July 10, 2022 7:54 am
SHALER TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WPXI) — A long procession of police vehicles from near and far arrived at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Shaler — for the funeral service of fallen Oakdale Police Officer Charles Stipetich. Officer Stipetich was remembered in song and prayer. Officer Stipetich was only 23 years old. He was a Fox Chapel graduate, a Marine veteran and with the Oakdale Police Department for just eight days, when he was shot and killed in a case of road rage. His dad credits his son for saving his life. Officer Stipetich was off-duty at the time. Family and friends said their final goodbyes at a private burial. To honor officer Stipetich, the Oakdale police chief said the department will create a “Charles Stipetich award” for heroism. It will be given to someone who goes above the call of duty.
July 10, 2022 5:26 am
WEST BROWNSVILLE, Pa. — Multiple area fire departments and water company crews were called to West Brownsville Friday night for a major water main break with flooding. The call for the break came in just before 10:00 p.m. at the 300 block of Main Street in the borough. Main Street was closed for hours after the intersection with Pittsburgh Road. Middle Street was also closed in that area due to flooding. West Brownsville Fire Crews were assisted by California, Brownsville, South Brownsville and Hiller Fire Departments on scene. Borough officials say the water in West Brownsville will be affected and ask residents to use caution and be careful in the area. (Photo: California Fire Department Facebook Page)
July 10, 2022 4:27 am
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — The first of four southbound weekend closures on the Neville Island Bridge is taking place between now and Monday morning July 11th. The southbound lanes were closed Friday night as crews conduct deck and concrete pavement repairs, bridge painting and steel repairs. There will also be a lane restriction on the northbound side of traffic as well. These closures will continue until 5 a.m. Monday morning. The work is all part of the $43 million Neville Island Bridge Rehabilitation Project. A posted detour will take drivers along Route 65, across the Sewickley Bridge, back along the Ohio River utilizing Route 51 before returning to I-79 South.
July 9, 2022 5:30 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone has had an eight-hour private interview with the Jan. 6 committee. Cipollone has been a sought-after witness over his role trying to prevent then-President Donald Trump from challenging the 2020 presidential election and joining the violent mob at the Capitol. One committee member says he did not contradict earlier witness testimony. Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson had testified that Cipollone warned the defeated president would be charged with “every crime imaginable” if he went to the Capitol on Jan. 6 trying to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election.
July 9, 2022 5:29 am
TOKYO (AP) — Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated on a street in western Japan by a gunman who opened fire on him from behind as he delivered a campaign speech. The attack stunned the nation that has some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere. The 67-year-old Abe, who was Japan’s longest-serving leader when he resigned in 2020, collapsed bleeding and was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead from major damage to his heart and two neck wounds. Police arrested the suspected gunman at the scene and identified him as Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, a former member of Japan’s navy.
July 9, 2022 4:54 am
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Officials say part of Yosemite National Park has been closed and hundreds of people evacuated nearby as a wildfire rages near a grove of California’s famed giant sequoia trees. On Friday, the growing fire forced park officials to close Mariposa Grove. It is the largest sequoia grove in Yosemite and features more than 500 mature giant sequoias. A campground and the community of Wawona were ordered evacuated. Firefighters are trying to contain the blaze from the ground and the air. Although sequoias are threatened by the flames, there have been no reports of severe damage to the grove’s giant named sequoias.
July 9, 2022 4:53 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has signed an executive order to protect access to abortion, delivering impassioned remarks condemning the Supreme Court decision that ended that constitutional right. He said it’s now up to Congress to fully restore the right, and he implored Americans to “vote, vote, vote, vote” in November to elect sympathetic candidates. Biden on Friday formalized instructions to the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to push back on efforts to limit the ability of women to access federally approved abortion medication or to travel across state lines to access clinical abortion services.
July 9, 2022 4:52 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The actor who played mobster Paulie Walnuts on “The Sopranos” and other tough-guy roles in movies has died. Tony Sirico’s longtime manager says the 79-year-old actor died Friday at an assisted living facility in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The cause of death wasn’t immediately released. Sirico was born in 1942 in New York City. He told the Los Angeles Times in 1990 that he became interested in acting in prison in the 1970s after he saw a performance by a group of ex-convicts. Among his other film credits are Woody Allen’s “Bullets over Broadway” and “Mighty Aphrodite.” Sirico appeared on TV series including “Miami Vice” and voiced roles on “Family Guy” and “American Dad!”
July 9, 2022 4:50 am
Elon Musk announced Friday that he will abandon his tumultuous $44 billion offer to buy Twitter after the company failed to provide enough information about the number of fake accounts. Twitter immediately fired back, saying it would sue the Tesla CEO to uphold the deal. The likely unraveling of the acquisition was just the latest twist in a saga between the world’s richest man and one of the most influential social media platforms, and it may portend a titanic legal battle ahead. The chair of Twitter’s board, Bret Taylor, tweeted that the board is committed to closing the transaction.
July 9, 2022 4:49 am
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s governor has signed a law that restricts how the public can video police at a time when there’s growing pressure around the country for greater law enforcement transparency. Gov. Doug Ducey approved a measure that makes it illegal to knowingly film police officers 8 feet or closer without an officer’s permission. Civil rights and media groups say the law is unconstitutional and simply cannot be applied in real-world scenarios. The bill’s advocates say the law allows for filming while keeping everyone safe. The move comes nearly a year after the U.S. Department of Justice launched a probe into the Phoenix police force. Similar investigations are ongoing in Minneapolis and Louisville.
