Top Stories category, Page 39
5 takeaways about Pittsburgh police chief nominee Jason Lando
Jason Lando, 48, was introduced Thursday as Pittsburgh Mayor-elect Corey O’Connor’s pick for police chief. Lando spent more than two decades with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police before taking over the significantly smaller police force pf Frederick, Md. O’Connor campaigned on a pledge to find a permanent police chief who...
Gainey, Black leaders launch August Wilson legacy brick fundraiser
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson was the 1994 commencement speaker at Morgan State University in Maryland, and one of the graduates in the audience was Ed Gainey. “I look back on this, years later, because here’s a gentleman … who wrote ‘Radio Golf,’ where he talked about the first Black...
Pittsburgh airport sees flight disruptions abating in time for new terminal opening
Pittsburgh International Airport officials expect flight cancellations and delays caused by the government shutdown, which ended Wednesday, to taper off in time for the new terminal’s opening Tuesday. Flight reductions ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration at 40 airports — not including Pittsburgh’s — remain in place and have had...
2 arrested after massage parlor raids in Westmoreland
Greensburg and state police raided four massage parlors Thursday and arrested two women on prostitution charges. The two police agencies teamed up on the investigations at Mu’s Asian Massage locations in Hempfield and Unity and Ruiquan Foot Spa and Li’s Massage on Main in Greensburg. Trooper Steve Limani said state...
Sen. John Fetterman hospitalized after fall near Braddock home
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman was hospitalized Thursday after suffering facial injuries in a fall while walking near his Braddock home, according to his office. Fetterman was taken to a Pittsburgh hospital “out of an abundance of caution,” his office posted on the X social media platform. “During an early morning...
Mayor-elect O’Connor taps veteran officer Jason Lando as next Pittsburgh police chief
Pittsburgh Mayor-Elect Corey O’Connor on Thursday tapped Jason Lando, a 21-year Pittsburgh police veteran now running a police department in Maryland, as the next chief of the city’s 750-officer bureau at a time when it is struggling with low morale, leadership woes and staffing declines. “I think you’ll see Chief...
What’s next in Congress on the push to release the Epstein files
WASHINGTON — The House is speeding toward a vote next week on releasing files related to the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, a step that comes after months of resistance from Republican leaders. They have no choice but to allow consideration of the bill after a petition on the...
Black hat found at crime scene leads to arrest in McKeesport slaying
DNA from a black hat found last year near a shooting scene in McKeesport led to an arrest Wednesday in the slaying of a man in his car. Allegheny County Police charged Daemond Artemus, 18, of McKeesport in the May 2, 2024, slaying of Brandon Dean. Artemus was taken to...
Burrell fans to line Leechburg Road to support girls soccer team’s state championship bid
Burrell High School girls’ soccer fans can send the team off in style Friday morning as they head to play in the state championship game. “We are over the moon here,” said Chelsey McMahon, president of the Burrell Girls Soccer boosters. “We are trying to get as many people as...
Starbucks union strikes stores in Pittsburgh area on Red Cup Day
Starbucks union organizers said Thursday they’ve shut down five stores across Southwestern Pennsylvania in the first day of what they’re calling an “open ended” strike over stalled contract talks. Thursday isn’t just any day in Starbucks-land. It’s Red Cup Day, a key sales day for the Seattle-based coffeehouse chain where...
Democrats sacrifice climate program for $50.1B budget agreement
HARRISBURG — Environmental advocates and a handful of Democratic lawmakers are lambasting legislative leaders for agreeing to pull Pennsylvania out of an interstate cap-and-trade program as a part of the state’s long-awaited $50.1 billion budget. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) would have capped the amount of carbon that companies...
Shutdown’s end brings relief for federal workers, renewed health-care debate ahead
President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill Wednesday night, ending a record 43-day shutdown that caused financial stress for federal workers who went without paychecks, stranded scores of travelers at airports and generated long lines at some food banks. The signing ceremony came just hours after the House passed...
