Top Local and National News Stories category, Page 716
Fire sprinkler rupture forces Pittsburgh Playhouse evacuation, shows canceled
A ruptured fire sprinkler caused an emergency alarm to go off forcing a mid-performance evacuation of the Pittsburgh Playhouse on Point Park University’s Downtown campus Friday night. It happened in the middle of a performance of Disney’s Newsies, a musical. “A piece of scenery fell to the stage and a...
Pittsburgh Faison teacher accused of sexually assaulting student
Pittsburgh police have put out an arrest warrant for a Pittsburgh Public Schools teacher accused of sexually assaulting a student. According to the criminal complaint, James Ziegler, 41, is a teacher at Pittsburgh’s Faison K-5. Court documents said Ziegler allegedly forced the student to perform sex acts during lunch detentions....
North Huntingdon developer adds franchise division to attract businesses
Sought-after local and national franchises could be coming to Westmoreland County as North Huntingdon- based Colony Holding Companies adds a division aimed at attracting those types of businesses, according to Don Tarosky Jr., developer and partner. First up is a location in North Huntingdon that will combine a coffee shop...
Proposal would allow 15-year-olds to get their driver’s licenses
Pennsylvania teenagers could get their driver’s licenses a year early if a proposal from two lawmakers, including state Rep. Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield, gets approval. Nelson and state Rep. Stephen Kinsey, a Philadelphia Democrat, are seeking co-sponsors for legislation that would lower the age of eligibility for a junior driver’s license...
Lower Burrell home that was recently sold catches fire as old owners remove their items
Officials have determined that a kerosene heater caused a fire Friday night that severely damaged a house in Lower Burrell that had recently been sold. After an investigation that ended shortly before midnight, city Fire Co. 3 Chief Brennan Sites said Saturday that he and a state police fire marshal...
I-79 crossover express lane reopens with safety improvements
PennDOT has reopened the southbound I-79 crossover after closing down the left-hand express lane last Monday night and implementing a 45 mph speed limit in the work zone. The crossover reopened at 4 p.m. Friday in Glenfield, Sewickley Hills, and Frankin Park and Ohio and Aleppo townships. After several crashes...
Brockovich steals show at train derailment seminar in Ohio
EAST PALESTINE, OHIO — It started with a joke, though the message behind the evening was anything but. “My name is Erin Brockovich, not Julia Roberts,” quipped the environmental advocate who Roberts played in the 2000 film bearing her name Friday night in an auditorium here — the site of...
Agents bust large-scale fentanyl ring in Alle-Kiski Valley
A more than yearlong investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office and the Westmoreland County Drug Task Force has disrupted a large-scale fentanyl trafficking organization in the Alle-Kiski Valley. In court paperwork filed Friday, agents said they made controlled buys of fentanyl between January and March 2022 in Arnold, New...
AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh in peril as Warner Bros. Discovery intends to exit regional sports
Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, wants to exit the regional sports network business — and soon — in a move that could potentially leave the Pittsburgh Pirates and Penguins without a primary TV home. The Wall Street Journal first reported that WBD informed the professional sports teams...
Police: Teens get in shootout over scam involving drug-laced candy bar
Police say an 18-year-old man was jailed after getting into a shootout with a 17-year-old Mt. Pleasant Township boy on Wednesday after the victim was duped into paying $100 for a candy bar — on the false premise it was laced with mushroom-based chemicals. The suspect, Joseph A. Greep Jr....
After Ohio train wreck, Biden orders door-to-door checks
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday directed federal agencies to go door-to-door in East Palestine, Ohio, to check on families affected by the toxic train derailment that has morphed into a heated political controversy. Under Biden’s order, teams from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency...
Teens charged after leading state police on high-speed chase down Route 30
Three teens were taken into custody after state police said they escaped from Adephoi Village and led law enforcement on a high-speed chase Thursday night along the Route 30 eastbound corridor. State troopers initially responded to a report around 10 p.m. that an employee’s vehicle had been stolen at Technimark,...
