Assault weapons and some types of ammunition and accessories would be banned in Pittsburgh under new legislation to be introduced to City Council Tuesday. A third bill in the package would temporarily prohibit a person from having guns if a family member or law enforcement deems the person to be a risk to themselves or others.

A longtime Allegheny County judge has resigned in the wake of her removal from two sex offender cases due to alleged bias.

Common Pleas Judge Donna Jo McDaniel submitted her resignation Thursday.

The 72-year-old served on the bench for 33 years and has been praised for her compassion toward victims of sex crimes.

But twice in the last month the state Superior Court removed McDaniel from sex offenders' sentencing proceedings for allegedly showing bias against the defendants and their attorneys.

Pennsylvania is making it easier for doctors to provide treatment for opioid addiction. 

A new report from a group that tracks the death penalty in America finds that executions have reached the lowest point since 1991.

Foster children who live in residential facilities in Pennsylvania suffered physical and verbal abuse in hundreds of documented cases between 2010 and 2018, according to a new report. The study found that at some facilities, which include group homes and larger institutions, violations continued to occur even after state inspectors recorded earlier instances of abuse.

Pennsylvania released a list of 289 struggling schools Thursday that will have to develop "improvement plans" with the direction of state advisers.

Walking along Homewood’s major corridors may get a little easier: The Urban Redevelopment Authority has approved pedestrian improvements concentrated around Braddock, Hamilton and Homewood avenues. 

The first major allocation of money from the Housing Opportunity Fund was approved Thursday. The loans will go towards more than 200 affordable housing units.

Pennsylvania has a state dog, a state insect, a state fossil, and even a state beverage.

Why, Bob Swaim wonders, can't it also have a state toy?

Just over the border from the city of Pittsburgh, the Wilkinsburg mayor is pushing for a comeback, factoring in the environment and improving health while trying to change the negative perception people may have of her community.

Miriam Maletta opens her hair salon in Clairton, southeast of Pittsburgh, at 11 a.m. on Thursdays. Amid boxes piled boxes piled up on padded chairs, and her Yorkie, Neyno, who dances in little circles on the linoleum floor, Maletta says her salon is finally getting a facelift. She’s been in business for 34 years and she has lived in Clairton all of her life. That’s evident as a cousin or a nephew stops by the shop to drop off Christmas donations for a local family she’s helping, or just to check in.

Two more casinos in Pennsylvania have started up with sports betting.

Apple will build a $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas, break ground on smaller locations in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City, California, and over the next three years will expand in Pittsburgh, New York and Colorado.

A Pennsylvania state police trooper who was shot in a 2014 ambush has had his right leg amputated below the knee.

Trooper Alex Douglass underwent the surgery this week at a New York City hospital.

His friend Earl Granville says Douglass had some medical complications with his leg and decided to amputate it to improve his quality of life.

Granvillle, a veteran who lost his leg in Afghanistan, says he and Douglass completed the New York City Marathon handcycle event last month. He says Douglass should be able to run marathons now with a prosthetic.