Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 64
Man found shot dead in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville
A 31-year-old man was found shot to death in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood on Friday morning, according to Pittsburgh police. The victim, Alec Gary Wilbur, was pronounced dead around 7:20 a.m. Friday in the 200 block of McKinley Street, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said. Police said they found Wilbur...
Beaver County dog euthanized after being found tied up outside in heat
A dog in Beaver County was cooked from the inside after being left out in the heat Wednesday without shade or water, according to a report from Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV. The full-grown husky was euthanized because of heat stroke. Its owner, Di Xiao, 29, of Baden is charged with...
Storm risk coming ahead of break from hot, muggy weather
Some relief from the recent hot and muggy weather is coming, but getting there could a bumpy road for some parts of the Pittsburgh region. On Wednesday, temperatures reached 92 degrees at Pittsburgh International Airport, where official records are recorded. That fell 4 degrees short of the record high of...
Police detain man seen running from McKees Rocks house fire
A man was detained by police after he was seen running from a house fire in McKees Rocks Wednesday night, Allegheny County Police said. Police did not identify the man, or say if he was placed under arrest or charged with any crimes. According to police, a domestic disturbance at...
Heat advisory issued for Southwestern Pennsylvania counties
The National Weather Service has issued an advisory for excessive heat in Southwestern Pennsylvania on Wednesday. Counties covered by the advisory include all of Armstrong, Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene and Washington counties, most of Westmoreland County with the exception of the eastern ridges, and the western half of Fayette County....
‘Knight Rider’ tractor, trailer reunited in Butler CountyVideo
Many cars were used to portray KITT, the Knight Industries Two Thousand, on the television series “Knight Rider.” Joe Huth of Butler County co-owns one of five that still exist. But there was only one trailer used over the four seasons of the 1980s show as the Foundation for Law...
Police say man pointed gun at people, fired shot in Pittsburgh’s Crawford-Roberts
Pittsburgh police arrested a man late Sunday after responding to a report of a man pointing a gun at people at a gas station in the Crawford-Roberts neighborhood. Kevin Tyrone Bennett, 50, of Spartanburg, S.C., was charged Monday with discharging a firearm and tampering with evidence in connection with the...
Severe weather mostly misses Pittsburgh; high temperatures on the way
A threat of severe weather with hurricane-force winds is over for the Pittsburgh area, a National Weather Service meteorologist said early Tuesday. No watches or warnings are active for Southwestern Pennsylvania, meteorologist Jason Frazier said. One line of thunderstorms fizzled out as it moved into Washington and Greene counties, but...
Man found shot dead in Penn Hills
A man was shot and killed in Penn Hills early Tuesday. Allegheny County Police said the shooting was reported in the 200 block of Crescent Pines Drive around 1:50 a.m. First responders found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The...
Arnold’s Simpson Reinforcing in the bones of many Pittsburgh landmarks
Just about everyone in the Pittsburgh area has seen the work of Bob Simpson’s company, without ever seeing it. And they’ve walked through it, sat in it and driven on it, probably without knowing it. Simpson’s business, Simpson Reinforcing in Arnold, made the steel reinforcing bars, or rebar, that’s in...
Gasoline demand remains strong despite record-high prices, analysts say
Americans are proving resilient to record high gas prices, and there isn’t much clear-cut relief in sight, an industry analyst said. The imbalance between supply and demand likely will continue for most of the summer and could worsen with a major hurricane or refinery snag, Patrick De Haan, head of...
1 dead, 1 injured in Manchester shooting
One person was killed and another was critically wounded in a shooting in Pittsburgh’s Manchester neighborhood Sunday night, police said. Police said officers responded around 9 p.m. to an alert of 12 rounds fired in the 1300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. Officers found an unconscious man on the 1300 block...
Ohio man found dead in Butler County
State police are investigating an Ohio man’s death in Butler County as a homicide. State police said the body of Frederick Orr, 32, of Columbus, was found around 3:30 a.m. Saturday along Kelly Road in Muddy Creek Township. Police said they were awaiting autopsy results and an investigation is ongoing....
