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Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden came to Pittsburgh today, but decided not to march in the Labor Day Parade. He said Hurricane Gustav in the Gulf Coast made it inappropriate for him to campaign in the festive setting of the parade. "This is just not a day for national politics. Our focus should be what's happening in the Gulf," Mr. Biden said during a Downtown news conference while the parade was under way a few blocks away. Gov. Ed Rendell, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and numerous Allegheny County politicians marched at the front of the parade.

The actual city of Pittsburgh is a heavily Democratic area of about 325,000 people. The last Republican Mayor was elected in 1926. In 2005, Bob O'Connor (D) won an open race for Mayor over the Republican, 67-28. Mayor O'Connor died in office and current Mayor Luke Ravenstahl (D) inherited the office at the age of 26. Since that time, Ravenstahl has encountered several ethics and corruption problems. As evidence that responsible Democrats are considering abandoning Ravenstahl's leadership of the city, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette endorsed Republican Mark DeSantis. This is the first Republican the Gazette has endorsed since 1969. In...

PITTSBURGH (June 12, 2006) -- Steelers star Ben Roethlisberger, the youngest quarterback to lead a team to the Super Bowl championship, broke his jaw and nose in a motorcycle crash in which he was not wearing a helmet. Four doctors operated on Roethlisberger for seven hours to treat multiple facial fractures and "all of the fractures were successfully repaired," Dr. Harry W. Sell, chairman of the surgery department at Mercy Hospital, told reporters.

Former Steeler great could ride team victory all the way to the Governor's office As Jerome Bettis and the Pittsburgh Steelers closed the book on a storybook season at Super Bowl XL in Detroit Sunday, the season of another Steelers legend was just kicking into high gear. Lynn Swann, the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player 30 years ago, is hoping to capture the Republican Party's official endorsement this Saturday in the Pennsylvania governor's race—an endorsement that has traditionally locked up the Republican primary election, which will be held in May of this year. And judging by the overwhelming support for...

SARASOTA, Fla. Bud Carson, who developed Pittsburgh's "Steel Curtain" defense, has died of emphysema at age 75. Carson, a defensive back at North Carolina from 1949 through 1951, was the Steelers' defensive coordinator from 1972 through 1977, and shaped a defense led by Joe Greene, Jack Ham and Jack Lambert into one of the best in N-F-L history. In that span, the Steelers won three Super Bowl titles under coach Chuck Noll. Carson then became defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams, who lost to the Steelers in the Super Bowl after the 1979 season. He coached the Cleveland Browns...

Dolphins legend Larry Little wanted to make sure to say one thing about younger brother David. ''I'm proud of the career he had,'' the NFL Hall of Famer said. ``A lot of times when you have an older brother who had a career like I had, people always would try to compare the younger to the older. He went on and did everything on his own. He had a great high school career, a great college career and a great NFL career. ``He didn't let that deter him. And, he had to live with it all his life.'' That life...

"STAY IN PITTSBURGH" Teresa Heinz Kerry, Sen. John Kerry's vivacious wife, was a major asset on the campaign trail during the primary elections but has run into backstage criticism since then -- particularly in Philadelphia last week. Mrs. Kerry asked Rep. Bob Brady, master of ceremonies at the event, whether she could introduce Gov. Edward Rendell (who in turn would introduce the prospective Democratic presidential nominee). The candidate's wife then launched into a 10-minute speech about her early life in Mozambique and on the iniquities of George W. Bush, but forgot to introduce Rendell. After the event concluded, Brady told...

<p>OK, so maybe poking fun at the National Rifle Association for holding its 2004 convention in our city after a year where we reached record numbers of gun murders was too easy -- like duck-hunting with an AK-47.</p> <p>So it wasn't a shock to receive angry letters from members. But what did rattle the old mental re-loader was how gender-specific the whole gun control argument has become.</p>

Pittsburgh Murder Suspect Found In Saudi Arabia Fri Oct 31, 9:52 AM ET ThePittsburghChannel.com to My Yahoo! They had to go half a world away, but Allegheny County Sheriff's deputies got their man. • Current Western Pa. News • WTAE's DeNardo Weather Watch • Sign Up For Daily News Flashes • Get A Great Deal On Your Next Car Two deputies went to Saudi Arabia to extradite accused murderer Joseph Briggs. All three returned to the country at Pittsburgh International Airport Thursday evening. Briggs, 23, is suspected of killing jitney driver Joseph Looney, whose body was found Sept. 18, 2000,...

<p>A writer for a former Pittsburgh Islamist magazine is connected to a Portland, Ore., mosque that is under FBI scrutiny with the arrest of its imam, or religious leader.</p> <p>Tawfiq Tabib, 49, who wrote for an Islamist magazine published in Pittsburgh from 1991 to 2000, lives in the same apartment complex as Sheik Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, who was arrested Sunday at Portland International Airport with one-way tickets to the United Arab Emirates.</p>