Kellen Stepler stories, Page 36
Nearly $650,000 in state funding to improve 2 Bower Hill Road intersections in Scott
State funding will assist Scott officials in upgrading traffic signal equipment at a few intersections in the township. PennDOT officials announced the township will receive just under $650,000 for traffic signal improvements to Bower Hill and Painters Run roads, and Bower Hill and Rockhill roads. The money comes from PennDOT’s...
Chartiers Valley partners with AHN for Chill Project services
Chartiers Valley is planning to keep things chill this school year. The district approved a contract with Allegheny Health Network for the Chill Project, which teaches school-age children emotional and coping techniques. The total cost of the program is $300,000, or $75,000 allocated to each of the district’s schools. Funding...
Pittsburgh Brewing Co. seeks DEP approval for Iron City Dock
Positive feedback from a temporary boat dock at the Pittsburgh Brewing Co. facility in East Deer has brewery officials eyeing a more permanent landing, but this time, with approval from state authorities. Brewery officials are applying for a permanent boat dock permit through the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. “The...
Alle-Kiski Inclusion Games has ‘everyone coming together for a good cause’
At last year’s Alle-Kiski Inclusion Games in Lower Burrell, event organizer Courtney Kobelenske lined up volunteers to create a “football tunnel” for the athletes, children with special needs, to walk through. While the volunteers lined the field and cheered as the participants marched through, a poignant moment between a child...
Owner of skilled nursing facilities in Lower Burrell, Greensburg files for bankruptcy
Guardian Elder Care, the parent company of skilled nursing facilities including Belair in Lower Burrell and Oak Hill in Greensburg, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Johnstown-based health care company filed the petition for relief this week. Nineteen facilities — including locations in Lower Burrell, Greensburg, Bethel Park and...
School, pedestrian safety projects planned on Leechburg Road in Lower Burrell
Lower Burrell officials have outlined a plan to make Leechburg Road safer for students, pedestrians, bicyclists and people with disabilities. The city soon will start projects geared toward pedestrian safety and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance along the city’s main business artery, Mayor Chris Fabry said. Projects include flashing beacons...
Chartiers Valley board declares stadium project ‘emergency,’ approves other contractors for work
Deeming it unusable and incomplete, Chartiers Valley school directors declared an emergency over the condition of the district’s stadium project and hired new firms to complete the remaining work. An emergency resolution, approved at a meeting Monday and read by Board President Darren Mariano, said the stadium construction project is...
Student support system to be implemented for Carlynton 7th and 8th graders
The success of a “Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports” model at Crafton Elementary School has Carlynton officials implementing a similar system at the junior high level. The district received a $3,750 grant from the Highmark Foundation to establish the model for seventh and eighth grade students. “The Foundation supports the...
PennDOT to study problematic stretch of Greensburg Road in Upper Burrell
PennDOT officials announced Tuesday they will begin a traffic study on a stretch of Greensburg Road in Upper Burrell that has drawn ire from community members. Agency spokeswoman Laina Aquiline said PennDOT is reviewing Upper Burrell’s request for a traffic study in the 2200 block of Greensburg Road and anticipates...
Michael Sable named principal at Chartiers Valley High School
A new face will be leading Chartiers Valley High School in the coming years, as Michael Sable was hired as the school’s principal at a salary of $130,000. “I’m extremely honored to be high school principal,” Sable said. “I’m excited to meet everyone, and I’m ready to lead students to...
Upper Burrell residents hope to see progress on speeding issues along Greensburg Road
Many of Tim Rote’s neighbors along the 2200 block of Greensburg Road in Upper Burrell have a “horror story” about what they say is a lack of safety on the road. Bill Smith recalls getting rear-ended while pulling into his driveway about 15 years ago with his son in the...
Allegheny Valley School District retains Rajgopal as finance, business operations director
With numerous capital projects in the works, Allegheny Valley School District has retained its director of finance and business operations. Board members Wednesday approved a new contract for Hamsini Rajgopal. The contract becomes effective July 1, 2025, and expires June 30, 2030, but board President Nino Pollino said there was...
