Mary Ann Thomas stories, Page 57
2nd annual Officer Brian Shaw Memorial Scholarship Ride & Event set for Aug. 11
The second annual Officer Brian Shaw Memorial Scholarship Ride and Event is scheduled for Aug. 11 at the Pittsburgh Shrine Center in Harmar. Shaw, a Lower Burrell resident and a New Kensington police officer, was 25 years old when he was shot and killed during a traffic stop in 2017...
This is what mama does: Hays eagle brings live catfish to startled youngVideo
Being good parents, the Pittsburgh Hays bald eagles have been bringing food daily to its two young eaglets, carefully feeding them small morsels — fish, mice, other birds, carrion. But on Friday, the young birds got a real taste of the wild. CSE Corp., the company the operates a live...
Volunteers put on the glam for Highlands prom-goersVideo
They came in all colors and textures — up ’dos, down ’dos and braids. Welcome to prom prep — free and courtesy of a team of volunteer hairdressers, makeup artists and manicurists Friday at Highlands High School. The special primping event took place hours before Highlands’ prom, “A Night at...
Washington Township awards $206,000 contract for road work
Township supervisors Thursday announced the low bidder for a road work contract: Suit-Kote Corp. of Meadville with $206,000 for seal coating township roads and the Kunkle Park parking lot and road. This year’s township seal coating will cover the following roads: Crestwood Drive, Gilmar Road from Utopia Road to Beamer...
North Park bald eagles suffer empty-nest syndrome
The bald eagles at North Park, likely the first pair to nest in an Allegheny County park, didn’t produce any young this season, wildlife officials said. The Pennsylvania Game Commission confirmed recently there are no chicks in the nest. “There have been sightings of both parent birds leaving the nest,”...
Orphaned bear cub rescued behind Rite-Aid in Pottsville
Pennsylvania Game Commission wardens received a call last month about a lone bear cub behind a Rite-Aid drugstore in Pottsville, Schuylkill County. Sure enough, Game Warden James Macunas and state police found the small cub without a mom in sight on April 28, according to a game commission account on...
Learn how to get your Real ID at events in Oakmont, Harrison and New Kensington
State Rep. Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont, and PennDOT are offering free public information sessions locally on the new requirements for residents to obtain Real ID. Although not mandatory, Pennsylvania residents trying to board domestic flights after Oct. 1, 2020, will need to present a Real ID driver’s license or identification card...
Kiski Area High School open to the public for first Night of the Arts
Kiski Area High School will showcase hundreds of pieces of student artwork for the first Night of the Arts, a free public art show with live music and more from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., May 13, in the high school atrium. The art event will feature student projects, food...
Meeting Wednesday on vandalism, bad behavior and improvements at Vandergrift’s Franklin Park
A community group, the Vandergrift Parent Project, has raised about $500 to pay for a children’s vegetable garden and mural at Franklin Park. The group will discuss the Franklin Park improvements as well as vandalism and bad behavior by unsupervised kids at borough parks during their regular monthly meeting on...
Kiski Area High School wins award for registering students to vote
Kiski Area High School is among six high schools in southwestern Pennsylvania receiving a Governor’s Civic Engagement Award for registering at least 65% of its students to vote, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State. Only two schools — Kiski Area and Purchase Line Junior/Senior High School in Indiana County...
Get back to nature on the Butler-Freeport Community Trail
At times, the Butler- Freeport Community Trail seems to be a mere ribbon of pathway cutting through a landscape so large. Steep, rocky hillsides loom within a matter of miles of calmer and drier terrain of rolling farm fields, accounting for the trail’s variety and charm. Then there’s the lack...
Local SWAT team to help northern Westmoreland County communities
Upper Burrell is the fifth community to join in a SWAT-like team covering northern Westmoreland County to respond to high-risk events such as active shooters, barricaded gunmen and serving drug warrants. This new multi-municipality Community Emergency Response Team (CRT) is a team bound by a mutual-aid agreement among New Kensington,...
