Week-in-review: Pa. moves some counties to yellow, Pitt researcher killed, 'murder hornets'

While covid-19 and the impact of the pandemic continue to dominate lives and news, other news continued to come in the past week.

A missing woman’s body was found in McKees Rocks, while the motivation behind a murder-suicide in Ross came to light.

In nature news, we learned about homicidal hornets and that city rats, starved of food because there’s less garbage to go through due to coronavirus shutdowns, are resorting to eating each other.

But there was something to look forward to, maybe, however — the Steelers’ 2020 schedule was announced. Well, if they get to play at all.

Ross murder-suicide

Ross police said a long-running dispute over an “intimate partner” was the motivation behind a murder-suicide.

Police said Hau Gu, 46, shot and killed Bing Liu, 37, before killing himself.

Liu was a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine, where he was involved in coronavirus research.

Police said they found no evidence that Liu’s killing had anything to do with his work or the pandemic.

‘Murder hornets’ and cannibal rats

Nature news turned a bit frightening.

The Asian giant hornet was found in Washington state and Canada. They are dubbed “murder hornets” for their tendency to kill honeybees by decapitating them, and being able to decimate a honeybee hive in a matter of hours.

Closer to home, rats in Pittsburgh are reportedly resorting to cannibalism because of a lack of food. Rats are resorting to eating each other here and in other cities because coronavirus shutdowns are resulting in less garbage for them to scavenge.

Restrictions relaxed, limited liquor sales resume

Two dozen counties in northwest and northcentral parts of Pennsylvania were set to change from red to yellow coronavirus restrictions on Friday.

The yellow phase eases some restrictions and lifts Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board announced that limited in-store public access would resume Friday at 77 stores in 22 of those yellow counties. That includes 14 stores in Clarion, Lawrence, Mercer and Venango counties.

For counties remaining in the red phase, Wolf extended the state’s stay-at-home order through June 4. Which counties that will remain in the red phase could change with an announcement on Friday.

As of Thursday night, all Southwestern Pennsylvania remained in red.

Missing woman’s body found

The body of a missing McKees Rocks woman was found inside a broken refrigerator on Monday.

Police charged her boyfriend, Daryl Jones, 41, with abuse of a corpse. He was being held in Allegheny County Jail without bail because a judge found he could be a danger to the community or himself.

A sister of Kristy Jefferson, 38, reported her missing on April 29 after not hearing from her since April 26. Jefferson’s body was found after neighbors noticed a smell in the hallway of their apartment building.

Steelers’ 2020 schedule announced

The Steeler’s schedule for the regular 2020 season was announced.

The Black ‘n Gold will open the season on Monday Night Football at the New York Giants on Sept. 14.

The schedule features a prime time, Thanksgiving home game against the Baltimore Ravens.

It remained unclear if the games will be played at all — or if they could be played without spectators or at alternate sites — because of the coronavirus pandemic.