Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 1722
John Steigerwald: NFL finds another way to give fans less for their money
“Eighteen games is straight baloney, either way you cut it.” You wonder how many NFL players agree with that tweet from Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward on Saturday. According to Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal, the owners are going to try to sell the players on an...
Decorated soldier dies in combat operations in Afghanistan
FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A decorated Special Forces company sergeant major has died during combat in Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said Sunday. James G. “Ryan” Sartor, 40, was killed Saturday during combat operations in Faryab Province, according to Lt. Col. Loren Bymer, spokesman for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command....
Harrison police: Natrona man assaulted man, woman in Burger King drive-thru
A Harrison man was arrested Saturday after attacking a man and a woman as they all drove through the Burger King drive-thru, according to police. Harrison Sgt. Michael Ropelewski said police were called to the incident at the Burger King on Freeport Road around 6 p.m. for a report of...
Churches jump into action with threat of immigration sweeps
CHICAGO — Religious leaders across the country used their pulpits Sunday to quell concerns in immigrant communities and spring into action as nationwide immigration enforcement sweeps loomed. A Chicago priest talked during his homily about the compassion of a border activist accused of harboring illegal immigrants, while another city church...
Bethany United Methodist Church thanks police, firefighters with fundraising mealVideo
It’s been more than 50 years since the Latrobe Fire Department Good Friend’s Hose Company No. 5 served as a temporary home to the Bethany United Methodist Church during a long-ago renovation. But members still recall the advice from firefighters. “They told us that if the fire whistle went off,...
North Side man accused of attempted rape
A man from Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhood has been arrested and charged in relation to an attempted sexual assault early Sunday morning. Pittsburgh police arrested Michael Leon Ponton, 53, around 3:20 a.m. Sunday. Police said the alleged assault is reported to have happened just a few hours prior to Ponton’s...
Man dies after being infected with flesh-eating bacteria in Florida
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Tennessee man died this week after being infected with a flesh-eating bacteria during a trip to a Florida beach. According to news reports, the man became ill shortly after returning from vacation in Destin Beach where he was visiting family for the 4th of July. Cheryl...
Primanti Bros. in Strip District hosts wedding reception for 11 couplesVideo
Some happy couples tied the knot on Saturday and then enjoyed a sandwich or two. Eleven couples were married at the Primanti Brothers restaurant in the Strip District. On Valentine’s Day Primanti’s offered any couple that got engaged at one of their locations, a group reception in the summer. This...
Trump defends border detention camps
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is defending the conditions of the border detention facilities visited by Vice President Mike Pence on Friday. Trump tweeted Sunday, saying the children’s rooms were “well run and clean” while the men’s facilities were “clean but crowded.” The president’s account flies in the face of...
Leave the U.S., Trump tells liberal Democratic congresswomenVideo
WASHINGTON — Starkly injecting race into his criticism of liberal Democrats, President Trump said Sunday that four congresswomen of color should go back to the “broken and crime infested” countries they came from, ignoring the fact that all of the women are American citizens and three were born in the...
Police investigating homicide of Pittsburgh man, 21, in McKeesport
Allegheny County police are investigating the homicide of a 21-year-old Pittsburgh man Saturday evening in McKeesport. Police said they were called to a report of a man shot in the area of Beacon Street and Hazel Way just before 8 p.m. McKeesport Police and EMS found the man suffering from...
Kennywood’s Steel Curtain reopens
Kennywood’s new Steel Curtain roller coaster reopened Sunday after closing early on its opening day Saturday because of “technical difficulty.” Park spokesman Nick Paradise said the ride reopened around noon as projected. “They got it straightened out,” he said, describing early operations of the ride as a “learning curve.” Paradise...
Thousands left in the dark during NYC power outage
NEW YORK — On the anniversary of a 1977 blackout that left most of New York City without power, a massive power outage on a hot Saturday night in Manhattan preemptively brought the curtain down on Broadway shows and packed streets with people wielding cellphones as flashlights amid a cacophony...
