The Moon Township Public Library is reopening this morning. The library was closed Monday through Wednesday for work on the building’s H-VAC system. Anyone who would have incurred a fine for an overdue book or other item due while they were closed is having that fee waived.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is planning to close another prison, as the inmate population continues to decline and prison costs rise. Prison officials briefed lawmakers and Retreat state prison staff in northeastern Pennsylvania Wednesday about their plans to close the facility in seven months, but have not released details to the public. Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration closed a state prison in Pittsburgh in 2017.
A Pennsylvania state appeals court is upholding a lower court ruling that said a man using a gun-like gesture toward a neighbor committed a crime. Attorneys for Stephen Kirchner of Manor Township argued the gesture didn’t cause a hazardous or physically offensive condition. The court found with Kirchner imitating the firing and recoiling of a gun, he risked an altercation, supporting the charge.
Investigators think an argument over a parking spot at an off-campus apartment led to a shooting near Slippery Rock University last weekend. It happened early Sunday morning at the Grove Apartments on Harmony Road, with 20-year-old Jermaine Jett of Natrona Heights allegedly firing a stolen handgun toward two men. No one was hit by the gunfire with Jett arrested a short time after the incident. He’s in Butler County Prison without bail.
State troopers are looking for the man they believe held up a gas station cashier at gunpoint last week in Franklin Township. They think Dakota Scheetz entered the 7-Eleven store on East High Street Thursday with a gun. The 22-year-old reportedly demanded two cartons of cigarettes then fled on foot with the smokes. Investigators say they found Scheetz’s Facebook profile picture in which he’s wearing the same Bob Marley t-shirt worn during the robbery. Anyone with information on Scheetz’s whereabouts is asked to contact police.
Another loaded gun was stopped from being taken onto a plane at Pittsburgh International Airport. The Transportation Security Administration says agents found a small handgun loaded with six bullets and one in the chamber at a checkpoint Tuesday. The gun was confiscated and the man from Johnston was detained for questioning. This marks the 27th gun TSA agents have caught this year.
A 91-year-old man from Ellwood City is again facing charges for urinating in public. John Sidor is accused of relieving himself in the Giant Eagle parking lot on Route 228 in Franklin Township while another shopper was unloading groceries in a vehicle next to his. A manager at the store told police Sidor has done this several times before and he pleaded guilty in July to disorderly conduct for a similar incident. His preliminary hearing is set for September 9th.
Pittsburgh police say a Brighton Heights man was in his early 40s when he began a years-long sexual relationship with a teenage girl that led to three pregnancies before she turned 18. 55-year-old Michael Anthony Wilson was charged Wednesday with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor, statutory sexual assault and other offenses. A police affidavit says that the victim, who is now 26, told investigators that she had been in an “intimate relationship” with Wilson beginning around 2005 when she was just 13. The relationship continued over a period of about five years. According to the affidavit, Wilson got the victim pregnant when she was 14, 15 and 17 years old…and she had abortions when she was 14 and 17 and gave birth to a child from her pregnancy at age 15. The victim said told investigators that Wilson knew how old she was at the time and said that several of her family members confronted him.
Authorities say a Beaver County man will face a federal judge today for sentencing in a child pornography case. Randolph Guy Gum pleaded guilty in May to charges related to the production and sharing of explicit images. Gum admitted to enticing a minor to perform sex acts on camera and then sharing those images over the Internet.
The cleanup of a Beaver County chemical explosion is expected to take a few more months. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection officials say the former swimming pool supply store in Rochester is posing a host of challenges, including an unstable building and unlabeled chemical barrels. Last month’s blast forced neighbors to shelter-in-place until an all-clear was sounded.