Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 440
Court weighs if 15-year-old charged with homicide should be tried as adult
By the time he was 13, Nigel Thompson had been hospitalized twice at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital. Medical records showed he had suicidal thoughts and threatened to kill his family. He stole a gun, they said, and took it to school in his backpack. A juvenile court found that he...
No Labels abandons third-party campaign after trying to recruit a centrist presidential candidate
NEW YORK — The No Labels group said Thursday it will not field a presidential candidate in November after strategists for the bipartisan organization failed to attract a high-profile centrist willing to seize on the widespread dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. “No Labels has always said we...
Judge denies Trump bid to dismiss classified documents prosecution
WASHINGTON — A federal judge refused Thursday to throw out the classified documents prosecution against Donald Trump, turning aside defense arguments that a decades-old law permitted the former president to retain the sensitive records after he left office. Lawyers for Trump had cited a 1978 statute known as the Presidential...
Pitt trustees vote to buy historic property, endorse 5-year plan
University of Pittsburgh trustees voted Thursday to create a new headquarters building for one of its schools, buy a historic site in Oakland and endorse a five-year strategic plan. Meeting at the university’s Oakland campus, trustees approved plans to make a building currently under construction at Fifth Avenue and Halket...
Here’s how to get around Pittsburgh’s ‘bathtub’ section of the Parkway East
Record levels of rain have flooded several roads in Pittsburgh, including the infamous “bathtub” section of Interstate 376, or the Parkway East, causing a headache for drivers across the region. On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation closed the bathtub — the westbound section of the Parkway between Grant Street...
‘You don’t get over it’: Wilkinsburg killer Ronald Taylor dies in prison
A Wilkinsburg man sentenced to death for a racially motivated rampage in 2000 that killed three people died this week in prison. Ronald Taylor, 63, was being held on death row at the State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Montgomery County. He died on Tuesday from natural causes, according to a...
Harrisburg couple sues Catholic school after teacher cuts Black girl’s hair in class
The parents of an 8-year-old Harrisburg girl who lost a 20-inch section of hair when a teacher cut it off without their permission have filed a lawsuit against St. Margaret Mary Catholic school. The lawsuit, filed by Julia and Darin Smith in January against the school at 826 Herr Street,...
Summer Lee is Pennsylvania’s most progressive representative in Congress and its only Democrat facing a primary fight
NORTH IRWIN — U.S. Rep. Summer Lee stood with Republican and Democratic elected officials in Westmoreland County, holding an oversized check symbolizing federal dollars to rebuild a bridge, where behind her there was instead, a gaping hole. “We’re not just delivering asphalt and concrete,” Lee said in the small town...
Murrysville council approves auto-body shop that has drawn neighbors’ anger
Dayne Dice summed up the unenviable position where he and his fellow Murrysville council members found themselves Wednesday night as they approved a proposal for an auto-body shop that has drawn the ire of hundreds of neighbors. “To me, voting ‘no’ tonight would feel really good but would not be...
Competition ramps up with Allegheny General Hospital’s proposed $1B expansion
Western Pennsylvania’s two health care giants are racing to spend billions on new facilities, renovations and construction. But rivals UPMC and Allegheny Health Network say their expansion is not a contest but rather a responsibility to meet patient needs. AHN’s move to embark on a $1 billion renovation and expansion...
Powerball jackpot jumps to $1.23 billion after another drawing without a big winner
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Powerball jackpot has increased to an estimated $1.23 billion after another drawing without a big winner Wednesday night. The numbers selected were: 11, 38, 41, 62, 65 and the Powerball 15. The jackpot, which now ranks as the eighth-largest in U.S. lottery history, has been...
Man found guilty in 2010 Hill District fatal stabbing is charged with using knives to kill again
A man charged with stabbing two people during a Wednesday night drinking session in a Hill District home previously served prison time for a fatal stabbing more than a decade earlier. Police said Tyrone Taylor, 52, killed Laferrel “Flash” Dee inside an apartment at 230 Davenport St. Officers found Taylor...
Morning Roundup: Police investigate Oakland burglary; flooding shelter opened in Brownsville
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Thursday, April 4: Pitt and city police investigate burglary in Oakland University of Pittsburgh police reported Wednesday that they are working with city officers to investigate a burglary in the 200 block of McKee Place in the city’s Oakland...
