Pittsburgh All Local

Mike Ditka, the legendary former tight end, football coach and broadcaster has died at the age of 86. The Carnegie native who grew up in Aliquippa was a three-sport athlete at Pitt. As a tight end, Ditka led the Panthers in receiving in each of his three seasons and was a unanimous All-America selection. In the NFL, he was Rookie of the Year, coached the Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears and became first tight end in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The IBEW Local 29 strike at Duquesne Light Company has entered a second week. The union held a mass rally outside the utility's North Side facility Wednesday. Allegheny Fayette Central Labor Council President John Galuska says union reps went back to the bargaining table after the rally. This is Duquesne Light's first labor strike in over half a century.

No new taxes or layoffs in Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato's preliminary 2027 budget. The proposal would increase spending by 4.7%, but that number is somewhat misleading. Innamorato says the budget saves $9 million by leaving 150 county jobs vacant.

A potential medical breakthrough at UPMC: a vaccine to prevent breast cancer. Division Chief for Breast Surgery Dr. Emelia Diego shared the hopeful news on the Big K Morning Show. In the meantime Dr. Diego stressed the importance of annual breast cancer screenings for women 40 and older.

A controversial data center proposal in Forward Township is back before planners tonight — after last week’s meeting was postponed.

The Misty Hollow Energy and Data Campus would cover about 232 acres along Prospect Road. Plans include a roughly one-million-square-foot data center and a 300-megawatt power facility, along with office space, security and a wastewater treatment facility. The developer has been exploring the site for about three years and says the first phase could be operating by mid-2029. Last week’s meeting was postponed due to an overwhelming crowd capacity at the municipal building. Tonight’s meeting is at seven at the Forward Township Maintenance Building.

A Beaver Area School Board member says he will not resign over a controversial social media post. Luke Berardelli was commenting on Facebook on the result of Lindsay Clancy's trial. The jury deadlocked with the majority in favor of finding Clancy not criminally responsible for killing her three children. In his post, Berardelli said: "maybe the Islamic faith is the correct way to go considering they give women zero rights at all." He defended himself at last night's board meeting. Berardelli said he was using sarcasm and hyperbole to make a point about extremism. Five of eight school board members called on Berardelli to step down during the meeting.

A Pleasant Hills Middle School teacher is facing a public drunkenness charge. The West Jefferson Hills School District notified parents after a staff member became visibly ill at Pleasant Hills Middle School last week. The district says emergency personnel responded and some students may have witnessed the incident. Court records show Pleasant Hills Middle School teacher Robert Thomas Hasak is charged with public drunkenness in connection with an incident dated September 24th. The district has not confirmed whether Hasak is the employee referenced in its letter. In a response to KDKA Radio, officials say they contacted local authorities and do not condone the alleged conduct. They say it is a personnel matter and will not comment further.

The Pittsburgh Housing Authority board approved last night the hiring of a new executive director. Ivory Matthews is also facing an ethics investigation in Portland, Oregon. In May, Matthews resigned as housing authority chief after it came to light she spent more than 100-thousand dollars of public money on travel. An investigation found she arrived at destinations days early and used a public credit card for expenses unrelated to authority business. The Pittsburgh Housing Authority board's vote was unanimous to approve Matthews' hiring. Chairman Wasi Mohamed told TribLive Matthews would not self-approve any travel expenses.

The father of Penguins forward Andrei Kuzmenko has died after a bear attack in Russia. Ren dot TV says Kuzmenko was fatally injured by a bear that came out of a forest and bit his head. People with Alexander Kuzmenko were able to get the bear away from him but doctors were unable to save him. In a statement, the Penguins say Kuzmenko's son chose to be with his teammates at practice this morning before returnig to Moscow to be with his family.

State Police say scammers posing as Steelers personnel stole $2,000 from a 20-year-old Washington County woman. Meredith Bongiorni was exchanging TikTok messages with someone she believed was her favorite player: running back Eli Heidenreich. Later, Meredith was told to send an email message to a person claiming to be Steelers GM Omar Khan. Bongiorni was led to think she would receive an all-access pass from the team and sent the scammers $2,000. The young woman has a nonverbal learning disability and troopers are investigating the scam.