Pittsburgh bans cell phones at hearings

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Officials have banned cell phones from certain preliminary hearings held at the city's Municipal Courts building.
The Allegheny County sheriff's department, which oversees security at the Pittsburgh Municipal Courts building, decided to ban cell phones during preliminary hearings in homicide cases after hearing people were using cell phone cameras to take photos of those testifying during the cases, said Lt. Thomas Carter.
The ban, which started this week, also includes pagers and any audio or visual recording devices.