Free Republic

In a letter released Tuesday, Bishop David Zubik assured parents in the Diocese of Pittsburgh that the Diocese is not “using” the Common Core State Standards in its schools and has not participated in a controversial program to integrate the standards into Catholic schools. “The Diocese of Pittsburgh has not adopted the Common Core, nor have we adopted a curriculum based on it,” Bishop Zubik wrote. “Be assured that our Catholic identity is the core of our curriculum,” he added. “Our Catholic faith guides the selection of all curricula, goals, textbooks and other resources.” Bishop Zubik dismissed concerns that the...

PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh former police chief Nathan Harper was sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison for conspiring to create an unauthorized slush fund from which he spent more than $30,000 on himself. U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon handed down the sentence Tuesday morning. She also ordered 61-year-old Harper on Tuesday to repay $31,986 from the fund that he spent on himself. Target 11 investigator Rick Earle was in the courtroom for the sentencing hearing. Earle reported that Harper made an emotional apology moments before the judge handed down his sentence. “I am a broken man,” Harper said. “I...

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra sent a representative to Iran this week as part of an exploratory trip aimed at arranging the first official U.S. orchestra concert in Iran since the fall of the Shah. The concert tour is being considered for later this year, and the PSO, the American Middle East Institute (AMEI), Iranian officials, and the U.S. State Department are hammering out details, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazettefirst reported in January. Representatives for the PSO and AMEI visited the Islamic Republic on a preliminary trip on Sunday, the groups confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon. If the effort moves forward, the...

Joe Greene has received a lot of honors during his professional career, but being honored by the Fritz Pollard Alliance was special to him because of who Fritz Pollard was. Frederick Douglas “Fritz” Pollard was the first African-American to play in the Rose Bowl (1916) and the second to be named All-America in college football. In 1920, Pollard signed with the Akron Pros and led the team to the American Professional Football Association championship. In 1921, he was named Akron’s coach, and so when the APFA was re-named the National Football League in 1922, Pollard became the NFL’s first African-American...

Police found the bodies of sisters Susan — naked and doused with chemicals — and Sarah Wolfe at the foot of their basement stairs about 12:45 p.m. Friday with single gunshots in their heads... ...Detectives are reviewing surveillance video from the Port Authority that shows Susan getting off a bus at the same time as an unidentified man...

Psychologist Adam Blai PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — So, exorcism might seem like fiction. But did you know that the Vatican has actually encouraged every Catholic diocese to have a trained exorcist on staff? A local psychologist is an expert who is traveling around the world to train those priests. Once he was a skeptic, but he tells KDKA’s Andy Sheehan, after assisting in nearly 100 exorcisms, his experiences have made him a believer. For the past 10 years Adam Blai has been on the front line. “Basically, it’s a war between heaven and hell,” says Blai. “That’s been going on since...

Police had a rough night in East Liberty on Sunday. A large mob of teens damaged several stores along Penn Avenue. Our Channel 11 News crew was listening to the police scanner when they heard a call to 911 for hundreds of teens causing trouble in a strip mall. Police said they went inside the McDonald's, Trader Joes, and finally ended up at the new Target. Officials said it's fortunate that no one was hurt during the chaos. When reporter, Dave Bondy, arrived on scene, police were everywhere. At least a dozen officers were ordering hundreds of teenagers to leave...

The man who Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto tapped to head his newly formed Office of Management and Budget owes the Internal Revenue Service tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes, records show. The mayor announced today that he was hiring Edward Kiely, who heads a consulting firm based in Pittsburgh, to lead the department, citing his extensive experience in helping businesses. Mr. Kiely was hired through Talent City, a foundation-backed initiative intended to take the politics out of hiring by using outside committees to cull top candidates for a position, giving the mayor the final word. Mr. Kiely owes...

The bank has sued to foreclose. The city’s philanthropic groups, with names like Mellon and Heinz, have withdrawn support. The $42 million August Wilson Center for African American Culture, a bow-front building inspired by a Swahili sailing ship, is high and dry. Named for the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who found a street-savvy poetry in the lives of poor Pittsburgh blacks, the culture center’s plight has been especially painful for those who had hoped it would enshrine the music, art and literature of the urban world he knew. Instead, it appears to be a victim of mismanagement by its senior staff...

Officials said President Barack Obama will visit a western Pennsylvania steel plant after delivering this week's State of the Union address. A White House spokesman said Sunday that the president will travel to U.S. Steel's Irvin plant in West Mifflin on Wednesday to deliver remarks on the economy. The company said the Irvin plant produces sheet metal products from the steel slabs produced at the Edgar Thomson plant in Braddock. Obama will also be visiting the Washington suburbs of Prince George's County, Md. on Wednesday and will go to Milwaukee and Nashville on Thursday.

