Mary Ann Thomas stories, Page 22
Comcast to upgrade Internet service in parts of Armstrong County
Comcast announced it is offering its fastest high-speed internet service to 21 additional communities in Armstrong County. Comcast is among a handful of internet providers serving Armstrong County, including Salsgiver Inc. and Windstream Communications. The high-speed service, known as gigabit service, now will be available to residential and business customers...
PennDOT to replace four bridges/culverts for nearly $5.4 million projects in Apollo area
Gov. Tom Wolf recently highlighted important road projects in the region, including four bridge replacements with new culverts for $5.4 million in Apollo and Kiski Township. These projects will replace four structurally deficient bridges, said Tina Gibbs, a spokeswoman for PennDOT District 10, which covers Armstrong, Butler, Clarion, Indiana, and...
Kiski Township to add 1 full-time police officer
Kiski Township supervisors recently agreed to add one full-time officer to the police department, which has one full-time officer and a handful of part-timers. “We’re losing part-time offers who are finding full-time jobs elsewhere,” Supervisor Chuck Rodnicki said. “We pay our part-timers well, but if they get a full-time offer,...
Mangy black bear trapped and treated in Bethel; spread to other bears possible
The Pennsylvania Game Commission trapped and treated a black bear plagued with the contagious skin disease mange in Bethel Township this week. Mange is transmitted by parasitic mites. The centuries-old disease causes hair loss and sometimes emaciation and death, according to Penn State’s College of Agricultural Studies. However, most bears’...
Alle-Kiski Valley job openings increasing
Job openings across the Alle-Kiski Valley are on the rise, data show. PA CareerLink Alle-Kiski reported a four-week rolling average of more than 250 job openings in the region this month, up from 225 a month ago. When last month’s number was reported, officials said it was the highest number...
Kiski Township explores regulations on exotic petsVideo
Kiski Township’s Dominic Hayward dotes on his pet alligators Diamond, Diva, Gisele, Ruby, Rebel, Chevelle, Speckles, Thor, Loki and Reece. A lover of alligators since he was a child, Hayward, 24, is as passionate about his gators as anyone with more traditional pets such as a German shepherd or labradoodle....
Apollo official says it’s safe to park RVs at former nuke site
More than 30 RV campers have been parked at Apollo’s former Babcock & Wilcox nuclear fuel site since early May, prompting some environmental activists to question whether that violates land-use restrictions on the site. “People fought for a long time, including my mother, to keep radioactive contaminated areas away from...
Car bypasses barricade on closed Tarentum Bridge, crashes and catches fire
A car bypassed the barricade Saturday on the Tarentum Bridge’s closed westbound lanes, crashed into construction equipment, then caught on fire. No one was injured, said Brad James, deputy fire chief for Eureka Fire-Rescue-EMS. The fire company received the call about 10:20 p.m. Saturday. The wayward car drove almost two-thirds...
West Carson Street crash injures 7 people
A two-vehicle crash Sunday on West Carson and Corliss streets in Pittsburgh sent seven people to a local hospital, according to Pittsburgh police. One of the passengers, a child, was in critical condition en route to the hospital, police said. The wreck was reported just before 1:30 p.m., police said....
Child in stable condition after fall from 2nd-floor window in Morningside
Pittsburgh police are investigating the fall of a five-year-old boy Sunday from the second-floor building in the 1400 block of Jancey Street in Morningside. The child fell just before 3 p.m. and was transported to a local hospital. Police said he is in stable condition with a probable broken leg....
Boaters find body in the Allegheny River near 40th Street Bridge
Boaters found a man’s body floating in the Allegheny River near the 40th Street Bridge Sunday just after 1 p.m., according to City of Pittsburgh police. The city’s river rescue team and police were on scene to recover the body, according to an Allegheny County emergency official. The city’s major...
Missing Hampton woman found safe in Ohio
Hampton police located a missing woman who was found safe in Ohio just before 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Merilyn Penn, 82, who is in the early stages of dementia, was last seen driving a dark blue 2009 Dodge Caravan on Main Street in Butler city at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, police...
