Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 96
Tarentum approves Easter egg hunt; Brackenridge, Harrison plan alternatives
Brackenridge, Harrison and Tarentum each have different plans for Easter this year, after community egg hunts were canceled in 2020 because of the covid pandemic. While Tarentum is returning to a traditional event, Brackenridge and Harrison each are doing something different. Brackenridge Brackenridge will be handing out Easter treat bags...
New Kensington’s Knead Cafe to receive $25K grant from Northwestern Mutual
For the second time in three years, New Kensington’s Knead Community Cafe is receiving a $25,000 grant from Northwestern Mutual for its work in the community. Kevin Bode, who with his wife, Mary, founded Knead four years ago, has been a financial adviser with Northwestern Mutual for 34 years. They...
Tarentum approves buying police SUV, policies on rifles, cameras
Tarentum police soon will be able to use their own rifles on the job under a policy approved this week by borough council. Council also OK’d plans to buy a new hybrid SUV for the department and approved the use of mobile video and audio recorders and body-worn cameras. Borough...
Tarentum awards contract to demolish fire-damaged home on Lock Street
Tarentum Council has awarded a contract to tear down what remains of one of two Lock Street homes destroyed by fire on Feb. 15. Investigators ruled that the accidental fire started after a pot of food had been left on a stove with a burner in the “on” position. The...
New Kensington-Arnold to interview 7 candidates for superintendent
New Kensington-Arnold School Board will soon begin interviewing candidates for district superintendent, including the man who has been serving as the district’s acting chief since last summer. The district in December hired the Pennsylvania School Boards Association to help it find a replacement for former Superintendent John Pallone, who resigned...
Brackenridge steelworkers to vote on ATI strike authorization
The United Steelworkers local representing employees at Allegheny Technologies Inc. facilities in Harrison has scheduled a strike authorization vote. The union’s 10 locals with ATI are scheduling the votes this week after its contract with ATI expired on Sunday without the sides agreeing on a new one. Locals 1196 and...
United Steelworkers to seek strike authorization at ATI
The United Steelworkers union is preparing for a strike authorization at Allegheny Technologies Inc., the union’s international vice president confirmed Monday. Although the contract that expired Sunday was extended and employees were told to continue to report to work, “the locals have returned home with instructions to begin setting up...
Brackenridge woman tells police she feared for her life in assault
Brackenridge police said officers found a woman bleeding from her mouth and nose upon responding to a domestic dispute on Cherry Street Sunday. Police charged Nicholas Cory Skufca, 37, with a felony count of strangulation along with simple assault and harassment. In a criminal complaint against Skufca, police said the...
Harrison neighbors welcome demolition of abandoned houses
Weeds and cats are the main nuisances Alisha Laime says she has to live with because of an abandoned house next to her home in Harrison’s Natrona neighborhood. Hearing that it could be torn down was welcome news. “I absolutely want it down,” she said Friday. “You don’t know what...
New Kensington family plans to build home for contracting business in Arnold
After nearly 40 years in business, a New Kensington family is ready to move its contracting business out of the basement of its founder’s home and into its first offices with a new facility in Arnold. In addition to a headquarters for the business, Shawn Whalen, the second generation owner...
Tarentum man charged with pointing loaded gun at woman during argument
Tarentum police ordered a man and woman out of a house in the 300 block of West Seventh Avenue at gunpoint after responding to a domestic disturbance early Friday morning. Police said they were told shortly before 12:30 a.m. that Walter Clayton Jordan II, 41, had pulled a gun and...
New Kensington-Arnold reports covid cases at 2 elementary schools, closes 1
New Kensington-Arnold School District has announced positive covid-19 cases at two elementary schools, forcing one to close. According to a notice from acting Superintendent Jon Banko, the district was notified of three cases at Roy A. Hunt Elementary and one at H.D. Berkey Elementary. Both schools are in Arnold. Berkey...
New Kensington CVS among 6 in state getting limited covid vaccine shots
The New Kensington CVS was one of six of the pharmacy chain’s Pennsylvania locations administering covid-19 vaccinations in Pennsylvania beginning Thursday. The vaccinations were by appointment only for those eligible at this time. All six Pennsylvania stores were fully booked. Other CVS locations were in Chambersburg, Franklin County; Enola, Cumberland...