New Kensington-Arnold approves joining blight-fighting program, sets stage for Arnold
A new blight-fighting program is set to come to New Kensington and Arnold now that the cities’ school district has gotten on board. The New Kensington-Arnold School Board voted Tuesday to join the Westmoreland County Land Bank. Its approval was needed for either city to join. Westmoreland County established the...
Authorities ‘actively investigating’ homicide of New Kensington 9-year-old Azuree Charles
Authorities are still investigating the now-more-than-month-old homicide of a 9-year-old New Kensington boy, according to a statement Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli released Thursday. Azuree Charles was found dead May 4 outside his East Ken Manor home on Haser Drive. Authorities have not disclosed how Charles died, and no...
New Kensington shootout suspect faces hearing in July
A preliminary hearing for a man charged with attempted murder in a May shootout on Fifth Avenue in New Kensington has been scheduled for July. Deontae Delshaw Boyd Jr., 21, of Rankin will have a hearing July 7 before New Kensington District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. Boyd was scheduled...
Car leaves New Kensington Wendy’s parking lot, hits car on Tarentum Bridge Road
No serious injuries were reported Thursday after a car went through a guardrail in the parking lot of a New Kensington restaurant and hit another car on Tarentum Bridge Road. A bystander reported the crash at Wendy’s to 911 about 2:40 p.m., a Westmoreland County emergency dispatcher said. New Kensington...
Gas hits $5 national average for first time, GasBuddy reports
The national average price of gasoline reached $5 per gallon Thursday for the first time, according to price-tracking service GasBuddy.com. The milestone comes after months of gas price increases across the country accelerated by the rise in seasonal demand during supply constraints brought on by the covid pandemic, according to...
$250K grant to support New Kensington Salvation Army program for at-risk youths
The New Kensington Salvation Army will use a $250,000 grant to support a youth program aimed at young people who have committed first-time, nonviolent offenses. The Salvation Army announced Wednesday it will use the grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation for its Bridging the Gap program. “We are grateful...
New Kensington-Arnold School Board approves budget with 5% property tax hike
A property tax increase is either long overdue or too much at the wrong time, according to members of the New Kensington-Arnold School Board. The school board voted, 6-2, Tuesday to approve the district’s $48.9 million budget for the 2022-23 school year. It carries a 5% property tax increase, the...
Resignations, retirement leave New Kensington police short-staffed
A pair of resignations and the retirement of a longtime officer have left New Kensington’s police force short-staffed. City Council on Monday approved the retirement of Detective Sgt. Dino DiGiacobbe and the resignations of patrol Officers Jose Pantoja and Christian Leonarski. A 1982 graduate of Freeport Area High School, DiGiacobbe,...
PBS series ‘Start Up’ to highlight New Kensington revitalization effort
New Kensington will be featured in the 10th season of a PBS series highlighting small businesses across the nation. Gary Bredow, host of “Start Up,” and a small crew were in the city Monday filming an episode focused on Olde Towne Overhaul and its efforts to revitalize downtown New Kensington...
Southwestern Pennsylvania counties to reach $5-per-gallon gas price within week or 2, analyst says
Average gasoline prices in several southeast and northeast Pennsylvania counties already have exceeded $5 per gallon, and the rest of the state isn’t far behind, according to industry analysts. The state’s average price of a gallon of gas Monday was $4.95, AAA reported. That’s up 19 cents from last week,...
Dignitaries celebrate opening of Digital Foundry in New Kensington
Dignitaries gathered on Fifth Avenue in New Kensington on Wednesday to celebrate the opening of a facility officials hope will serve as a regional hub for innovation, creative thinking, problem-solving, learning and collaboration. With its energetic orange color and a sawtooth roof evoking the city’s industrial heritage, the key thing...
‘Rockin’ Roosevelt’ to bring 11 bands to Arnold park
Jim Varhola spent a lot of his youth in playgrounds around his home in Springdale. “That’s what we did — we played soccer, softball, football. I don’t know what I would have done without the parks we had,” said Varhola, of Upper Burrell. “It’s important to have those things available...
