Kellen Stepler stories, Page 17

Just when Burrell School District officials thought they had a building plan at Huston Middle School to accommodate an additional grade level there next year, a dry run two weeks ago led them to reconsider. A maintenance issue at Stewart Elementary School on Jan. 23 had its fifth graders spend...

Chartiers Valley’s new superintendent has his sights set on bolstering the district’s academic repertoire. In fact, he thinks the district could be one of Allegheny County’s top academically performing districts in three years. “We have the foundation necessary to grow a much stronger academic program than we’ve ever built before,”...

Human skeletal remains “in an advanced state of decomposition” were found Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh’s South Side Slopes, said Emily Bourne, a city public safety spokeswoman. Bourne said the remains were found in the 2400 block of Burham Street. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet identified the...

The message at Sunday’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial service was a lesson of loving one another, and living into one’s faith and in the present. “We are called to help the poor in financial resources, as well as the poor in spirit,” said guest speaker The Rev....

Mardelle Kopnicky remembers a time years ago that she and her husband, Patrick, were at Harrison Hills Park when a young boy asked them an interesting question. He asked if the couple — who, over the years, advocated for and spearheaded improvements at the 500-acre park in Harrison — if...

The Schiano di Cola family wants to give back to the school and community that’s meant so much to them. The family is establishing a scholarship in the late Domenico Schiano di Cola’s memory that will run in perpetuity at St. Joseph High School in Harrison. It’s his alma mater...

The Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department’s budget increased by 5% this year — but it still costs its member communities less than what they were paying for their individual departments years ago. Cheswick, East Deer and Springdale Township each will pay about $272,000 toward the regional police force this year....

Pittsburgh fire crews put out a fire at a long-shuttered North Side church Saturday afternoon. Crews were dispatched at around 3 p.m. Saturday to St. Wenceslaus Church, located in the 800 block of Progress Street, for reports of smoke and fire coming from the building, said Emily Bourne, a public...

A woman working at an Alle­gheny Township assisted living facility is accused of stealing nearly $60,000 from a resident and permitting him to stay in the facility without paying rent, according to police. Allegheny Township police filed 19 charges against Tanya Lynn Palmer, 50, of Apollo that include theft, theft...

No matter how tempting, people should not walk or play on the area’s frozen-over rivers. Especially because things will be warming up soon. Meteorologists at the National Weather Service expect temperatures to be above freezing Thursday through Sunday, said Alicia Miller, a hydrologist with the weather service. “That, in addition...

Elderly Springdale residents might be getting some help shoveling their sidewalks after snowstorms. Councilwoman Toni Robbins presented an idea for the borough to begin a program that would partner volunteers with seniors and disabled residents who need assistance shoveling their sidewalks and walkways. Robbins would also like to carry the...

The abridged version of this year’s Three Rivers Arts Festival will take place in the Strip District, officials announced Monday. The festival will be take place at the riverfront lots at the 15th Street Plaza along Waterfront Place, said Derek Scalzott, a spokesman for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Festival dates...

Gabrielle Green is in it for the long haul at Penn State New Kensington. The 18-year-old from Altavista, Va., is a second-semester freshman at the Upper Burrell campus. She is studying biobehavioral health and plans to obtain a four-year bachelor’s degree at the school. So conversations among university leadership this...

Police filed charges Friday against a teenager accused of firing shots into a New Kensington home in November 2022. The teen, now 19, was 16 years old when police responded to a shots-fired incident at 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 29, 2022, in the 1200 block of Taylor Avenue. “The investigation...

Some Cheswick residents in the upper part of the borough could experience low water pressure in the overnight hours beginning Friday and lasting up to a few nights. On Friday, one of the borough’s booster pumps will be taken out of service for necessary repairs, borough officials said. The booster...

Steve Fazekas’ citizen weather observer station in Winfield recorded a temperature of minus-15 degrees just after 5 a.m. Wednesday. Fazekas’ reading came in well below the Pittsburgh region’s lowest temperature on record for Wednesday’s date — minus-4 degrees Jan. 22, 1936 — but it won’t go in the record books....

Allegheny Valley School District officials hope a new alert system can provide a more effective way to respond to incidents. The school board approved purchasing badges to be worn by district staff members for the Centegix silent crisis alert system. “They are badges the staff can use in the event...

Police officers often meet people on the worst day of their life, and the Bridgeville-South Fayette Rotary club is trying to ease the pain for families in some of those situations. The Rotary is putting together comfort bags, with necessities, for Bridgeville and South Fayette police officers to give to...

Bringing the magic to a Chartiers Valley High School play paid off for its cast and crew. The school’s fall show, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” received three wins and nine nominations from the High School Drama Awards, sponsored by Prime Stage Theatre. “There was so much love and...

Burrell School District officials think bidding their boiler projects a different way will result in lower costs. The school board on Tuesday rejected bids for a boiler replacement at Burrell High School and a rebuild at Bon Air Elementary School. It authorized administrators to rebid the project. Superintendent Shannon Wagner...

The boiler house at Springdale’s former power plant will be torn down conventionally instead of imploded as the property owner originally planned. Scott Reschly, vice president of operations for Charah Solutions, said crews intend to demolish the boiler house at the former Cheswick Generating Station between mid-February and early March....

A Chinese national’s gift card scheme that ended after Frazer police busted him in May has landed him in jail for at least 11/2 years, according to the state Attorney General’s Office. Zhixiang Chen, 20, pleaded guilty in Lawrence County Court to corrupt organizations and organized retail crime. As part...

Burrell School District parents and staff are taking a close look at schedules at Bon Air Elementary and Huston Middle schools as both buildings prepare to accommodate an extra grade next year. With the closure of Stewart Elementary, fourth graders will attend Bon Air and fifth graders will be sent...

Bridgeville hopes to have a new police chief by early spring after the Jan. 3 retirement of Chad King. The borough posted the position in mid-January, said Manager Joe Kauer. Applications are being accepted through the end of February, and Kauer anticipates having a candidate identified by early spring. Sgt....

A traffic light in Harmar, blamed over the weekend for traffic snarls on Route 28, has been fixed, township and PennDOT officials say. The light, at the end of the Route 28 southbound exit ramp to Harmar, was the focus of motorists’ ire because its cycle was only allowing a...