today as President of the United States, I am truly...
2 Catholic schools to close, 4 in South Hills to merge amid dwindling student enrollment
Two Catholic schools in Allegheny County will close while four others will merge into a single school in the South Hills in efforts to confront declining enrollment and climbing debt, officials announced Friday. St. Maria Goretti School in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood and East Catholic School in Forest Hills will close...
Humane officers: 19 cats, kittens rescued from White Oak home
One kitten was found dead and 19 others were removed by Humane Animal Rescue officials from a White Oak home Friday morning. Investigators said they received a tip about 30 cats possibly living there in disgraceful conditions. A warrant was obtained Thursday to seize the animals. Most of the cats...
State House scales back proposed emissions inspection overhaul
The state House scaled back a proposal that would have exempted many Pennsylvania drivers from vehicle emissions inspections — now calling for a study instead of an immediate overhaul. “They essentially gutted and replaced it,” said state Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee and the driving...
Sign inspections to cause lane restrictions on Parkway West
There will be lane restrictions on the Parkway West (I-376) over the weekend, PennDOT announced. Crews from Mackin Engineering Company and the Sofis Rigging Company will conduct overhead sign inspections in various locations along the Parkway West on both Saturday and Sunday, PennDOT said. Lane restrictions will occur from 6...
