Madison Stokes stories

A play set in Western Pennsylvania will debut in August at Iron Horse Theatre Company in Ambridge. The two-act play “Coach and Mrs. Jagoff” features main characters Jake Sebastian, a successful high school football coach and his wife, Lynn, who live in Fisk, a declining industrial town. “(The Sebastians) employ...

Allegheny Township will continue to use money from its general budget to pay worker’s compensation insurance premiums for the township’s fire departments. The township supervisors this week opted not to use money from the township’s 1.15-mill fire tax to pay the insurance premiums. “This wasn’t actually an item for business,”...

Antwon Rose Jr. would have turned 25 Saturday. He was fatally shot by police Officer Michael Rosfeld in East Pittsburgh on June 19, 2018, after being suspected of attempted murder by participating in a drive-by shooting. It was announced during the trial in March 2019 that Rose was unarmed when...

Plans are underway to complete construction of the two pedestrian bridges over Pucketa Creek at Valley High School. Initial school board approval occurred in October 2023. These bridges served as the main pedestrian access to the school from its student parking lot. Students have been using alternate building entrances during...

The flickering fields of summer nights are back. Fireflies, it seems, are abundant again. Throughout the region, people are noticing more of the largely nocturnal, flashing insects. Once a staple of summer evenings, lightning bugs had seemed to become scarce over the past few years thanks to a loss of...

Pittsburgh-based Arconic Technology Center is bringing enhanced international technology to its metal manufacturing company. Arconic and Icelandic metal analysis company DTE are expanding their collaboration, which began last October. An Arconic facility in North America will serve as a pilot location for DTE’s molten metal composition analysis system. That location,...

Federal funding used to pay for food for low-income families and seniors has been cut by half and delayed, with fewer vouchers available, officials say. The cuts affect vouchers given to those eligible for the Women, Infants and Children Farmers Market Nutrition Program for low-income families and the Senior Farmers...

The August Wilson African American Cultural Center’s most recent monthly Intermission event series fell on Juneteenth, a Federal holiday to commemorate the emancipation of slaves within the United States. The event offered networking opportunities, live music by DJ Nate Da Barber, food by the Black-owned business Hysyde Lounge, live entertainment,...

The family of Akil Drake, a 27-year-old Penn Hills native who died May 28, 2024, in the Realty Tower explosion in Ohio, landed a $6.1 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit. Patrick McFarland, who represents Drake’s estate, filed the settlement in March. On April 11, a motion was filed...

A Penn Hills-based organization is breaking ground to build up the community. The Young Black Motivated Kings & Queens (YBMKQ) De’Avry A. Thomas Community Center received a $1 million check May 29 from state Rep. Joe McAndrew and state Sen. Jay Costa to begin phase 2 of its renovation project....

Amanda Wheeler hopes Sunday will be the start of a new chapter not just for her but also for other young women. The Arnold resident is holding a soft opening for The Battle Life Transitional Living Center in Arnold. The center, aimed at women 24 and older, is meant to...