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Pittsburgh’s police chief puts down his badge for a referee’s whistle

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh’s police chief retired Friday, just a week after announcing he would add refereeing college basketball games to his calendar — a move that raised concerns among some city leaders. Chief Larry Scirotto, who had worked as a referee before becoming police chief last year, had maintained that officiating roughly 60 games this season would not interfere with his duties and offered to take a pay cut. But some city council members said they wanted more information before approving his salary for next year. In his resignation letter, Scirotto said he did ...

Chinatown activists rally against new 76ers arena

PHILADELPHIA — Vivian Chang works on a narrow Philadelphia street that would have been consumed by a Phillies stadium had Chinatown activists not rallied to defeat the plan in the early 2000s. Instead of 40,000 cheering fans, the squeals of young children now fill the playground at Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School, which opened in 2007. “We’re standing right where the baseball stadium would have been,” Chang said in late September. “And now it’s 480 students — a lot of immigrants, a lot of students of color from across the city.” Chang, 33, leads Asian ...

Pair take planning talents to national stage in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA — When Jessica Eaton Guyer heard America250PA was hosting the national convening of states and partners ahead of the nation’s semiquincentennial in Philadelphia, her historical senses went on overload. Guyer, curator at the Tuscarora Academy Museum in Mifflin, volunteer at ...

Pa. is key as Harris and Trump prep for showdown

HARRISBURG — When Donald Trump and Kamala Harris meet onstage Tuesday night in Philadelphia, they’ll both know there’s little debate that Pennsylvania is critical to their chances of winning the presidency. The most populous presidential swing state has sided with the winner of the past two elections, each time by just tens of thousands of votes. Polling this year suggests Pennsylvania will be close once more in November. A loss in the state will make it difficult to make up the electoral votes elsewhere to win the presidency. Trump and Harris have been frequent visitors in ...

Looking out for Pa.’s interests?

Editor’s note: This column was written before the Democratic vice-presidential nominee was selected. By now, we have all heard Gov. Josh Shapiro complain that he is tired of getting his “a-- kicked” by other states. He has opined that Pennsylvania is losing out to economic development in Ohio. Ask the authorities, planners and chambers of commerce in the western part of the state about the difficulties of enticing businesses to come to Pennsylvania, rather than Ohio. Pennsylvania is also next in line to get an old-fashioned “whooping” by West Virginia, a state that not ...

Harrisburg man sentenced for threat

HARRISBURG — The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that Thomas West, 44, of Harrisburg, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner for sending an interstate communication containing a threat. West had been in custody for over five months and was sentenced to time-served and a 1-year term of supervised release. According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, West previously admitted that on Feb. 9, he sent a series of emails to the Office of Personnel Management threatening to kill and injure ...