Top Local and National News Stories
Zappala wields both carrot and stick against Capo’s, a South Side trouble spot
Despite mounting pressure from community groups — and a complaint filed on Wednesday by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office in court — a beleaguered South Side bar is getting another chance to continue operating. The complaint, filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, seeks to take Capo’s liquor license...
Alle-Kiski Valley small business owner, fire department press Harrisburg to make skill games legal again
The clock is ticking for skill games in Pennsylvania as the state Supreme Court’s Oct. 13 regulation deadline approaches. The Supreme Court in June deemed skill games are slot machines. It ruled that unlicensed skill games are illegal but held off on enforcing their removal to give the state time...
Pittsburgh International Airport puts up lost and found items for bid at annual auction
If you’ve lost something at Pittsburgh International Airport in the past year, it’s probably awaiting a new owner in a warehouse in Washington, Pa. Specifically, at auction tycoon Joe R. Pyle’s warehouse — the northernmost hub of his empire that stretches into West Virginia and Ohio. He’s spent the past...
Allegheny Valley School District plans increased police presence Thursday despite threat rumors found to ‘unfounded’
Allegheny Valley School District officials say rumors circulating in the community regarding an alleged threat involving students at Springdale Jr.-Sr. High School turned out to be unfounded. Still, the district said, Springdale police will have an increased presence at Springdale Jr.-Sr. High School on Thursday. The district issued a statement...
1st measles case in Westmoreland County appears as Pa. reports 94 new cases in past week
Westmoreland County has recorded its first measles case amid 94 new infections that sprang up throughout Pennsylvania in the last seven days, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data. There have been 424 total measles cases in the state so far this year, according to an online tracker. Single cases...
Report: Pennsylvania families need $248,000 to live comfortably
Pennsylvania families need nearly $248,000 in annual income to live comfortably, according to a new report from SmartAsset. Using data from the MIT Living Wage Calculator, the organization compiled basic cost-of-living estimates for a single person and a family with two adults and two children. “Comfortable living” is defined by...
A fender bender, a clash outside a Penn Hills bar, then gunshots: Police hunt for suspect in security guard’s killing
Police say an argument over a late-night fender bender in a bar parking lot this month led a Plum man to fatally shoot the tavern’s security guard, whose vehicle was struck. Allegheny County Police are now in their third week of trying to collar the man they identified as the...
Contact tracing, notifications continue for those possibly exposed to measles at UPMC Children’s Hospital
About a week after the first case of measles was diagnosed in Allegheny County, the “vast majority” of those potentially exposed have been notified, according to Dr. Donald Yealy, UPMC’s chief medical officer and chair of its emergency medicine department. The case was confirmed last Thursday at UPMC Children’s Hospital...
Historic Greensburg hardware store sold after decades under same family
A landmark Greensburg hardware store that has served customers downtown since 1889 has been sold to an owner with extensive construction experience, promising similar customer service and an expanded inventory. “I could not see this place closing up and locking its doors for the first time since 1889,” said Denis...
Zappala rebukes judge over comments at Duquesne law school networking event
Allegheny County’s district attorney lashed out at a sitting judge this week, criticizing him for what he said were disparaging comments made to law school students about the prosecutor’s office. District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. accused Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Matthew Rudzki of having a bias against his...
Pittsburgh restaurant news: Starbucks, Friendship Perk & Brew close, Delanie’s expands
This week, the flux in Pittsburgh’s food scene focuses on closures in Oakland and Friendship, a new coffee shop on the way and more changes at Starbucks. Here’s the latest. Delanie’s Coffee Delanie’s Coffee is opening a third location in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood. The coffee shop announced Monday it will...
Mark Madden: There’s nothing like high school football in Western Pennsylvania
The high school football season opens this weekend in Western Pennsylvania. It’s not quite the holy pursuit it used to be. Certain locales still provide throwback exceptions, like Aliquippa. High school football is important. It unites communities. When five very different school districts did a court-ordered merger to form Woodland...
Springdale residents demand police chief’s ouster. Officials say no. Now what?
Activists calling for the ouster of Springdale police Chief Derek Dayoub eventually want to see new faces on borough council but, in the meantime, they’ll settle for transparency. Indivisible Allegheny Valley, the local nonprofit behind the recent change.org petition calling for the termination of Dayoub’s contract, is looking to the...
