Julia Maruca stories, Page 14

A 23-year-old man was safely located after being reported missing from the Lincoln Place area, according to Pittsburgh police. Paul James Ayala was found safe just before 9 p.m. Friday. He was reported missing an hour earlier....

The Monongahela Incline will reopen Monday after a week of shutdown, Pittsburgh Regional Transit announced Friday evening. The Monongahela Incline will reopen on Monday. pic.twitter.com/1t5S6bprEi— Pittsburgh Regional Transit (@PGHtransit) August 18, 2023 Last Friday, the incline shut down after 12 passengers were stranded for about an hour. Crews were able...

Hallways bustled Thursday as Hempfield Area School District’s ninth grade class members took their first steps through the doors of the former Harrold Middle School and into a new paradigm for the district. When they return next Thursday for the first day of class at what’s now being called Harrold...

Less than two weeks from the start of the 2023-2024 school year, Hempfield Area is going back to the drawing board on its ambitious high school renovation project. After learning the project bids came in millions of dollars over budget at a meeting on Aug. 9, board members rejected all...

New rules will govern books and other library materials at Hempfield Area School District, after the school board voted Monday to enact two policies defining what content is permitted on the district’s bookshelves. About 80 people attended the board meeting and more than a dozen residents spoke their opinions on...

A kitten found near PNC Park was not sprayed with pesticides by ballpark employees, despite rumors circulating on social media, a Pittsburgh Pirates spokesperson said Friday night. In fact, Pirates employees came to its aid, according to club spokesperson Brian Warecki. Warecki said in a statement that the cat was...

The Monongahela Incline is out of service until further notice, after incline cars got stuck on the tracks for about an hour on Friday evening, according to Pittsburgh Regional Transit. People trying to go up Mount Washington by public transit should instead take the Route 40-Mount Washington bus from downtown,...

Even if you’ve never gotten lucky at Rivers Casino, you might be able to bring home a piece of the magic — or rather, a piece of the buffet. Close to 200 items, fixtures and pieces of furniture from the Rivers Casino buffet will be up for auction online this...

Contract bids for the first phase of the Hempfield Area Senior High School renovation project are millions of dollars over budget, and the project must be revised before construction can begin. That’s what architects from SitelogIQ told the Hempfield Area School Board at a public meeting Wednesday afternoon. The architects...

Hempfield Area School Board members will discuss bids for the first phase of a $132 million high school revitalization project at a public meeting Wednesday. The special session will be at 3 p.m. in the administration board room at 4347 Route 136. In addition to identifying the lowest bidder, the...

Bright and warm summer weather Sunday morning brought crowds of Westmoreland County visitors to Cedar Creek Park in Rostraver for the annual August Fun Fest. The event, part of a summer series of monthly festivals held at Westmoreland County parks, was projected to bring between 8,000 and 10,000 visitors, according...

Four people were taken to the hospital after a car crashed into a house in the 6100 block of Meadow Street in Pittsburgh’s Larimer neighborhood early Sunday morning, according to Pittsburgh Police. First responders found a woman driving the car, along with a child in the front passenger seat and...

Four people were injured in a crash between a car and a van just after midnight Sunday morning on East Liberty Boulevard and Larimer Avenue. Two are in critical condition, Pittsburgh Police said. First responders got to the scene around 12:15 a.m. The car was heavily damaged and caught fire,...

Two people were found with stab wounds in an apartment in the 600 block of Sixth Street in North Braddock on Saturday night, according to the Allegheny County Police Department Homicide Unit. They were found just after 8 p.m. Saturday night. Police said that Marquita Rivers, 43, had a stab...

Over 1,000 visitors were present by 1 p.m. Saturday and between 1,500 and 5,000 people were expected throughout the weekend for the 260th anniversary of the Battle of Bushy Run, following a year of deliberations over whether the annual reenactment event would be allowed to continue. Organizers with the Bushy...

After reported losses of $62 million and hundreds of staff cuts, Independence Health System’s two new hospital presidents confirmed Monday that all five of the system’s hospitals — Westmoreland, Frick, Latrobe, Butler Memorial and Clarion — are part of the system’s future. “Our leadership team right now strongly believes that...

Occasional cheering and applause rose on Monday as Hempfield Area School District residents and parents reviewed book challenges and bans. A policy governing the process awaits a final vote by the school board in two weeks. During Monday’s school board meeting, several residents talked about the proposed policies, and some...

WESA’s flagship daily morning news show “The Confluence” will end next week, according to a statement from the station’s management. Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting President and CEO Terry O’Reilly announced Friday that the show would air for the last time Aug. 4. PCBC owns WESA-FM, the local NPR affiliate, and WYEP....

Southwestern Pennsylvania is in for a scorching hot Friday, with a heat index forecast of 104 degrees in the afternoon. The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory in the region from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Temperatures will be hottest — around 95 degrees — between 1 and...

There’s not many things Pittsburghers appreciate more than some Turner’s Iced Tea. And there’ll be plenty of it when Turner Dairy Farm brings a literal tanker truck filled with Turner’s Iced Tea to the Community Supermarket in Penn Hills, according to the company’s Facebook page. The company urges folks to...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, July 28: Goat Fest PGH returning to South Side What’s more “greatest of all time” than taking care of the environment? At Goat Fest PGH on Saturday, working goats from Allegheny GoatScape will lend a helping hoof by...

A Spartan pennant from the 1960s, rescued from between the pages of a yearbook. A school handbook from 1962. A seat cushion from the 1970s. A mug from the Cotton Bowl, where the district’s band performed in 1971, and a football program from the 1980s. Hempfield Area teacher and English...

A 1-year-old boy died two weeks after nearly drowning in Etna, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office reported. Leo Garrison was reported to be unresponsive around 3:40 p.m. July 13 in the 100 block of Etna’s Sycamore Street, Allegheny County Police said. First responders performed life-saving measures on the boy...

An arrest warrant has been issued for a man who police said killed another man in October in Downtown Pittsburgh. Tribune-Review news partner WTAE-TV reported that Lawrence White, 44, is facing homicide charges in connection with the shooting death of Perry Bagley, 47. The shooting happened around 11:20 p.m. Oct....

A 17-year-old was killed in a stabbing early Thursday morning in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh police said. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner identified the victim as Brandon Thomas, 17, of Pittsburgh. Police from Zone 4 were called to an area under Panther Hollow Bridge just before 12:30 a.m. for reports of...