Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 106
Sheriff’s sale dashes Harrison woman’s plan for bakery, cafe in Natrona
Linda Gromley has operated her home business, “Fifty Shades of Cake,” out of her kitchen in Harrison’s Natrona section for two years, baking everything from pies and cookies to bread and, of course, cakes. She had hoped to grow beyond a home business by putting in a commercial kitchen and...
Twirl Time Studio relocates from Pittsburgh Mills mall to The Clement in TarentumVideo
Moving into the Pittsburgh Mills mall went so well for Marianne Rieg that her dance studio, Twirl Time, grew to fill two storefronts serving 200 kids. Covid-19 changed that. Her studio shut down in March. Although the Frazer mall reopened, its earlier closing time didn’t work for her business, primarily...
New Kensington record store reopening over Labor Day weekend at new location
A New Kensington record store will reopen this weekend in a new location designed with social distancing in mind. AJ Rassau, owner of Preserving Underground with his wife, Sarah, is spreading his store’s grand reopening over the Labor Day weekend to keep the crowd from becoming overwhelming. Preserving Underground is...
Fawn plans to continue hearing for suspended police officer in wake of federal lawsuit filing
Fawn officials announced that a hearing for a suspended township police officer will resume this month. Earlier this week, the officer filed a federal lawsuit against the township, three of its supervisors and the police chief. An attorney representing Officer Keith Lazaron II said he does not agree with the...
Harrison commissioners approve agreement for Springhill Road path
The Harrison commissioners were given a round of applause by a handful of residents Wednesday after unanimously approving a maintenance agreement with Allegheny County for a shared pedestrian and bicycle path along Springhill Road. The $1.3 million path is now expected to be built next year, said Jason Molinero, deputy...
New Kensington’s Pioneer Apartments taking applications for residents, opening Oct. 1Video
Pioneer Apartments in New Kensington remains an unfinished construction project at this point, but people are expected to begin calling it home within a month. Wesley Family Services plans to open Pioneer Apartments on Oct. 1 and is now accepting applications for potential residents, said Stephen Christian-Michaels, chief executive officer...
Suspended Fawn police officer files federal lawsuit alleging violation of rights
A suspended Fawn police officer alleges in a federal lawsuit that three township supervisors and the police chief conspired to deprive him of his rights after he would not cite a supervisor’s neighbor for an outdoor fire earlier this year. Keith F. Lazaron II, 35, of Allegheny Township filed the...
Harrison shared-use path on Springhill Road in jeopardy if township rejects maintenance pact, county says
A $1.3 million pedestrian and bicycle path on Springhill Road in Harrison may not be built if township officials don’t make good on a three-year-old commitment to maintain it by Thursday. Harrison Commissioners have scheduled a special meeting for 3 p.m. Wednesday to consider the maintenance agreement with Allegheny County....
Police: 19-year-old arrested with stolen gun after Arnold officers hear shots fired
Arnold police said they found a 19-year-old man carrying a stolen handgun after officers investigated shots they heard fired in the city Sunday night. Demontre J. Chambers allegedly matched the description of a man Arnold police saw running from the area of the shooting. A New Kensington officer arrested Chambers...
New Kensington-Arnold approves security upgrades, delays softball field, air conditioning work
Security systems at two New Kensington-Arnold schools will be upgraded, but renovations to a softball field and replacement of an air-conditioning unit will have to wait. The school board approved paying 2 Krew Security & Surveillance $106,000 for security upgrades at Martin and H.D. Berkey elementary schools. What the upgrades...
New Kensington-Arnold hires wife of acting superintendent as teacher
The same day Jon Banko was named acting superintendent of New Kensington-Arnold School District, his wife was hired as an elementary teacher in the district. Banko conceded the hiring of his wife, Nicole Banko, could appear inappropriate to some. But he said he was not involved in her interview nor...
$900K car wash proposed for Tarentum Bridge Road in New Kensington
A car wash has been proposed to replace a building housing a pizza shop and cellphone store on Tarentum Bridge Road in New Kensington. For that to happen, the proposed project will need a variance from the city’s zoning, which does not allow a car wash at that location, said...
