[naviga:h3]Newtown group buys coffee for Pgh.[/naviga:h3]

PITTSBURGH — Over the weekend, patrons of a Pittsburgh neighborhood coffee shop received free coffee from families in Connecticut who were also impacted by a deadly shooting.

Commonplace Coffee in Squirrel Hill says it received a $650 donation from a group of family and alumni at the Fraser Woods Montessori School in Newtown. A Pittsburgh newspaper reports Kathy Craughwell-Varda, who raised the funds, says she remembers the terror she felt during the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and wanted to let Squirrel Hill residents know people around the country were thinking of them.

Craughwell-Varda says more will be needed in days ahead for the city still reeling from the Oct. 27 rampage that left 11 people dead at the Tree of Life Synagogue. Craughwell-Varda says small gestures like buying coffee matter.

[naviga:h3]Teacher, 62, died of natural causes[/naviga:h3]

PITTSBURGH — Authorities say a teacher found dead inside a Pittsburgh school this week died of natural causes.

Jonathan Tyler, a 62-year-old chemistry teacher, was found early Monday inside the Pittsburgh Student Achievement School. A colleague found him just before 8 a.m. in an area for teachers

Tyler, who lived in Pittsburgh, started with the district in 1999. He had taught at the Student Achievement Center since 2009.

A cause of death for Tyler has not been disclosed.

Counselors were due to be on hand at the Student Achievement Center to provide support for teachers and students who needed it.

[naviga:h3]Murder conviction sought in crash[/naviga:h3]

ERIE — Prosecutors say they plan to seek a first-degree murder conviction against a northwestern Pennsylvania woman accused of intentionally hitting another woman with her vehicle after an argument at a gas station.

The Erie Times-News reports that Erie County prosecutors allege that 24-year-old Rebecca Frick struck 38-year-old Michelle Muir early Aug. 24 after the two women argued about Muir’s dog.

Muir’s boyfriend testified Tuesday that he saw the defendant’s car speeding without lights and the driver screaming obscenities before she struck the victim, who died at a hospital the next day. Her dog sustained a minor injury.

A detective testified that Frick told investigators that Muir and her boyfriend were blocking the road and banging on her vehicle.

[naviga:h3]Man arrested after alleged poll threat[/naviga:h3]

WASHINGTON — A man has been arrested on charges that he threatened to shoot workers at a Western Pennsylvania polling place.

Christopher Thomas Queen, 48, of Claysville is charged with terroristic threats and disorderly conduct.

Melanie Ostrander, Washington County’s assistant elections director, said he came to the South Franklin Volunteer Fire Department in South Franklin Township at about 9 a.m. Tuesday but became irate when he was told he wasn’t registered to vote.

Ostrander said the man allegedly “became upset, told the poll workers he was going to go get a gun and come back and shoot them.”

[naviga:h3]Trial begins in death of girl in hot SUV[/naviga:h3]

WILLIAMSPORT — A woman is on trial in the death of a 4-year-old girl prosecutors say was left in a hot sport utility vehicle more than two years ago.

Brittany Borgess, 30, is charged with involuntary manslaughter, child endangerment and recklessly endangering in the July 2016 death of Samaria Motyka.

Lycoming County prosecutors said the child was left for 6½ hours in the SUV with the windows closed on a mid-July day in which the temperature in Williamsport hit 97.