An-Li Herring

A new poll shows U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb (D - Mt. Lebanon) maintaining a double-digit lead over U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus (R - Sewickley) in the closely-watched race for Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District.

During their first debate in a closely watched Congressional election, Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Keith Rothfus spent much of their time treading carefully on a number of hot-button issues, and appeared intent on separating themselves from hardliners in their own parties. But differences did emerge on some bread-and-butter economic concerns including Social Security. 

Despite admitting uncertainty about its findings, a panel has concluded that Penn Hills High School soccer players likely were targets of racial slurs at a Sept. 6 game against Connellsville Area High School.

A gunman opened fire outside a crowded courtroom Wednesday afternoon, injuring a police officer and three civilians before another officer fired multiple shots at him, killing him.

The judge overseeing East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld’s case has recused himself.

A new report finds Pennsylvania sentences more inmates to life behind bars, without the possibility of parole, than any country outside the U.S. More than 5,300 prisoners in Pennsylvania are serving life without parole, according to the report from the Abolitionist Law Center.

Only Florida has more inmates serving life without parole -- and the much more populous Sunshine State has almost twice as many prisoners as Pennsylvania.

Local Democratic state lawmakers announced Thursday they’ll soon introduce a raft of reforms to improve police-community relations and enhance management at local departments. 

In court Tuesday morning, East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld’s lawyer said he may file motions to seek a jury outside of Allegheny County and to have the judge hearing the case removed.

The FBI has been embroiled in several controversies since the 2016 election, but the new head of the agency’s Pittsburgh office, Robert Jones, said the public shouldn’t focus on that.

Jones, who became the office’s special agent in charge (SAC) in June, addressed the issue in a meeting with reporters on Thursday.

“[FBI] director [Christopher Wray] asks all the SACs, when they come out and interact with the media,” Jones said, “to remind everybody that 99.9 percent of our cases have nothing to do with Clinton emails, or [the] Russia investigation, or meddling in elections.”

Over half of Pennsylvania’s state prisoners end up back behind bars within five years of their release, according to official data. But the state is now participating in a study on how to bring that number down.

The former bishop of the Greensburg Diocese, Anthony Bosco, has been accused of abuse in the wake of a grand jury report about six dioceses in Pennsylvania. 

The community where a police officer fatally shot Antwon Rose in June might get rid of its police department. East Pittsburgh officials said last month they’d consider paying another agency to police their borough.

Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel says he doesn’t know how long the state prison system will remain on lockdown. The department stopped all visits and most mail from going into all state prisons starting Wednesday, after 29 employees were sickened in recent weeks by exposure to smuggled drugs.

Allegheny County Council held its first public hearing Wednesday night on a possible countywide civilian police review board. 

For the next month, motorists on Interstate 86 in the northwestern tip of Pennsylvania will see a billboard with the statement: “Tax Cuts Threaten Social Security.”

Two months after fatally shooting 17-year-old Antwon Rose, East Pittsburgh police officer Michael Rosfeld, 30, did not appear for his formal arraignment Wednesday. At the brief session, court officials set the date for Rosfeld’s pretrial conference.

According to the district attorney's office, the pretrial conference is set for Sept. 11. 

A long-awaited grand jury investigation into clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania was released Tuesday in an interim, redacted form — detailing decades of alleged misconduct and cover-ups in six of the state’s eight Roman Catholic dioceses.

The family of 17-year-old Antwon Rose has filed a federal lawsuit against the borough of East Pittsburgh, as well as its mayor, police chief and the officer who shot Rose.

Protesters marched Downtown Friday, while criticizing city leaders for new protest policies that limit their abilities to block certain roads. 

Criminal-justice reform advocates kicked off a “Campaign for Smart Justice” in Allegheny County this week, with the goal of reducing mass incarceration. Led by the American Civil Liberties Union, the campaign aims to engage local activists and organizations in promoting what it calls “smart justice” policies.

Pennsylvania Democrats are pressuring Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner to release his tax returns. Democratic Governor Tom Wolf’s campaign said in a statement Monday that voters deserve to know more about the Republican’s business interests.

Wagner owns the York-based trash hauling company, Penn Waste, and his financial disclosure suggests he also has holdings in hotels, freight companies, and other enterprises.

Pennsylvania earned a "D" in a study that grades states based on the way they handle criminal cases from the time defendants are arrested to the time they’re found guilty or innocent. "D" was the average grade nationally.

Amid mounting pressure to increase oversight of municipal police forces, the Allegheny County Council took an initial step in creating a county-wide civilian police review board. On Tuesday, it voted 8-6 to hold up to four public meetings on how to form such a board.

Activists are expected to urge the Allegheny County Council to create a civilian police review board on Tuesday.