Questions remain after dueling meetings for Springdale data center proposal
The latest data center discussions in Springdale may have raised more questions than they answered Wednesday night. Local people gathered at From Italy Pizza for a packed open forum with environmental groups to organize the community, while developers fielded questions and revealed new details a half-mile away in the Springdale...
Coroner identifies 3 killed in Fayette County crash
The Fayette County Coroner’s office has identified all three people killed Monday in a wreck along Route 40 in Henry Clay Township. Delroy Henry, 66, of Hollywood, Fla., was named Wednesday as the deceased driver of a tractor-trailer that police say started a three-way, chain reaction crash. Pickup driver Nikki...
Greensburg man dies in wrong-way crash on Route 22
A wrong-way driver died after a head-on crash in Murrysville Thursday morning, said Police Chief Tom Kusinsky. Authorities aren’t sure why a 72-year-old Greensburg man was traveling east in the westbound lanes around 6:15 a.m. before slamming into another vehicle. Kusinsky said police received a call at 6:08 a.m. to...
‘That’s the goal’: After winning Cy Young, Paul Skenes eyes a World Series title for Pirates
As Paul Skenes reflected on the historic season that resulted in winning the National League Cy Young Award, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ ace couldn’t help but look forward to the future. For someone who prefers to talk about the why, Skenes admits that awards and accolades are not his motivation. From...
U.S. government reopens, but deep political divisions remain
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government is due to lumber back to life Thursday after the longest shutdown in U.S. history snarled air traffic, cut food assistance to low-income Americans and forced more than 1 million workers to go unpaid for more than a month. But the deep political divisions that...
House passes deal to end longest government shutdown
WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, moving past a political mess that has lasted for 43 days and left millions of Americans unable to travel or afford food. The measure passed on a vote of 222-209 and now heads...
Trump warns GOP after he’s named in Epstein emails
WASHINGTON – Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker, wrote that President Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” with one of Epstein’s victims and allegedly “knew about the girls,” according to emails House Democrats released Nov. 12. The White House called the Democratic release of the emails...
Pittsburgh council tackles ‘unrealistic’ budget, says major changes possible
Pittsburgh City Council made clear Wednesday it would not rubber stamp what its members consider an unrealistic 2026 budget proposal by outgoing Mayor Ed Gainey and might instead craft wholesale changes. Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, said he could not vote for Gainey’s $680 million spending plan as presented. “It’s just...
Adelita Grijalva sworn in after 7-week delay, securing Epstein files vote
WASHINGTON – In his first order of business after a nearly two-month-long recess, House Speaker Mike Johnson swore in Arizona Democratic congresswoman Adelita Grijalva on Wednesday, Nov. 12. The official action took place seven weeks after her special election victory in September to replace her late father in Congress. The...
Gov. Shapiro signs $50.1 billion budget, ending months of legislative deadlock
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania lawmakers have passed a $50.1 billion budget that makes additional investments in public schools, creates a new tax credit for lower-income people, and ends the state’s participation in a climate program. The bills that made up the final package won bipartisan approval in the state House and...
‘Rain of gunshots’: Trial begins in slaying of Pittsburgh woman, daughter, 4
A trial began Wednesday for two men charged with killing an East Hills woman and her 4-year-old daughter outside a Pittsburgh convenience store in what a prosecutor called a “rain of gunshots.” Tarrell Jennings, 21, of Wilmerding and Marquise St. Julien-Givner, 23, of Wilkinsburg face homicide and other charges in...
Lawyer claims bad blood preceded Pittsburgh road-rage slaying as trial opens
Both the prosecutor and the defense attorney agreed on the basic facts at the crime scene in Pittsburgh’s South Hills — all captured on video by city cameras. Connor Makstutis, who was in his silver Ford Ranger on Banksville Road near Crane Avenue during evening rush hour on March 13,...
Former Duquesne journalism professor Maggie Patterson dies
Maggie Jones Patterson, a revered journalism professor who mentored generations of student reporters at Duquesne University, returned to campus in October to help celebrate the student newspaper’s 100th anniversary. Just weeks later, the longtime educator and advocate for young journalists died Monday of a heart attack following surgery, leaving behind...
