STATE
GREENSBURG — A Westmoreland County woman was sentenced to two to four years in prison for letting her 12-year-old daughter have sex at home with a 16-year-old boy.
Angel Harp Suman, 34, was sentenced after pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of a child.
Suman's three children are now in foster care. Westmoreland County Judge Rita Hathaway said she believes Suman is a danger to her children and other children.
Prosecutors said the sex incidents occurred while Suman was on probation for allowing another daughter and other juveniles to drink at her home while Suman was drunk.
HARMARVILLE — Contractors will begin work to prevent landslides along a stretch of Route 28 near Pittsburgh.The highway connects the city with its northeast suburbs along the Allegheny River.The highway has been plagued by landslides in recent years from a hill that was cut away to make room for the highway decades ago.Crews already moved southbound lanes farther away from the hill so commuters can get into the city each morning, but today, more work will begin on the hillside itself in hopes of preventing future slides.
PITTSBURGH — Two Catholic elementary schools in the Pittsburgh area are closing and two are merging because of declining enrollment.The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said Transfiguration Parish School in West Deer and St. Michael Parish School in Elizabeth will close in June.The diocese and the parishes worked for several years to try to keep the schools open.Schools at St. Germaine Parish in Bethel Park and Nativity Parish in South Park will merge. The new school will be located at St. Germaine. It will be called St. Katharine Drexel.
BETHLEHEM — A row house fire killed four children and destroyed three homes near the former Bethlehem Steel plant early Sunday, fire officials said.The victims included two boys, ages 11 and 13, and two girls, ages 5 and 7, Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek said Sunday night.Lysek did not release the names of the victims.High winds, the collapse of the building's rubber roof and the intensity of the flames complicated efforts to rescue residents and control the blaze, authorities said.One resident who jumped from a second-story window was hospitalized with extensive burns while three firefighters and a paramedic were treated for minor injuries.
