Paula Ward

Pittsburgh

Courts Reporter at Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Courts reporter for @TribLIVE and author of #DeathByCyanide. Part of the Post-Gazette team that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news in 2019.

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Articles

Asphalt company says Pittsburgh Mills owners never paid them for filling potholes

1 day ago | triblive.com | Tawnya Panizzi |Paula Ward

Add an Eastern Pennsylvania-based asphalt company to the list of those frustrated by the owners of the Pittsburgh Mills in Frazer. Jessica Jones, president of Patch Management Inc., said mall owner Namdar Realty Group hasn’t paid a $21,000 bill for the hot asphalt spray applied in recent weeks. “We fulfilled our contract for what they requested, but they haven’t responded to any communication,” Jones told TribLive on Tuesday.
Ex-Hillandale Farms executive sentenced for embezzling $6.8M

1 week ago | triblive.com | Paula Ward

A Canonsburg man who embezzled nearly $7 million from Hempfield-based Hillandale Farms over more than 13 years is going to federal prison. Jonathan Weston, 60, was ordered to serve 27 months incarceration when he was sentenced Wednesday before U.S. District Judge W. Scott Hardy. Weston was indicted May 26, 2021, on charges of fraud conspiracy, filing false income tax returns and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He pleaded guilty more than a year later.
Pitt to pay millions to settle pandemic learning lawsuit, but each student will get hundreds

1 week ago | triblive.com | Paula Ward

Several universities in the Pittsburgh area have settled lawsuits stemming from the switch to online classes during the 2020 covid-19 pandemic, including, most recently, the University of Pittsburgh for nearly $8 million. Although the settlement amounts range from $1 million to $17 million — bigger schools owe more — the ultimate payout to the tens of thousands of affected students likely will be less than $300 each.
Lawyers spar in Johnstown courtroom over government effort to deport Venezuelan

1 week ago | triblive.com | Paula Ward

A nationwide battle over the Trump administration’s push to deport immigrants it claims are criminals arrived Monday in a Western Pennsylvania courtroom. Attorneys for a Venezuelan man accused of being part of the notorious Tren de Aragua gang asked a federal judge in Johnstown to bar the government from deporting him and more than 1,000 other detainees like him in Western Pennsylvania.
Federal judge detains accused Hamas sympathizer from Moon

2 weeks ago | triblive.com | Paula Ward

A former National Guard member accused of lying to the federal government, defacing Jewish religious property in Squirrel Hill and testing a pipe bomb in a State College forest will remain jailed pending trial because of concerns he might pose a threat. An FBI agent told a federal judge in Pittsburgh that the agency grew concerned Mohamad Hamad might target a military training excercise with explosives.
Taco Bell manager sentenced to life for killing employee from Harrison

2 weeks ago | triblive.com | Paula Ward

A Taco Bell manager who chased an employee off the Scott restaurant’s property and fatally shot him at a nearby business was sentenced Thursday to serve the rest of his life in prison with no chance for parole. Zairyre Simmons, 26, of Pittsburgh, apologized to the victim’s family and his own during sentencing in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court by Judge Bruce Beemer. A jury found Simmons guilty of first-degree murder in the Nov. 9, 2022, death of Dorian Carver, 32, of Harrison.
'Selfish actions': Drag-racing driver who killed Serra Catholic student in crash pleads guilty to murder

2 weeks ago | triblive.com | Paula Ward

A man who struck a school van and killed a 15-year-old girl inside while he was drag racing at more than 100 mph in Dravosburg pleaded guilty Tuesday to third-degree murder. William Soliday, 44, of North Huntingdon, was scheduled to go to trial before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Bruce Beemer. Instead, he pleaded guilty to killing Samantha Kalkbrenner and was sentenced to serve 5½ to 12 years in state prison.
Guilty pleas pile up in fentanyl drug ring linked to New Kensington, Mexican cartel

2 weeks ago | triblive.com | Paula Ward

Ten people pleaded guilty this week in Pittsburgh for their roles in a cross-border drug ring that smuggled fentanyl and meth into the U.S. from a Mexican cartel and distributed them throughout the country, including in Western Pennsylvania. In all, 19 of the 35 people arrested have pleaded guilty in federal court, including James Pinkston, 35, of New Kensington, who served as the local connection to the drug trafficking organization in Phoenix.
International Carnegie Mellon student has visa status reinstated

2 weeks ago | triblive.com | Paula Ward

An international student at Carnegie Mellon University whose status to study in the United States was rescinded earlier this month has had it restored. Jayson Ma, who is from China, received a message from an official at CMU at 10:24 p.m. on Thursday telling him his status under the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Center had been reinstated, his attorney, Joseph Murphy, told TribLive Friday. “Your SEVIS record has been returned to active status,” the notice said.
Churchill drug trafficker's plea for leniency fails to sway judge at sentencing

3 weeks ago | triblive.com | Paula Ward

A Churchill man who federal officials said had hundreds of thousands of doses of fentanyl he planned to traffic in the Pittsburgh area will serve 21 years in prison. Leon C. Ford Sr., 58, was sentenced on Wednesday by Senior U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab.