June 14, 2021 4:16 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Pittsburgh Police Special Victims Unit detectives are asking for the public’s help in locating a missing woman. Janet McGregor,74, was last seen Sunday around Noon in the Oakwood neighborhood. McGregor is 5 feet 2 Inches tall, 190 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. She may be driving her 2008 Hyundai, PA plate HYM5681. If you have any information on her whereabouts, please call police at (412) 323-7141.
June 14, 2021 4:12 am
(WPXI) – The Department of Defense, in cooperation with local and state law enforcement, will be conducting training in and around the Pittsburgh area from Sunday until June 19. This is a planned exercise and is not in response to any current world events, according to a news release from Pittsburgh Public Safety. During this period, the public may see or hear low-flying aircraft over parts of Southwestern Pennsylvania, which is routine for this type of training. However, the exercise is expected to have minimal impact to the public.
June 14, 2021 4:10 am
PITTSBURGH — (WPXI) – Two workers at a plasma donation center died after a car crashed into a building along Western Avenue in the Manchester neighborhood on Saturday. Medics also pronounced a person in the car deceased. Parveena Begum Abdul, 55, and Laura Elaine Meneskie, 35, were both killed when the crash happened. A Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) notification was issued due to the severity of the damage and the unknown amount of entrapped victims at the time that police and EMS arrived. Police said two others were also injured. One of them is in critical condition. A medic from the Pittsburgh Bureau of Emergency Medical Services and two Pittsburgh Firefighters were treated for minor smoke inhalation as well. There were around 10 employees and five donors in the building at the time. A small fire started in the building after the crash and two first responders were treated for smoke inhalation.
June 13, 2021 8:01 am
CHICAGO (AP) — Two people were killed and at least 30 others wounded in mass shootings overnight in three states, authorities said Saturday, stoking concerns that a spike in U.S. gun violence could continue into summer as coronavirus restrictions ease and more people are free to socialize. The attacks took place late Friday or early Saturday in the Texas capital of Austin, Chicago and Savannah, Georgia. In Austin, authorities said they arrested one of two male suspects and were searching for the other after a shooting early Saturday on a crowded pedestrian-only street packed with bars and restaurants. Fourteen people were wounded, including two critically, in the gunfire, which the city’s interim police chief said is believed to have started as a dispute between two parties. No arrests were reported by late Saturday in the two other shootings. In Chicago, a woman was killed and nine other people were wounded when two men opened fire on a group standing on a sidewalk in the Chatham neighborhood on the city’s South Side. The shooters also got away and hadn’t been identified by mid-afternoon Saturday.
June 13, 2021 7:59 am
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel is set to swear in a new government on Sunday that will send Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into the opposition after a record 12 years in office and a political crisis that sparked four elections in two years. Naftali Bennett, the head of a small ultranationalist party, will take over as prime minister. But if he wants to keep the job, he will have to maintain an unwieldy coalition of parties from the political right, left and center. The eight parties, including a small Arab faction that is making history by sitting in the ruling coalition, are united in their opposition to Netanyahu and new elections but agree on little else. They are likely to pursue a modest agenda that seeks to reduce tensions with the Palestinians and maintain good relations with the U.S. without launching any major initiatives. Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, remains the head of the largest party in parliament and is expected to vigorously oppose the new government. If just one faction bolts, it could lose its majority and would be at risk of collapse, giving him an opening to return to power.
June 13, 2021 7:57 am
CARBIS BAY, England (AP) — The Group of Seven leaders aim to end their first summit in two years with a punchy set of promises Sunday, including vaccinating the world against coronavirus, making huge corporations pay their fair share of taxes and tackling climate change with a blend of technology and money. They want to show that international cooperation is back after the upheavals caused by the pandemic and the unpredictability of former U.S. President Donald Trump. And they want to convey that the club of wealthy democracies — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — is a better friend to poorer nations than authoritarian rivals such as China. But it was uncertain how firm the group’s commitments will be on coronavirus vaccines, the economy and the environment when the leaders issue their final communique. Also unclear was whether all of the leaders would back the United States’ call to chastise China for repressing its Uyghur minority and other abuses. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the summit’s host, wanted the three-day meeting to fly the flag for a “Global Britain,” his government’s push to give the midsized country outsized global influence. Yet Brexit cast a shadow over that goal during the summit on the coast of southwest England. European Union leaders and U.S. President Joe Biden voiced concerns about problems with new U.K.-EU trade rules that have heightened tensions in Northern Ireland. But overall, the mood has been positive: The leaders smiled for the cameras on the beach at cliff-fringed Carbis Bay, a village and resort that became a traffic-clogged fortress for the meeting. The last G-7 summit was in France in 2019, with last year’s event in the United States scuttled by the pandemic.