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Organizers of a Salvation Army holiday toy distribution on Pittsburgh’s North Side planned to bring in more staff today after a crowd turned unruly Friday. It all happened just after 11:30 a.m. at the Salvation Army facility on North Avenue. According to police, people had been waiting in line for a while to pick up toys when they started getting angry. When the doors opened, officials say things turned chaotic. People were pushing, shoving and cutting in front of others. Staff at the facility told police that there wasn’t enough personnel to handle the crowd, so they...

PITTSBURGH — The principal of a kindergarten through eighth-grade school in Pittsburgh said a mother snuck into the school Wednesday and instigated a fist fight among students. It was initially reported that the mother, later identified as Yvonne McMeans, was there for a parent-teacher conference; however the principal of Manchester K-8 told Channel 11 News that she actually snuck into the school through a back door with the help of her eighth-grade son. According to Principal Theresa Cherry, McMeans then proceeded to go to an upstairs portion of the school where her son began punching a classmate while being encouraged...

EAVER COUNTY (KDKA) – An 18-year-old has been charged in the brutal rape and beating of an elderly nun in Aliquippa. Andrew Bullock, of Orchard Street, faces at least 10 charges in the Friday morning attack. The nun serves at St. Titus Church on Franklin Avenue. She was walking in a parking lot behind the church when she was approached by a man who choked her, punched her, then threw her to the ground where she was assaulted and raped.

Authorities near Pittsburgh have arrested an 18-year-old man who admitted to the brutal rape a nun in the parking lot behind the church where she serves Friday morning. The suspect, Andrew Bullock, faces at least 10 charges in the viscous attack. According to authorities, the victim was walking in the parking lot behind the Titus Church on Franklin Avenue in Aliquippa - about 20 miles northwest of Pittsburgh - when the suspect approached her and asked if she needed help. [Snip] 'The first thing you notice when you look up up where this horrific act occurred, is the statue of...

Heavy snow and travel disruptions will spread from the Midwest and into the Northeast as the day progresses on Saturday. The snowstorm will span more than 1,000 miles. Snow will fall on and impact every major city and rural area from St. Louis to Boston, including Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City. The area encompasses about 110 million people.

An armed robbery case against the Woodland Hills High School starting quarterback will be heard in juvenile court. Harry Randall, 18, appeared before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani this morning for a decertification hearing on his charges. Mr. Randall's defense attorney asked that the case be moved to juvenile court, where the system's focus is on rehabilitation, and supervision must conclude by the age of 21. At the time of the crime, Mr. Randall was 17 years and 10 months old. According to Swissvale police, Mr. Randall and another man, E. W. Richardson, ordered two pizzas to...

Dozens of people gathered outside Dunkin Donuts and McDonald's locations Downtown on Thursday morning to protest low wages as part of a national campaign energizing fast-food workers. Carrying placards and shouting slogans such as “No justice, no doughnuts,” about 75 people rallied in front of the Dunkin Donuts in Market Square and the nearby McDonald's on Stanwix Street. The actions are part of push by labor unions, worker advocacy groups and Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage of $7.25. President Obama says he would back a minimum wage of $10.10 an hour, and on Wednesday addressed income equality in...

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was fined $100,000 by the NFL on Wednesday for his near-collision with the Ravens kick returner Jacoby Jones on Thanksgiving night. The NFL is also considering downgrading one of Pittsburgh’s draft picks after the order is set, a source told NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport.

Three weeks after the cancellation of their conservative talk show, Jim Quinn and Rose Tennent will make their first public appearance at a holiday fundraiser Friday morning. The stars of "The War Room with Quinn & Rose" were originally scheduled to do a live broadcast during the event at the Geno Levi Salon near Donaldson's Crossroads in McMurray. Although it was announced Nov. 18 that they were no longer part of the Clear Channel lineup on WPGB 104.7-FM, Ms. Tennent confirmed in an email that "yes, we are doing the event. That is my pet charity at this time of...

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The NFL is reviewing whether Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin tried to interfere with a kick return in Baltimore. The play is being discussed among Steelers fans across Pittsburgh and the entire country. KDKA has another angle of the play shot exclusively by KDKA-TV photographer Michael Challik. You can see Tomlin actually take a side-step toward the field, where his foot ends up on the field of play. He then jumps out of the way when he realized the Ravens’ kickoff return was heading his way. Tomlin says he was watching the play on the jumbotron and...