Education company will cut 300 jobs

PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh-based company that runs for-profit colleges and trade schools is cutting 300 jobs nationwide, including 70 in Pittsburgh, to deal with declining enrollment.

The cuts by Education Management will be in addition to the 1,200 jobs to be eliminated over the next few years due to the closing of 15 Art Institute schools.

Company spokesman Chris Hardman says most of the cuts would be staff and support positions, but some faculty members will also lose their jobs. He declined to say which of the 110 campuses were affected.

Workers at offices in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, the downtown headquarters and Green Tree will be affected.

The company is also facing a federal lawsuit over its recruiting practices.

Laser temporarily blinds plane’s pilots

MARTINSBURG — Police are looking for whoever shined a laser into the cockpit of a UPS plane flying over Western Pennsylvania, temporarily blinding the pilots.

Authorities say it happened Tuesday night above Blair County. State Police say two pilots on a Philadelphia-bound flight from Pittsburgh were hurt when a green laser illuminated the cockpit.

The pilots were treated for their injuries at a suburban Philadelphia hospital.

The FAA is investigating.

Man says fatal shot was in self defense

PITTSBURGH — The suspect in the fatal shooting of a father says he was trying to protect himself and his fiancee from an intruder.

Herbert Hart testified Wednesday that victim Robert Wilson had threatened to shoot him and motioned to his waistband as if he had a gun.

Prosecutors say the 35-year-old Wilson was trying to visit the daughter he had with Hart’s fiancee when he was killed last October. Hart’s fiancee testified she didn’t want the girl going with Wilson because he’d stopped paying child support and hadn’t visited in a month.

Hart faces life in prison if he’s convicted of first-degree murder.