Kellen Stepler stories, Page 38

Saxonburg’s borough manager is headed to Butler County Common Pleas Court on charges accusing him of shooting his neighbor’s dog. Charges against Steven May were held for court Tuesday after a hearing before District Judge Jack D. Ripper in which eight people testified. May, 43, is charged with a felony...

A Springdale High School graduate is Pittsburgh’s Miss Smiling Irish Eyes for 2024. Madalyn Byrnes, 21, of Springdale will be featured in the March 16 St. Patrick’s Day parade, which starts at 10 a.m. “I was overjoyed,” Byrnes said. “This has been something I have been working toward for a...

Students at Chartiers Valley’s elementary schools are learning a life-saving skill. Chartiers Valley’s Primary and Intermediate schools participated in the American Heart Association’s Kids Heart Challenge fundraiser earlier this year. Students learned hands-only CPR during physical education classes. “We were very impressed with how it went,” said Suanne Estatico, physical...

The fate of electronic billboards in East Deer is in the hands of an Allegheny County judge. The township and America First Enterprises, which does business as Oliver Outdoor, stated their cases in court filings regarding the status of three billboards that had been approved by the East Deer Zoning...

A moral of “The Haunting of Prince Dom Pedro” is to learn from history. Those behind the feature film, produced in Western Pennsylvania, are hoping the production makes some history as well. “It encompasses multiple genres, but it’s like a history, supernatural, comedic Scooby Doo, in a way,” actor Madeline...

Laura Mason Lockard says she had “what some people would call a near-death experience” when she was a girl in Allegheny Township. In 1981, when she was 11, she was abducted and assaulted by a man police thought could have been a serial killer. Lockard, now 54 and living in...

Another battle of documents is being waged in the Springdale boiler house implosion litigation. Allegheny County Judge John T. McVay Jr. on Thursday granted a motion from Charah Solutions, owner of the former power plant in Springdale, that seeks all of the exhibits residents submitted on the last day of...

Springdale Township and the Harmar Water Authority signed off on a 20-year deal that eventually will cap increases at 3% each year for the township’s rate for bulk water. The agreement “keeps the rate the same through 2024 and 2025, to $2.95 per 1,000 gallons that we’re paying now,” Commissioner...

Collier appoints new commissioner, finance director Kari Suter was appointed to Collier Township’s board of commissioners, filling a vacancy left by Tim Young’s recent resignation. Commissioners also hired Jennifer Foster as finance director. Foster’s previous experience includes being a finance officer in the Army. “It sounds like this is a...

Anthony Palyszeski can speak firsthand about the impact his time as a student at Penn State New Kensington has had on his life. “My years at Penn State New Kensington turned me into a professional, to enter the workforce with pride,” said Palyszeski, 27, of Harrison, a network coordinator at...

A local family and Carnegie Borough are working to restore a historic pavilion at Carnegie Park. Borough officials, and descendants of Domenico Masciantonio, are in the midst of a project to restore the Stone Pavilion at Carnegie Park to its original look and feel. “It’s a legacy,” said Masciantonio’s grandson,...

More than three dozen community groups in Lower Burrell gathered last week to share information and determine how they might pool resources. The event, organized by city officials, drew representatives from 38 organizations, including youth sports boosters, civic groups, parade organizers, businesses, schools, police, firefighters and Lower Burrell’s parks commission....

Three communities in the Lower Valley are hoping to limit trash collection costs by joining together to advertise for garbage collection bids. Cheswick, Springdale and Springdale Township officials this week approved advertising a three-way bid. Springdale Township and Cheswick did a dual bid for refuse collection six years ago, and...

There’s not much that Springdale Borough can do with an apparently complicated railroad crossing near Colfax Street. About 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, a tractor-trailer’s dolly legs got stuck under the rail at the Colfax Street crossing, police said. The driver, unable to get the rig off the tracks, evacuated the truck...

An odor of gas, the second in four days, was reported late Thursday morning at Riverview Junior-Senior High School in Oakmont, forcing the evacuation of students and staff. A smell of natural gas was reported about 10:45 a.m. in one of the school’s science rooms. Superintendent Neil English said students...

School rivals in the Lower Valley are teaming up in yet another sport. The Allegheny Valley and Riverview school boards approved a cooperative sponsorship agreement that would allow seventh through ninth grade baseball players at Springdale to participate on the Riverview junior high club team. Springdale and Riverview already operate...

Gabriella Ballock first met Chartiers Valley teacher Chuck Barber when she was a new student and couldn’t get inside the high school building. Barber, an applied engineering and technology teacher, opened the door to let her inside the school. And as Ballock entered the engineering and shop facility, she knew...

A tractor-trailer and a train collided Wednesday morning near the Colfax Street crossing in Springdale — the third such wreck in less than three years, and fourth since 2018. Springdale police Chief Derek Dayoub said his department was notified of the crash at 9:25 a.m. “The truck’s dolly legs got...

The U.S. Postal Service is rescinding a recent notice sent to residents of Lower Burrell’s Michigan Avenue that required them to move their mailboxes to the street by May 15. Michigan Avenue residents received letters earlier this month from the New Kensington Post Office informing them that their mailboxes must...

Stephanie Ottey acknowledges that most organizations wouldn’t celebrate their 62nd anniversary. But the newly-named president knows that the 62nd anniversary holds a different meaning for Stage 62, a Carnegie nonprofit theater company. Stage 62 started in Bethel Park in 1962 as an adult education theater project, and has since evolved...

The Chartiers Valley High School dance troupe knows how to choreograph the right moves for success, even at the national level. The 11-member dance team at Chartiers Valley High School earned second place with its hip-hop routine at the national competition in Orlando, Fla.. It also advanced straight to the...

Just a few years after he graduated from the Burrell School District, Jordan Perry already is making a difference in the school system. Perry, 25, of Lower Burrell is in his second year working as a prevention specialist at Bon Air Elementary School. So far, Perry has implemented several programs...

Students at Acmetonia Elementary School not only have homework, they also have house work. Under the “House System,” students are assigned to one of five groups, or houses. House meetings are held each month, and students collaborate with their peers to work on various community-building activities, said Rebecca Garbisch, school...

Fire gutted a trailer home Thursday morning along Spring Street in Springdale Township. Crews were dispatched to the fire about 11:15 a.m., said Allegheny Valley Assistant Fire Chief Jay Zangrille. It took about 25 minutes for firefighters to knock down the fire. No one was in the trailer at the...

An Allegheny Township man died Wednesday afternoon when the truck he was driving went off Melwood Road near the Lower Burrell-Allegheny Township line. Lower Burrell police officer Aaron Rodgers said Nicholas A. Ganter, 29, was driving alone when his pickup went off the right side of the road. The vehicle...