WVU Health signs appear at Independence Health hospitals
Signs of West Virginia University Health System’s acquisition of Independence Health System, slated to be finalized in October, are popping up in Westmoreland County — literally. Workers from Blue Sky Sign Co. removed the “Independence Health System” letters posted in front of Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg this month, replacing it...
South Side groups urge DA to shut Capo’s bar in wake of patron’s rape nearby
A group of South Side community organizations on Tuesday sent an open letter urging the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office to shut down Capo’s, an East Carson Street bar where a patron had been drinking earlier this month before she was kicked out and then raped in a nearby parking...
Somma Pizza owner Mark Somma, longtime Plum restaurateur, dies at 68
Plum’s patriarch of pies, Somma Pizza owner Mark Somma, has died on Aug. 19 after a three-year battle with brain cancer. He was 68. A self-made entrepreneur from a Highland Park Italian family with six siblings who all cooked, Somma started out working for a Downtown pizza shop seven days...
What to know about measles as outbreak grows in Pennsylvania
Nearly 400 cases of the highly contagious measles virus have been confirmed in Pennsylvania this year, resulting in the first measles-related deaths in the commonwealth in more than three decades. The outbreak — mostly concentrated in and around Lancaster County — is part of a nationwide flare-up of the virus...
At least 160 killed and hundreds missing after flash floods in Nepal and ChinaVideo
UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal — Massive flash floods in a border area of Nepal and China on Wednesday killed at least 160 people and left hundreds of tourists, workers and others missing after sweeping through communities and bringing travel in some areas to a halt. Experts said an avalanche from a...
Appeal denied: Judge rules ‘overwhelming’ evidence Thomas Stanko killed Cassandra Gross
A Westmoreland County judge on Tuesday rejected an appeal of the first-degree murder conviction for Thomas Stanko, ruling the evidence for the 2018 killing of Cassandra Gross was “overwhelming.” Common Pleas Judge Michael Stewart II, in a 44-page opinion, said Stanko’s conviction and life sentence will stand. “The commonwealth proved...
Ukrainian Catholic priest accused of theft returned to Westmoreland
A Ukrainian Catholic priest accused in a $740,000 theft is back in Westmoreland County. Gregory A. Madeya, 69, was extradited from Florida, where he lives, and arraigned on theft, financial exploitation and related charges late Tuesday afternoon, according to online court records. He was denied bond and is lodged at...
Westmoreland County prosecutors seek to introduce past allegations in murder trial
Westmoreland County prosecutors want jurors in an upcoming homicide trial to hear about a decade-old domestic allegation from Michigan. They argue the defendant’s claim that his girlfriend’s fatal shooting was an accident opens the door to introducing similar past accusations as evidence. Robert Chaplin, 35, is awaiting trial on a...
2 die in growing measles outbreak, 1st Pa. fatalities in 35 yearsVideo
Two unvaccinated Lancaster County residents have died from measles — the first such deaths in Pennsylvania in 35 years — as the commonwealth contends with a growing outbreak, according to the state health department. Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen on Tuesday encouraged Pennsylvanians to get vaccinated. She declined...
New poll shows Shapiro with 16-point lead over Garrity in race for Pa. governor; Garrity disputes the results
Gov. Josh Shapiro holds a commanding lead over state Treasurer Stacy Garrity in this year’s gubernatorial race, according to a new poll. The poll released Monday from The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Siena University showed Shapiro leading Garrity, 55% to 39%, among likely voters, with 6% of voters...
Questions remain unanswered surrounding employment of Penn Hills police chief
The chain of command in the Penn Hills Police Department is under scrutiny. Mayor Pauline Calabrese filed an emergency petition in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Monday, Aug. 24, to delay disciplinary action and potential termination of township police Chief Jason Bonace. The petition was filed to...
Brother of suspected Penn State cocaine ring leader charged with drug possession after arrest on boat in Centre County
The brother of the alleged ringleader in the suspected cocaine trafficking ring out of two Penn State fraternity houses was charged with cocaine possession after a July arrest on a pontoon boat in Bald Eagle State Park. Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission officers found Sebastiano Marino Abbatiello, 20, of Westbury,...
