Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 94
New Kensington-Arnold using hybrid model as students return to schools
New Kensington-Arnold School District students will return to school buildings Jan. 14, but the district will use a hybrid instruction model and break students into two groups. The district closed schools and put all students in remote instruction beginning in November in response to substantial spread of covid-19 in the...
Tires flattened on Trump supporters’ vehicles at Butler mall parking lot
Supporters of President Donald Trump who left their cars at a Butler mall to travel by bus to Washington, D.C. returned to find their tires slashed, according to police. Tires on 20 vehicles were found damaged Wednesday morning at Clearview Mall in Center Township, state police said. Parents told Tribune-Review...
Pandemic hits home for Allegheny Valley Hospital physician and his wifeVideo
Editor’s note: This is the third in a series highlighting five people whose lives were reshaped by the coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus had a clear and, some would argue, promising path into Dr. David and Louisa Shin’s O’Hara home. A primary care physician, Dr. Shin, 52, works for Allegheny Health...
New Kensington couple launches catering business, helping people celebrate ‘any way they can’Video
After years working for others in the restaurant industry, Philip Call says frustration drove him to start his own catering business. Trained in French culinary techniques, Call, 35, of New Kensington says there is a proper and correct way to do things, “and then there’s everything else.” “I’ve always been...
New Kensington opts to stick with garbage hauler
New Kensington Council has decided to keep its garbage hauler for at least another year. Council approved a one-year contract for garbage service with County Hauling with options for two additional years. The quarterly charge to residents will remain $78.13. According to City Clerk Dennis Scarpiniti, County Hauling submitted the...
Tarentum seeking candidates for vacant 1st Ward council seat
Tarentum will accept applications for a soon-to-be vacant seat on borough council until Jan. 4. Council on Tuesday accepted the resignation of 1st Ward Councilwoman Erika Josefoski. Her resignation is effective Dec. 31. Josefoski, 36, announced her intention to resign earlier this month. She said she did not have enough...
Allegheny Valley Hospital workers see ‘beacon of hope’ as they get 1st doses of covid vaccine
Kristen Miller didn’t think twice about getting the covid vaccine. The intensive care unit registered nurse at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison on Friday was among the first workers in Allegheny Health Network to get a shot of Pfizer’s vaccine against the virus that has killed more than 300,000 in...
New Kensington police charge man in hotel fight with 3 other men
A New Kensington man was arraigned Wednesday on a felony charge of aggravated assault stemming from a fight in which two men suffered brain bleeds and one had skull fractures. Police charged Kenneth Lorenzo Johnson Jr., 32, on Nov. 17 in connection with the fight that happened June 12 at...
Saint Joseph offering new ‘Spirit’ scholarship to enrolling freshmen
St. Joseph High School in Harrison is offering a new scholarship to help families afford a Catholic education as the school seeks to enroll students for the 2021-22 school year. The St. Joseph Spirit Scholarship is available for next school year’s enrolling freshmen, said Shane Palumbo, director of admissions and...
Allegheny Valley Hospital doctors, nurses expected to get covid vaccine
Physicians and nurses at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison are expected to be among Allegheny Health Network’s first caregivers to receive covid-19 vaccinations Friday morning, an AHN spokeswoman said. Spokeswoman JoAnne Clobus could not say how many employees of the Harrison hospital would be getting shots Friday. Employees were busy...
New Kensington-Arnold concerned about students not participating in remote classes
New Kensington-Arnold School District administrators and board members are concerned about the number of children who they say have not been participating in school since the district moved all students to remote instruction. The district started the school year with students receiving instruction fully online or fully in person. The...
New Kensington-Arnold hires school boards association to conduct superintendent search
New Kensington-Arnold School District will spend up to $13,000 to find a new superintendent. The school board voted unanimously Tuesday to hire the Pennsylvania School Boards Association to conduct the search. The district will pay the association $5,000, plus up to $8,000 for additional costs. “Our longstanding relationship with school...
Highlands delays release of resignation agreement with employee facing disciplinary charges
Highlands School District is delaying the release of a resignation agreement with an unidentified employee against whom the school board had brought disciplinary charges. The school board voted at its Dec. 7 meeting to approve the agreement with an employee identified only by the number 6093. The agreement was retroactively...
