Western PA News

Mass shooting erupts outside McDonald’s downtown, the latest violence to rattle the center of the city.

A suspect is in custody after two people were killed and seven others wounded in a mass shooting in downtown Chicago late Thursday night.

Police said it happened just after 10:40 p.m. outside a McDonald’s a few blocks from the city’s Magnificent Mile shopping district. One of the eatery’s windows was shattered during the shooting.

Police confirmed to CBS Chicago that a suspect was in custody and a handgun was recovered at the scene.

Authorities didn’t immediately release the names and ages of the victims or the conditions of the wounded, or details about the shooting. Initial reports said eight people were wounded, but police later said seven people had been injured in the shooting. An investigation is underway.

“I literally just got home, I walked into my apartment’s lobby and I saw two girls running in,” one witness told CBS Chicago. “They looked just traumatized.”

The gunfire was the latest in a surge in deadly violence in Chicago in recent years and came in the wake of a fatal shooting last weekend in downtown Chicago’s Millennium Park that left a teen dead and prompted the  city to tighten a curfew for young people.

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.

China’s threat looms over President Biden’s five-day trip to Asia

Poorer workers struggle amid India’s brutal heatwave

New Delhi rickshaw puller says he has no choice but to continue working through deadly heatwave

Source: Downtown again rocked by violence; Mayor Lightfoot calls mass shooting on Near North Side a ‘horrible tragedy’ – Chicago Tribune

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — All eyes are on Pennsylvania’s US Senate primary race. A razor-thin margin separates celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund CEO David McCormick.

“Be patient. What is important is that we get it right. We get it accurate,” said Jonathan Marks, Deputy Secretary for Elections and Commissions for the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Source: Pennsylvania Senate primary: Fewer than 10,000 Republican votes left to count; Mehmet Oz holds narrow lead – 6abc Philadelphia

A public hearing over Pittsburgh’s proposed annexation of Wilkinsburg was about to end on Thursday when a borough resident hurried through the door, delivering the night’s most passionate argument against the merger.

“This is not popular,” said Renee Donley, of Wilkinsburg, addressing two members of Pittsburgh City Council and a small gathering of neighbors. “If you end up putting it on the ballot, it is in fact going to fail.”

City Council’s vote on whether to annex the 15,000 resident borough of was tabled until next year after members rejected it in February, saying they needed more information on the plan that would join the East End community with the city of Pittsburgh.

Thursday’s hearing at a North Side community center was the third in a series of information sessions open to the public.

Those in favor of the merger say it would lower property taxes for Wilkinsburg residents while adding tax revenue for Pittsburgh and a boost to its population.

But those opposed, like Ms. Donley, are wary of gentrification and rising housing costs that could result from real estate developers hungry to revitalize the area.

“This is about bankers and developers who will make a fortune if they continue the East Liberty and Bakery Square development into Wilkinsburg,” Ms. Donley said, “but Wilkinsburg doesn’t want this.”

Source: Wilkinsburg residents divided on merge with Pittsburgh in City Council hearing | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Court records indicate that a guilty plea was recorded Tuesday for Greg Harper, 43, of Jeannette to a charge of third-degree murder.

Source: Man Pleads To Homicide In 2019 Shooting Outside Jeannette Football Stadium | Pittsburgh, PA Patch

Police responded to a two-vehicle crash in North Versailles just after 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

The police chief said one person was killed and another was taken to the hospital when the two vehicles collided in the 400 block of East Pittsburgh McKeesport Boulevard.

Source: Man Killed, Another Hospitalized In North Versailles Crash | Pittsburgh, PA Patch

Police arrested two Lower Burrell residents after they raided two Lower Burrell homes where they found more than $75,000 worth of drugs, drug paraphernalia, a loaded shotgun and $38,000. Police on May 13 arrested Dalton Smith, 25, and Tessa Myers, 23, both of Lower Burrell, after searching their home.

Source: More than $75,000 worth of drugs, gun, cash found at Lower Burrell home; 2 arrested

NORTH HUNTINGDON TOWNSHIP, Pa. —

A 15-year-old girl was struck by lightning while inside her home in North Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County, on Monday evening, fire officials confirmed.

At least five homes in the area of Sedona Drive were hit by lightning, including the home where the teenage girl was struc

The fire captain of the Circleville Fire Department, Keith Gray, said the lightning went through the girl’s pinky finger and out of her left leg.Giana Scaramuzzo said she was treated by EMS and is OK.

“All of a sudden I hear the loud sound of thunder, and I see lightning, and I see it reflect from my mirror, and all of a sudden I feel like a shock in my pinky, and then it goes up my body and out through my leg,” Scaramuzzo said.

