CITY. Paramedics reject contract offer. Pittsburgh paramedics voted "overwhelmingly" Thursday ...[Derived headline] [Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (PA)]

CITY

Paramedics reject contract offer

Pittsburgh paramedics voted "overwhelmingly" Thursday to reject the city's latest contract offer, the union president said.

Anthony Weinmann, president of the approximately 155-member Fraternal Association of Professional Paramedics, Local 1, said union members will continue to work without a contract for the time being. The paramedics have been without a contract for nearly 27 months and have authorized the executive board to initiate a strike, he said.

"(Union leaders) will carry our members' dissatisfaction ... back to the bargaining table," said Weinmann, who did not release the exact vote. "We trust that Mayor (Luke) Ravenstahl and Public Safety Director (Michael) Huss will return with us to negotiate in good faith until we can come to a mutually acceptable agreement."

City officials could not be reached for comment.

LAWRENCEVILLE

Group says opposition to tax tops 57%

A group against a property tax to pay for improvements on Butler Street and Penn Avenue in Lawrence-ville said on Thursday it has filed more than 200 opposition forms with the city.

Under the plan spearheaded by the Lawrenceville Corp. community development group, property owners in the neighborhood's business district -- Butler between 34th and 57th streets and Penn between 40th and 45th streets -- would pay $10 annually for each linear foot of frontage.

Opponents say that the tax would penalize larger property owners and characterize improvements the tax would cover as minimal.

If 40 percent or more of affected property owners oppose the tax, the measure will fail. The Realtors Association of Greater Pittsburgh said it filed opposition forms from more than 57 percent. City Clerk Linda Johnson-Wasler said the opposition forms must still be certified.

DOWNTOWN

City wants old cases excluded from suit

Old complaints against former Pittsburgh police Chief Nate Harper and Assistant Chief George Trosky don't belong in a federal lawsuit over a May 2010 road-rage incident involving an off-duty police detective, the city argued Thursday in federal court documents.

Jarret Fate is suing the city over the attack by former detective Bradley Walker, who was convicted of assault and fired by the city. His lawyers want to use an excessive force complaint filed against Harper "decades ago" and a dropped 1997 domestic violence charge against Trosky to convince jurors that the two tend to condone the use of excessive force, the city claims in a motion asking U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab to block the evidence.

City solicitor Dan Regan couldn't be reached for comment.

WASHINGTON COUNTY

Widow's killer pleads guilty, given life term

A Washington County man pleaded guilty to killing an 80-year-old widow in her home and will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Frank Russell Jones, 24, of Claysville pleaded guilty on Thursday to first-degree murder and was given a life sentence by Common Pleas Judge Katherine Emery.

"Frank Jones was brought to justice today due to the hard work and dedication of the South Strabane Township police officers, Pennsylvania State Police, First Assistant District Attorney Michael Lucas and Deputy Assistant District Attorney Chad Schneider," said District Attorney Eugene Vittone.

Opal Bedillion, who lived alone in a secluded home in East Finley, was found slain on Jan. 7, 2012. State police said Jones admitted he killed Bedillion to get money to buy drugs.

WESTMORELAND COUNTY

Execution 'unlikely' despite death warrant

Two death penalty experts say it's doubtful that "kill for thrill" murderer Michael Travaglia will be executed in April in accordance with a death warrant signed Thursday.

"I think it's quite unlikely," said Frank Baumgartner, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Pennsylvania and California have the most wacky systems where there are lots of people on death row and there have been no executions."

This is the second execution warrant for Travaglia that Gov. Tom Corbett has signed in less than six months. The execution is set for April 25.

Travaglia, 54, formerly of Washington Township, and his co- defendant John Lesko were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy for killing Apollo police Officer Leonard Miller on Jan. 3, 1980, in Westmoreland County.

County to split cost to settle suit in fatal crash

Westmoreland County and its insurer will split the cost of a $500,000 settlement to the estate of a Sutersville teenager who died in a car crash.

Commissioners voted Thursday to settle the lawsuit filed by Tonya Lesniak, whose daughter, Taylor Lynne Frohnhofer, 16, died in the Nov. 27, 2010, wreck on Clay Pike Road in Sewickley Township.

Frohnhofer was a passenger in a car driven by Jorden King, then 16, of Sutersville. King was speeding when his car left the road while rounding a curve. The vehicle struck a wall, became airborne and hit a tree. King pleaded guilty in juvenile court to a misdemeanor charge of involuntary manslaughter.

The county was named in the case because a sign lowering the speed limit was placed too close to the curve, said solicitor Mark Gesalman.

Ex-boyfriend charged in assault over refund

A Rostraver man is accused of assaulting his former girlfriend and backing his vehicle into her car, which was carrying the couple's infant, because she would not give him her tax refund check.

Sirnandle M. Corprew, 36, was arraigned Thursday on charges of aggravated assault and related crimes that were filed in connection with Wednesday's incident in Latrobe, state police said. Corprew and the woman, who have a 10-day-old daughter, argued at her home.

The woman told police she went to check on the baby and when she came back into the room, her purse was open and the tax refund was gone. She said she put the baby in the car and drove after Corprew, who backed into her vehicle. She said she followed him to a shopping plaza where he pulled her out of the car and punched her in the face.

BUTLER COUNTY

Evans City firefighters to get $125K in grants

Evans City fire department will receive nearly $125,000 in grants for operations and safety from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The grants, according to Sen. Bob Casey's office, are awarded through the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program. Since 2001, the grants have been used to buy equipment, protective gear, emergency vehicles, training and other resources. Firefighters weren't available to comment on Thursday.

CAMBRIA COUNTY

Student charged, expelled for threats

An Indiana County man was expelled from Mt. Aloysius College in Cambria County and charged with threatening a professor.

Anthony Will Briscoe Jr., 19, of Aultman, was charged with terroristic threats and related crimes after he was accused of threatening his biology professor, Dr. Laura Michaels, in a tweet sent on Feb. 13, police said. He is accused of threatening to slit Michaels' throat in front of the class, according to a criminal complaint.

Briscoe told police that "he writes things like that for entertainment in that he finds it funny and other people he interacts with find it amusing as well," the complaint states.

Briscoe said he has "no problems" with Michaels, but "he was just bored sitting in her class when he tweeted about slitting her throat and that's why he used her name," according to the complaint.

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