Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 420
2024 Pittsburgh Marathon facts and figures
The 2024 Dick’s Sporting Good Pittsburgh Marathon will be held Sunday morning in Downtown Pittsburgh. The handcycle division starts Sunday’s events at 6:50 a.m., and the marathon, half-marathon and marathon relay all begin at 7 a.m. The 4-mile fitness challenge will commence at 9:30 a.m. Here are some interesting facts...
Man found fatally shot inside vehicle in McKeesport
A man was fatally shot Thursday night in McKeesport. Police said they were dispatched to the 2900 block of Palmgreen Avenue for a report of a shooting at 10:25 p.m. First responders found the man with gunshot wounds inside a vehicle, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene....
Lori Falce: Men growling over bear question are missing the point
There is a question that is dividing the internet, and it has nothing to do with anyone running for office. It’s a gut feeling kind of question. The idea is this: Ask a woman if she would rather be in the woods confronted by a bear or a man. At...
5 things to do in Pittsburgh: May 3-5
Cinco de Mayo! May the Fourth be with you! There are plenty of reasons to celebrate this weekend. Here are five fun events going on around town. May the Fourth Be With You at the Symphony On Saturday, May 4, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra presents “Music of Star Wars.” The...
Rabkin Gardens is Tarentum’s hidden gem
When Michael Rabkin purchased the 1890s 2nd Ward Public School Building in Tarentum to house his medical practice, the view was less than inspiring. “There was a hideous termite-infested shack that my office overlooked,” said Rabkin, a Brooklyn native and retired skin pathologist. “I figured I could spend the rest...
Residents of Plum neighborhood hopeful outside cleanup is start of help for hoarder
Residents of a Plum community are hopeful the cleanup outside a hoarded house Thursday is the start of getting the woman who lives there the help they say she needs. Residents of Plum’s Edgemeade neighborhood say it was about two years ago that the hoard inside retired school teacher Janice...
USGA tees up for 2025 U.S. Open with $4.8M Oakmont Country Club expansion
With the U.S. Open golf tournament returning to Oakmont in just over a year, the United States Golf Association is working to expand and upgrade the Oakmont Country Club in anticipation of massive crowds flocking to the Allegheny Valley borough. The golf association is in the midst of a $4.8...
Maryland man faces federal charges for alleged sexual exploitation of minors in the Kiski Township area
A Maryland man faces federal charges after he allegedly attempted to sexually exploit minors in the North Apollo and Kiski Township areas. George Luton, 49, of Annapolis was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh. Authorities said Luton persuaded a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the...
Penn State trustees advance proposed property sales involving Behrend, Harrisburg campuses
Property zoned for college housing at Penn State University’s Behrend campus near Erie may gain new life as a church, while a Penn State Harrisburg building could be going to that city’s school district. A panel of Penn State trustees endorsed both real estate divestitures Thursday as board members began...
‘You just gotta go through it’: Pittsburgh marathoners prepare for mental, physical test
For Ron Brown, waiting for marathon day is like waiting for Christmas morning: Sunday will be his 60th time racing all 26.2 miles. “You get apprehensive,” said Brown, 55, of West Deer, days before the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon. “But once you get across that starting line, that goes...
Dallas executive Kimberly Fields to take reins at ATI
ATI will have new leadership July 1. Kimberly Fields will assume the role of CEO to replace Robert Wetherbee, head of the specialty metals company since 2018. Fields of Dallas has served the past two years as chief operating officer and was named president in 2023. “I’m honored to succeed...
Moms of teens killed in McCandless crash win court battle against bail for jailed driver
Heather McCandless began to sob in front of a judge as she described how her husband ends each day by saying “good night” to the urn holding their late daughter’s ashes. Taylor Orlowski, 18, was killed Dec. 23 after a speeding car in which she was riding with four other...
