Western Pennsylvania News

Friday, December 20, 2019

Cocaine Arrest

PITTSBURGH (AP) —
Five people have been indicted on charges of trying to traffic $1.4 million worth of cocaine at Pittsburgh International Airport.
State police received a tip and began watching two vehicles at a Days Inn in Monroeville on Nov. 20. Police followed the vehicles to a short-term parking facility at the airport where officers say the suspects were observed transferring luggage and bags, according to the federal indictment handed up Tuesday,

A search uncovered 14 kilogram-sized blocks of cocaine hidden in a rear compartment of one of the vehicles, police said.

Prosecutors said the suspects conspired to deal cocaine in western Pennsylvania and elsewhere from October through November.
Three of the suspects are from Mexico and were visiting the U.S. on tourist visas.

Source: 5 accused of trafficking cocaine at Pittsburgh airport

Fatal accident on Route 31

Route 31 was closed for about six hours Thursday between Cogo’s and Sullivan’s Restaurant & Bar (former Laurel Mountain Inn) after a commercial vehicle accident.

Source: Route 31 reopens after fatal accident | | dailyamerican.com

Workers Iinjured In Fall From Cell Tower In Westmoreland County

Both were taken by ambulance to area hospitals with serious but not life-threatening injuries
HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. —
Two men were injured Thursday afternoon when the cellphone tower they were erecting collapsed in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County.
Firefighters and paramedics used all-terrain vehicles to rescue the pair from a hilltop wooded area above Route 130 near Jeannette.

Jamie Shaw, Hempfield's director of code and safety, said the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration will investigate the incident.

Shaw said the unidentified men were putting together a new section of the tower when it shifted just after 12:30 p.m. and they fell about 30 feet.
Both were taken by ambulance to area hospitals with serious but not life-threatening, injuries, Shaw said.

Source: Two men injured when cellphone tower they were working on collapses in Westmoreland County

Propane Truck Overturns

Some people in Westmoreland County were evacuated after a tractor trailer hauling propane overturned.
everal homes and a business had to evacuate.

Ian Smith

✔@ismithKDKA

#BREAKING: 7 homes and a business have been evacuated in South Huntingdon Twp after a tanker truck hauling propane overturned. #NewsChopper2 over the scene on Gressly Rd. Hazmat removing the Propane from the tank. @KDKA

7

3:28 PM - Dec 19, 2019

Twitter Ads info and privacy

HAZMAT crews were on scene monitoring the scene and supervised a change over of the propane to another tractor trailer.

Source: Part Of Westmoreland Co. Evacuated After Tractor Trailer Hauling Propane Overturns – CBS Pittsburgh

Higher Westmoreland County Taxes

Westmoreland County officials said a 2.4% property tax increase approved Thursday is needed to balance the 2020 budget, a spending plan that will nearly drain a surplus fund and relies on a $10 million loan to pay the bills at the start of next year.
Commissioners Gina Cerilli and Charles Anderson approved the $341 million budget, which they said retains the current level of county services but carries virtually no safety net for unexpected expenses and relies on about $1.9 million in new revenue generated by a half-mill increase in property taxes.
Source: Westmoreland County’s 2020 budget brings 1st tax increase in 15 years | TribLIVE.com

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Rowlng And anti-trans

J.K. Rowling has found herself in the crosshairs of social media after she tweeted her support for a woman accused of being anti-trans. Earlier today, Variety noted that the Harry Potter author had posted a message in support of Maya Forstater, a researcher who was fired from her job after writing that a person couldn't change their biological sex. While Rowling's tweet was generally supportive and inclusive, it was the last line that drew ire.

Forstater was a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development, and recently lost a court challenge over her firing. The presiding judge ruled that the termination was valid, issuing a statement that read, in part, "by the sex she considered appropriate even if it violates their dignity and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment."

The criticism of Rowling's tweet was significant, with the Human Rights Campaign, stating "Trans women are women," which was aimed squarely at the author. Fellow author Mara Wilson tweeted "What, exactly, is to be gained by using your platform to be cruel and exclusionary to one of the world’s most vulnerable populations?"

Attorney Jill Filipovic also weighed in, and while she advocates for free speech, she added that this protection "doesn't mean you get to maintain employment while discriminating & creating workplace hostility."

