Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 83
Cleanup continues after storms topple trees, knock out power in Western Pa.Video
The tiniest victims of Wednesday afternoon’s storms that toppled two towering trees along Harrison’s stately Carlisle Street may have been found by the steps to Tina Kahilainen’s porch. While Kahilainen’s home of seven years had damage to its roof and at least one bedroom, a robin’s nest — likely once...
Brackenridge police charge man following fight outside borough bar
Brackenridge police have charged a man with felony aggravated assault following a fight Saturday outside a borough bar. Randy Joseph Simmons, 35, of Pittsburgh’s Bluff neighborhood was arraigned on the charge and charges of simple assault and harassment early Wednesday morning. According to a criminal complaint against Simmons, Brackenridge police...
Traffic restrictions planned until September for Argonne Drive project in Harrison
Traffic restrictions scheduled to start on Argonne Drive in Harrison on July 19 are expected to continue until September, Allegheny County Public Works announced Tuesday. Periodic, single-lane closures will occur between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays between Broadview Boulevard and Elm Street. Nearly 2,000 vehicles travel the road daily,...
United Steelworkers release summary of proposed ATI contract
The results of a ratification vote by United Steelworkers members at nine Allegheny Technology Inc. facilities are expected to be known by next Tuesday, the union said Tuesday. The union and ATI announced Friday they had reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract. If approved, the deal would end...
Fundraising effort underway to help Harrison family recover from fire
A fundraising campaign is underway to help a Harrison family whose home was damaged by fire last week. Jaymian Martinka started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $10,000 for the McDaniel family. As of Tuesday morning, the effort had raised $2,060 from 22 donors. The fundraiser also lists sizes for men’s...
2 hurt, vehicle catches fire in Homewood crash
Two people suffered minor injuries Sunday night in a fiery crash in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood. According to Pittsburgh police, police, fire and medics responded to the single vehicle crash at North Lang Avenue and Upland Street just after 8:15 p.m. Police said they found the vehicle had caught fire after...
Pittsburgh police look for crime scene after man with gunshot wound arrives at hospital
Pittsburgh police were looking for a crime scene in the city’s Northview Heights neighborhood Sunday night after a man arrived at a hospital with a gunshot wound. Police said the adult victim arrived at a local hospital by private means just after 7:15 p.m. Police did not identify the hospital....
Teen dies in 1-vehicle Mercer County crash
A teen died in a one-vehicle crash late Saturday night in Mercer County, state police said. State police said the crash happened shortly before 10:30 p.m. on Brent Road just west of Old Mercer Road in Springfield Township. According to state police, Russell T. Cyphert, 21, of Volant was driving...
Pittsburgh Fireworks Task Force responds to 88 complaints, issues 34 warnings
Pittsburgh’s Fireworks Task Force reported having its busiest night yet on Saturday, with two notable incidents. The task force, made up of eight members from the city’s bureaus of police and fire, began an enforcement initiative on June 22. It responded to 88 fireworks-related complaints overnight Saturday, and issued 34...
Alle-Kiski Valley residents find many reasons to celebrate on Fourth of July
Alle-Kiski Valley residents found all sorts of reasons to get together and celebrate on Sunday, whether for the Independence Day holiday, birthdays, relief from the covid pandemic — or just to enjoy the day. For the small congregation of Vermont Baptist Church in New Kensington, morning services under a pavilion...
Widow wants Harrison to allow dog daycare in business district
Six years after buying a building for her business in Harrison, Kim Ringer can’t use it for the main reason she bought it. Ringer said township zoning officials assured her and her late husband, Bruce, more than once before buying the former home goods store-turned-car dealership at 3041 Freeport Road...
VFD: Firefighter injured during vacant house blaze in Monessen ‘in good spirits’
A Charleroi firefighter was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital Saturday after falling through the floor of a burning house in Monessen, officials said. The fire at 418 Parkway Ave. was reported about 2:45 p.m., said municipal Fire Chief Delmar Hepple. Although the house is vacant, Hepple said firefighters were told...
