Chuck Biedka stories, Page 18
Distinguished Service Cross recipient Stevon Booker ’embodied Army values’Video
Army Staff Sgt. Stevon Booker didn’t have to climb out of his tank on April 5, 2003, but his unit was under heavy fire near Baghdad and he refused to hunker down. Booker, then a 34-year-old commander of the M1A1 tank, climbed up to fire a .50-caliber machine gun mounted...
Freeport Borough to fill council vacancy
Freeport Borough’s vacancy board will meet Mondayto replace a council member who has resigned. Melanie Zembrzuski resigned at the start of February, borough clerk Carol Crytzer said Monday. Zembrzuski had been the chairwoman of the public safety committee and a member of the personnel and parks and recreation committees. She...
O’Hara’s Brownshill Road to close on Wednesday, Thursday
Part of Brownshill Road in O’Hara will be closed Wednesday and Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., township engineer Chuck Steinert said. Brownshill Road will be closed between Dorseyville Road and Saxonburg Boulevard. The 2-day closure will allow installation of about 50-feet of sewer line, Steinert said. It’s part...
Tarentum to mark unstable, vacant buildings with a red X
X marks the rot. Tarentum Council recently adopted a program to mark about a dozen unstable, vacant buildings in the borough with a red X to warn emergency personnel who might respond to a fire or other incident at the properties that they are structurally dangerous. “This isn’t the same...
New Brighton CPA will do Tarentum Borough audits
Tarentum Borough’s new auditor submitted a bid that is well below one filed by the long-time auditor and another CPA, officials say. Borough Manager Michael Nestico said Mark C. Turnley CPA’s bid was $10,500 to perform all of the the borough’s audits. That was more than $9,000 less than the...
Banner Community designation won by 65 municipalities, 4 municipal authorities
Sixty-five Allegheny County municipalities and four municipal authorities were honored Friday by a Banner Community designation. The designation reflects a commitment to professional development, prudent fiscal management, transparency, accountability and proactive communications to engage community stakeholders, according to a statement released by Allegheny County. “I’m delighted to see the Banner...
4 Leechburg area churches held crafts, vendors festival for cancer research
An inaugural crafts and vendors festival held Saturday, March 9 in a Leechburg church is good clean fun with a serious purpose. All money raised at the festival, held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will be donated to the Apollo Relay for Life anti-cancer program. Four Lutheran churches put...
PennDOT to repair landslide along Route 422, work to take about a month
PennDOT is scheduled to begin a landslide repair project along Route 422 in Armstrong County just west of Elderton starting March 18. There will be temporary single-lane traffic during off-peak hours. Work should be completed by the end of April, according to PennDOT....
Matt Drozd running for GOP nomination for Allegheny County executive
A businessman and a former two-term Allegheny County councilman is seeking the Republican nomination for Allegheny County executive. Matthew J. Drozd, 74, of Pittsburgh, made the announcement Thursday evening. If he is nominated by the Republicans in the May 21 primary election, he will run against County Executive Rich Fitzgerald,...
Second elderly Pittsburgh man pleads guilty to cocaine trafficking
An elderly Pittsburgh man pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday to trafficking in cocaine and money laundering for more than 20 years. Richard Stuart Wright, 76, entered the guilty plea to three counts before United States District Judge Mark R. Hornak. He will be allowed to remain at home...
Ford City man accused of raping, threatening to kill woman
A Ford City man is accused of raping a woman and threatening her life in his apartment early Sunday. Vincent Thomas Wallace, 43, allegedly put a pillow over the woman’s face and had sex with her after she said no, police said. Police allege the woman went with Wallace to...
West Leechburg proposing no parking along Summit Street
West Leechburg officials want to outlaw parking on part of Summit Street. The ban would apply to both sides of the street from the uphill part of Maple Street to Giron Street. Council has said it will introduce the necessary legislation at its meeting Wednesday, March 13. Summit Street is...
Police looking for 2 men suspected in Washington County shooting
A man was shot and wounded at about 9 p.m. along South Main Street in Ellsworth in Washington County. A Washington County 911 supervisor said the man was being treated for a gunshot wound. State police are looking for a silver Toyota with two men inside. The possible suspects were...