Much of the response from longtime fans of Rowling's work have been hit especially hard by this news, as she has openly been supportive of the LGBTQ community -- both in public and in the pages of her books. Earlier this year, while promoting Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, she even confirmed a long-held fan theory about the character of Dumbledore being gay.

0COMMENTS

"It was passionate, and it was a love relationship,” Rowling said about Dumbledore and his past relationship with Grindelwald. "But as happens in any relationship, gay or straight or whatever label we want to put on it, one never knows really what the other person is feeling. You can’t know, you can believe you know."

The third installment of the Fantastic Beasts series, which is set years before the events of Harry Potter, had its production delayed at the beginning of January.

-----

WAIT! Subscribe to GroupChat, PopCulture.com's official Reality TV podcast! Check it out by clicking here.

Truck hits church

No reports of injuries
PITTSBURGH —
There were no reports of injuries after a vehicle crashed into a church in Pittsburgh’s Middle Hill neighborhood on Wednesday morning.
The crash happened a little before 1 a.m. at Central Baptist Church near the intersection of Wylie Avenue and Kirkpatrick Street.

The truck appeared to cause damage to a window.

The vehicle was towed from the scene.

Source: Truck crashes into church in Pittsburgh

A man was killed and a woman was taken to an area hospital

PITTSBURGH —
A man was killed and a woman was taken to an area hospital after they were shot inside an SUV in Pittsburgh's Perry South neighborhood.
Public Safety spokesman Chris Togneri said the man was shot in the head and the woman was shot in the arm around 3 p.m. Wednesday.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene on Kennedy Avenue. He was identified by the medical examiner as Cedric L. Mack, 41, of Duquesne.

The woman was taken to an area hospital in stable condition.
Police said Mack and the woman were inside an SUV at the intersection of Kennedy and Norwood avenues when they were shot.
Police said they searched the area for suspects but were unable to locate the shooter.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call police at 412-323-7161.

10 Best Films Of 2019

PM Film Critic Sean Collier counts down the 10 best films of 2019.

December 18, 2019

By Sean Collier

PHOTO COURTESY A24

As the decade turns, we find ourselves surveying a remarkable and vibrant cinema landscape.
If you’re a movie lover, there is an awful lot to love.
10 — ParasiteBong Joon Ho’s gripping work of genre defiance is as powerful as it is wry.
How to See It: “Parasite” is now playing in select theaters.
9 — The IrishmanIf Martin Scorsese’s elegy to mob movies weren’t almost absurdly over-indulgent, it would probably rank higher on this list.
How to See It: “The Irishman” is now streaming on Netflix.
8 — Little WomenGreta Gerwig’s masterful adaptation of the classic novel is a warm and comforting embrace.
How to See It: “Little Women” opens in wide release on Wednesday, Dec. 25.
7 — Ad AstraJames Gray’s somber, atmospheric sci-fi marvel easily topped my rankings when I saw the film back in September. It has slipped a bit in the intervening months;
How to See It: “Ad Astra” is available on Blu-Ray and digital services.
6 — The FarewellIngrained cultural differences are difficult to dramatize, which makes Lulu Wang’s semi-autobiographical narrative all the more impressive.
How to See It: “The Farewell” is available on Blu-Ray and digital services.

PHOTO BY CLAUDETTE BARIUS / UNIVERSAL PICTURES

5 — UsJordan Peele followed “Get Out,” his earthquaking debut, with a sophomore effort heavier on the horror and rife with evocative symbolism.
How to See It: “Us” is available on Blu-Ray and digital services.
4 — 1917“American Beauty” director Sam Mendes takes one of the showiest concepts in filmmaking — the (apparently) one-shot feature — and uses it to make a thrilling and bold war epic.
How to See It: “1917” enters limited release on Dec. 25 and is scheduled to expand to Pittsburgh on Jan. 10, 2020.
3 — The Last Black Man in San FranciscoJoe Talbot’s fable of gentrification is a sobering portrait of life pushed out from the roots
How to See It: “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” is available on Blu-Ray and digital services.
2 — A Beautiful Day in the NeighborhoodI promise: This is not a hometown pick. I didn’t include last year’s Mister Rogers documentary among my year-end selections, and I didn’t anticipate that “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” would impress me as much as it did.
How to See It: “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” is now playing in wide release.

