Former University of Pittsburgh and NFL Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett stands on the sideline before the start of an NCAA football game between Pittsburgh and Notre Dame on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) by Steve Almasy and Eliott C. McLaughlin (CNN) -- Tony Dorsett recalls a 1984 game against the Philadelphia Eagles when he was streaking up the field and an opposing player slammed into him. One helmet plowed into another. Dorsett's head snapped back, his helmet was knocked askew. "He blew me up," Dorsett told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "I don't remember the second half of that game, but I do remember that hit." Dorsett compared the hit to a freight train hitting a Volkswagen.
Attorney General Eric Holder, left, and U.S. Attorney Zane David, right, look on as former federal inmates Robert Warner who completed the Supervision to Aid Re-entry (STAR) program, speaks during a news conference Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, at the U.S. Courthouse in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) by Kathy MathesonAssociated Press Writer PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The nation's top law enforcement officer got a glimpse of the challenges facing ex-offenders attempting to rebuild their lives on Tuesday as he attended an unusual court session and then met with several of them afterward. Attorney General Eric Holder watched as more than a dozen men on supervised release updated a federal judge on their jobs and personal situations, discussing problems from needing more hours at work to the cost of cataract surgery for the family dog.
Elle Benet (Courtesy Photo) by Blair AdamsFor New Pittsburgh Courier (NNPA)--When Elle Benet looks back on her childhood, the memories are almost unbearable. For 18 years she lived in a world defined by verbal abuse and was part of a church that forced its members to live a life so austere that the outside world was held in disdain.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., speaks during a news conference at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) PITTSBURGH (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said new spending cuts to federally funded medical research will take effect in January if Congress does not stop them, and he blamed an earlier round of funding cuts for massive job losses in Pennsylvania.
State Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, at podium, speaks during a news conference beneath the Robert Indiana sculpture "Love," Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, at John F. Kennedy Plaza, also known as Love Park, in Philadelphia. Democratic state Reps. Steve McCarter and Brian Sims say they are introducing a bill that would allow same-sex couples to get married legally in Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) by Peter JacksonAssociated Press Writer HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania and New Jersey are on tracks that could lead to the Northeast being the first full region in the country to legalize gay marriage — but the routes are hardly parallel and the horsepower anything but equal. A flurry of recent court decisions has gay couples in New Jersey, where same-sex marriage has long been debated, hurrying to make wedding plans for when they can legally marry starting Monday — even as a moderate Republican governor with apparent presidential aspirations awaits a decision on his appeal. Across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, advocates are pecking away at a 1996 gay marriage ban by introducing bills in the Legislature, defiantly issuing marriage licenses in localities and taking the issue to court — with few people conceding the tactics will work anytime soon in a big state with a socially conservative spine.
Jack Hill, Jr. by Joe MandakAssociated Press Writer PITTSBURGH (AP) — The parents of a Slippery Rock University basketball player who died two years ago after collapsing during an intense practice have sued the school and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, saying their son wasn't screened for the sickle cell trait that contributed to his death and school officials didn't do enough to help him.
by Daryl Gale I had already decided not to write about Riley Cooper, the Eagles wideout whose big mouth and beer muscles got him in hot water last week. Cooper, as the entire world knows by now, got hammered at a Kenny Chesney concert in June and got in the face of a Black security guard who had apparently denied him VIP access. “I will jump that fence and fight every [n-word] here,” spat Cooper, as another concertgoer’s cell phone recorded the action.
Taylor Burden and Jordyn Maddox Jordyn Maddox of Delaware has end-stage kidney failure and is currently at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Before Jordyn was born, doctors diagnosed her in-utero with Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease, a rare and potentially deadly condition that causes low-functioning, cyst-filled kidneys. The doctors did not expect her to make it to birth. Jordyn was very sick when she was born and was not expected to live. “Once she was born, the doctors looked at her and said there was nothing they could do. We were passing her around, saying goodbye to her,” recalled her mother, Taylor Burden.
