Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 98
Arnold manager: No tax increase needed to cover deficit from underfunded pension
Various cost savings will help Arnold absorb a 40% increase in its pension costs while avoiding a property tax increase, City Manager Mario Bellavia said. At a council meeting Tuesday, Bellavia said the increased pension obligation would create a deficit in the city’s budget that would need a property tax...
New granite panels installed at Harrison World War II memorial, rededication scheduledVideo
New granite slabs making up the rejuvenated Harrison Honor Roll memorial have been installed, years after efforts to preserve and restore the memorial recognizing the township’s World War II veterans began. “It’s been a long time,” Bill Rudolph, a member of the memorial’s restoration committee, said as he watched the...
AK Valley gift dashing group creates food pantry, takes on other community projectsVideo
A new outdoor food pantry in New Kensington where people take what they need and leave what they can is proving to be so successful that those who built it are figuring out how to make it bigger. The pantry outside the Community Clothes Closet was packed full of goods...
Charges filed, arrest warrant issued in North Huntingdon cat-hoarding case
An arrest warrant has been issued for a North Huntingdon man accused of hoarding more than 70 cats that were malnourished and infested with fleas when authorities rescued them from a township home in September. Since being rescued, the cats have been cared for at Frankie’s Friends, a cat rescue...
Tarentum train station restaurant to reopen in December, owner says
The owner of JG’s Tarentum Station Grille said Thursday he intends to reopen the popular restaurant on Dec. 1. The restaurant in a historic former train station in the heart of Tarentum has been closed since March because of the covid-19 pandemic. When the state allowed restaurants to increase their...
New Kensington-Arnold superintendent acknowledges distancing problem in 3rd-grade classes
New Kensington-Arnold School District is working to fix a problem with reduced social distancing in some third-grade classes at Roy A. Hunt Elementary in Arnold, Acting Superintendent Jon Banko said. Distancing in three or four combination social studies/science classes in the grade is reduced from 6 feet to 5 feet...
More businesses, music, food in store for 2nd Tarentum Night Market
There’s going to be more businesses, more food and more music at the second Tarentum Night Market on Thursday. The once-a-month event, held on the third Thursday, is intended to draw shoppers into the borough’s business district by having participating businesses stay open later, from 5-8 p.m. The first market...
St. Joseph students return to school after being cleared from covid-19 exposure
About 15 students at St. Joseph High School in Harrison worked from home for two days until it was confirmed they had no contact with a person from another school who had tested positive for coronavirus, a school spokesperson said Wednesday. “Our soccer team played Serra Catholic over the weekend...
Highlands parents asked to complete survey on children’s schooling model
Parents of students in the Highlands School District are being asked to fill out a survey if they want to change how their children attend school. The district is conducting the survey as it nears the end of the first nine week grading period. Surveys are due by Friday. At...
Cement blocks keeping cars off pedestrian-only road in Harrison
Bollards that blocked cars from driving on the pedestrian-only portion of Center Street in the Natrona area of Harrison will be replaced, Commissioner William Heasley said. The bollards were removed when part of the road, closed to vehicles between Spruce and Pond streets, was repaved, and vehicles immediately began driving...
Allegheny Valley church association going forward with annual hunger walk in HarrisonVideo
Facing an increased need for food brought on by the covid-19 pandemic that also prevents people from gathering for things like fundraisers, the Allegheny Valley Association of Churches is going forward with its annual Walk for Hunger in Harrison on Sunday. The association has held the walk for more than...
New Kensington residents can help paint mural that will brighten gateway to city
A three-story mural will grace a gateway to New Kensington, and residents have one last chance this weekend to take part in creating it. A third and likely final “paint day” for the community mural will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday outside of Voodoo Brewery, 956...
Police: Hockey player assaults referee over holding penalty at New Kensington skating rink
A Buffalo Township man attacked a hockey referee at Pittsburgh Ice Arena in New Kensington after the referee called a holding penalty against him, police said. New Kensington police charged Jeremy Gregory Gilbert, 43, of Buffalo Township with assault on a sports official, a first-degree misdemeanor, in which they say...
