Chuck Biedka stories, Page 16
Daub named director of Federation of Sportsmen and Conservationists
Harold Daub is the new executive director for the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen and Conservationists. According to the PFSC board, he took over duties including government affairs on Monday in Harrisburg. The board said Daub is widely known among sportsmen and most recently led Hunters United for Sunday Hunting. That...
Buffalo Township property owner wants to rezone land for business use
Buffalo Township’s supervisors will hold a hearing Wednesday about a request to rezone more than 2 acres on North Pike Road for business use. The property at 339 North Pike Road is currently zoned for agricultural use, but the property behind it is zoned for business use. The surrounding area...
Trooper says he watched drunken Armstrong County man fall asleep in car wash
State police said an Armstrong County man was drunk when fell asleep at a Buffalo Township car wash — with a trooper waiting in line behind him. A criminal complaint filed against Larry Wayne Hill, 53, of Cowanshannock, said he pulled into the Get-Go along Route 356 around 3 p.m....
Plum woman accused of punching, kicking Vandergrift police is Megan’s Law offender
A 41-year-old Plum woman registered as a sex offender under Megan’s Law is accused of assaulting two Vandergrift police officers on Sunday. Candy Yockey of Ivory Avenue is accused of punching one officer and kicking another when they responded to a report of a woman bleeding from her mouth along...
Lower Burrell police make second crack-related arrest in 8 days
Lower Burrell police said a traffic stop last Thursday turned up nearly a half-ounce of crack cocaine and resulted in the city’s second crack-related arrest in eight days. “For us, this is unusual. Crack in this amount hasn’t been seen in Lower Burrell for 20 years,” said police Chief Tim...
Kiski Township’s Staff Sgt. Stevon Booker receives military’s second-highest honor
Thirty-one soldiers who participated in the Thunder Run mission near Baghdad on April 5, 2003, received the Silver Star for valor. Only one of them — Army Staff Sgt. Stevon Booker of Kiski Township — has had that award upgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross, the military’s second-highest honor, according...
Missing New Kensington girl returns home safe
A 13-year-old New Kensington girl missing since Monday is back at home. “She is safe and sound,” Detective Sgt. Dino DiGiacobbe said Thursday afternoon. Patience Johnson, 13, was last seen Monday morning in the city wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, black and white pants, brown knee-high boots and silver hoop...
Vandergrift man charged in wreck that seriously injured a Leechburg woman
Allegheny Township police are accusing a Vandergrift man of causing a wreck that seriously injured a Leechburg woman. Brett William Mego, 23, of Sherman Avenue is charged with aggravated assault by vehicle and 13 related offenses in connection with a March 22 wreck along South Leechburg Hill Road in which,...
Homicide charge filed after woman dies in McKees Rocks Bridge crash
A McKees Rocks man has been charged with homicide after a woman injured in a crash police say he caused two months ago died this week. Allegheny County police filed charges Thursday against Christopher Vuckovich, 39. Police said Vuckovich was driving eastbound on the bridge at 62 mph in a...
No injuries in early morning Buffalo Township fire
No one was injured when fire broke out in the attic of a Buffalo Township house early Wednesday, Sarver Volunteer Fire Company Chief Mike George said. The fire broke out just before 4:30 a.m. in a newer home on Ashton Court in the Woodberry neighborhood behind the movie theaters, George...
General to present Distinguished Service Cross to family of fallen Kiski soldier
Two generals and other current and retired soldiers are among the U.S. Army contingent in Pittsburgh today who will honor a Kiski Township man who died saving other soldiers’ lives. The family of Staff Sgt. Stevon Booker, who was killed in Iraq 16 years ago today, is being presented the...
West Leechburg’s Semper Gratus raises $30K for Plum girl, Cerebral Palsy research
The tallies are in, and a West Leechburg charity has 30,000 reasons to be always grateful. The Shamrock Shuffle 5K race, 1K fun walk and dance held in West Leechburg last month raised $30,000, with the money going to help a Plum girl living with spastic cerebral palsy and for...