Traffic restrictions scheduled to resume on Tarentum Bridge
While the Tarentum Bridge has reopened after a closure in June, ongoing work will require traffic restrictions that could cause backups and delays. Restrictions are scheduled to resume Tuesday and continue through late September, PennDOT announced. Traffic will be restricted to a single lane in each direction as needed between...
Screams alert Harrison fire chief to blaze in his own neighborhood
Hilltop Hose Fire Chief Mike Krzeminski is usually notified of a fire call with a page. On Friday evening, the alert came in the form of a scream. The fire was in Krzeminski’s own Campton neighborhood in Harrison. “I heard the young man who lived there screaming his house was...
Crash closes Route 422 in both directions in East Franklin
A section of Route 422 in Armstrong County is closed in both directions because of a crash, according to state police. The road was closed in the area of Glade Run Road in East Franklin Township around 2 p.m. Saturday. It remained closed as of about 4:30 p.m. No information...
Steelworkers union says it achieved its goals in proposed pact with ATI
The United Steelworkers union is scheduling meetings to explain a tentative, four-year contract agreement with Allegheny Technologies, Inc. to its members and for them to vote on ratifying it. ATI and the union announced Friday that they had reached the tentative agreement. If approved, it would end a strike that...
Rachel Carson Hall residents can decide if they want to return after fire damage is fixed
While work continues to repair the top two floors of a fire-damaged Tarentum apartment building, whether or not the people who called it home return will be up to them. Residents of the seventh and eighth floors of Rachel Carson Hall have been relocated to other Allegheny County Housing Authority...
Pharmacy plans to tear down long vacant, dilapidated former church in Tarentum
Blackburn’s Physicians Pharmacy has acquired another building in Tarentum it plans to tear down to make room for its growth. Randy Prunty, business development manager for Blackburn’s, said the company bought a former church at the corner of East Fourth Avenue and Lock Street to get rid of the rundown...
Arnold man facing drug charges dies after arrest
An Arnold man died Tuesday after being arrested on drug charges the previous day. Khalies Khorhid Lewis, 39, died Tuesday afternoon at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg, the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office said. Although an autopsy has been completed, no information on the cause or manner of Lewis’ death...
Teaching a ‘calling’ for honored New Kensington-Arnold kindergarten instructorVideo
A small painting of a tree hangs in Alissa Szewczak’s kindergarten classroom at New Kensington-Arnold’s Martin Elementary School. Its leaves don’t look like leaves, and most aren’t even green. The splotches of color are actually the thumbprints of her past students — one year of first grade, two years of...
Challenged Fawn supervisor accepts defeat as newcomers corner election ballot
A longtime Fawn supervisor says he accepts defeat, while a newcomer says she isn’t taking for granted that she’ll become a supervisor despite her and another newcomer cornering the ballot. Paula Legge and Dan Selfridge Jr. defeated incumbent supervisor David Montanari in the race for two seats in Republican primary....
Tarentum police charge 2 in armed burglary of home
Two brothers are wanted in connection with a home burglary in Tarentum on Monday night, and three unidentified suspects were believed to be involved, Chief William Vakulick said. Police charged Wilnal Anthony Reddix, 21, of Natrona Heights and Manrico Reddix, 15, of Clairton with felony counts of burglary, robbery, conspiracy,...
Crash delays reopening of Tarentum Bridge
The Tarentum Bridge from New Kensington to Tarentum is expected to reopen at 6 a.m. Monday, PennDOT announced Friday. That side of the bridge over the Allegheny River was scheduled to reopen by midnight Sunday. The reopening was delayed after a car crashed in the work zone last Saturday and...
Gas line work to restrict traffic on Burtner Road in Harrison
Traffic will be restricted on part of Burtner Road for a little more than a month beginning Friday, PennDOT announced Thursday. Crews working for Peoples Natural Gas will be replacing a gas line on Burtner Road between Adams Street and Cottage Avenue. That location is in the area of Citizens...
Police charge 2 teens as adults in New Kensington weekend shooting
New Kensington police have charged two 17-year-olds as adults in connection with a weekend shooting. Neither suspect was in custody Wednesday afternoon. The shooting was reported Saturday shortly after 4:30 p.m. in the area of East Ken Manor. Police said officers found the male victim, whose age was not given,...
