STATE
PITTSBURGH — Officials say a Pittsburgh postmaster charged with threatening employees who saw him opening packages has been placed on leave.
The Allegheny County District Attorney's office last week charged 50-year-old Daniel Davis with witness intimidation, criminal coercion and official oppression.
Employees say the Canonsburg man threatened to retaliate against them if they reported seeing him open parcels and remove the illegal drugs— including marijuana, cocaine and heroin —they contained. He is not charged with stealing them.
U.S. Postal spokeswoman Karen Mazurkiewicz declined to say how long Davis has been on leave and whether he is still being paid his $105,000 salary.
MCCONNELLSBURG — The Pennsylvania Game Commission says a bald eagle found shot in south-central Pennsylvania has died from its wounds.The bird was found Sept. 14 near McConnellsburg in Fulton County..The young female had gunshot wounds, and had broken bones in its legs and wings. It was also dehydrated and malnourished.The bird was treated by a vet, but died earlier this week.Bald eagles are no longer a threatened species in Pennsylvania and are no longer listed as endangered or threatened under federal law.But the birds are still protected under two federal laws, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Protection Treaty Act.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Point Park University in Pittsburgh has reached a tentative agreement on its first contract with part-time, or adjunct, professors.The private school and the United Steelworkers announced the deal Wednesday. It must still be ratified by more than 300 part-time professors and school officials.Point Park's adjunct professors voted to unionize in June 2014 and began negotiating their first contract in December.Terms of the deal weren't released, but both sides say it will include significant pay increases and job security for the part-timers.
GREENSBURG — A judge is being asked to allow a teen charged with stabbing 20 fellow students and a security guard at a Pennsylvania high school to remain in a juvenile detention center even after he turns 18.Alex Hribal of Murrysville is charged as an adult in the April 2014 rampage at Franklin Regional High School. A hearing to determine whether the case will be moved to juvenile court won't resume until November, but Hribal turns 18 on Oct. 1.District Attorney John Peck says the law requires Hribal to be moved to the county jail once he's an adult.But defense attorney Patrick Thomassey says he's concerned about the slightly-built boy's welfare in the county prison.The judge on Thursday will consider Hribal's request to stay in the juvenile detention center.
WEST CHESTER — A college bookstore is getting blowback from students after putting on sale a 6-inch inflatable “perfect female specimen” doll.About 40 West Chester University students rallied Wednesday to protest the decision to sell the doll, which was pulled from bookstore shelves Friday.Some students say the doll objectifies women and promotes violence. The packaging shows a woman clad in underwear and tells purchasers to punch the doll to blow it up.West Chester president Greg Weisenstein wrote in a campus email that it was tasteless and offensive and noted the bookstore has apologized.
