Pittsburg, PA
Pittsburgh won’t remove homeless encampments after U.S. Supreme Court ruling
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Do people experiencing homelessness have the right to camp out in cities like Pittsburgh?
Over the objections of advocates for those experiencing homelessness, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled cities can enforce no-camping laws and take down tent encampments, even if there is no offer of alternative shelter or housing.
In Pittsburgh, the tents will stay.
Tucked behind the Allegheny County Jail is a sprawling encampment of 35 tents along the Eliza Furnace Trail.
“It’s getting ridiculous. We have our two kids and I don’t even really want to take them past it. They’re definitely encroaching on the trail. You know, it’s definitely unclean. It’s a little scary,” said Ross Lapkowicz from Regent Square.
For the past three years, encampments have sprung up in various parts of Downtown and on both the North and South sides, but even though this is perhaps the biggest one yet, the city has no plan to decommission it or take it down, despite last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision saying cities have the power to do so.
“We have to be strategic about any encampment. If we close it, where will those people end up? Where will they go? Because we don’t have enough places to put them,” said Pittsburgh Public Safety director Lee Schmidt.
In a decision homeless advocates say criminalizes being poor, the Supreme Court has ruled cities can enforce bans on camping, even if there isn’t a sufficient number of shelter beds to offer those living in encampments. But Schmidt says Pittsburgh’s policy will stay in effect. The encampments will remain until it can make each resident a credible offer of shelter.
“Obviously with Second Avenue Commons and the fire that occurred there, that’s complicated the issue even more so we have try to work with people where they are and continue that process,” Schmidt said.
The tents are in violation of city guidelines requiring they be 6 feet back from a public right-of-way. But unlike others, encampments, the city says this one has not been the site of rampant open-air drug use or fights, police often patrol it and both the city’s ROOTS team and Public Works Department have staged cleanups, though that hasn’t assuaged all the concerns.
“I don’t know what the solution is,” Lapkowicz said. “I think that Pittsburgh has a lot of a vacant space and somewhere right next to something Pittsburgh has done really well with the creation of these trails is the not the spot they should be allowed.”
“We understand it can be frustrating for some folks and others feel unsafe but we’ll do our best to continue to work with everyone involved to come up with solutions that are realistic and don’t just move the problem around,” Schmidt said.
The city and county have a committee that continually reviews conditions at these encampment, deciding which ones should be taken down. It has decided that this one will stay for the foreseeable future.
Pittsburg, PA
Man’s body found underneath trailer behind former Shop ‘n Save in Carrick
Pittsburgh Police detectives are investigating after a man’s body was found underneath a trailer behind the former Shop ‘n Save store in the city’s Carrick neighborhood.
Pittsburgh Public Safety said late Monday night that detectives from the Violent Crime division responded to the area of Amanda Street and Wynoka Street in Carrick after a man’s body was found around 8:30 p.m.
Public Safety said the man’s body was found underneath a trailer and that he was pronounced dead by medics at the scene.
A photo provided by Pittsburgh Public Safety shows officers surrounding a taped off area and what appears to be a refrigerated trailer parked at the loading dock along Amanda Street behind the former Brownsville Shop n’ Save, which closed its doors last month.
No details surrounding the circumstances of the man’s death were provided by Public Safety, who said that the cause and the manner of the man’s death will be determined by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The man’s identity has not been released.
Public Safety said the investigation into the man’s death is “ongoing.”
Pittsburg, PA
Record number of peregrine falcons counted in Allegheny County
In the early 1960s, the peregrine falcon population declined so sharply that the raptors weren’t even nesting in Pennsylvania. But now, the National Aviary says a record number have been counted in Allegheny County.
The National Aviary says six peregrine falcons were recorded in the county during the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. The nation’s longest-running citizen science project collects data on bird populations for ornithologists, the aviary says. It also plays a role in guiding conservation action, like what was needed to bring peregrine falcons back from the brink of extinction.
Because of the use of DDT, peregrine falcons were no longer nesting in the state of Pennsylvania by the early 1960s, the aviary said. But after the harmful pesticide, which negatively affects reproduction rates in birds, was banned in 1972, conservation efforts have helped the peregrine falcon rebound. It was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999 and Pennsylvania’s list in 2021.
The record number of peregrine falcons in Allegheny County is thanks in part to the nest on top of Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning in Oakland. For the past two years, biologists with the Pennsylvania Game Commission have banded chicks born in the nest. Three were banded last year, and two the year before that.
People can watch Carla and Ecco raise their family in the nest on a livestream camera run by the National Aviary. Carla laid her first egg of the breeding season on March 16 last year, so the aviary says the start of another season isn’t too far away.
Pittsburg, PA
Police investigating two late-night McKeesport shootings
Police are investigating two shootings that happened less than 30 minutes apart on Sunday night in McKeesport.
Two men were injured in the shootings that happened at two different locations.
Allegheny County Police said that the department’s Homicide Unit was requested and responded to assist in the shooting investigations.
According to police, officers were first called to the area of Lysle Boulevard and Huey Street, where a man was shot just after 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night.
KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw the outside of the Sunoco gas station along Lysle Boulevard lined with crime tape and what appeared to be blood on the front door of the store.
Police also had an area taped off around the intersection of nearby 5th Avenue and Huey Street. The man who was shot in the area was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Police said they are also investigating a shooting that happened in the area of an alleyway behind Madison Avenue, where another man was shot Dispatchers said the second shooting happened around 25 minutes after the first.
The two shooting scenes in McKeesport are located around 1/4 of a mile apart.
At the second shooting scene, KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw police taping off an alleyway between Madison Avenue and Petty Street.
Officers at the scene were shining flashlights and looking into a black sedan that had its flashers on. The man who was shot in the area of Madison Avenue was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Police didn’t specify if the two shootings are believed to be related.
-
World5 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts6 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Denver, CO6 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Louisiana1 week agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Politics1 week agoOpenAI didn’t contact police despite employees flagging mass shooter’s concerning chatbot interactions: REPORT
-
Technology1 week agoStellantis is in a crisis of its own making
-
Oregon4 days ago2026 OSAA Oregon Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets – FloWrestling
-
Technology1 week agoArturia’s FX Collection 6 adds two new effects and a $99 intro version