Here’s a new one for WPIAL athletic directors: Game called on account of solar eclipse
Athletic directors are not surprised when rain or snow wreaks havoc on spring sports schedules. But there’s another act of nature — one far more infrequent — that has WPIAL schools rescheduling games slated for Monday. It’s the solar eclipse. The much-anticipated astronomical event will arrive in Western Pennsylvania between...
1st draft of Burrell School District budget proposes 4% tax increase
Burrell School District’s draft budget for next school year has a 4% real estate tax increase for property owners. The draft budget totals close to $36.7 million, which is a 1.35% increase from this school year’s budget, said Jennifer Callahan, the district’s business manager. There is a deficit of about...
Landslide closes portion of Route 66 in Parks Township
A portion of Route 66 between Vandergrift and Leechburg closed down Wednesday evening due to a landslide, PennDOT officials said. The section of Route 66 between the intersection of Jefferson Street and First Street/Lincoln Street in Parks Township was closed as of 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, with no estimated time to...
Work begins to stabilize subsidence-prone portion of Hempfield village
Workers were busy Wednesday drilling a hole in a yard near the top of the hill on Bovard’s Price Street. They were preparing to stabilize one of about 100 targeted homes in the Hempfield village by injecting cement-like grout to fill a section of the abandoned Keystone Coal and Coke...
Staff rebuts Register of Wills’ work claims, contends office improving but still plagued by backlogs
Westmoreland County Register of Wills employees described a courthouse office in disarray and neglected by its elected office holder, Republican Sherry Magretti Hamilton, during Wednesday’s resumption of a contempt of court hearing. During the daylong hearing, Rachael Lute, a clerk in the Register of Wills Office, said, between 2016 and...
With $31.6M in hand from controversial bond issue, URA details plans for affordable housing in Pittsburgh
Months after Pittsburgh City Council, operating on limited information, approved a $31.6 million bond issue for affordable housing, members finally got some details Wednesday about how the money will be spent by the Urban Redevelopment Authority. The head of the URA, which issued the bonds, sent council information showing that...
East Huntingdon man’s bond revoked over safety concerns
An East Huntingdon man charged with the attempted murders of police officers was returned to jail Wednesday after a Westmoreland County judge said his continued freedom presented a danger to the community. James R. Miller Jr., 61, had been free for the last two weeks after he paid $500,000 bail...
30 archers, 108 deer, 9,440 meals later, Pittsburgh proclaims pilot culling program a success
Pittsburgh could expand its deer hunting program after more than 100 deer were culled in a pilot program, Mayor Ed Gainey’s office said Wednesday. The city launched a limited archery hunting program from Sept. 30 through Jan. 27 to manage the city’s white-tailed deer populations in Frick and Riverview parks....
Widespread flooding in Westmoreland: homes flooded, roads closed
Widespread flooding Wednesday throughout Westmoreland County closed roads, flooded basements, required the rescue of some people and stranded others. Drenching rain the past three days that totaled 3 to 5 inches across the region pushed streams and rivers over their banks. Among the hardest-hit areas were the villages of Lowber,...
Judge rejects Donald Trump’s request to delay hush-money trial until Supreme Court rules on immunity
NEW YORK — A judge on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump’s bid to delay his April 15 hush money criminal trial until the Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity claims he raised in another of his criminal cases — spurning another of the former president’s ploys to put off the historic...
Police charge 2 Pittsburgh women in fatal shooting of teen boy in Wilkinsburg
Late on Sunday night, surveillance cameras in Wilkinsburg captured seven or eight people jumping out of a dark Mazda CX9 that had turned onto Holmes Street. It was about 10 p.m. when the group walked toward Hill Avenue, some reportedly armed with baseball bats. Minutes later, a fight broke out,...
Delta flight to NYC returns to Pittsburgh for emergency landing after sensor alert
A Delta flight bound for New York City returned to Pittsburgh and safely made an emergency landing Wednesday afternoon after a sensor activated, according to the Allegheny County Airport Authority. No one was injured aboard Delta Flight 5807. The Federal Aviation Administration, which is investigating, said in a statement that...
