MOUNT LEBANON —
Residents are debating the wisdom of a Pittsburgh suburb's decision to launch its July 4th fireworks display from a cemetery.
Some folks in Mount Lebanon are calling the decision disrespectful, while others understood the decision given that fireworks couldn't be shot off from the local high school as usual because that area is now under construction.
Some residents were upset and called the decision disrespectful, including one woman who couldn't visit her husband's grave because the Mount Lebanon Cemetery was closed so workers could set up the display.
Others thought the site, though unusual, was a practical solution to a tricky problem.
One woman tells reporters, "It's a little weird, but I guess you have to do what you have to do."
A Mount Lebanon official hasn't returned a call for comment.
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Deadbeat dad pleads guilty after movie ruse
ALLENTOWN — A man has been ordered to pay more than $32,000 in back child support after being lured back to Pennsylvania with the promise of a bogus role in a Jennifer Aniston movie.
Joshua Garlathy pleaded guilty Tuesday to willful failure to pay child support more than a month after he was arrested after his flight from Hawaii landed in Philadelphia.
Garlathy was arrested under a new law making it a crime to move out of state to avoid paying child support. He was lured back to Pennsylvania by a bounty hunter promising him a role in a fake movie.
Garlathy was also sentenced to 90 days of probation. He says he hopes he can rebuild his relationship with his daughter.
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Police: Man kills himself outside PSP barracks
UNIONTOWN — Authorities are trying to determine why a 65-year-old man apparently killed himself outside a southwestern Pennsylvania State Police barracks.
Investigators say the man died of a single gunshot wound to the chest Wednesday outside the state police barracks in Uniontown. No one else was hurt.
Police believe the man drove to the barracks, got out and shot himself in the chest. His body was discovered by a trooper.
The man's name wasn't immediately released.
Less than a week earlier a man fatally shot himself in the parking lot of a state police barracks in Falls Creek, Jefferson County.
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Son: Mom killed husband after years-long 'war'
DOYLESTOWN — The son of a Philadelphia-area woman who killed her husband says the couple's feud turned deadly because they "were in a war for years" and neither of them would back down.
Dorleen Burklund was formally sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for the October 2010 killing of her husband, Michael. Three of the eight shots she fired happened after she reloaded the gun but she claimed the killing was in self-defense.
The couple's 20-year-old son Gabriel told Bucks County Judge Jeffrey Finley the killing was the result of a bitter, 4-year divorce battle that included a dispute over the Springfield Township home where the killing happened.
Finley called Dorleen Burklund "warped and manipulative," noting she had previously discussed killing her husband and claiming self-defense.
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Police seek 16-year-old in shooting of 7-year-old boy
GRINDSTONE — State police have been searching for a 16-year-old charged with shooting a 7-year-old boy in the chest, reportedly after some horseplay got out of hand.
Police believe the suspect, Deago Eddings, of Connellsville, became angry and shot the boy who was one of several younger boys engaged in some unspecified horseplay near the Hunter's Ridge Housing Complex in Redstone Township. That's about 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
Police say the victim, Amarr-e Williams was flown to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va. where he was initially reported to be in critical condition.
Police have charged Eddings as an adult with attempted homicide, aggravated assault and a firearms violation.
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Man drowns in Susquehanna River
PITTSTON — Rescue crews are set to resume their search for a man who is presumed drowned following a swimming outing on the Susquehanna River in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Exeter Township fire Chief Dan Fetch says the 48-year-old man pulled two younger girls from the current before slipping below the surface Wednesday afternoon.
Dive teams searched for the man until dark before calling off the operation. The search resumes Thursday morning. Fetch says the search is now considered a recovery operation.
Officials did not release the man's name.
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Feds: Child porn suspect threatens investigator
PITTSBURGH — Federal prosecutors say a western Pennsylvania child pornography defendant has threatened to rape and murder a U.S. postal inspector who helped investigate him.
The attorney for Todd Markley, of Export, did not immediately return a call for comment on his client's scheduled arraignment before a federal magistrate in Pittsburgh on Thursday.
FBI agents and U.S. postal inspectors say Markley was charged in an online sting in which people who were on the customer list of a Los Angeles child porn distributor that was raided in 2006 were sent advertisements for other child porn videos.
Markley's home was searched after he allegedly ordered two videos earlier this year, which investigators say prompted his angry e-mail to one of the postal inspectors who worked on the case claiming there was a $3,000 bounty to have her raped and murdered.
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Verizon working to fix 911 outage near Pittsburgh
WEST MIFFLIN — Verizon has been working to fix a landline telephone service outage affecting 911 calls in some suburbs east and southeast of Pittsburgh.
Verizon officials say some residents in West Mifflin, McKeesport and Duquesne can't call the emergency number from their home telephones. Those people are being urged to use their cell phones in case of an emergency.
The outage also affects areas in and near the Allegheny County Airport.
Although it's not clear what has caused the problem on Thursday morning, it may be related to severe thunderstorms which brought high winds and golf ball-sized hail to those same areas on Wednesday.
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Biden visits Scranton for Fourth of July
SCRANTON — Vice President Joe Biden marked Independence Day with a visit to his boyhood hometown of Scranton by visiting with a Little League team and speaking to a crowd in the city's heart.
Biden also met union leaders during his trip to northeastern Pennsylvania on Wednesday. He avoided political issues during a brief speech in Courthouse Square, thanking troops for their service and talking about his roots in Scranton.
The vice president joined U.S. Sen. Bob Casey for the meeting with union leaders then visited the home of Casey's mother, Ellen, the state's former first lady.



