(File Photo of a Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Westmoreland County, PA) A man from the Pittsburgh area is now facing charges after police confirm he brought a large knife to his former workplace in Westmoreland County and told an employee that he had “murder on his mind all week.” According to the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office, Roneil Wright is accused of entering the building on Commerce Circle in Trafford in the evening hours of last Thursday with a “large, military-style knife.” Workers told police that Wright, who hadn’t been employed at the company since November and had no reason to be in the building, made statements about “who he needs to take care of,” and employees grew worried. Wright is facing several charges, including criminal trespass. The Westmoreland District attorney’s office stated Wright was remanded to the Westmoreland County Prison after failing to post a bond of $50,000. Court documents expressed that the preliminary hearing for Wright is scheduled for December 23rd, 2025.

(File Photo of the UPMC Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) An opening date has now been announced for a new tower worth over a billion dollars at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. UPMC officials told WTAE yesterday that the $1.3 billion hospital tower at that hospital is on track to be fully constructed by October of 2026. After a phase of testing for the building, according to UPMC, patients will then be moved into the new space on January 24th, 2027. 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Rob Reiner, from left, Michele Singer Reiner, Romy Reiner, Nick Reiner, Maria Gilfillan, and Jake Reiner arrive at the premiere of “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rob Reiner’s son Nick Reiner is expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents.

Nick Reiner, 32, was charged Tuesday with killing the 78-year-old actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference with LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell.

“Their loss is beyond tragic and we will commit ourselves to bringing their murderer to justice,” Hochman said.

Along with the two counts of first-degree murder, prosecutors added special circumstances of multiple murders and a special allegation that the defendant used a dangerous weapon, a knife. The additions could mean a greater sentence.

Hochman said his office has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty in the case.

“This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones but for our entire city,” McDonnell said.

The announcement came two days after the couple was found dead from apparent stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the west side of Los Angeles. Nick Reiner did not resist when he was arrested hours later in the Exposition Park area near the University of Southern California, about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) from the crime scene, police said.

Rob Reiner was the Emmy-winning star of the sitcom “All in the Family” who went on to direct films including “When Harry Met Sally…” and “The Princess Bride.” He was an outspoken liberal activist for decades. Michele Singer Reiner was a photographer, movie producer and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. They had been married for 36 years.

Several of those closest to them, including actors Billy Crystal, Albert Brooks, Martin Short and Larry David, released a statement mourning and celebrating the couple on Tuesday night.

“They were a special force together — dynamic, unselfish and inspiring,” the statement said. “We were their friends, and we will miss them forever.”

Nick Reiner had been scheduled to make an initial court appearance earlier Tuesday, but his attorney Alan Jackson said he was not brought from the jail to the courthouse for medical reasons and the appearance was postponed.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Reiner may enter a plea, a judge may schedule an arraignment for later or the same issue that prevented him from coming to court Tuesday could cause further postponement. He is being held without bail.

Jackson is a high-profile defense attorney and former LA County prosecutor who represented Harvey Weinstein at his Los Angeles trial and Karen Read at her intensely followed trials in Massachusetts. He was a central figure in the HBO documentary on the Read case.

On the other side will be Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian, whose recent cases included the Menendez brothers’ attempt at resentencing and the trial of Robert Durst.

Authorities haven’t said anything about a motive for the killings and would give few details when asked at the news conference.

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Luigi Mangione talks to a photographer as he appears in court in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge said Tuesday he’s optimistic that a pretrial hearing will end this week in Luigi Mangione’s New York murder case in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

“Hopefully we wind up on Thursday,” Judge Gregory Carro said at the hearing, which is in its third week of testimony.

Mangione, 27, is seeking to exclude items seized during his Dec. 9, 2024, arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania, including a gun and notebook that prosecutors say tie him to Thompson’s shooting five days earlier in Manhattan.

Prosecutors have called more than a dozen witnesses so far, with at least one more expected after an off-day on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, a Pennsylvania police evidence custodian, a New York City police homicide commander and an investigative analyst from the Manhattan district attorney’s office testified.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. The pretrial hearing applies only to the state case. His lawyers are making a similar push to exclude the evidence from his federal case, where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Mangione was arrested after customers spotted him eating breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona, a Pennsylvania city of about 44,000 people some 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Manhattan. The restaurant’s manager told a 911 dispatcher customers thought “he looks like the CEO shooter from New York.”