New Kensington woman says ‘bad day’ caused her to report someone tried to abduct daughter
A New Kensington woman can’t explain why she told police two people tried to abduct her 3-year-old daughter when, she admits, it never happened. “It was just a bad day,” Jacqueline Charlton, 60, said when reached at her home Wednesday. “I had a lot going on.” Charlton’s report on Oct....
Police: Harrison man high on pot crashes into parked township dump truck
A Harrison man impaired by marijuana drove his car off Springhill Road and into a parking lot at the municipal building, crashing into a parked public works dump truck, according to township police. Harrison police charged Daniel J. Abbott, 30, with driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled...
Work on turnpike bridge to close Unity Trestle Road in Plum for 4 weeks
Another road in Plum will be closed because of work on a new bridge over the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Unity Trestle Road will be closed between Universal Road and Old Leechburg Road/Millers Lane from Oct. 19 until Nov. 15, Jeff Ronosky, a project manager with Mosites Construction, said Wednesday. Work will...
Tarentum schedules meetings for public to comment, officials to act on comprehensive plan
Tarentum officials are set to consider a proposed comprehensive plan that will be used to guide the future of the borough along with neighbors Brackenridge and Harrison. The borough’s planning commission will discuss the draft of the multi-municipal comprehensive plan when it meets at 6 p.m. Nov. 17 at the...
Oliver Outdoor continues court battle to place billboard at Tarentum Bridge
A billboard company is continuing its fight in court to place a sign at the Tarentum Bridge. America First Enterprises, doing business as Oliver Outdoor, has filed an appeal in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court challenging the Tarentum Zoning Hearing Board’s decision that the borough’s zoning ordinance does not unlawfully...
Police: New Kensington woman suffers cut on arm during domestic dispute
New Kensington police said they heard a woman screaming for help when they responded to a domestic dispute on Sixth Avenue early Saturday morning. Police charged Richard Joseph Mautino Jr., 19, with simple assault and a summary count of harassment. In a criminal complaint against Mautino, police said they went...
New Kensington man charged with threatening to kill woman during fight
New Kensington police on Sunday charged a 32-year-old man with strangling a woman, who claims the man threatened to kill her. Police said they responded to a fight in the 400 block of Fourth Avenue around 2:15 p.m. Saturday. Police said, while heading there, they were told that the man,...
Police: New Kensington man strangles woman, dog during argument
A New Kensington man grabbed a woman by her neck and lifted her off her feet during a fight Monday morning, according to city police. New Kensington police said that Damian Ryan Terrace, 23, also choked one of the woman’s dogs and threatened to kill them. According to a criminal...
Facade collapse at Praha building prompts Corbet Street closure in Tarentum
Part of Corbet Street in Tarentum was closed until further notice Monday after bricks from the facade of the Praha building fell onto the street and sidewalk. A borough police officer found the damage around 1:25 a.m. Monday, code enforcement Officer Anthony Bruni said. The 115-year-old building sits at and...
Week-in-review: Covid-19 dominates news, meteor lights up Pittsburgh skyVideo
The covid-19 pandemic continued to dominate much of the news in the past week, culminating with President Donald Trump confirming Friday that he and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the virus. Despite the virus impacting everything from nursing home residents in Westmoreland County to the Pittsburgh Steelers...
‘Ms. Mary’ retires from New Kensington Eat ‘n Park after 35 years with company
Servers at Eat ‘n Park in New Kensington never had to worry about the food they took to diners when Mary Burke was in the kitchen. “When she was doing prep and cooking, her food was always amazing, perfect,” server Kristy Reid said. “She cared about how she sent food...
Officials react, send well wishes to Trump, first lady after covid diagnosis
Officials from across the county, state and world began reacting early Friday morning to reports that President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for covid-19. Trump revealed their diagnosis in a late-night tweet. Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and...