Officer Brian Shaw scholarship awarded to police cadet from Kennedy Township
The Officer Brian Shaw Memorial Scholarship was awarded to a new cadet who graduated from the Allegheny County Police Academy on Friday. Shaw, of Lower Burrell, was a New Kensington police officer who was shot and killed after a traffic stop and foot chase in 2017. He was 25 years...
During the last week of school, Burrell honor students squeeze in Lower Burrell cleanup
A bevy of Burrell High School honor students devoted some serious public service time during their last week of school sprucing up Veterans Park next to City Hall. Almost 60 students from Burrell’s National Honor Society cleaned litter and debris in the park, swept the tennis courts, the pavilion and...
Lower Burrell farmers market opening to honor founder Bud Myers
The late Joseph “Bud” Myers, known for his volunteer work in Lower Burrell, was beloved for shepherding the first farmers market in the city 10 years ago. The city will honor Myers posthumously, presenting a key to the city to his wife, Carol Myers, during the opening of the farmers...
Burrell School Board passes final budget with 3.5% real estate tax increase
The Burrell School Board unanimously approved its final budget of $32.7 million for 2021-22 on Tuesday, which includes a tax increase of 3.5%. For a home assessed at $22,900, the district’s average home tax assessment, the homeowner would pay an additional $80 in real estate tax for next school year,...
Burrell approves anatomy class to ready students for medical careers
The Burrell School Board voted this week to add an anatomy and physiology course to prepare students for various medical fields. Bryan Mike, a Burrell High School science teacher and head of the science department, spoke before the school board last week to present his ideas on the new course....
Wandering black bear spotted in Lower Burrell
Lower Burrell police and residents reported seeing a black bear at several locations over the past several days. Police said the bear was seen in the Braeburn Heights and Spooky Hollow areas. Residents reported spotting the bear in the last several days along Garvers Ferry, White Cloud and Wildlife Lodge...
Liftoff: Pittsburgh young bald eagles take 1st flightsVideo
Photographers on the Three Rivers Heritage Trail and watchers of a live webcam report that the three young Pittsburgh Hays bald eagles successfully took some of their first flights this weekend. The first young eagle fledged on June 6 and returned to the nest the following day. The other two...
Harrowing footage: Owls take out Northern cardinal and bluebird in a nest boxVideo
A group of live webcams documented a pair of Eastern screech owls in Murrysville preying on a Northern cardinal at a feeder and plucking a mother bluebird from a nest box within the past week. Capturing the predatory birds in the act on a webcam is a relatively new phenomenon,...
Burrell prepares for virtual instruction next year
The Burrell School District’s Academic Approach team is making plans for virtual instruction for next school year. The district is planning to offer five days of virtual instruction and five days of face-to-face instruction, Superintendent Shannon Wagner told the school board earlier this week. Each student will have have access...
Audubon opens nature center and park in Buffalo TownshipVideo
About 12 years in the making, the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania opened its Babcock Nature Center and Buffalo Creek Nature Park on Saturday in Buffalo Township. The six-acre site at 154 Monroe Road is nestled between Little Buffalo Creek and the Butler-Freeport Community Trail. The parcel is owned by...
Introducing the Apollo-Ridge High School Class of 2021
Apollo-Ridge High School held its graduation ceremony on Friday, June 11. Here is the Apollo-Ridge High School Class of 2021: Alivia Renee Acevedo, Delaney J. Ashbaugh, Gavin Patrick Barrick, Adeline Marie-Lynn Baustert, Morgan Nicole Baynar, Mira Grace Bernat, Halyn Michelle Biddle, Anthony Paul Blackgrove, Alexis Marie Blake, Emily Grace Bonelli,...
Fixes for 7 landslides in Upper Burrell to cost more than $400,000
Upper Burrell is trying to find money to fix seven landslides on Lower Drennan Road that are estimated to cost more than $400,000. The township just applied for a $317,000 grant from the federal government via Sen. Bob Casey’s office. The township would need to kick in a $93,000 match,...
Burrell students deliver board games, fun to Belair nursing home residents
Burrell School District Interact Club students donated $300 worth of board games and books for residents of the Belair Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center. Students delivered 10 board games and other games including Yahtzee, Scrabble, Monopoly, chess and checkers; a card shuffler and puzzles galore. Burrell’s Interact Club students are dedicated...