How friends came together to revamp River Forest Country Club
A little more than a year ago, now-retired professional golfer Missie Berteotti knew two of her friends “just had to meet.” That meeting eventually led to a revitalized 450-acre River Forest Country Club. Andi Irwin and her husband, Steve, owned half of the country club in Allegheny Township when they...
Rescue units in Armstrong, Butler and Indiana counties get more than $250K in grants
Buffalo Township’s volunteer fire department won’t need to rely as heavily on bingo proceeds to cover expenses, based on state grants announced last week. The Office of the State Fire Commissioner awarded nearly $258,000 in grant money to 22 fire and rescue units in Armstrong, Butler and Indiana counties, including...
Swissvale man accused of East Liberty bank robbery, chase and resisting arrest
A Swissvale man is accused of robbing an East Liberty bank and then leading police on a foot chase Friday along Frick Park’s Tranquil Trail. Police said Lamar Sewell, 38, entered a Key Bank branch at about 9:15 a.m., pointed a handgun, demanded money and then fled. He drove his...
Sheds catch fire in Cheswick, send flames ’60 feet into the air’
Firefighters responding to a call on Cheswick’s South Highland Avenue on Sunday night knew they weren’t going to an ordinary fire. The volunteers could see towering flames above the neighborhood and then heard multiple explosions. “You could see the flames all across Cheswick,” Cheswick fire Chief Rick Franks said. “Flames...
Burrell School District nurse wins regional award from colleagues
Angela Dastolfo has been a Burrell School District nurse for 25 years and seems to know almost all of the students by name. For more than two decades, Dastofolo has been keeping a list of names, ages and medical needs. For her efforts, Dastolfo, of Lower Burrell, is poised to...
Police arrest man suspected in East Liberty bank
Pittsburgh police arrested a man they suspect of robbing the Key Bank branch in East Liberty, police spokeswoman Alicia George said. Police went to the bank in the 200 block of North Highland Avenue for a report of a man demanding money at about 9:15 a.m., George said. She said...
Frazer woman found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in killing of husband
A Frazer woman was found guilty Thursday of voluntary manslaughter for fatally shooting her husband after they had a drunken argument about money, sex and a burned tuna casserole almost two years ago. Allegheny County Judge Jill Rangos handed down the ruling a week after Teresa M. Drum’s non-jury trial...
Indiana County man killed when car strikes tree
A 25-year-old man from Center Township in Indiana County died in a car crash in Young Township just after 8 p.m. Wednesday. Indiana County Coroner Jerry Overman said Thursday that John Robert Davidson of Aultman died from blunt force trauma. Davidson was driving a Honda Civic north on McIntyre Road...
1 injured in motorcycle crash in Fawn Township
A motorcycle passenger was taken to a hospital Wednesday evening after a crash in Fawn Township, state police said. Dispatchers received a report at 6:20 p.m. of the crash along Route 908 at Lardintown Road. A trooper alleges Frank Novosel, 65, of Tarentum, failed to stop at a stop sign...
Search continues for 70-year-old North Buffalo farmerVideo
The search for a missing North Buffalo man continued Wednesday. As of this afternoon, there was no sign of Paul Walker, 70, a farmer last seen Tuesday afternoon, according to an Armstrong County 911 dispatcher. Police suspect he suffers from dementia. For the second day, the search involved people on...
Vandergrift man accused of child rape
A phone call to the Childline abuse hotline led to sexual assault charges filed against a Vandergrift man, according to police arrest papers. Eric Jermain Emory, 32, of Holland street, is accused of sexually assaulting a Westmoreland County girl starting when she was in kindergarten. He is is charged with...
Man accused of emailing school threat to Butler newspaper
A Butler man who is accused of warning about violence at Butler High School is in the Butler County Prison. State police said Benjamin David Jacox, 25, sent an email to the Butler Eagle newspaper warning of crimes and shootings at the high school. “Hello, I have bad news for...
Greenway Boy Killas member pleads to conspiracy to distribute crack
An alleged Pittsburgh street gang member pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Pittsburgh to one count of conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine. Brett Rodgers, 32, of Pittsburgh, entered the plea before Senior U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab. Prosecutors told the court that, in 2017, FBI and Drug Enforcement...