She said paramedics took her blood pressure, which was normal, as well as an EKG. She said the EKG was sent to a local hospital.

Source: North Huntingdon teenager struck by lightning while in her home

National average is also up 4 cents on Wednesday morning

PITTSBURGH —

Get ready to pay even more at the gas pump on Wednesday morning.

AAA reports the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded in Pittsburgh is up six cents to $4.67.

The national average is up four cents to $4.56 and the average across Pennsylvania is up seven cents to $4.74.

Source: Gas prices increase again overnight with Pittsburgh average up 6 cents

The major indexes boasted strong gains in higher volume Tuesday.

Dow Jones futures fell Wednesday morning, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Target (TGT) plunged early Wednesday on a big earnings miss, a day after Walmart (WMT) did the same. The 10-year Treasury yield is back at 3%.

Source: Dow Jones Futures Fall As Target Crashes On Earnings Miss After Bullish Market Rally | Investor’s Business Daily

Police are searching for the driver who took off after hitting the utility pole.

PITTSBURGH — Police are looking for a person who drove a car into a utility pole along a busy road in Pittsburgh’s Bluff neighborhood.

Police said the driver took off after crashing into the pole in the 2200 block of Second Avenue around 1:11 a.m.

A pole and transformer were knocked down, causing wires to come down into the roadway.

Source: Driver takes off after crashing into utility pole on busy Pittsburgh road

Police responded to the facility in the Burrell Plaza at around 9 a.m. Saturday

Source: Police investigating after body found in storage unit

Pittsburgh Public Safety says 18 people were evacuated Saturday evening.

Pittsburgh Police responded to a bomb threat to an office building Saturday evening.

The Pittsburgh Bureau of Public Safety says at around 6:45 p.m. a caller stated there was a bomb located inside the building along the 5900 block of Baum Boulevard in East Liberty. This building houses the offices for AAA Pittsburgh

Source: Police respond to bomb threat in East Liberty

By Taylor Spirito, WPXI.com

May 14, 2022 at 4:12 pm EDT

PITTSBURGH — Hundreds are gathered downtown at the City-County Building as Women’s March Pittsburgh rallies against the Supreme Court’s pending ruling on overturning Roe vs. Wade.

Police at the rally said they estimate there to be about a thousand people in attendance.

Source: ‘Bans off our bodies!’: Hundreds rally in downtown Pittsburgh for abortion amid Supreme Court rumor – WPXI

BUFFALO, N.Y., May 14 (Reuters) – An 18-year-old white gunman shot 10 people to death and wounded three on Saturday at a grocery store in a Black neighborhood of upstate New York, before surrendering after what authorities called an act of “racially motivated violent extremism.”

Authorities said the suspect, who was armed with an assault-style rifle and appeared to have acted alone, drove to Buffalo from his home several hours away to launch the afternoon attack that he broadcast in real time on social media platform Twitch, a live video service owned by Amazon.com (AMZN.O)

Eleven of the 13 people struck by gunfire were Black, officials said. The two others were white. The racial breakdown of the dead was not made clear.

Court papers named the suspect as Payton Gendron of Conklin, a town of about 5,000 people in New York’s Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border.

He was arraigned hours after the shooting in state court on first-degree murder charges, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole, said Erie County District Attorney John Flynn. New York has no capital punishment.

Flynn said the judge also ordered Gendron to remain in custody without bail and to undergo a “forensic examination.” Gendron was scheduled to return to court on May 19.

SURRENDERED TO POLICE

Authorities said the teenager, reported by local media to have been a student at the State University of New York’s Broome Community College near Binghamton, had come close to taking his own life before he was arrested.

When confronted by officers at the store, the suspect held a gun to his own neck, but they talked him into dropping the weapon and surrendering, Buffalo police commissioner Joseph Gramaglia told a news briefing.

Source: Gunman kills 10 in live-streamed racial attack on New York state supermarket

Friday the 13th, on the anniversary of the Rangers clinching the Eastern Conference Finals in 2015, the Rangers headed back to Pittsburgh to attempt to stay alike another day and bring this serious back home to the Garden. The crowd not letting up at all with their chants of “IG – OR” that did seem to rattle the goalie in their last home games.

With Penguins captain Sidney Crosby out due to injury and Tyler Motte back in the lineup for the first time these playoffs, many looked at this as a glimmer of hope that the Rangers could muster enough to force a game 7. And they did just that.

The Penguins pulled the goalie in the third period, had a few chances, but Andrew Copp ultimately knocked in the empty net goal and the Rangers took a late 5-3 lead until the time ran out on the third period in Pittsburgh.

