Identity & Justice

The mother of Trayvon Martin, whose 2012 death was a key moment in the Black Lives Matter movement, said there were unsettling parallels between the killing of her son and that of black Rankin teen Antwon Rose.

There were 55 homicide deaths in Pittsburgh last year, most due to gun violence. Despite the Tree of Life shooting in October, in which 11 people were killed by one gunman, homicide deaths dropped for the fourth year in a row.

A judge ordered Monday that a jury be selected from another county for the trial of a western Pennsylvania police officer accused in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager last year.

Some of the police officers who responded to the October shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue that killed 11 people were honored at a religious ceremony.

They attended a community-wide meal Saturday night at the Beth Shalom synagogue. Three of the officers suffered injuries in the shooting.

A commander who was supposed to be off on Oct. 27 recounted racing to the scene at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill.

Some local feminist activists say a fundraiser to bring a large balloon depicting President Trump as a baby to Pittsburgh's Women's March reveals a larger division between feminists in the city.

A Roman Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two boys and making one of them say confession after the assaults is set to be sentenced in Pennsylvania court.

Criminal charges were dismissed Thursday against a Wilkinsburg woman whose confrontation with a North Versailles police officer went viral.

A string of guilty pleas has left just five defendants still fighting charges in the hazing-related death of a pledge at a Penn State fraternity two years ago, a case whittled down as prosecutors were unable to get the most serious counts to stick.

A lawyer who held off an angry mob while representing the first black family to move into the all-white development of Levittown, Pa., has died. Samuel Snipes was 99.

His family says Snipes died Dec. 31 at his family farm in Morrisville, Pa.

In 1957, Snipes represented Daisy and Bill Myers when the black couple quietly moved into Levittown.

Weeks of harassment, public protest and death threats followed. At one point, Snipes held off a mob of enraged white people until police arrived. The governor eventually ordered in state police.

With the start of the new year, the commonwealth is working to roll out a law aimed at protecting sexually exploited children.

Act 130, known as the Safe Harbor law, ensures child victims of human trafficking won’t be prosecuted for prostitution or other crimes.

Among other things, it sets up a fund for those victims to get back on their feet.

Shea Rhodes, who directs the Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation at Villanova University, said the money would come directly from the state prosecuting traffickers.

The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh is making a significant investment to improve security at all of its locations.

Five years in, Mayor Bill Peduto’s inner circle is constantly changing.

Over the past four months, Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. have released the names of more than 1,000 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children in an unprecedented public reckoning spurred at least in part by a shocking grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has found.

As 2018 turned to 2019, a bunch of new laws took effect in Pennsylvania.

Allegheny County common pleas judge Kim Berkeley Clark became the first African-American to serve as president judge for the county’s courts during a swearing-in ceremony last week. The landmark shift got no mention at the event, but the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts confirmed Wednesday that the county never before has had a black president judge.

Allegheny County residents generally perceive that the quality of life in the region has improved in recent years, according to a new University of Pittsburgh survey. But that perception differs based on who was asked.

For mothers who have lost children to gun violence, the holidays can be a particularly difficult time. An event in Pittsburgh will bring some of these grieving women together.

Congress has enshrined in law an Obama-era executive order banning youth solitary confinement in federal prisons. The reform was one of many included in the First Step Act, which passed the Senate earlier this week and won a bipartisan vote in the House on Thursday.

The story of black South Jersey high school wrestler Andrew Johnson being forced by a white referee to choose between forfeiting his dreadlocks or one of the biggest matches of the year has aroused furor online since the incident last Wednesday.

Where you live in Allegheny County determines what kind of police officer responds to your call for help.

Princess Hill doesn't think much of the holiday season. She literally doesn't think about it.

A Pittsburgh newscaster who was previously fired for comments deemed racially insensitive about a shooting has a new job in broadcasting.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has commuted the sentences of three inmates who would otherwise die in prison, bringing the total number granted during his administration up to five.

A counselor at a Baltimore Catholic school has been removed from his post after sexual abuse allegations stemming from the 1980s surfaced in Pittsburgh.

 Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has issued his first act of clemency in more than two years, commuting a drug dealer's life sentence.