Free Republic

For just the third time since Chuck Noll was hired in 1969, the Pittsburgh Steelers will be hiring a new head coach. Mike Tomlin's run with the Steelers is over.

The family-owned company that operates The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said on Wednesday that the newspaper will cease publication on Sunday, May 3, signaling the end of a publication whose origins date to 1786. The company, Block Communications, said it had lost more than $350 million over the past 20 years while publishing the newspaper. In a statement, it said the financial pressures facing local journalism had made “continued cash losses at this scale no longer sustainable.” The company cited recent court decisions that required The Post-Gazette to operate under the terms of a 2014-17 labor contract, which it described as imposing...

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, founded in 1786, will shut down on May 3, its owners announced Wednesday. Block Communications Inc. has hemorrhaged over $350 million in cash while owning the newspaper over the past two decades, the outlet reported. The firm asserted that it could not sustain such significant cash losses. *** “Recent court decisions would require the Post-Gazette to operate under a 2014 labor contract that imposes on the Post-Gazette outdated and inflexible operational practices unsuited for today’s local journalism,” Block Communications said in a press release, according to CBS Pittsburgh. *** Prior to Block Communications’ closure announcement, Supreme Court...

PITTSBURGH — Two Pittsburgh business owners are accused of stealing food benefits and turning them into profit. Investigators with the Attorney General’s office call it a fencing operation, where someone buys and resells stolen goods for profit. On Monday, the AG’s office issued a warrant for the arrest of a husband and wife who were reportedly stealing from the federal government. “You’re robbing from the taxpayer that’s working so hard,” Mike Ichimura said. Shoppers like Ichimura were shocked to hear Munir Chaudhri and Rachna Anwar are accused of coming to Sam’s Club on Mount Nebo Road to use stolen EBT...

Pittsburgh is looking for some extra luck in a key matchup.The Pittsburgh Steelers are calling on some extra help. Before their game Sunday at Acrisure Stadium, a priest was seen blessing the field with holy water. The video was captured by Jenna Harner of WPXI, NBC's Pittsburgh affiliate. Pittsburgh, 9-7, is hosting the Baltimore Ravens on NBC's Sunday Night Football for the last postseason spot left from either conference. The winner will claim the No. 4 seed and host at least one playoff game, with the Houston Texans entering as the No. 5 seed. If Pittsburgh and Aaron Rodgers gets...

I began my career with Allegheny County Pretrial Services in April 2008. I was sworn in by a judge, issued a badge, and placed into a system built on neutrality and public safety. Our job was simple: interview defendants, verify information, review police reports, pull complete criminal histories, and present magistrates with fact-based recommendations. We weren’t advocates for release or detention. We were there to present facts. And for a long time, the system worked because facts were the only thing that mattered. Failures to appear happened, but they were usually honest mistakes. Multiple pending cases were rare. Dangerous charges...

Voters on Tuesday will choose either Democrat Corey O’Connor, the Allegheny County controller, or Republican Tony Moreno, a former Pittsburgh police officer, as Pittsburgh’s next mayor. O’Connor, 41, of Point Breeze, is a former city councilman and son of the late Mayor Bob O’Connor. He defeated incumbent Mayor Ed Gainey for the Democratic nomination in the May primary. Moreno, 57, of Brighton Heights, spent 24 years on the Pittsburgh police force. He came in third in the 2021 Democratic mayoral primary — behind Gainey and then-Mayor Bill Peduto — before running as a Republican in the general election, again losing...

A fan is “in critical condition” after falling “from the 200 level of PPG Paints Arena” during the Penguins’ game against the Blues last night. The incident happened “after the Penguins scored their second goal 55 seconds into the first period of their 6-3 victory.” Fans said they “saw the man in a Penguins jersey stumble down several stairs between sections 201 and 234 as he approached the bottom of the section before falling into and tumbling headfirst over the glass.” The fan “fell into the suite level and hit another person,” then “dropped another level into the walkway between...

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 26 — An ambitious terrorist plot to attack a host of American interests overseas was foiled by the capture of a key Osama bin Laden operative, sources tell ABCNEWS. Intelligence sources in Europe and the United States say the intended targets included the American embassy in Paris, the U.S. consulate in Marseilles, France, buildings at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium and the European Parliament building in Strasbourg, France. The outlines of the plan were known to French and American authorities before Sept. 11, but the attacks were not ...

