Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 140
Family of 5 escape unharmed from Clairton house fire
Five people and three dogs escaped unhurt from a house fire in Clairton on Thursday night. The house on Constitution Circle was fully engulfed, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. Sources tell me that this fire started because of a grill on a porch. Multiple people and pets in the...
Mt. Lebanon High School reopens after water main break
Mt. Lebanon High School will be open for students and staff Thursday while crews continue work to fix water main breaks near the school. The school was closed Wednesday because of the two water main breaks on Cochran Road. Water service has been restored to the school, according to the...
Woman killed in Fayette County house fire
A state police fire marshal is investigating the cause of a fatal house fire early Thursday in Springhill Township, Fayette County. The victim was a woman in her 70s who lived in the lower level of a garage apartment in the 100 block of Greater Point Marion Road, according to...
Highlands program to focus on opioid addiction
Opioid addiction will be the subject of a movie and discussion panel at Highlands High School on Wednesday. The school district and the Allegheny-Kiski Health Foundation are sponsoring the workshop “Opioid Addiction: True Confessions of Pain, Misery and Destruction” in the high school auditorium. Middle and high school students and...
Police search for driver who fired gun in Route 28 road rage incident
Police are looking for a driver who allegedly fired three shots at another car in a road rage incident on Route 28, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. According to WPXI, investigators said the alleged shooter targeted a woman driving southbound on Route 28 near the East Ohio Street exit...
Butler County native’s heart donated to 10-year-old after fatal Tennessee crash
The heart of a Jefferson Township native who died Saturday in a crash along a Tennessee highway will go to a 10-year-old. Sarah Kasunic, 23, was an organ donor, according to information shared in a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for her funeral. The fundraising effort had taken in almost...
Water main break closes Mt. Lebanon High School
Mt. Lebanon High School is closed Wednesday because of a water main break, the district announced on its website. Cochran Road had been closed near the high school, but has reopened, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. Drivers are being advised to avoid Cochran between Cedar Boulevard and Washington Road/Route...
Just Ducky Tours resuming Pittsburgh operations in April
Quack, quack — duck boat tours are coming back. Just Ducky Tours, which operates eight World War II-era amphibious craft out of Pittsburgh’s Station Square, announced on its website that it will be resuming its land and water tours in mid- to late April. The company ended its 2018 season...
Chemical spill closes Pittsburgh postal distribution center
The U.S. Postal Service has suspended retail services at the Pittsburgh Network Distribution Center in Marshall after a chemical spill. Spokesman Tad Kelley said the chemical was identified as mercury. “All employees are safe and accounted for and none were exposed to the contaminant,” Kelley said Tuesday. “Professional environmental contractors...
Dish soap spill closes eastbound Turnpike in Chester County
An extended closure of the Pennsylvania Turnpike between Downington and Valley Forge is expected Tuesday after a truck crash spilled dish soap on the highway in Chester County. The eastbound lanes are closed between exits 312, Downington, and 326, Valley Forge, because of the crash involving the truck and a...
Upper Lawrenceville home hit by gunfire
Pittsburgh police are looking for a gunman after multiple shots were fired into an Upper Lawrenceville home early Tuesday morning. Four to five shots were fired just after midnight into the house on Kendall Street, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. At least one bullet went through a window. Police...
Homewood mother charged after 3-year-old found nearly naked outside
Pittsburgh police allegedly found three children living in filthy conditions in a Homewood rowhouse after one of them was seen standing outside nearly naked in near-freezing conditions. Police charged Stevatezia Terrelle Cha Mickel, 23, with two felony counts of endangering the welfare of children on March 18, according to court...
Police: Burglar ‘sprinted’ way through Donegal Subway shop
A burglar sprinted his way through a Donegal Subway after breaking into it earlier this month, state police said. The burglary happened between 12:30 and 12:45 a.m. on Saturday, March 9, state police said in a release issued Tuesday. Police said the unknown person pried open the main entrance door...
Police investigating South Side stabbing
A man was stabbed multiple times during a fight early Monday morning in Pittsburgh’s South Side, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. Police and paramedics were called shortly after 1 a.m. to the 1100 block of East Carson Street, where the man was found in a parked car. Investigators learned...
Pittsburgh gas prices hold steady as rises seen in all states
Drivers in the Pittsburgh area got a break from rising gas prices, but that wasn’t the case across the state and nation. Average gas prices in Pittsburgh did not change over the past week, remaining at $2.76 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 731 stations. That’s 12.3 cents per...
White Oak police seek suspect in Wendy’s armed robbery
White Oak police arrested three of four people wanted in connection with the armed robbery of a Jacks Run Road Wendy’s restaurant Friday night. The department said officers responded to the robbery in the 2800 block of Jacks Run Road around 9:15 p.m. Friday. Two men “armed with pistols and...
Cindy’s Soft Serve returns for second season in TarentumVideo
It’s said many new businesses often fail in their first year. Cindy Hatajik can believe it, even if hers isn’t one of them. The first year of Cindy’s Soft Serve, Custard & More in Tarentum was rough, but she and her husband, Bob, are back for a second season in...
Highlands adds 3 new electives at high school for 2019-20
Highlands High School students will have three new elective courses to take in the 2019-20 school year. The school board approved adding courses in SAT Prep, Community Engagement and Introduction to Computer Science. The SAT Prep class will be a full-year course available to sophomores and juniors. It will prepare...
Harrison hosting ‘Too Toxic to Trash’ recycling collections in April
Editor’s note: Due to incorrect information provided by the township, this report has been updated to correct the rates for CRT TVs and monitors and paint. Registration is open for Harrison’s “Too Toxic to Trash” recycling collection events for household hazardous and electronic waste in April. The township is holding...
PennDOT to present plans for Kiski Township bridge replacement
A seven-mile detour is expected to be in place when PennDOT replaces a bridge on Kiski Township’s Shady Plain Road in three years. Project plans will be on display during meetings April 16 at the township building. The public meeting for residents will be from 6 to 7 p.m. It...
Sheetz to hire more than 1K employees in Pennsylvania
If you go to Sheetz so much you feel like you should work there, now’s your chance. The Altoona-based convenience store chain announced Thursday it is planning to hire more than 2,500 employees, including more than 1,100 in Pennsylvania. Open interviews for the full- and part-time positions will be held...
Grants available to help rural, low-income, disabled homeowners
Grants are available to help rural, low-income disabled homeowners in six southwestern Pennsylvania counties make repairs and renovations to their homes. Disability Options Network, a non-profit based in New Castle, is administering a recently-awarded Housing Preservation Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The grants are provided to very low...
Harrison loses chairmen of planning, recreation boards
Harrison will be seeking new members for its recreation board and planning commission after the heads of both submitted their resignations. Jason Paulovich is resigning from the planning commission, while Joshua Nulph is stepping down from the township’s recreation board. Paulovich, 43, said he is leaving the five-member planning commission...
Highlands hires appraiser to determine value of Fawn school eyed for closure
The Highlands School District is going to find out how much its former elementary school in Fawn is worth. The school board has hired Integra Realty Resources to prepare an appraisal of the Highlands Support Center, formerly Fawn Primary Center. The district will pay the Pittsburgh firm $2,400 for its...
18 Harrison roads on list for township’s 2019 road resurfacing program
Harrison is planning to resurface 18 roads this year. The township is seeking bids for the work. Bids are due to the township’s engineer, NIRA Consulting Engineers, by 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 26. The township is expecting the work to cost about $350,000, according to the bid advertisement. Roads included...
