PITTSBURGH (AP) — The head priest and dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh is facing charges after being accused of stealing more than $1,000 in baseball cards from a Walmart.
The Very Rev. Aidan Smith was arrested Feb. 27 by police just after leaving the Walmart in Economy Borough, just outside Pittsburgh, with 27 packs of baseball cards concealed under his clothing and in a cardboard box, according to court records.
Smith, 42, was charged with receiving stolen property and retail theft.
Police responded to a call from Walmart security, who said Smith was in the store again after having stolen from it in previous days. Police said Walmart security video shows Smith also taking baseball cards each of the four previous days and leaving without paying.
Walmart valued the stolen baseball cards at $1,099.99, police said.
In a message last week to the cathedral's members, the Right Rev. Ketlen Solak, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, said diocese officials will investigate the situation and follow the church canons that lay out the process for handling clergy misconduct.
“I have spoken with Aidan and assured him of our prayers for him in this difficult time. Please pray for Aidan, for Melanie and their children, for the entire cathedral congregation as we grieve this news, and for everyone involved in this hard situation,” Solak wrote.
Smith had been on administrative leave since late January, Solak's message said. The diocese did not explain why. Smith's defense lawyer declined comment.
A man walks past Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked back over $100 as Iranian strikes hit ships in the regions waters and the ongoing American-Israeli war with Iran showed so signs of slowing.
Thursday’s major developments include Iranian attacks against commercial ships around the Strait of Hormuz and Iraq's port of Basra, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich Gulf region as global energy concerns mount. The U.S. campaign of airstrikes in Iran is now in its 13th day.
The Israeli military is also striking Iran and its militant ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, where more than 800,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.
Here's the latest:
Israel’s military said it was working to intercept a missile launch from Iran early on Thursday morning.
It was the third such announcement Thursday, as Israel also said it was targeting Tehran with strikes.
Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said an Iranian drone smashed into a residential building Thursday in the small Mideast nation, wounding two people.
A container ship off Dubai in the Persian Gulf came under attack Thursday, sparking a small fire, the British military said.
The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the attack happened just before dawn. It said an “unknown projectile” hit the vessel as it was some 65 kilometers (40 miles) off the coast of Dubai’s Jebel Ali port.
It added that the crew of the vessel were safe.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, topped $100 a barrel early Thursday, just days after it spiked near $120.
Oil prices shot more than 9% higher as supply concerns worsened with Iranian attacks on commercial shipping around the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. benchmark crude oil jumped to about $95 a barrel.
Read more here.
An attack on Iraq’s Basra port early Thursday killed at least one person and forced authorities to halt operations at all the country’s oil terminals, officials said.
Farhan al-Fartousi, the director-general of the General Company for Ports of Iraq, made the announcement in a statement carried by the state-run Iraqi News Agency on Thursday. Al-Fartousi said the attack targeted ships in the ship-to-ship transfer are of the Basra port on the Persian Gulf. He said it remained unclear if the ship was targeted by a flying or seaborne drone or a missile.
Rescuers recovered one dead body and helped 38 others after the attack. He said commercial ports in Iraq remained open, though the oil terminals had been shut.
Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization has identified the two tankers as the Safesea Vishnu, flagged in the Marshall Islands, and the tanker Zefyros, flagged in Malta.
Oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Smoke and flames rise from buildings following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A person fills their vehicle at a gas station in Tallinn, Estonia, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
People take cover in an underground bomb shelter as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missile strike, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A man, left, carries the body of his son, Kassem Younis, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, during his funeral procession in the southern village of Chehabiyeh, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
This image released by the Royal Thai Navy shows Thai cargo ship, Mayuree Naree, that was struck and set ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (Royal Thai Navy via AP)
Mourners attend the funeral procession for senior Iranian military officials and some civilians killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Flames rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
