Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 123
Fundraising for memorial to murdered New Kensington girl completed
The memory of young Tiffany Miller will remain strong. In just a week, enough money was raised to make sure New Kensington’s newest park will have a memorial to Tiffany, who was 5 when she was murdered 40 years ago. “I was surprised it only took a week,” said Aaron...
Scratch-off lottery tickets taken in burglary of Lawrence County restaurant
Hundreds of Pennsylvania scratch-off lottery tickets with a face value of several thousand dollars were taken in the burglary of a Lawrence County restaurant, according to state police. State police said Ryder’s Restaurant on Route 18 in Wilmington Township was burglarized between 6:30 p.m. Sunday and 6 a.m. Monday. In...
Tarentum to begin seeking bids for building demolitions
Tarentum may hire multiple contractors for the first phase of a building demolition project this year. The borough will begin seeking bids Tuesday for the demolition of up to 26 properties, Borough Manager Michael Nestico said. Bids are due by 2 p.m. Oct. 18, when they’ll be publicly opened. The...
Allegheny County DA doesn’t recommend charges in Harmar double stabbing
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday recommended not filing charges against anyone involved in a fight where two men stabbed each other. The fight at the Valley Motel on Freeport Road in Harmar was reported shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to Allegheny County Police. None of the...
Plum man dies in motorcycle crash
A 24-year-old Plum man died early Saturday after a crash on Unity Center Road. Allegheny County Police said Brandon Hugh Patton was on a motorcycle that slid across the road into a Nissan SUV driven by a 25-year-old woman, who was not identified, in the 1000 block of Unity Center...
Gas prices edge lower as Saudi Arabia oil supply resumes
Gasoline prices are down in Pittsburgh and across the nation in the past week, with the exception of California, according to GasBuddy. “Oil prices have cooled back off after Saudi Arabia brought a significant portion of oil production and processing back online, helping the national average to begin moving lower...
New Kensington woman organizes sock drive to benefit homeless sheltersVideo
People are generous when it comes to donating new and gently used clothing, says Michelle Gibb, executive director of the Alle-Kiski Area HOPE Center. “The things that don’t show up in clothing pantries or clothing closets are new socks and underwear, which is really something you can’t have used,” Gibb...
New Kensington, Arnold agree on handling of code, zoning matters at industrial park
New Kensington and Arnold both approved an agreement giving New Kensington complete control of code and zoning matters at Schreiber Industrial Park, which spans both cities. New Kensington’s Redevelopment Authority bought the park for about $8 million in 2018. It stretches for more than a mile along the Allegheny River....
Harrison Township refuses to address police union’s pension enhancement request
Harrison commissioners will not entertain a request from its police officers union to enhance their pensions under the existing contract. Teamsters Local 249, which represents the township’s 12 rank-and-file officers, asked the township to consider enhancements to their pensions as they had for police Chief Mike Klein, said Keith Frank,...
‘Ghost Tour’ to bring local history to life at Brackenridge’s Prospect Cemetery
The past will come to life through the voices of the dead at Prospect Cemetery in Brackenridge. But it is history, not fright, that is the focus of the cemetery’s annual Historical Ghost Tour, being held this year Oct. 10. From the cemetery’s more than 17,000 graves, 13 belonging to...
Arnold schedules fall cleanup for city residents
Arnold residents with things they don’t want but can’t get rid of will have a chance to clean house early next month. The city will hold its fall cleanup event on Saturday, Oct. 5. It will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. along Third Avenue at 18th Street, with...
Elizabeth Bridge closed indefinitely after crack discovered; detour announced
The Elizabeth Bridge spanning the Monongahela River was closed Thursday night and will be closed indefinitely, according to PennDOT. The bridge, on Route 51 between Elizabeth and West Elizabeth, was slated to be shut down at about 10 p.m. Thursday. PennDOT said the bridge was being closed because of a...
New Kensington-Arnold track, football field to be off-limits while surfaces replaced
New Kensington-Arnold School District’s track and football field will be off limits when work to replace their surfaces starts, Superintendent John Pallone said. In August, the school board approved paying ATT Sports about $205,000 to replace the track, and Sprinturf nearly $320,000 for the artificial surface for the football field...