West Deer man arrested in connection to Frazer shooting
An argument at a Frazer auto salvage yard led to a shot fired and a West Deer man arrested, according to Allegheny County Police. Jonathan Nealer, 40, is charged with felony aggravated assault in connection with the shooting of a man in his leg last week at Hloznik Auto Salvage...
Allegheny Valley looks into cellphone restrictions for students during classroom time
Is there a reason why the Allegheny Valley School District isn’t restricting students’ access to their cellphones during instructional time in the classroom? That’s the question school board directors asked administrators Wednesday to look into. Board member Larry Pollick suggested the district implement a policy restricting cellphone use in the...
Bidding process underway for demolition of Colfax Elementary School in Springdale
Plans continue for the eventual demolition of Colfax Elementary School in Springdale. The Allegheny Valley School Board on Wednesday authorized district administrators to seek contract bids for the demolition of the Colfax building, which sits along Colfax Street. The building is 99 years old. It closed in 2018 and has...
New Prestley Road intersection updates aimed to calm traffic, improve visibility
An updated intersection at Prestley Road and Charlet and Perret streets in Bridgeville is aimed at improving drivers’ visibility and calming traffic, borough officials say. Bridgeville Manager Joe Kauer said the borough has been working with PennDOT traffic engineers since late last year for a plan to fix the intersection....
Tractor Supply sets opening date for Lower Burrell store
The gears for a Tractor Supply store in Lower Burrell are in motion. Annalee Rivers, a spokeswoman for Tractor Supply, said the company plans to open a store there in November 2025. City Manager Greg Primm identified the location as 108 Greensburg Road. It is a vacant, wooded lot next...
Cheswick appoints 3rd new member to council this year
Nearly half of the people serving on Cheswick Council have less than six months of experience, but that doesn’t concern President Brad Yaksich. The borough council has filled three vacancies this year, appointing Adis Halimic and Frank Stanish in March and Nick Pollino last week. “I’m very confident in Frank,...
Cheswick begins water meter replacement project
A recent door hanger and postcard to Cheswick residents for water meter replacements isn’t a scam. It’s a preview of a two-year project for more than 900 new water meters in the borough. Cheswick contracted with Newman Plumbing of Cranberry to replace every water meter in the borough, said council...
Burrell School District responds to questions on Stewart Elementary’s fate
Burrell School District Superintendent Shannon Wagner used questions submitted by the public to clear the air as questions swirl around a potential closure of Stewart Elementary School. District administration recommends closing Stewart in the 2025-26 school year due to a decline in enrollment, student needs and the condition and age...
Upper Burrell supervisors to hold hearing on proposed rezoning of former Oak Lake Golf Course
Upper Burrell supervisors will consider an apparently controversial industrial rezoning request at the former Oak Lake Golf Course this week. Gary Schoepke is requesting the township rezone about 20 acres at the old golf course, 1151 Oak Lake Road, from residential-agricultural to industrial, and the proposal has drawn ire from...
Rennerdale VFD trying to bring duck pond back to its glory days
Rennerdale Volunteer Fire Department is trying to restore its old duck pond. The fire department in Collier is trying to raise at least $40,000 to rehabilitate the pond, which hasn’t been updated since the late 1990s or early 2000s, said department president Tom Kovach. The pond’s stagnant water is causing...
New Lower Burrell ladder truck gives firefighters ‘dual functionality’ on calls
Chief Brennan Sites of Lower Burrell Volunteer Fire Company No. 3 had been eyeing a new fire engine for the past year-and-a-half, but a Father’s Day fire last year on Jefferson Drive had him rethinking what he really needed. While no one was hurt in the fire, Sites knew that...
Allegheny Valley School District is painting a ‘Portrait of a Dynamo’; community’s feedback wanted
Allegheny Valley School District officials want to know what qualities the community thinks district graduates should possess. The district is in the process of establishing what it’s calling “Portrait of a Dynamo,” which aims to represent the district’s vision for 21st century skills, character traits and social-emotional competencies that students...
Students lauded for turning band trailer into mobile command center for Allegheny Valley Regional police
Haydon Lookhart’s first glance at an old high school band trailer had him thinking that converting it into a mobile command center for the Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department would be a tall task. It needed a lot of work, the 17-year-old Kiski Area student said. “We had to gut...