New Kensington to award contract for demolition of former bar, hotel buildings
A woman living across from a rundown New Kensington building that was once a bar is happy it will soon be gone, while a business owner whose garage is across from an empty former hotel in the city wonders how it got so bad that tearing it down is all...
Tarentum woman, 19, becoming 3rd owner of Merle Norman Cosmetics studioVideo
Mary Lee Naccarato first learned of Olivia Grace Fertig from a newspaper story. She was so impressed by the young woman that Naccarato offered her a job at her New Kensington Merle Norman Cosmetics studio. Just over a year later, Naccarato, 73, of Washington Township is retiring, and Fertig, 19,...
More than a dozen shots fired in Arnold shooting, man hit in foot
A man was shot in the foot Thursday afternoon in Arnold in a shooting in which more than a dozen rounds were fired. The shooting was reported to 911 at 1:10 p.m., a Westmoreland County dispatcher said. Shell casings were found in the 1500 block of Kenneth Avenue, just on...
Police: Speed a factor in fatal Route 28 crash in Harrison
A Harrison man was speeding on Route 28 before a crash that claimed his life Tuesday, according to state police. Charles A. Crowe Jr., 48, of Harrison, died at the scene of the one-vehicle crash shortly after 7:30 p.m. near Exit 15 in Harrison. Police said Crowe had been traveling...
Police suspect medical issue behind fatal Harmar crash at Route 28 exit
A medical condition is suspected in a crash that killed one man and seriously injured another in Harmar on Tuesday night, according to township police. Robert Burkardt, 68, of Penn Hills was the driver in the crash on Route 910 at the southbound Route 28 exit that was reported to...
New Kensington-Arnold approves later start, names acting superintendent
New Kensington-Arnold School District has formalized a later start to the coming school year, which it will begin with a temporary leader. The school board Tuesday approved a revised calendar for the 2020-21 school year that puts the first day of school after Labor Day on Tuesday, Sept. 8. That’s...
Harrison raises concerns over maintenance agreement for Springhill Road project
Harrison officials want to talk with Allegheny County representatives about their concerns over a maintenance agreement for a pedestrian and bicycle path the county will build along Springhill Road. Township Manager Rich Hill said the township wants to define and refine what the township’s responsibilities for the path will be...
Week-in-review: Protests outside Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto’s home tops this week’s newsVideo
Protests outside the home of Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, a motorcycle run in memory of a slain New Kensington police officer, a long-time Pittsburgh radio personality going off the air, a fatal crash between a train and a truck and a lawsuit against Chipotle were among the top news reported...
Homewood man sentenced to 30-60 years in prison in 2017 attempted homicide, robbery
A Homewood man will spend 30-to-60 years in prison for shooting and robbing a woman in 2017. Jawan Johnson was sentenced Wednesday before Judge Randal Todd. A jury convicted him in February on charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and robbery. Police arrested Johnson in July 2017. Johnson was charged...
Highlands changes property tax due dates, extends discount time
Property owners in Highlands School District have more time to pay their school property taxes at a discounted rate. Act 75 of 2020 allows school districts to extend their property tax discount and base periods and waive penalties through June 30, 2021. It’s at each school board’s discretion what to...
Man stable after hitting back of PAT bus on motorcycle in Duquesne
A man was in stable condition after crashing his motorcycle into the back of a Port Authority bus in Duquesne Thursday night. The crash happened around 9 p.m. at Route 837 and Library Road, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. The 35-year-old man on the motorcycle was heading in the...
New Kensington, Arnold officials celebrate company’s $6M investment in manufacturing parkVideo
** Editor’s note: The original version of this story misstated the amount of money Pennsylvania taxpayers are contributing to this project. The error was as a result of incorrect information provided to the Tribune-Review. ** A $6 million project is keeping 50 manufacturing jobs in the Alle-Kiski Valley. Affival Inc....
Truck driver dies in crash with train in CheswickVideo
The driver of a tractor-trailer died in a collision with a train Thursday morning in Cheswick, according to Allegheny County Police. The crash happened at Pittsburgh and Blockdale streets about 5:20 a.m., according to Allegheny County 911. The collision appeared to push the trailer into a corner of a building....