Mangione’s lawyers contend that anything found in Mangione’s backpack should be excluded from his trial because police didn’t have a search warrant and lacked the grounds to justify a warrantless search.

Prosecutors say the search was legal because it was conducted in conjunction with an arrest and officers were checking to make sure there were no dangerous items in the bag that could be harmful to them or the public. Police eventually obtained a warrant, prosecutors said.

Items seized during that search include a 9 mm handgun that prosecutors said matches the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in similar handwriting in which he purportedly described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive.

The Altoona police department’s evidence custodian, Officer George Featherstone, testified Tuesday that he logged evidence collected during Mangione’s arrest and placed it in labeled evidence bags and envelopes before turning it over to the NYPD.

NYPD Lt. David Leonardi, the commanding officer of the detective squad that investigated Thompson’s killing, testified that before going to Altoona he told a police sergeant there: “I would like no one to speak to him and all of the property held.”

Leonardi said he raced to Altoona with a team of detectives and personally drove the evidence back to Manhattan, where it was delivered to the NYPD’s crime laboratory for testing.

Investigative Analyst Anissa Weisel testified about a timeline she created of events surrounding Mangione’s arrest. Mangione’s lawyers objected, saying the timeline was missing too much information. Carro agreed, but said he’d only use the timeline as an aid to help him review body-worn camera footage and other material submitted during the hearing.

(Photo and Headline Photo Courtesy of the City of Aliquippa Police Department)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Aliquippa, PA) A robbery occurred yesterday at 12:07 a.m. in Aliquippa at the 7 Eleven on 2680 Brodhead Road. The City of Aliquippa Police Department is asking for the help of the public to identify the male suspect who escaped the store and went to the Subway area on Brodhead Road after he stole two cartons of cigarettes and threatened to shoot the store clerk even though he did not display a firearm. The public in the Aliquippa area are also advised to check their cameras and to notify the City of Aliquippa Police Department by calling 724-378-8000 if you have any information on this male suspect. According to a Facebook post from the City of Aliquippa Police Department yesterday, a white or biracial male entered the store wearing a red Carhartt jacket with an attached hood and the hood strings were pulled as to cover the male’s face and he was also wearing black or blue jeans and green or camo boots. The picture of him can be found below: 

SCOTT TADY

SEWICKLEY — See “Wicked For Good,” savor animal puns galore in “Zootopia 2” and get ready for Friday’s “SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants”  premiere. 

An ode to the original Neil Diamond tribute, and holiday classics like  “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Elf,” “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (live action) and “Christmas in Connecticut” are other movie options this December at The Lindsay Theater in Sewickley.

Josh Axelrod, communications director for The Lindsay was a guest Tuesday with Scott Tady on the Beaver County Radio Morning Show.

Among the coming-soon movies Axelrod touted:

Everyone’s favorite aquatic pineapple dweller hits the big screen again Friday in “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.” The Hollywood Reporter says, “The Bikini Bottom crew triumphs in another rollicking undersea comedy,” adding the animated film “easily delivers another rib-tickling, delightfully frantic fourth installment of the series.”

Christmas Day brings the debut of “Song Sung Blue” with Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as Mike and Claire Sardina, who performed as the Neil Diamondtribute band Lightning & Thunder.

 

Other Lindsay events this month:

Classics Expert: “Christmas in Connecticut” is a Golden Age comedy starring Barbara Stanwyck as a food writer trying to present herself as the perfect housewife. Pittsburgh Classic Movie Club president Wendy Whittick will introduce the 7 p.m. Christmas in Connecticut screening on Friday, Dec. 19.

Helping Neighbors:  Theater staffers soon will distribute a first round of donations to The Center for Hope’s food pantry in Ambridge. Theatergoers can donate to the nonprofit through Dec. 31.

 

(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE – The Nittany Lion logo taken before an NCAA college football game between Penn State and Delaware, Sept. 9, 2023, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(University Park, PA) Seven Penn State University campuses will be closing soon and that is why students at those campuses will now have their surcharges and fees waived for the Spring 2027 semester. This affects students at Penn State’s DuBois, Fayette, Mont Alto, New Kensington, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York campuses. More information about these waived fees can be found by clicking here.