Justin Vellucci stories, Page 12
‘Steel is all around us:’ Despite uncertain future locally, U.S. Steel’s connection to this region and its people endures
President Joe Biden’s decision to thwart a Japanese firm from buying U.S. Steel doesn’t pen an obituary for the Pittsburgh-based industrial titan whose decades-long fall from grace has been inextricably linked to the city where it was born. But it does portend an uncertain future for an industry that built...
Canonsburg man hurt in New Orleans terror attack gives his account of the incident
Jeremi Sensky described his feelings Thursday after barely surviving the terrorist who mowed down people in a pick-up truck in New Orleans early New Year’s Day, killing 14 and injuring 30 others. “I’m just happy to be alive,” is how Sensky of Canonsburg described his feelings to CNN’s Anderson Cooper...
Good Samaritan finds strength in optimism as he recovers from August shooting in PittsburghVideo
Paul Werder never imagined a simple gesture of kindness could unravel so many lives. The retired banker was driving to his investment property on Pittsburgh’s North Side in August when he passed a man lying on his side. His body lay slung across the sidewalk, his head in a patch...
‘Time of our lives’: Steelers, Chiefs fans celebrate holiday with tailgating before Chiefs stole Christmas
A giant, inflatable Santa Claus nursing a fake Yuengling beer bottle perched Wednesday morning above a sea of tailgaters on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Scores of football fans wore red and white Santa Claus caps. Others meandered through parking lots while donning holiday-themed pajamas. And at least one man dressed up,...
As Christmas, Hanukkah overlap, interfaith couples celebrate with trees and menorahs
Early in their relationship, Danielle Rupright talked with her boyfriend, Shawn West, who was brought up Methodist, about how much she valued her Jewish faith and culture. “I said, ‘It’s important to me that I raise my kids as Jews,’ ” she recalled. “And he responded, ‘It’s important to me...
Pittsburgh Regional Transit discloses ransomware attack
Pittsburgh Regional Transit is investigating a ransomware attack that targeted the transit agency’s communications operations last week and briefly disrupted dispatchers from tracking vehicles on its light-rail line. The scope of the attack remains unclear. Adam Brandolph, an agency spokesperson, told TribLive on Monday evening it appeared primarily to affect...
Pittsburgh interior designer to face judge in business fraud case out of Fox Chapel
An interior designer accused of swindling a Fox Chapel woman out of $170,000 is headed to court, the latest in a flurry of legal cases surrounding the embattled Pittsburgh business owner. Lauren Michelle Piasecki, 44, of Pittsburgh’s Stanton Heights neighborhood waived her preliminary hearing Wednesday in a Sharpsburg district court....
Pittsburgh high school locked down after 11 shots fired nearby
A North Side school was locked down briefly Tuesday morning after at least 11 shots were fired outside school grounds, authorities said. Perry Traditional Academy, a high school in the Pittsburgh’s Perry North neighborhood, was in “secure status” at about 10 a.m., two hours after a juvenile boy was targeted...
Police charge man with raping North Side woman, 93, after following her home on bus
A man remained in jail Tuesday on charges that he forced his way into a 93-year-old woman’s North Side home over the weekend and raped her. Authorities said Ronny Hough, 39, followed the woman on a Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus from Downtown to the city’s Troy Hill neighborhood about 6...
Pa. AG charges Allegheny County residents in vehicle ‘smash-and-grab’ spree
State authorities have accused four Allegheny County residents of breaking into dozens of vehicles last year throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania, stealing checkbooks, credit, debit and ID cards, and then draining victims’ bank accounts. On Dec. 6, the state Attorney General’s Office charged Ahmed Henderson, Theresa Imel, Elizabeth Madden and Shaquan Moore...
Police flag Pittsburgh man for Steelers parking lot scam
Police have sacked a Pittsburgh man they say netted more than $1,000 Sunday by getting Pittsburgh Steelers fans to pay to park at a North Side lot he doesn’t own. Alphonso Rattliff, 30, on Sunday charged 23 drivers headed to see the Steelers play at Acrisure Stadium $50 apiece to...
‘Misinterpreted’ text, not bomb threat, led to disruption on Spirit jet at Pittsburgh airport
Allegheny County Police on Thursday removed all passengers from a Spirit jetliner at Pittsburgh International Airport after one traveler “misinterpreted” another’s text message as being about “a possible bomb threat,” the Transportation Security Administration told TribLive. There was no bomb threat, according to TSA and county police. TSA officials and...
