Brian C. Rittmeyer stories

On Dec. 7, 1941, 16-year-old Warren Goss was told to get to Mount Royal Boulevard and sell newspapers. Goss, a dyslexic, grade school dropout who grew up with six siblings on a chicken farm in Shaler, didn’t understand the headline of the day. “I was hollering, ‘Extra paper, bomb Pearl...

A realignment of Shaler’s township administration is continuing under its new manager, Judy Kording. Commissioners on Oct. 14 hired Sharon Lobosco as administrative assistant. Her salary was set at $44,000, and she is scheduled to start on Nov. 10. Lobosco, an administrative assistant coming to the township from a kitchen...

As they had in the primary, five candidates are vying for four seats up for election this year on the nine-member Hampton School Board. Incumbent board members Denise Balason, Jill Hamlin and Larry Vasko were cross-filed for the primary and won each party’s nomination. Board member Gregory Stein, who was...

Four candidates are vying for three seats on Hampton’s five-member council in the Nov. 4 election. Council members are elected at-large, or across the entire township, every four years. Seeking reelection are incumbents Carolynn Johnson, Bethany Blackburn and Julie Fritsch. They were unopposed in the Democratic primary. Fritsch and Johnson...

Ross residents will be electing commissioners in four of the township’s nine voting wards on Nov. 4 — but there is a wrinkle in one of them. Ross has nine commissioners, each from a ward, who are staggered so that roughly half of the board is up for election in...

Voters in the North Hills School District have full slates of Democratic and Republican candidates to choose from to fill four of the school board’s nine seats up for election this year. The primary erased cross-filing among the candidates, resulting in four Democrats and four Republicans being on the ballot....

The Ross municipal building and community center will be closed to the public Thursday through Wednesday, Oct. 22, the township announced Tuesday. The building is being closed while its parking lot is being milled and paved. All community center programming is canceled. The township’s parks and recreation, finance, community development...

Three of seven Shaler commissioners are seeking reelection on Nov. 4, but voters will see a contested race in only one of three wards. In Ward 2, Republican incumbent David Mizgorski is challenged by Democrat Josh Fleitman. Councilman Conrad Wagner is unopposed in Ward 4, while Councilman James Boyle is...

Voters in the Shaler Area School District’s first and second regions have choices to make for school board on Nov. 4. Five of the board’s nine seats are up for election, with contested races for three of the five — two seats in Region 1 and one seat in Region...

Christine Bodnar placed a celebratory cigar at her father’s grave in Allegheny County Memorial Park in McCandless on Sunday. After 82 years, his lost brother is home. Tech. Sgt. Paul F. Eshelman Jr., a gunner on a World War II bomber, was shot down in Europe in August 1943. His...

A man died after being found shot Sunday in White Oak, Allegheny County Police said. A shooting at Jacks Run Road and Lincoln Way was reported to Allegheny County 911 around 2:15 p.m. First responders found the man suffering from gunshot wounds, county police said. He was taken to a...

A 28-year-old man is accused of killing a woman in her North Braddock apartment Saturday morning. Allegheny County Police on Sunday said they charged Victor Ramon Estrella Cordero with criminal homicide in the death of Faith Henley, 66. According to county police, Eastern Mon Valley Regional Police responded to a...

Multiple Allegheny County 911 dispatchers who had just ended their shifts were credited with saving two drivers from a fiery crash on eastbound Interstate 376 in Robinson early Saturday. The crash on the inbound highway, between the Summit Park Drive bridge and the interchange for Routes 22/30 and 60, Exit...

Nearly two dozen people are out of their homes after a fire Saturday morning in Pittsburgh’s Banksville neighborhood, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety. Firefighters responded around 10:50 a.m. to the fire in the 400 block of Mapleview Drive. The fire, believed to have started in an apartment bedroom, produced heavy...

A homemade slingshot and 200 pounds of potatoes made for a good time for young and old alike at Leechburg’s Fall Festival on Saturday. “Amazing. Loved it,” said Gretchen Bailey, of Parks Township, after she fired some spuds into the Kiski River. “I never launched potatoes into a river.” This...

A hunter died after falling from a tree stand Friday in Washington Township, authorities said. Kent David Horrell, 64, died early Friday afternoon, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said Saturday. Horrell was a resident of Washington Township. He died at AHN Forbes Hospital in Monroeville, according to his obituary...

A Pittsburgh police officer suffered head injuries Saturday after being hit by a car that had been reported stolen, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety. According to police, reports of the stolen vehicle were received around 10 a.m. A license plate reader detected it entering the department’s Zone 1, which covers...

A gnat infestation was among high-risk violations that prompted the Allegheny County Health Department to issue a consumer alert for a Richland restaurantthis week. During an inspection Monday, Oct. 6, at Scoreboard Lounge on William Flinn Highway, the health department said it found a dozen food safety violations, four considered...

A Pittsburgh-area World War II serviceman whose remains were unidentified for 80 years will be laid to rest back home on Sunday, Oct. 12. Paul F. Eshleman Jr., 21, was a technical sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Forces. He was a radio operator on a B-24 Liberator that was...

While Pine-Richland School District administrators are saying a mix of a spending cuts and a property tax increase will be needed to close a $4.9 million deficit, more cuts are not expected to be possible in special education, where the district is serving more students with fewer staff. In fact,...

Alle-Kiski Valley churches were among those celebrating the Feast of St. Francis this weekend with pet blessings. St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Brackenridge held its blessing service Saturday, while Christ Our Hope Anglican Church in Harrison offered blessings for pets Sunday. The ceremony is held annually, often Oct. 4, the...

A fire caused heavy damage to the concession stand at East Allegheny’s Churchman Stadium in North Versailles Sunday, said the North Versailles fire department. The fire happened prior to a youth football game, the East Allegheny School District said in a statement. Images of the fire showed flames inside the...

A man was in critical condition after being shot in a parking lot at The Waterworks shopping center near Aspinwall late Saturday night, according to police. According to authorities, the victim walked into the emergency room at UPMC St. Margaret Hospital, which is adjacent to the Waterworks, around 11:30 p.m....

A takeout box of chicken wings helped state police identify a man who fled from a traffic stop in Beaver County earlier this year. State police on Thursday filed nearly two dozen charges against Michael Richard Doran, 43, of Beaver Falls. According to state police, a trooper tried to stop...

A woman who was shot by Pittsburgh police at the end of a car chase more than a dozen years ago died this week, and her death has been ruled a homicide. Lena Davenport, 61, was taken to the emergency room at UPMC Mercy hospital after being found unresponsive at...