PHOTO COURTESY NETFLIX

1 — Marriage StoryOn its surface, “Marriage Story” is a somewhat simple film; it’s the story of two people going through a divorce and custody battle.
How to See It: “Marriage Story” is now streaming on Netflix.
Honorable MentionsAvengers: Endgame; Booksmart; Her Smell; High Life; Jojo Rabbit; Pain and Glory; Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am; Queen & Slim; Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker; Waves

Source: The Top 10 Films of 2019 | Pittsburgh Magazine

Shooting Incident in Rhode Island

Three people were injured Thursday in Westerly, Rhode Island, in what a state Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman called an "active shooting situation."

Rhode Island State Police have sent a tactical team to the scene, Murray said. Both local and state law enforcement are responding to the shooting situation, state officials told CNN.

Nearby Charlestown Police Department has sent officers to assist, according to Lt. Phillip Gingerella. Connecticut State Police are also covering the border in Connecticut and the Town of Stonington, which is next to Westerly, according to State Police Spokesperson Christine Jeltema.

Westerly Public Schools said all schools are locked down until further notice. Westerly, a beachside town in southwestern Rhode Island, has a population of about 23,000 people.

CNN's Paul P. Murphy contributed to this report.

Source: Westerly, Rhode Island shooting: 3 hurt in 'active shooting situation,' officials say - CNN

One person has died from listeria contamination.

GAINESVILLE, Georgia (WJW) – The CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating a multistate outbreak of listeria connected to hard-boiled eggs produced by Almark Foods.
The products have not been recalled and were sold nationwide.
One person has died from listeria contamination.
Seven people have been sickened from the eggs.
Of those, four had to be hospitalized.
According to the CDC, these eggs were sold in bulk to retailers and food service operators.
More information from the CDC here.

Source: Hard-boiled eggs blamed for death, several others hospitalized | fox8.com

Birth Of A Digital Nation

We were promised community, civics, and convenience. Instead, we found ourselves dislocated, distrustful, and disengaged.
In April 1997, Wired magazine published a feature with the grand and regrettable title “Birth of a Digital Nation.” It was a good time to make sweeping, sunny pronouncements about the future of the United States and technology. The US stood alone astride the globe. Its stock market was booming. Microsoft was about to become the world’s most valuable company, a first for a tech firm. A computer built by IBM was about to beat the world chess champion at his own game.
And yet, the journalist Jon Katz argued, the country was on the verge of something even greater than prosperity and progress — something that would change the course of world history. Led by the Digital Nation, “a new social class” of “young, educated, affluent” urbanites whose “business, social and cultural lives increasingly revolve around” the internet, a revolution was at hand, which would produce unprecedented levels of civic engagement and freedom.

sent them berserk.

Though challenged at the edges, this sense lingered. As late as 2012, even as the vast platforms that now control the internet had assumed their current shapes, the bestselling author Steven Johnson argued the glass was half full in his book Future Perfect — that “peer progressives,” enlightened digital natives, would end entrenched social and political problems through crowdsourcing.
Looking back from the shaky edge of a new decade, it’s clear that the past 10 years saw many Americans snap out of this dream, shaken awake by a brutal series of shocks and dislocations from the very changes that were supposed to "create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace.” When they opened their eyes, they did indeed see that the Digital Nation had been born. Only it hadn’t set them free. They were being ruled by it. It hadn’t tamed politics. It sent them berserk.
And it hadn’t brought people closer together.
It had alienated them.

Source: In The 2010s, We All Became Alienated By Technology

4 Shot In San Antonio Mall

Mark Meadows Not Seeking Reelection

North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows releases a statement announcing he will not seek reelection but will continue to work with President Trump and the administration

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Daylight Burglary in Greensburg's Northmont section

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

one man was shot in the chest during a domestic incident

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ohio — Shots were fired on Oak Grove Ave. in Steubenville Monday afternoon just before 3 p.m.
According to officials, one man was shot in the chest during a domestic incident. That individual was transported to an area hospital where he is being treated.
One woman was brought to the police station for questioning in this case.
Neighbors say this is typically a quiet street and were surprised to come home to so much police activity.
“Police cars, fire trucks, and the ambulance that’s all I saw,” said Oak Grove resident, Evonne Johnson. “This neighborhood, this specific block; it’s very peaceful. I’ve been on this block for 20 years and really there is no crime on this block at all, and all the neighbors are nice and everything. That’s why I don’t understand what happened there."
Other neighbors were equally upset by the event that happened on their street.