Arnold police say man tried to keep money, heroin from controlled buy
Arnold police say a man who was making a controlled drug buy for narcotics agents tried to keep some of the cash he had been given, as well as some of the heroin. After Shawn M. Ferraccio was arrested, Arnold police say he tried to run away when being taken...
Straight outta Vandergrift, ‘Banshee’ comes to HBO Max
It’s time to go back to Banshee, Pa. — if you dare. The Cinemax action series, which filmed its fourth and final season in the Alle-Kiski Valley and Pittsburgh area, is now available for streaming on HBO Max. “We are home,” actor Matt Servitto, who portrayed Banshee sheriff Deputy Brock...
AHN covid vaccination clinic targets marginalized patients in New KensingtonVideo
Getting a needle stuck in her arm felt like normalcy coming back for Doris Hardy. Hardy, 69, of New Kensington was one of about 350 people who received their first dose of the Moderna covid-19 vaccine during a clinic Wednesday at Allegheny Valley Hospital’s outpatient center in New Kensington, the...
Tarentum body, motorcycle builder takes on New Kensington gymVideo
A Tarentum man couldn’t let the gym he loves go away, so he bought it. Men and women, young and old; those who lift weights or just walk the indoor track have been coming back since Billy Cheesman fixed up the gym in the upper level of the Pittsburgh Ice...
New Kensington man accused of hitting woman, officer breaking up fight
A New Kensington man is charged with striking a police officer who was trying to break up a fight Monday night. New Kensington police charged Lawrence Eugene Meyer Jr., 58, with aggravated assault, simple assault and resisting arrest. According to a criminal complaint against Meyer, police went to the 400...
Arnold felon charged with pointing gun at woman over argument about $60
An Arnold man, who is prohibited from having a gun because of his criminal record, is charged with pointing a gun at a woman and choking her. Arnold police charged Michael Guin, 23, on Tuesday with aggravated assault, strangulation and simple assault. The victim and a state probation officer reported...
ATI, Steelworkers continue talks as extended contract’s end nears
A one-year contract extension for Allegheny Technologies Inc.’s 1,300 United Steelworkers members expires Sunday, but there has been no talk of a strike or lockout, according to the union local president representing workers at ATI’s Brackenridge facility in Harrison. “We all want to get this wrapped up,” said Todd Barbiaux,...
State regulators approve smaller than requested rate increase for Columbia Gas of Pa.
The state Public Utility Commission announced Friday it had approved a rate increase request for natural gas distribution from Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, but less than the utility had requested. The commission voted to approve an 11.1% increase. Columbia had initially asked for a 17.54% increase. An 11.1% increase will...
Police: Armstrong County man assaulted 4 officers, stole 3 vehicles
An Armstrong County man is accused of assaulting four police officers Thursday after he was arrested on charges of stealing three vehicles in New Kensington and Lower Burrell. Drew Edward Simmers, 31, of Manor Township, was arraigned in two cases Friday on charges including four counts of aggravated assault, theft,...
Butler County resident saves another iconic vehicle from TV’s ‘Knight Rider’
A Butler County man who owns one of the few remaining cars used as KITT in the 1980s television series “Knight Rider” now has another notable vehicle from the show. Joe Huth, along with his partner and fellow “Knight Rider” historian AJ Palmgren, revealed this week they own one of...
Allegheny County eyes April start for Springhill Road project in Harrison
Work on building a path for pedestrians and bicyclists along Springhill Road in Harrison is expected to start in April, a spokesman for the Allegheny County Department of Public Works said. The start date won’t be confirmed until about two weeks before construction begins, spokesman Brent Wasko said. Wasko said...
Harrison restaurant owner remembered for generosity, work ethic
If anyone ever called the Saxon Inn looking for Ralph McClain, he was never there. McClain figured anyone who didn’t call him “Fritz” didn’t know him, said his daughter, Michelle Gutonski. “A lot of people never knew my dad’s first name,” Gutonski said. “Everybody called him Fritz.” Ralph L. “Fritz”...
