Brian C. Rittmeyer stories

For nearly 30 years, Bob Breen helped hire law enforcement officers as part of his work with the Pennsylvania Civil Service Commission. That included state police troopers, parole and probation officers, and Game Commission officers, he said. Now that Breen’s retired, the Ross resident is getting a glimpse inside the...

An effort to find abandoned and orphaned gas wells in parts of Southwestern Pennsylvania took to the sky Sept. 21 over Ross Park Mall. The flights, conducted before the mall opened, marked the start of field work to survey parts of Ross and Shaler along with areas of North Fayette...

The Shaler Area School Board approved hiring an assistant principal for the district’s high school about a month after he started working. While the district says it followed “standard protocol” in hiring the administrator, it’s a practice that should not be, says Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania...

An effort to find abandoned and orphaned gas wells in parts of Southwestern Pennsylvania took to the sky Sunday morning over Ross Park Mall. The flights, conducted before the mall opened, marked the start of field work to survey parts of Ross and Shaler along with areas of North Fayette...

A police incident that started in Butler County early Sunday morning ended with a roughly three-hour standoff in Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhood. Pittsburgh officers went to the 100 block of Parkhurst Street, near Allegheny General Hospital, just before 5 a.m. to help Cranberry and state police after a man barricaded...

A 27-year-old man was shot at a nightclub in Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood early Sunday morning, according to Pittsburgh police. The man arrived at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital by private vehicle just before 2:30 a.m., police said. He had been shot once in the hip. He was taken to another hospital, where...

An Allegheny County Health Department inspector shut down a Thai street food restaurant in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood after finding its kitchen was overwhelmingly contaminated by rodent droppings. The department on Tuesday ordered the closure of Took Took 98 on Murray Avenue. While the restaurant said on its Facebook page...

Sherry Price was feeling relief tinged with a little sadness as Leechburg’s 14th annual Pink Day was underway around her Saturday. As people from near and far flocked to the borough’s Market Street for a day of fun for a good cause, Price knew it was the last one she’d...

The Shaler Area School District has prepared a plan that calls for closing the district’s elementary school and changing where some grade levels are housed. The district announced Thursday that it will present the plan, called “Building for Tomorrow,” during a community forum beginning at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29,...

Traffic restrictions and future work plans for a redesign of the Wexford interchange on Interstate 79 will be discussed at two meetings next week in Franklin Park, PennDOT announced Wednesday. Two sessions will be held, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and 5:30 to 7 p.m., on Sept. 24 at Saints...

Construction of an addition to the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum in Richland won’t derail its holiday train show. The 37th annual show is slated to run from Nov. 8 to Jan. 11 at the museum on Route 910 at Lakeside Drive, museum President Ray Mueser said. Work will still...

The Pine-Richland School District could seek to increase property taxes by more than its state-imposed inflation limit as it grapples with a nearly $5 million deficit for the 2026-27 school year. Superintendent Brian Miller said he and Christopher Juzwick, the district’s director of finance and operations, are recommending at least...

The Pine-Richland School Board has approved a pay increase for Superintendent Brian Miller. In finding that Miller had met performance standards for the 2024-25 academic year, the board set his salary at $221,707. That’s a 2.5% increase from the $216,300 salary the board set for Miller in August 2024 when...

Building renovations at Shaler Area Middle School have been reduced in cost from more than $20 million to about $8.2 million over the next three years. While still replacing the school’s entire roof, HVAC work would be limited to replacing two or three of the units in the worst condition...

Stewards of Western Pennsylvania waterways are hoping a machine being used to prevent litter from polluting the Baltimore harbor could help keep the Steel City’s rivers clean. Two nonprofit organizations, Allegheny CleanWays and Three Rivers Waterkeeper, are working on bringing a “trash wheel” to the Monongahela River near Hazelwood. Powered...

A man died in a crash on Route 576 in South Fayette after police say he stabbed a woman and a boy in Robinson Township Sunday morning. According to Allegheny County Police, the stabbing in the 100 block of K Row in Robinson was reported shortly after 8 a.m. First...

A middle school teacher from Mount Pleasant is accused of exchanging nude photos with a 14-year-old child. Ashley Mongell, 30, is a seventh grade science teacher at Connellsville Area Middle School. State police said they began investigating Mongell and her contact with the child after Instagram made a report to...

A Brooklyn man is being held in the Beaver County Jail after state police say he stole more than $100,000 from a person in Aliquippa. State police charged Xinhua Chen, 35, with felony counts of theft by deception and extortion. At an arraignment Saturday morning, he was denied bail as...

Gus Scalo didn’t win a stein-holding competition at Pittsburgh Brewing in East Deer on Saturday, but he showed that beer who the boss was by chugging it after bowing out. “It looks a lot easier than it is,” he said. “I’m feeling it, man, I’m feeling it.” The stein-holding competition...

A 19-year-old man died in a crash in North Apollo late Friday night. The Armstrong County Coroner’s Office identified the man as Jace Albert Hoe III, of Kiski Township. The crash, at Pegtown Avenue and River Road, was reported shortly before 10 p.m., an Armstrong County 911 dispatcher said. Hoe...

The Shaler Area School District has a new business manager. During a special voting meeting Wednesday, Sept. 10, the school board approved hiring Kimberly Pawlishak as director of finance and operations for a three-year term beginning on or about Dec. 10. Her salary was set at $140,000. Pawlishak is coming...

West View is moving forward with preparations for a new municipal complex and fire department garage. The borough will pay EOS Studio Arc $28,760 for design services for the complex. It will consist of a repurposing of the existing West View Firemen’s Banquet Hall and the adjacent area now home...

The Shaler commissioners have accepted disciplinary actions one of the township’s volunteer fire departments meted out in August following allegations some of its members responded to a call under the influence of alcohol. The Undercliff Volunteer Fire Co. on Aug. 19 suspended three of the five members involved in the...

Northbound traffic on Interstate 79 will be restricted at night by work on the new $46.5 million Wexford interchange, PennDOT announced Tuesday, Sept. 9. Restrictions will occur from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. weeknights and as-needed on weekends from 7 p.m. to 9 a.m. They will include northbound I-79 being...

PennDOT plans to close the northbound 62nd Street Bridge, Route 8, between Pittsburgh and Etna this weekend, the agency announced Tuesday. The bridge is scheduled to be closed from 9 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday while crews are working. Traffic will be detoured. The posted detour will be: •...