Source: Shooting in Steubenville neighborhood sends one to hospital | WTOV

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Hambones's Reopened

The Lawrenceville bar Hambone’s has reopened after being shut down yesterday for not paying its county Alcoholic Beverage Tax payments.

Yesterday, several local outlets reported that Allegheny County Treasurer John Weinstein closed the bar and venue for delinquent drink taxes totaling more than $13,000.

Now, a day after Hambone’s doors were padlocked, Michael G. McCabe, a solicitor for the treasurer, confirms with Pittsburgh City Paper that the owners paid the fees in full this morning (Dec13).

Source: Hambone’s reopened after paying over $13,000 in delinquent drink taxes | News | Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh City Paper

Car and train crash in Dravosburg

A vehicle rolled over multiple times after it collided with a train in Dravosburg.

Source: Train Collides With Vehicle In Dravosburg At Boswell Crossing – CBS Pittsburgh

Bernie Sanders n Pittsburgh

Mr. Sanders stopped by Cafe Fifth in Uptown to chat with a roundtable of health care workers, some of whom are trying to unionize at UPMC.
Just hours before he’d field questions from MSNBC hosts in front of a thousand educators and public school advocates at the nearby convention center, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders posed one of his own Saturday to a Pittsburgh health care worker seated across from him at Cafe Fifth in Uptown.
“If we had Medicare for All, do you know how much your bill from the hospital would be?” the Democratic presidential contender asked Leslie Poston, a UPMC secretary who had just told him about her struggle to pay medical bills for breast cancer treatment.
“It would be zero,” Mr. Sanders answered rhetorically, “because you are entitled to health care as an American.”
In town to participate in the first-ever nationally televised presidential forum on public education, Mr. Sanders stopped by the cafe to chat with a roundtable of health care workers, some of whom are fighting to unionize at UPMC and have accused the nonprofit hospital giant of doling out massive executive salaries instead of focusing on its mission and workers.

Source: Sanders rides the bus Downtown with UPMC worker to talk about health care | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Fantasy and sports betting

As one of the first approved mini casinos in the state, Live! Casino Pittsburgh at Westmoreland Mall will jump on another growing trend once it opens: sports betting.

The Hempfield casino, which is expected to open next year, will be home to the FanDuel Sportsbook. The sports area will be one of the first to open under that name since FanDuel Group, a fantasy and sports betting operation, struck a partnership this week with The Cordish Companies, a Maryland-based firm that operates the Live! Casino umbrella.

Source: Hempfield casino to feature FanDuel sports betting partnership | TribLIVE.com

Deadly Fight In Hotel

No charges yet after fight turns deadly in a Downtown Pittsburgh hotel
A man was critically injured during the fight and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
He has been identified as Jacob E. Brown, 41, of Burgettstown.
Police said they have conducted interviews with the people involved, as well as witnesses.
Investigators also said the people involved did not know each other.

Source: No charges yet after fight turns deadly in Downtown Pittsburgh hotel

Party Change

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, D-NJ, met with President Trump on Friday to discuss going across party lines and joining the Republican Party — after he has spent months criticizing fellow Democrats for their push to impeach Trump.

Source: Anti-impeachment Democrat Jeff Van Drew meets with Trump to discuss party switch | Fox News

Friday, December 13, 2019

Democratic Debate

All seven Democratic candidates who have qualified for the PBS NewsHour/POLITICO Debate at Loyola Marymount University next week threatened on Friday to skip the event, asserting they would not cross the picket line of campus workers locked in a labor dispute.

UNITE HERE Local 11, a union representing 150 cashiers, cooks, dishwashers and servers at the university, said in a statement that it had not yet reached a resolution in negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement with Sodexo — a global services company that employs the workers and is subcontracted by the university to handle food service operations.

"We had hoped that workers would have a contract with wages and affordable health insurance before the debate next week," Susan Minato, co-President of Local 11, said in the statement. "Instead, workers will be picketing when the candidates come to campus."

The Democratic National Committee said in a statement that it was working with all parties involved to find "an acceptable resolution" that will allow the debate to go forward.

Source: Democratic candidates threaten to skip debate amid labor fight - POLITICO