Almost 90 in Kiski darkened by intended outage
An intentional power outage cut electrical service for almost 90 customers in part of Kiski Township on Friday. West Penn Power spokesman Todd Meyers said it was necessary to take service down in the area of School and Edmon roads. “There is a broken pole and lines hanging from it....
Pittsburgh man with long record pleads guilty to having pistol, ammo
A Pittsburgh man with 13 prior convictions pleaded guilty in federal court for having a handgun and ammunition, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Darnell James Shipman, 29, entered the guilty plea Friday before U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer. Shipman, who is a convicted felon, was accused of brandishing...
Hundreds without power after crash on Clairton’s North State Street
North State Street in Clairton reopened Friday after a crash had closed the road between Mendelsohn and Blair avenues. Allegheny County dispatch said the one-vehicle wreck sheared a utility pole and caused downed lines at about 3:30 p.m. Clairton police are investigating. There were no injuries reported. The crash knocked...
Police investigating motorcycle-vehicle wreck along Rostraver Road
At least one person was injured in a motorcycle crash involving another vehicle along Rostraver Road on Thursday night. Westmoreland County 911 said the wreck happened just after 7 p.m. near the Kmart and Burger King at a shopping center near the Westmoreland-Fayette county line. No other details were immediately...
Several hundred power customers remain without electricity in wake of Sunday’s winds
About 700 West Penn Power customers remained without electricity late Thursday, four days after high winds left hundreds of thousands in the dark and cold. As of 11:40 p.m Thursday., just eight Duquesne Light customers were in a similar situation. Duquesne Light was reporting four customers were without power on...
Trio indicted by federal grand jury for drug sales
A federal grand jury in Pittsburgh indicted a Plum man and two others for selling large amounts of drugs. Brandon Winters, 43, of Plum; Eduard Guzman Rijo, 48, of the Dominican Republic; and Erick Alexander Martinez, 33, of Yonkers, New York, are accused of selling heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine, United...
Kittanning woman drops state Supreme Court appeal regarding charity restitution
A woman whose appeal was accepted for review by the state Supreme Court on Wednesday has changed her mind and asked her attorney to drop the appeal of her paying restitution to three Armstrong County charities. Beverly Kaye Steffey, 65, of Kittanning, has “decided that she does not want the...
McKeesport man faces federal indictment for allegedly having pistol, ammo
A McKeesport man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on a charge of illegally having a pistol and ammunition. Eric Antoin Johnson, 22, faces the charges. According to prosecutors, Johnson late last month had a 9 mm pistol and ammunition for it even though he had...
North Apollo woman, 64, dies in 1-car crash in ApolloVideo
A North Apollo woman was killed Wednesday night after the car she was driving hit a utility pole in Apollo and flipped over several times. Coroner Brian Myers identified the woman as Jacqueline C. Hellein, 64. She was traveling alone and died at the scene. She was not wearing a...
State Supreme Court to hear Armstrong County woman’s restitution appeal
The state Supreme Court will consider an appeal by an Armstrong County woman who pleaded guilty to stealing more than $200,000 from three nonprofits but is fighting an order to pay restitution because the victims were organizations, not people. Beverly Kaye Steffey’s attorney, Chuck Pascal of Leechburg, said a 2016...
Gilpin supervisors ask Diebold to resign as constable
Gilpin supervisors want former Leechburg police Chief Michael Diebold to resign as the township’s constable. “This is due to his felony status. We don’t feel he is fit for constable,” said Supervisors Chairman Charles Stull. Diebold, 41, was sentenced to nine to 23 months in jail after pleading guilty in...
Pittsburgh couple buys 50% share of River Forest Country Club, wants to make it public
A Pittsburgh husband and wife bought a 50 percent share of River Forest Country Club in Allegheny Township and want to open the course and its restaurant to the public. Jamy and Robert Rankin of Pittsburgh’s Stanton Heights neighborhood bought a share of the property that had been owned by...