Zappala sues over troubled Allegheny County pension fund
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala, Jr. is suing the county pension board and has asked a judge to force county officials to adequately fund a retirement system slated to run out of money in 15 years. In the 43-page lawsuit, filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court’s civil...
Police charge teen with plotting hit from Allegheny County Jail cell
A McKeesport teen awaiting trial for homicide orchestrated a hit on a police informant from an Allegheny County Jail cell, using code words like “lottery numbers” and “taco shells” to instruct another teen to carry out the crime, police said Wednesday. Allegheny County Police have charged both teens — Daemond...
Rep. Mike Kelly’s task force releases final report on Trump assassination attempt in Butler County
A task force led by a Republican congressman from Southwestern Pennsylvania on Tuesday capped a monthslong investigation of the attempted assassination of President-elect Donald Trump at a Butler County campaign rally in July by releasing dozens of recommendations to improve the U.S. Secret Service after widespread criticism of the agency....
Sewickley Heights homeowner plans to rebuild on site of 2023 house explosion
Nearly a year has passed since an explosion leveled a caretaker’s house on John Tippins’ sprawling Sewickley Heights property. But, as the managing director of a Downtown-based private equity group gets ready to rebuild on the Backbone Road site, at least one neighbor still is wondering what happened to the...
FBI arrests Upper St. Clair man accused of trying to join Hezbollah in Lebanon
A 24-year-old former U.S. soldier living in a Pittsburgh suburb has been charged in federal court with lying to the FBI after, authorities said, he flew to the Middle East and attempted to join the terrorist group Hezbollah. Jack Danaher Molloy, 24, of Upper St. Clair traveled to Lebanon in...
October shooting in McKees Rocks claims 2nd life
A McKees Rocks woman who was one of four people shot Oct. 26 in the borough died Sunday, marking the incident’s second fatality. Dominique Smith, 38, was pronounced dead about 11:05 a.m. in an area hospital, the Allegheny County Medical Examiners’ Office said. Smith was shot near Meyers Street and...
Coal, once king in Pennsylvania, leaves behind abandoned mines that pose concerns
Coal mining’s roots in the Pittsburgh area run deeper than the foundations of American democracy. Since the mid-1700s, years before the Declaration of Independence, Pennsylvanians have mined 250,000 acres of land for coal, pulling more than 15 billion tons of the fossil fuel from the earth, according to the state...
A traffic stop in Brentwood raises questions about cops’ use of force
On the night of Oct. 3, Brentwood police pulled over a car on Route 51 because the license plate was partially blocked. When an officer approached the driver, her friend and front-seat passenger, Devin Irwin, held up his iPhone and began recording. The only other person in the car, a...
Woman killed in hit-and-run while crossing Oakland street is identified
Pittsburgh police have found the driver of a vehicle believed to have struck and killed a woman early Thursday in a hit-and-run crash in Oakland. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Jessie Maroney, 37, of South Park. Police said Maroney was crossing Darragh Street in a...
‘Justice was served’: Killer of off-duty cop slain in Blawnox gets maximum prison time
A judge Thursday sentenced a Pittsburgh man to 20 to 40 years in prison for killing an off-duty Oakdale police officer during a road-rage incident. Kevin McSwiggen, 42, of the city’s Greenfield neighborhood was convicted in July by a jury of third-degree murder in the July 3, 2022, shooting death...
Carrick man indicted for attempted murder of DEA agent
A federal grand jury has indicted a Pittsburgh man on charges of attempted murder and assaulting a federal officer nearly four months after authorities say he fired at least 18 shots at a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who later found a large stash of fentanyl at the man’s home. Drew...
‘I will never forgive you’: Moms of teens killed in North Park crash tear into driver after his guilty plea
Aiden Saber cried Monday in a Pittsburgh courtroom as he apologized for killing two teenage passengers and ruining the lives of their families last December when he crashed his SUV into a tree. “I stand before you today fully aware of my actions and the irreversible pain I have caused,”...
Forever Young: Families of teens killed in North Park crash fight to move on
Twice a week, Ellie Tourney eats lunch on a stone bench near her son’s grave. She doesn’t want her youngest boy to feel like he has been forgotten. Nearly a year has passed since Jonathan Tourney and Taylor Orlowski were killed on Christmas weekend when the speeding SUV they were...