Barry’s flood threat lingers as storm slowly sweeps inland
NEW ORLEANS — Tropical Depression Barry dumped rain as it slowly swept inland through Gulf Coast states Sunday, sparing New Orleans from a direct hit but stoking fears elsewhere of flooding, tornadoes, and prolonged power outages. Though the system was downgraded to a tropical depression Sunday afternoon and its wind...
2 shot in Northview Heights section of Pittsburgh
A man and woman were wounded Sunday morning in a shooting in the Northview Heights section of Pittsburgh. Police officials said officers responded to reports of shots fired on the 800 block of Mt. Pleasant Road shortly before 2 a.m. Officers found a woman shot multiple times in the lower...
Authorities identify off-duty police officer shot in PittsburghVideo
Pittsburgh police identified an off-duty police officer who was critically wounded early Sunday when a shooting erupted during a party in Homewood. Officer Calvin Hall, 36, was shot multiple times around 1:30 a.m. and remained in critical condition Sunday afternoon at an undisclosed hospital, according to the Pittsburgh Public Safety...
Infant girl found dead in East Huntingdon under ‘suspicious’ circumstances
State police are investigating the “suspicious” death of an infant girl Saturday night at an East Huntingdon housing complex. Officials said police responded to a housing complex at Gurley Drive and found an unresponsive child. She was pronounced dead at the scene. State police spokesman Steve Limani said the infant...
Church continues at Central Presbyterian in Tarentum while stained glass project closesVideo
Restorationist Ralph Mills knows the century-old stained-glass windows at Tarentum’s Central Presbyterian Church. “I’ve been here from the first, in 2014,” he said about 12 large windows that his Pittsburgh-based specialty company cleaned, repaired, preserved and reinstalled. The windows were new when the church opened in 1913. Two weeks ago,...
Tarentum Bicycle Safety Rodeo passes out free helmets, bikes, safety message
Some Tarentum kids were on a roll Saturday. Youngsters lined up at the Tarentum marina to learn about bike and public safety at the inaugural Tarentum Bicycle Safety Rodeo. As part of the program, they received free bike helmets and bicycle tune-ups. The event was sponsored by the borough’s special...
Harmar drug activity down due to visible police presence, chief says
Harmar police Chief Jason Domaratz said a visible police presence is curtailing drug activity at the township’s hotels. “I would say within the last year, from what I’ve seen, it’s went down a lot from what we had,” Domaratz recently told the Tribune-Review. “I think a big part of that...
NYC power outage knocks out subways, businesses, elevators
NEW YORK — Authorities were scrambling to restore electricity to Manhattan following a power outage that knocked out Times Square’s towering electronic screens and darkened marquees in the theater district and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. A transformer fire Saturday evening at West 64th Street...
Lower Burrell woman’s story personifies failures in Medicaid waiver program
Fran Morgante brushed back her mother’s hair tenderly as she offered the tiny elderly woman a drink of water on a hot June day. Vilma Morgante, who celebrated her 100th birthday June 21 in her Lower Burrell home, never asked much of the world. Her one desire: to die in...
Pittsburgh police use ladder to rescue woman held hostage during domestic
Pittsburgh police used a ladder Saturday afternoon to rescue a woman who was being held hostage by her boyfriend in a Brighton Heights house, according to the Public Safety Department. Officers pulled the woman, who was not identified, from a second-floor window. Marc Vrane, 47, assaulted the woman and refused...
Wicker leads Hempfield East Legion team to district title game
Matt Wicker hasn’t been asked to pitch much for the Hempfield East American Legion team this summer. Coach Scott Smith was saving him after he threw a lot of innings during the high school season. Wicker, a Greensburg Salem grad and the Golden Lions’ ace this past spring, answered the...
Water task force rescues 3 kayakers from Kiski River
An Armstrong County river rescue team pulled three kayakers out of the swollen Kiski River on Saturday afternoon after they got hung up in submerged trees in Leechburg and their kayaks sank. Joe Clark, divemaster with Armstrong County Water Rescue Task Force , said a mother and her two daughters...