Pennsylvania’s highest court has declared that Pittsburgh’s attempt to force all athletes who compete in the city to pay a tax, even if they aren’t Pennsylvania residents, is unconstitutional and unfair. The city had passed the tax more than a decade ago, forcing visiting athletes to pay an income tax just for the privilege of playing there. But the state’s supreme court has ruled that the tax unconstitutionally discriminates against nonresidents, according to Legal Newsline. The ruling is a win for MLB, NHL, and NFL players who visit Pittsburgh to play the city’s home teams. The lawsuit was brought way...

The agency revealed that suspect Donald Henson, a former military member, is still at large The FBI's Pittsburgh field office is investigating a “targeted attack” that took place in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Sept. 17. “At approximately 2:40 a.m., an individual driving a white sedan proceeded to ram one of the vehicle entrance gates at FBI Pittsburgh,” authorities wrote on social media. “This individual exited the vehicle, removed an American flag from the backseat, and threw it onto the damaged gate. The individual then left the scene on foot.” Investigators identified the individual in question as Donald Henson,...

UPMC has confirmed it will end gender-affirming care for patients 18 and younger in response to the Trump administration’s policies aimed at transgender youth. A spokesperson for UPMC, the region’s largest hospital network, said federal guidance has made it clear clinicians who provide care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy run the risk of criminal prosecution. UPMC will continue to provide behavioral health support and other care “within the bounds of the law,” the spokesperson added. The spokesperson declined to say when care will end, but impacted families have been told June 30 is the cutoff.

The “stick to sports” door swings both ways. While the term rose to significance as a catchphrase for conservative voices who hoped to shout down athletes and media with conflicting beliefs (athletes and media who agreed were and are exempt from being told to shut up), fans who have concerns about the current state of the union are objecting to those athletes who are aligning with the person who’s running the show.

Any suggestions/help on PA Republican choices, in particular for Pittsburgh and Western PA. We will be voting later today and will appreciate information from conservatives here. Thanks.

Twitter allowed Cesar Sayoc, the man who allegedly sent apparent bombs to public figures around the country this month, to post more than 240 threats towards 50 different people on its social network without sanction. Meanwhile, the media managed to temporarily force free speech social network Gab offline after it was revealed that the Tree of Life Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting suspect had an account on the platform. According to CNN, an analysis discovered that “Sayoc tweeted more than 240 threats directed to at least 50 public officials, news organizations and media personalities.” “The threats, and Twitter’s apparent inaction regarding them,...

<p>NOT ENTIRELY COMPOSED WHEN DEPOSED. That would be Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ed Rendell, who was recently deposed in a federal lawsuit in which he is a defendant.</p> <p>Rendell appeared at times angry, frustrated and incredulous over some of the questions asked during the June 14 deposition in Philadelphia. More than once, he threatened to walk out of the proceedings.</p>

 David McCullough was born in 1933 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was educated there and at Yale University. Author of 1776, John Adams, Truman, Brave Companions, The Path Between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback, The Great Bridge and The Johnstown Flood, he has twice received the Pulitzer Prize and twice the National Book Award, as well as the Francis Parkman Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. The following is adapted from a public lecture delivered at Hillsdale College on March 31, 2006, during Mr. McCullough's one-week residency at the College to teach a class on “Leadership and the History...

David McCullogh Historian David McCullough was born in 1933 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was educated there and at Yale. Author of John Adams, Truman, Brave Companions, The Path Between the Seas, Mornings on Horseback, The Great Bridge and The Johnstown Flood, he has twice received the Pulitzer Prize and twice the National Book Award, as well as the Francis Parkman Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. His next book, 1776, will be published in May 2005. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is an abridged transcript of remarks delivered on February 15, 2005, in Phoenix, Arizona, at a Hillsdale College National...

A self-described Hamas operative who infiltrated the US Air Force and once boasted that he’s “been a terrorist since he’s been a kid” was busted alongside two Pittsburgh women after the feds foiled an apparent terror plot involving a pair of pipe bombs, the Justice Department announced this week. Mohamad Hamad, 23, who has dual citizenship in the US and Lebanon, was already charged for defacing a synagogue was hit Tuesday with a nine-count superseding indictment along with Talya Lubid, 24, and Micaiah Collins, 22. “Mohamad Hamad lied about his loyalty to the United States, among other false statements, in...