The Rangers will bring it back home for a seventh game in this series, coming back from being down three games to one.

Sunday night game moves to Madison Square Garden.

Source: Rangers vs Penguins: Blueshirts Back to Broadway as “Igor, Igor, Igor” Assists to Win.

(CNN)Seventeen people were shot Friday night in downtown Milwaukee just hours after three were shot a few blocks away, near the arena where the Milwaukee Bucks were playing in the NBA Playoffs.

Ten people were taken into custody in the shooting downtown, and nine firearms were recovered, according to Milwaukee Police Capt. Warren Allen.

The 17 people shot ranged in age from 15 to 47, Allen said.

In the shooting near the arena, two men, 26 and 29, and a 16-year-old girl were wounded, according to Allen. All are expected to survive, he said.

“There was a 19-year-old male taken into custody in connection with this incident,” Allen said. “Charges are pending review by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office.”

That incident occurred around 9:12 p.m. close to the intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Highland Avenue, about a block from the Bucks’ home court at Fiserv Forum.

Police did not disclose the names of the people involved nor a possible motive.

Source: 3 shot outside Milwaukee Bucks game. Hours later, 17 others are shot a few blocks away – CNN

Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire Chief Darryl Jones was injured late Friday afternoon in a two-vehicle collision while responding to a fire in Edgebrook, according to a Pittsburgh Public Safety spokeswoman.

The crash occurred shortly after 5 p.m. at the intersection of Brookline Boulevard and Whited Street.

The fire was nearby at a home along the 900 block of Berkshire Avenue.

Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz reported Jones had lights and sirens activated when his SUV collided with a car.

The driver of the car sustained a head laceration but was not hospitalized, officials reported.

Jones told first responders he experienced some shoulder pain.

The chief was transported for a hospital to undergo drug testing as per policy for any employee driving a City of Pittsburgh vehicle.

Source: Pittsburgh Fire Chief injured in crash while responding to fire | TribLIVE.com

Very complex talks are underway to evacuate a large number of wounded soldiers from a besieged steelworks in the strategic southeastern port of Mariupol in return for the release of Russian prisoners of war, Ukraine’s president said.

• Summary

• Ukraine in ‘complex talks’ on evacuating wounded fighters
• Ukraine deputy PM says war ‘entering new, long phase’
• Hundreds of Russian war dead brought to rail yard
• G7 nations vow more military and economic aid for Ukraine

Source: Ukraine seeks evacuation of wounded fighters as war rages on

Elon Musk said his $44 billion buyout bid is “temporarily on hold” until he receives more information on how many Twitter accounts are fake.

Source: Twitter shares tumble after Elon Musk announces his buyout bid is on hold

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor said Thursday that he was ending his campaign and endorsing rival Lou Barletta, a move that comes as GOP leaders warn that leading candidate Doug Mastriano is too far right to win in a general election.

Jake Corman, Pennsylvania’s ranking state senator, announced his endorsement of Barletta at a news conference just days before the state’s Tuesday primary and amid hand-wringing by establishment Republicans that a Mastriano victory would doom their chances of flipping the governor’s mansion in November in the battleground state.

Corman’s name will remain on ballots statewide, and mail-in voting has been underway for weeks. It’s unclear what, if any, effect Corman’s decision to end his campaign will have on the race, since polls have showed him gaining little traction.

Source: Pa. governor hopeful drops out, backs rival as primary nears

Four people were inside a McKees Rocks salon Friday when a pickup truck crashed into the building. One woman inside was injured.

Source: 1 injured after vehicle crashes into McKees Rocks salon

There have been no reports of injuries.

INDIANA COUNTY, Pa. —

A saw mill has caught fire in Indiana County, Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 has learned.

The blaze is happening at 1274 Brush Creek Road in Homer City. At least 10 fire departments are assisting to knock the fire down. There have been no reports of injuries.

Source: Large fire reported at saw mill in Indiana County

Crosby missed all of the third period in Game 5

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby left the ice early during Game 5 against the New York Rangers after taking a hit in the head courtesy of defenseman Jacob Trouba. He missed most of the second period and all of the third period in the Penguins’ loss.

On Thursday, Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan head coach announced that Crosby has been diagnosed with an upper-body injury. The Pittsburgh star’s status for Game 6 on Friday is unknown, but he will undergo further evaluation before then.

The incident happened with 10:45 left in the second period as Crosby had possession of the puck and three defenders close to him. Defenseman Jacob Trouba hit Crosby’s face with his left arm, which caused Crosby to fall. Instead of chasing the puck again, he skated toward the bench.

Source: Sidney Crosby injury update: Penguins captain has upper-body injury, will be evaluated again before Game 6