New Kensington’s proposed budget includes no tax increase
New Kensington Council has approved a preliminary budget for next year that includes no increase in property taxes. Council voted 4-1 Monday to approve the first reading of next year’s $8.16 million budget, up from $8.12 million this year. The property tax rate would remain unchanged at 32.03 mills. After...
Freeport business distances itself from similarly named Brentwood eatery flouting covid rules
A Freeport catering business is distancing itself from a similarly named Brentwood restaurant that is flouting the state’s covid safety regulations. On its Facebook page, Cracked Egg Catering Co. said it has no affiliation with the Crack’d Egg, a diner defying state shutdown orders. “Cracked Egg Catering Co. is a...
Harrison woman’s death ruled accident, husband won’t be charged
A 72-year-old Harrison man will not be charged in the death of his wife, who died after he hit her with a vehicle in August, according to Allegheny County Police. Shirley Anne Jump, 65, died after she was hit in the driveway of the couple’s Village Green Road home on...
Lucky breaks help Arnold avoid property tax increase in 2021
Several things breaking in Arnold’s favor are helping the city avoid increasing property taxes next year. Council is scheduled to vote on the city’s $4.4 million 2021 budget during a meeting on Tuesday. The meeting will be held remotely on Zoom, beginning at 7 p.m. As proposed, the city’s property...
Owner of Leechburg’s Twisted Thistle opening new restaurant at New Kensington ice arenaVideo
A Leechburg restaurant owner is looking to pull off a hat trick in New Kensington. Joe Hesketh, co-owner of Twisted Thistle and Market Street Pizza in Leechburg, is opening a new restaurant, Crossbar Grill, across from the Pittsburgh Ice Arena on Craigdell Road. Crossbar replaces The Breakaway Bar and Grill,...
Tax increase, furloughs, contract on table as New Kensington-Arnold starts budget work
The New Kensington-Arnold School District may have to raise property taxes and furlough employees as it goes into a difficult budget at the same time it negotiates a new contract with its teachers union, the school board’s former president said. The district raised the property tax rate by 3 mills,...
Police have suspects in Arnold teen’s shooting death in Tarentum
Allegheny County Police say they have identified suspects in the November shooting death of an 18-year-old man in Tarentum. Syncere Spruill, of Arnold, was shot shortly before midnight Nov. 22 in the 200 block of Conroy Way. He was pronounced dead at Allegheny Valley Hospital. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner...
Nonprofit looking for New Kensington, Arnold residents who want free internet service
A nonprofit is offering free internet service for New Kensington and Arnold residents, but so far not many are signing up. Meta Mesh Wireless Communities can take about 150 households in its one-year pilot providing free, wireless, high-speed internet service, but so far only 38 in New Kensington and Arnold...
Highlands senior recognized for work on car donated to Army veteran
A Highlands High School student who helped repair a car for a veteran is the second recipient of an award students created to recognize their peers. Ian Norris, 17, a senior from Fawn who attends Forbes Road Career & Technology Center in Monroeville, received the “Student Spotlight” award for December,...
Peoples natural gas customers getting bill credit after utility’s $4.3B acquisition
Most residential customers of Peoples Gas in Pennsylvania saw a discount on their recent bills as a result of the natural gas company being acquired in a $4.3 billion deal earlier this year. Essential Utilities announced in mid-March that it had completed its acquisition of Peoples. That followed the state...
Pandemic prompts closing of Tarentum’s Praha, possibly for good, as other restaurants hang on
Uncertainty brought on by the covid-19 pandemic is prompting owners of the Praha restaurant and bar in Tarentum to close, possibly for good. Unless businesses are shut down sooner, owner Ken Gulick said the Praha will close at the end of business on Dec. 23. He expects the closure to...
Tarentum police say man attacked woman, 2 children after coming home from bar
Tarentum police say a borough man attacked a woman and hit two young boys after coming home from a bar late Monday night. Borough police charged Stacy Andrew Smith, 29, with simple assault, endangering the welfare of children, resisting arrest and harassment. In a criminal complaint against Smith, police say...
