October 31, 2021 8:08 am
PITTSBURGH — University of Pittsburgh Police and the City of Pittsburgh Fire Department are investigating what they say is an arson incident at a Pitt dormitory on Saturday. The incident occurred around 4:37 a.m. at Irvis Hall, Pitt police said. First responders were called for an oven explosion in the ground floor common kitchen area, after the caller reported hearing a bang and smelled something burning. Police found that an unknown suspect placed a fire extinguisher into a hot oven, causing it to explode. No injuries were reported.
October 31, 2021 3:47 am
The Washington Police Department is looking for the public’s help to try and identify two suspects wanted in connection with a burglary at the Kwik Fill gas station in the 700-block of E. Maiden Street in the city. It happened early Tuesday morning just after 12:30 a.m. The two individuals are both wearing hoods with covid-type masks covering their faces. The surveillance photos were posted on the Police Department’s Facebook page. Anyone with information is being asked to contact police. (PHOTO; City of Washington Police Department Facebook)
October 31, 2021 3:33 am
PITTSBURGH (WPXI) — Two residents of Allegheny County have been sentenced to federal prison after conspiring to set fire to a police vehicle during the downtown riot on May 30, 2020, and on a related charge of interference with a law enforcement officer during civil disorder on that same day, Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman announced on Friday. Da’Jon Lengyel, 24, of McKees Rocks will spend a little over two years in prison and Christopher West, 26, of Pittsburgh will spend four years, according to court documents. Officials said that Lengyel and West attended a protest march held on May 30, 2020, in the downtown Pittsburgh area. The march was related primarily to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The march in Pittsburgh began at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Liberty Avenue in the downtown area, and eventually finished at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Centre Avenue near the intersection with Washington Place above the PPG Paints Arena. At that time, one man in the crowd spray painted and broke a window out of a police vehicle that was unoccupied and parked on Centre Avenue. Shortly after, Lengyel and West climbed onto the vehicle, and then jumped up and down on the roof of the vehicle. West also sat on the roof and attempted to kick out a window of the vehicle. Lengyel and West, along with several other individuals, then began efforts to set fire to the vehicle. As one other person set the fire in the backseat area of the vehicle, West and Lengyel placed pieces of cardboard and crumpled paper into the vehicle’s passenger compartment to provide more fuel to the fire. The police vehicle was completely destroyed as a result of the fire. (photo: WPXI)
October 30, 2021 4:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Over the objections of the Biden administration, the Supreme Court has agreed to consider a climate change case that could limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The court also said Friday that it would hear a Republican-led immigration challenge. Both cases won’t be argued until 2022 at the earliest. As is typical, the high court did not explain its decision to take either case. Both cases are unusual, however, in that the Biden administration either has changed or said it will change the rules at the center of each case.
October 30, 2021 4:24 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has rejected an emergency appeal from health care workers in Maine to block a vaccine mandate that went into effect Friday. Three conservative justices noted their dissents. The state is not offering a religious exemption to hospital and nursing home workers who risk losing their jobs if they are not vaccinated. Only New York and Rhode Island also have vaccine mandates for health care workers that lack religious exemptions. Both are the subject of court fights and a court has allowed workers in New York to seek religious exemptions while the lawsuit plays out.
October 30, 2021 4:22 am
CAIRO (AP) – The U.N.’s special envoy for Sudan has met with the powerful leader of a Sudanese paramilitary force, urging him to allow peaceful protests and avoid confrontation in the wake of a military coup earlier this week. He said on Twitter late Friday that he met with the commander of the Rapid Support Forces to urge de-escalation and constraint. The military seized power in a coup Monday and the general running the country says he will appoint a technocrat prime minister to rule alongside it within days.
October 30, 2021 4:20 am
VATICAN CITY (AP) – President Joe Biden and Pope Francis have wrapped up their meeting at the Vatican. The world’s two most notable Roman Catholics were set to discuss issues of common interest, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and poverty during their session Friday. Biden’s one-on-one meeting with the pope lasted about 75 minutes, an unusually long time for an audience with the pontiff. The president takes pride in his Catholic faith, and uses it as moral guidepost to shape many of his policies. But his support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage has put him at odds with many U.S. bishops.
October 30, 2021 4:17 am
ROME – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the U.K. will donate 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to developing countries as part of efforts to share vaccines with countries that sorely lack them. Johnson made the announcement as he arrived in Rome for a summit of Group of 20 leaders, which starts Saturday. The U.K. says 10 million doses have been sent to the United Nations-backed COVAX vaccine-sharing program, and 10 million more will follow in the coming weeks. They join 10 million doses that have already been delivered, and form part of Britain’s commitment to share 100 million doses with needier nations by mid-2022. Johnson urged the club of economic powers to push to vaccinate the world by the end of 2022, saying that “our first priority as the G-20 must be to press ahead with the rapid, equitable and global distribution of vaccines.” Britain and other wealthy nations have been accused of hoarding more vaccines than they need, while some countries, especially in Africa, have few or none. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a World Health Organization health envoy, has urged G-20 nations to speed things up and airlift unused doses to the developing world. The British leader also is hoping to focus the G-20’s minds on climate commitments as he prepares to host a U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, starting Sunday.
October 30, 2021 4:16 am
CLEVELAND (AP) – One of the four retail pharmacy companies on trial for their alleged roles in fostering an opioid crisis in two Ohio counties announced Friday it had settled a lawsuit with 10 government entities in the state. The settlement announced Friday by Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle includes Ohio’s Lake and Trumbull counties. The counties’ federal lawsuits against CVS, Walgreens and Walmart continue in a bellwether trial in Cleveland. The agreement was announced in a joint statement by Giant Eagle and the plaintiffs committee for the nearly 3,000 government agencies and tribal entities nationwide that have filed opioid-related lawsuits supervised by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster. No settlement terms were announced.
October 30, 2021 3:44 am
(WPXI) – A Uniontown woman is facing criminal homicide charges for her 11-year-old son’s death in August. According to an affidavit, Ashleigh Lee called 911 to her Collins Avenue home where she reported her son was “unresponsive and cold to the touch.” She told officers she had last talked to her son at 4 a.m. on Aug. 12 and checked on him again at 2 p.m., when she thought he was still sleeping. When she went to wake him up at 10:30 p.m., 19 hours after she’d last spoken with him, that’s when she found him unresponsive, according to the affidavit. Lee allowed officers to search her home and, according to the affidavit, they found drug paraphernalia with suspected residue throughout the residence and other “controlled substances.” The affidavit goes on to say that all that was found in places where the 11-year-old would’ve had access to them. Toxicology reports came back on Oct. 13 and showed the 11-year-old had “an acute, combined lethal drug toxicity of fentanyl, heroin, and morphine, free with the use of amphetamines.” His cause of death was ruled Acute Combined Drug Toxicity of Fentanyl-Heroin and Morphine free with the use of Amphetamines.” Lee was charged Thursday with criminal homicide, endangering the welfare of children, recklessly endangering another person, possession of controlled substances and paraphernalia.