Vandergrift police officer honored for community service by VFW
Vandergrift Police Sgt. Tony DePanicis knows listening is crucial to quality police work. That, and not letting a 103-year-old woman grab her slippers during a house fire. The Vandergrift VFW Post 566 recently honored DePanicis and Vandergrift Fire Co. No. 1 Chief Tom Schaeffer with its prestigious Community Service Award....
Lyme Disease Awareness Month brings warnings and tips to stave off ticks
May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month. As ticks are known carriers of Lyme disease, tick bites can be debilitating with symptoms including fever, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, joint pain and, possibly, a bullseye rash. If you are outdoors in southwestern Pennsylvania, taking the following precautions can prevent tick bites and...
Lower Burrell Dems to hold 2 rallies for incumbent candidates at Burrell Plaza and Mogie’s
Three of Lower Burrell’s incumbent candidates in hotly contested races – Mayor Rich Callender and Councilmen Christopher Koziarski and Christopher Fabry – will hold campaign rallies this month. A “flash rally” with free hot dogs is set for Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the U-Haul moving and...
Upper Burrell temporarily shelves fire-tax proposal
Upper Burrell Supervisors will temporarily shelve a proposal for a 2-mill fire tax as they further study the finances of the township’s volunteer fire company, according to Supervisors Chairman Ross Walker. In April, the board directed its solicitor to draw up a resolution for a 2-mill fire tax to pay...
Students find 22 pounds of pot during post-Earth Day cleanup in Florida Keys
As part of a post-Earth Day cleanup, Coral Shores High School students volunteered to pick up litter in the Florida Keys and found a rather large item: a 22-pound bale of marijuana, according to the Miami Herald. Volunteers called local authorities and Border Patrol agents to pick up the marijuana...
Rally coming up at Mogie’s for 2 Lower Burrell candidates in hotly contested races
With the hotly contested races for the Democratic nomination for Lower Burrell city council and mayor, two of the candidates will hold a rally on Wednesday at Mogie’s Magill Grill. John Andrejcik, who is running for mayor, and Steve Yakopec, the former city solicitor who is running for council, will...
Race to the Moon 5-K on Roaring Run Trail set
The Roaring Run Watershed Association will hold its third annual Race to the Moon 5-K run/walk on July 13. Race proceeds benefit the association, which maintains the Roaring Run Trail and trail head and other projects. Registration fees range from $20 to $30. To sign up, go to RRWA’s website....
Lower Burrell’s Anti-Bullying Awareness Day offers free events, picnic
Lower Burrell is offering free public events and information for Anti-Bullying Awareness Day at City Hall and a picnic at Burrell Lake Park on Saturday. The event will take place from 2 to 6 p.m. Nico Pampena, a third-grader who was bullied, will be Lower Burrell Mayor for the Day....
Not 1 but 2 Harmar eaglets have their day in the sun
With temperatures soaring into the 80s Wednesday, both bald eaglets were active and seen at the Harmar nest above Route 28. Gina Gilmore of Fox Chapel captured the young family in photos posted to Facebook on Wednesday. While only the top of a second eaglet’s head had been spotted in...
Don’t spare the blood: Apollo-Ridge looks to realism for mock DUI crashVideo
A mock car crash that included a drunken driver, a dead passenger and other injured parties was the lesson of the day Wednesday at Apollo-Ridge High School. Although mock accident scenes are nothing new, the high school decided to add flair or, rather, blood and make-up for students to look...
London marathon runners quench thirst with sports drink in edible seaweed pods
No, the runners did not have to eat them, but they could. The golf ball-sized pouches made from seaweed and filled with a sports drink were handed out to thousands of runners for the London marathon on April 28. The marathon offered “race organizers and company officials a mass experiment...
Native plants for hummingbirds, butterflies to go on sale at Beechwood Farms
The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania will open its Native Plant Nursery at Beechwood Farms in Fox Chapel with sales and special bundles of plants to attract butterflies and hummingbirds from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The nursery will remain open throughout the planting season. For opening day on...
2 bears killed by cars in West Deer, Hampton in as many days
Two young black bears, possibly siblings, were hit by cars over the weekend in West Deer and Hampton. There were no reports of injuries to people in either incident, according to Dan Puhala, a Pennsylvania Game Commission warden who covers northern Allegheny County. The first bear was hit early Saturday...
