Morning Roundup: Implosions raze portion of closed Washington County power plant

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, May 12, 2023:

Implosions level closed Washington County power plant

A series of two controlled implosions razed part of a shuttered coal-fired power plant in Elrama, Washington County, on. Friday.

An initial implosion shortly after 9:30 a.m, announced in advance by the Elrama Volunteer Fire Company of Union Township, was planned to bring down remaining portions of a plant on Duquesne Light Drive, along the Monongahela River. The plant was closed in 2012 by NRG Energy/GenOn.

Emergency crews had been notified and were monitoring the event.

The implosion created thick clouds of dust.

A second implosion at 6 p.m. Friday completed the building’s destruction, according to Tribune-Review news partner WPXI.

The company in charge of the implosion, B&B Wrecking, told WPXI there would be an exclusion zone in the vicinity, with the section of the river near the plant to remain free of activity during the event.

Foot chase in Pittsburgh’s Perry South ends in drug charges

Pittsburgh police said a man led officers on a foot chase Thursday afternoon in the Perry South neighborhood — and it ended in drug charges for him.

Officers said they have charged Daron Freeman, 26, of Pittsburgh with possession with intent to deliver controlled substances and evading police.

Police said they began looking for Freeman following a reported 4:15 p.m. violation of a protection from abuse order on Lamar Street, according to court documents.

When they found him near the Perrysville Market and ordered him to place his hands behind his back, he fled on foot toward Perrysville Avenue and North Charles Street while carrying a satchel, police said.

An officer yelled for Freeman to stop, but the suspect went through an opening in a chain link fence, ran along North Charles and “fell hard on the ground” when he turned down a heavily wooded hill, according to court documents.

Police said they broke off the chase because of the unsafe terrain but caught up to Freeman at a football field next to North Charles, where the suspect laid down near an end zone as an officer aimed a stun gun at him.

Officers said they found Freeman in possession of loose bundles of heroin and a golf ball-sized amount of crack cocaine.

Freeman also is charged with carrying a firearm without a license, after police said they recovered a Glock pistol within several feet of the suspect.

Freeman was placed in the Allegheny County jail after failing to post $5,000 bond.