Jamie Martines stories, Page 13

Employees from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh are meeting Monday to kick off unionization efforts. “I think it’s important because, as we exist now, we don’t have a contract,” said Rachel Masilamani, a part-time librarian at the Downtown branch. “So sometimes it could be difficult to bring up things that...

The Allegheny County Board of Health has started the search for a new health department director. Dr. Karen Hacker, 63, will step down July 31 to become director of the Centers for Disease Control National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. She has led the county health department...

The Allegheny County Health Department plans to begin surveying residents next week about public health priorities. Last conducted in 2014, the Community Health Assessment is used to help the health department identify what public health areas need more support. Access to healthcare services, chronic diseases like obesity and smoking, environmental...

The Woodland Hills school board voted Wednesday to accept a budget that includes a 3 percent tax increase and furloughs at least 60 staff members. The 5-3 vote increases the millage rate from 25.35 to 26.1105 mills — an increase of $65.94 per year, or about $5.50 per month, for...

Clairton city officials showed up at an Allegheny County Council meeting Tuesday evening to ask council members to help them improve public health in their city. “We need your help: There are a lot of people in Clairton who have respiratory illnesses, and there’s some people who have cancer, like...

Allegheny County Council voted 11-1 Tuesday to select Pittsburgh attorney Paul Zavarella to fill the vacant District 8 seat. “I thank county council for showing confidence in me,” Zavarella said by phone Wednesday, adding that he’s looking forward to working with council and other county officials. Councilman DeWitt Walton, of...

Some Mon Valley residents are once again wondering if their air is safe to breathe after another fire this week at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works. “It’s really scary actually, because it’s summertime, and we like to be outside,” Clairton resident Tonya Carroll, 29, said Tuesday. Carroll, who has two...

Pollution control systems at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works were back on line Monday night after being shut down because of an electrical fire at the facility Monday morning. In an emailed statement, U.S. Steel said it made repairs and environmental controls, including desulfurization, were operating by 8:15 p.m. The...

John Macus fell in love with his fixer-upper on First Street in Jefferson Hills, just over the Clairton border, when he moved in about nine years ago. The backyard was perfect for his two dogs, with plenty of space for his exercise equipment, too. “You know it’s there, it’s a...

Johnie Perryman retired to Clairton 12 years ago, hoping to settle into a cheap home near an old friend in Pittsburgh. With a wide front porch and oversize windows, the spacious, $72,900 Mitchell Avenue home about a mile from the Clairton Plant is full of artwork and mementos from a...

Ross police charged a former Lyft driver Friday with rape in connection with a suspected incident involving two women in a McKnight Road hotel room. Darrel Eugene Hardy, Jr., 30, was working as a Lyft driver July 1, 2017, when he drove two female passengers to the Hampton Inn Hotel...

Check your route if your weekend travel plans involve Parkway East. Westbound Parkway East lanes from Edgewood/Swissvale (Exit 77) to the Boulevard of the Allies on-ramp will be closed starting at 9 p.m. Friday for road work, according to PennDOT. Closures will continue through 5 a.m. Monday. All trucks heading...

Staff in the Woodland Hills School District are pushing back against proposed cuts to personnel across the district. At least 60 positions, including 15 teaching positions from kindergarten to sixth grade, 10 secondary teaching positions, five special education positions and two guidance counselor positions could be eliminated, according to the...

U.S. Steel is appealing a May enforcement order issued by the Allegheny County Health Department related to emissions at the Clairton Coke Works during the first quarter of 2019. The order, which carries a $337,670 fine, was not related to the Dec. 24 fire at the facility, according to a...

Failure to maintain a “fleeting area” where barges are moored or assembled led to a 27-barge pileup in January 2018 that struck the Emsworth Locks and Dams on the Ohio River, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report released Thursday. The report faults the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, or...

Severe thunderstorms that blew through the region Saturday evening took down a large tree branch at Prospect Cemetery in Brackenridge, narrowly missing the cemetery office and nearby headstones. There are only a few headstones in that area and none of them were damaged, said Cindy Homburg, president of the cemetery....

The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh has issued a tornado warning for northern and central Westmoreland County, including Vandergrift, Orchard Hills and Apollo, until 8:30 p.m. Pea-sized hail is possible. The entire Southwestern Pennsylvania region is under severe thunderstorm watch until 10 p.m. The warning stretches from eastern Ohio and...

Two Allegheny County Council incumbents fell to challengers in Tuesday’s primary, but longtime District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. defeated the first challenger he’s faced in two decades. Political newcomer Bethany Hallam defeated longtime Allegheny Councilman John DeFazio in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for a shot at one of two at-large...

The Wilkinsburg Community Development Corporation will host an event Saturday to celebrate and promote local businesses. The third-annual Two-Way Street Fest takes place on Wood Street between Penn and Franklin Avenues. “It’s a nice day to get out, talk to each other and to have a positive day of fun...

Longtime Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. will face his first challenger for his job in 20 years in Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary election. Political newcomer Turahn Jenkins said the county’s criminal justice system is broken, and he aims to fix it. “I believe that this county is...

A stalwart of Allegheny County Council faces a rare challenger for a seat he’s held since the governing body started nearly 20 years ago. John DeFazio, a member of Allegheny County Council since its inception in 2000, faces political newcomer Bethany Hallam in a race for the Democratic at-large seat....

The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office spent nearly $500,000 on crowd control training, overtime and preparing for violent protests and riots that never happened in the aftermath of the trial of former East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld. The trial, related training and overtime cost the county sheriff’s office, police department...

A consumer alert that was lifted for the Family Dollar in Crafton on April 29 has been reinstated after Allegheny County Health Department inspectors found evidence of a continued rodent infestation during an inspection May 9. Rodent droppings — “too many to count throughout the facility” — were found under...

A little rain and chilly temperatures didn’t keep athletes off the streets of Pittsburgh on Sunday for the 11th Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, including the three competitors the Tribune-Review caught up with ahead of the race. Here’s how they fared: A pierogi’s world record attempt Amanda Webb, 39, of...