Hempfield man’s ‘nonstop criminal activity’ nets 3-to 6-year prison sentence
A Hempfield man was ordered to serve up to six years in prison for a series of crimes that included an assault against a police officer, two high-speed chases and possession of cocaine in his cell at the Westmoreland County Prison. As Antjuan Dewayne Smith, 41, pleaded guilty Thursday, his...
Judge declares mistrial after jury deadlocks in lawsuit filed by former Abu Ghraib prisoners
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A judge declared a mistrial Thursday after a jury said it was deadlocked and could not reach a verdict in the trial of a military contractor accused of contributing to the abuse of detainees at the Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq two decades ago. The mistrial came...
Pittsburgh squeezes Heinz History Center to get giant ketchup bottle permit
Pittsburgh’s iconic giant ketchup bottle is too big. At least that’s what the city has told the Heinz History Center. One of two oversized Heinz ketchup bottles removed from Acrisure Stadium last summer after it changed names from Heinz Field was installed outside the Strip District museum in December. The...
Homewood’s BBQ maestro: Drew Allen’s journey from DJ to pitmaster extraordinaire
Drew Allen, owner of Showcase BBQ in Homewood, moves swiftly. If you can’t keep pace with his speed, you might lose sight of him amid a haze of smoke. Patrons queue up before the restaurant opens, eagerly anticipating the savory, finger-licking taste of his ribs that are hailed by many...
Government official asking for money on the phone? It’s a scam
Scammers increasingly are impersonating police and federal agents in an attempt to swindle unsuspecting victims by preying on their trust of law enforcement. According to John Breyault, a fraud expert with the National Consumers League, posing as government agents is a classic fraud tactic. “The appeal to fraudsters is that...
Investigation launched over allegations of missing funds from North Huntingdon AG Office
The Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office on Thursday confirmed it has launched an investigation into allegations that an undisclosed amount of money was stolen from an Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office in North Huntingdon. Spokeswoman Melanie Jones said in a statement that the district attorney’s office “is aware of missing funds...
Arizona’s Democratic governor signs bill to repeal 1864 ban on most abortionsVideo
PHOENIX — Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has relegated a Civil War-era ban on most abortions to the past by signing a repeal bill Thursday. Hobbs says the move is just the beginning of a fight to protect reproductive health care in Arizona. But the repeal may not take effect...
Biden says ‘order must prevail’ during campus protests over the war in Gaza
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday defended the right to protest but insisted that “order must prevail” as college campuses across the country face unrest over the war in Gaza. “Dissent is essential for democracy,” he said at the White House. “But dissent must never lead to disorder.” Tensions...
‘She is evil personified’: Victims’ families face killer nurse Heather Pressdee in court
Grief. Fury. Sadness. Guilt. Heartache. Regret. Rage. As each of the victims’ loved ones stood to explain the impact of Heather Pressdee’s actions on their families, the defendant sat between her attorneys at counsel table, hair pulled back, handcuffed, staring straight ahead. She never looked at them. For hours, she...
Gov. Shapiro, once Pa.’s top cop, backs inmate’s appeal of life sentence for felony murder
Pennsylvania’s governor, once the state’s top law enforcement officer, is supporting an Allegheny County man’s appeal of his life sentence for second-degree murder without parole. Gov. Josh Shapiro took the unusual step last week of filing a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of inmate Derek Lee because he believes that the...
‘What do we got to pay for this?’ Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call
NEW YORK — Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president. A visibly irritated Trump...
Federal jury convicts Oakmont native in 2019 kidnapping, death of Bethel Park woman
An Oakmont native is facing a potential sentence of life in prison after a federal jury Wednesday convicted him of kidnapping a Bethel Park woman, driving her to Nevada and killing her in the desert. John Matthew Chapman, 44, of Oakland, Md., who previously lived in Allegheny County, was found...
A closer look at how University of Pittsburgh handled protests amid national strife
Many universities across the country are facing a harsh reckoning over vandalized buildings, mass campus arrests and chilling images from this week of student protesters battling police and sometimes each other. But the University of Pittsburgh is not — at least thus far. The university fared differently than other campuses...