June 13, 2021 7:54 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for ditching the getaway car following the murder of a woman in western Pennsylvania just before she was to meet with federal authorities about another man’s involvement in a New Jersey-supplied heroin ring. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak imposed the 90-month term on Glenn Lee Thomas on Friday. Thomas was convicted of being an accessory after the fact to the 2014 murder of 34-year-old Tina Crawford in Pittsburgh. Prosecutors said Crawford made drug runs for another man, Price Montgomery, and wiretapped calls indicated that they traveled to Newark, New Jersey, where agents allege they bought heroin from his supplier. Crawford was slain about an hour before she was to meet with federal prosecutors in August 2014. Her 63-year-old mother, into whose home she had moved following threats, was wounded. Montgomery was convicted of killing a federal witness. Prosecutors had long said they believed Thomas was the second shooter in the slaying, but he was never charged with that crime. Prosecutors sought to introduce evidence of that contention to support an enhanced term, but defense attorney Lee Rothman accused them of trying to impose a “backdoor” punishment without filing charges.
June 13, 2021 7:52 am
PITTSBURGH — Police say three people are dead after a car crashed into a plasma donation center on Western Avenue in the Manchester neighborhood. A Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) notification was issued due to the severity of the damage and the unknown amount of entrapped victims at the time that police and EMS arrived. Medics pronounced three victims dead, one of them being a person in the vehicle. Police said two others were also injured. One of them is in critical condition. A medic from the Pittsburgh Bureau of Emergency Medical Services and two Pittsburgh Firefighters were treated for minor smoke inhalation as well. There were around 10 employees and five doners in the building at the time, now many of them are left shaken. One witness was inside the building at the time of the crash and says it was a surreal moment for him. A small fire started in the building after the crash and two first responders were treated for smoke inhalation. Crews managed to pull a red Hyundai out of the building.
June 13, 2021 3:17 am
PITTSBURGH – Auditor General Timothy L. DeFoor on Friday released an audit of the Washington County Clerk of Courts office that found the county’s use of an alternative sentencing program effectively short-changed the state $513,178 in fines and penalties between 2016 and 2019 – and the practice is ongoing. “I understand the value of alternative sentencing programs but they must operate within the law,” DeFoor said. “Certain types of convictions carry fines and penalties that provide needed funding for victims’ services, domestic violence programs and law enforcement training.” The audit found that some defendants can avoid paying fines, costs, fees and surcharges by agreeing to perform community service or receiving credit for time served. There were 3,420 such case adjustments during the audit period, representing more than $1.5 million in fines, costs, fees and surcharges left uncollected. Of that total, $513,178 should have been paid to the state. Under state law, only a judge has the authority to change a sentence – but only in certain types of cases and only after a hearing is held to determine a defendant’s ability to pay. “The use of the alternative sentencing program should be reviewed to ensure that it does not contradict what is required by state law,” DeFoor said. “We also recommend that that valid justification is documented when the alternative sentencing program is used.” The audit also contained seven other findings, including confirmation of the Washington County Controller’s 2019 audit that uncovered more than $97,000 in misappropriated funds from the clerk’s office. After pleading guilty to theft charges in October 2020, the former clerk of courts, Frank Scandale, was sentenced to seven years of probation and ordered to pay restitution. Review the Washington County Clerk of Courts audit report.
June 12, 2021 11:29 am
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Authorities say someone opened fire in a busy entertainment district in downtown Austin, wounding 13 people before getting away. Police Chief Joseph Chacon said at news conference that investigators are looking into what sparked the shooting, which occurred at around 1:30 a.m. along a popular stretch of 6th Street with many bars and restaurants. He says investigators weren’t able to get a detailed description of the shooter, but they believe it was a man. Chacon says officers reached the scene quickly and managed to apply tourniquets and take other life-saving steps. Some even drove patients to hospitals because it was hard for ambulances to reach the scene. Two of the wounded are in critical condition.