Beloved Highlands turtle to find new home at middle school rain garden
A 1,400-pound concrete turtle that has called two Highlands School District schools home over the past half-century is on the move again. Plans are in the works to move the large concrete turtle in early November to Highlands Middle School in Harrison, where it will become part of a new...
Harrison chooses higher bid for sidewalk ramp work
Harrison commissioners are not going with the lowest bidder for more handicapped-accessible sidewalk ramps in the township. Ron Gillette Inc. submitted the lowest bid for the work, but the commissioners awarded the contract to the second-lowest bidder, Santamaria Landscaping and Cement Contractors. Commissioners accepted Santamaria’s $20,832 bid for four ramps...
Gas leak that forced evacuation of New Kensington vo-tech school to be investigatedVideo
The state’s Public Utility Commission said it will investigate a gas line break Wednesday in New Kensington that forced the evacuation of a school. Northern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center was evacuated in the morning and closed for the rest of the day after work crews ruptured a natural gas...
Metal 3D printing on display at The Corner in New KensingtonVideo
Technology in 3D printing is advancing and one day could rival traditional manufacturing techniques, according to a local expert in the field. Howard Kuhn, a University of Pittsburgh adjunct professor who has taught additive manufacturing — another term for 3D printing — for the past 15 years, was among those...
Harrison approves zoning amendment for school bus depot
Highlands School District’s new bus company will be able to keep its depot in Harrison right where it is. Harrison commissioners approved amending the township’s zoning ordinance to allow a school bus depot in the S-1 Special zoning district. That includes the property on Springhill Road where ABC Transit set...
Gas prices spike following attacks on Saudi Arabia
The national average price of gasoline is up for the first time in 10 weeks following the attacks on Saudi Arabia, according to the price-tracking website GasBuddy.com. The national average has gone up 8.5 cents per gallon in the past week to $2.66, GasBuddy reported. The 8.3 cents-per-gallon increase in...
Tarentum’s Hebe statue welcomes arrival of fall
It may not feel like it, but autumn is here — and Tarentum’s Hebe statue is ready for it. Fall officially arrived at 3:50 a.m. Monday. At the borough’s end of the Tarentum Bridge, which sees some 30,000 vehicles daily according to PennDOT, the statue of Hebe is sporting a...
Fundraising begins for memorial for murdered New Kensington child
Donations have started pouring in to help pay for a memorial for a New Kensington child murdered 40 years ago. Tiffany Miller was 5 years old when she went missing from her home in Peach Court on Sept. 21, 1979. Her body was found in the Allegheny River in Plum...
Memorial to honor 5-year-old Tiffany Miller, murdered in New Kensington 40 years ago
It doesn’t take long looking at Tiffany Miller’s well-kept grave at Union Cemetery in Arnold to realize her death was a tragedy. Tiffany was 5 years old when she died 40 years ago in 1979. She might have said she was almost 6, her birthday coming in December. While her...
Woman’s body recovered from Mon River
Authorities say a woman’s body was recovered from the Monongahela River Thursday morning. According to Pittsburgh police, officers went to the Homestead Grays Bridge around 10:15 a.m. in response to a report of an unoccupied, possibly disabled vehicle in the southbound lanes. Around the same time, a person called 911...
Harrison’s Honor Roll memorial partially restored
Crews with Greensburg-based Allegheny Restoration completed masonry work this week on the veterans’ Honor Roll memorial at Freeport and Springhill roads in Harrison. Over three days, the company removed mortar between the limestone memorial’s stones, repointed it, pressure washed it, replaced broken stone, applied caulking on its cap stones, and...
Highlands OKs $3K performance bonus for business manager
Highlands School District’s business manager has received a $3,000 performance bonus. The school board approved the payment to Lori Byron this week. School board President Debbie Beale said Superintendent Monique Mawhinney recommended the bonus for Byron. Mawhinney did not respond to request for comment through district spokeswoman Jennifer Goldberg. Beale...