Female suspect shoots at police, who return fire and kill her in Pittsburgh’s St. Clair neighborhood
A woman was shot and killed by police Friday afternoon in Pittsburgh’s St. Clair neighborhood after she fired at police, authorities said. Allegheny County 911 said police were called to the area around 3 p.m. for a call concerning a suspicious person in the 500 block of Engstler Street. Pittsburgh’s...
Did dioxins spread after the Ohio train derailment?
After a catastrophic 38-train car derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, some officials are raising concerns about a type of toxic substance that tends to stay in the environment. Last week, Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance, the U.S. senators from Ohio, sent a letter to the state’s environmental protection agency expressing...
Unionized Pitt faculty members protest pace of contract talks
About 200 University of Pittsburgh faculty members represented by the United Steelworkers rallied outside Friday’s board of trustees meeting to protest the pace of negotiations aimed at securing the union’s first labor pact there. Chanting at times as they held up signs that read “Fair Pay = Emotional Well-Being,” the...
Biden ready to run, U.S. first lady says
NAIROBI, Kenya— U.S. first lady Jill Biden gave one of the clearest indications yet that President Joe Biden will run for a second term, telling The Associated Press in an exclusive interview on Friday that there’s “pretty much” nothing left to do but figure out the time and place for...
Medical examiner: BB gun victim died from accidental drug overdose
A man who police said was repeatedly shot with a BB gun by four city teens while he was unconscious in a Downtown alley in November died from a drug overdose, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said Friday. Christopher Gaylor, 50, of Cadiz, Ohio, died Dec. 1 at UPMC...
Child sex abuse lawsuit window again gets Pa. lawmakers’ OK
HARRISBURG — Victims would be able to sue over otherwise outdated claims of child sexual abuse under two pieces of legislation passed Friday by the Pennsylvania House, but it’s unclear whether the state Senate will take them up. The legislation to temporarily waive the statute of limitations for sex abuse...
DA: Police justified in killing man who ambushed Brackenridge Chief Justin McIntireVideo
The last thing Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire ever saw, as shown by video taken from the taser he held in his hand, was the man he’d been chasing — aiming at him with a .40-caliber handgun. Aaron Swan Jr., dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans after he dumped...
Final vote on controversial Oakland zoning package expected next week
Pittsburgh City Council is expected to take a final vote next week to approve what has been a heavily debated zoning package for the Oakland neighborhood. City Council had initially planned to vote on the zoning package in December after a lengthy public hearing where residents, developers and officials from...
Construction of $40M workforce center proceeds on CCAC’s North Side campus
The timing seemed right in November 2019 when the Community College of Allegheny County announced an ambitious workforce development initiative that included building a multi-story academic hall and expanding programming to steer more students into high-demand fields. The areas of study slated for the new Workforce Development and Training Center...
DeSantis leads Trump by wide margin in California as primary race starts, poll finds
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has surged to a lead among California Republicans over former President Donald Trump for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination, a poll released Friday found. About 37% of GOP voters backed DeSantis, while 29% preferred Trump, according to the new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll...
Gisele Fetterman shares window into family since husband’s hospitalization
After U.S. Sen. John Fetterman last week checked himself into a hospital for clinical depression treatment, his wife, Gisele, found her home circled by media trucks. In a series of tweets Friday morning, Gisele Fetterman explained how her children were home from school and her home surrounded by press when...
6-year-old Belle Vernon Area student dies after being hit by car
On Friday afternoon, the Rev. Mary Kay Glunt placed a pinwheel, colorful flowers and a stuffed white lamb in the yard of First Presbyterian Church of Belle Vernon. Amanda Woznick saw it and knelt in front of it, crying. Glunt’s mementos marked the scene where, hours earlier, Woznick’s 6-year-old daughter...
Convent turned condo: $350K property hits market on Pittsburgh’s South Side
Sunlight shines through three stained glass windows and the brick frame is adorned with a concrete cross above the front door at Matthew’s Lofts on the South Side. The building, once a convent part of the former St. Matthews Church that closed in 1992, has been transformed into two condominiums....
