Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, June 26, 2026:
2 attacks in Pittsburgh
Two men were injured in separate attacks in Pittsburgh Thursday night that police say appear to be related.
Pittsburgh police Zone 5 officers said they received reports around 9:15 p.m. of an assault with shots fired in the 5400 block of Columbo Street in the city’s Garfield neighborhood.
Arriving officers found a man who told them “he had been jumped” by two male suspects, police said. He fired shots toward the suspects and they ran from the area.
The victim suffered a head injury, police said. First responders took him to a local hospital in stable condition.
Then, around 9:45 p.m., police found a man who had been shot several times in his arm and torso on a Bloomfield road, police said. First responders took that victim from the 300 block of Gross Street to a local hospital in critical condition.
The two attacks “are being investigated as related,” police spokeswoman Emily Bourne said.
No arrests have been made.
32 officers join Pittsburgh police
Pittsburgh police this week are celebrating the bureau’s latest round of academy graduates.
Police Chief Jason Lando administered the oath of office Thursday to 32 recruits from the city’s second academy class of 2025.
Lando, a 21-year veteran of the city force, thanked each officer for their service.
Thirty-two recruits from Basic Recruit Class 25-02 officially graduated from the Pittsburgh Police Training Academy, taking the first step in their careers as Pittsburgh Police officers.
Chief Jason Lando administered the Oath of Office and officially welcomed the class to the… pic.twitter.com/5RvzeIR2o7
— Pittsburgh Police (@PghPolice) June 26, 2026
The second-largest municipal police force in Pennsylvania has struggled — as have most of its peers — with staffing levels since the pandemic ended.
Many city officials consider the bureau’s ideal size to be around 900. Former Mayor Ed Gainey cut the budgeted size of the bureau to 800, saying it reflected that the city could not recruit and retain enough officers to exceed that figure.
The bureau had 937 officers the month Gainey was inaugurated in 2022, according to the Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1, the union representing the city’s rank-and-file officers. That number dropped to 862 in 2023 and 805 in 2024, union data shows.
Last summer, Pittsburgh police ranks plummeted to a 20-year low, with the bureau employing 755 sworn officers — its fewest since 2005.
But some cite increasing numbers as a shifting trend in the city; this month, the bureau’s headcount has hovered around 790.
Then-Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt had expressed cautious optimism about police recruitment in light of growing academy enrollment.
In June 2025, more than 160 police recruits were undergoing physical fitness testing, Schmidt said. In 2023, the city saw only 40 recruits going into the same physical fitness stage.
Pittsburgh has not graduated a 40-person academy class since the pandemic waned about four years ago.
Weekend weather
Much of this weekend’s weather will be cloudy and gray but warmer temperatures could arrive next week, according to the National Weather Service.
Pittsburghers are waking up Friday to cloudy skies, with chances of rain going up to about 70% Friday night and into early Saturday, said Colton Milcarek, a meteorologist in the weather service’s Moon office. Highs on Friday could creep into the upper 70s.
On Saturday, the office’s zone forecast calls for “considerable cloudiness.” But the chance of precipitation is forecast to drop to about 40%. Showers are “likely” in the morning and there’s a chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon.
“Sunday’s probably our highest chance of being dry,” Milcarek told TribLive.
The mercury is expected to jump into the mid-80s Sunday, according to the weather service forecast.
“Then, it will be hot next week,” Milcarek said. “There’s potential for widespread (temperatures in the) 90s across the area.”