Patrick Varine stories, Page 140
Customs officials: 1,600 counterfeit Roku remotes seized en route to Butler County
Customs and Border Protection officials operate by a simple philosophy: the more popular something is, the more likely that someone in the world is busy creating a counterfeit version. So with millions of Americans streaming billions of television shows and movies amid the coronavirus quarantine, customs officials in Pittsburgh were...
Tune in to livestreamed performances by local and national artistsVideo
Artists, entertainers and musicians are continuing to bring their art to fans through a variety of livestreaming platforms on both a local and national level. Concert promoter Live Nation has created Live From Home, a virtual music hub that features hundreds of performances to choose from. This week, the free...
Murrysville family prints mask extenders for area medical personnelVideo
Typically, the 3D printer in Jason Cyprowski’s Murrysville home is more of an entertaining curiosity. “My daughters made cookie cutters, and my son’s made some little toys with it,” Cyprowski said. These days, however, it’s getting a much more rigorous workout creating mask extenders for area medical personnel. “After learning...
No bird-banding this year at Powdermill because of coronavirus concerns
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the U.S. Bird Banding Laboratory, whose efforts have helped researchers uncover information about avian migration patterns, population shifts, productivity and more. For the first time in six decades, however, spring migration won’t be documented by the bird-banding operation at the Powdermill Nature Reserve...
Murrysville Area Soccer Association cancels spring season
Murrysville Area Soccer Association officials have canceled the spring 2020 in-house and travel-team season. PA West Soccer, the sanctioning body for MASA, announced last week that it was canceling all spring competitions. “MASA is currently working with its website administrator regarding the processing of refunds for the spring 2020 season...
Westmoreland food bank sees steady supply of volunteers amid pandemic
Sizable unemployment numbers due to the coronavirus shutdown in Western Pennsylvania have meant longer lines at area food banks. Those same numbers, however, also have translated to a larger pool of volunteers to help out, which is welcome news to Westmoreland County Food Bank Executive Director Jennifer Miller, who said...
Turner’s adds ‘Star Wars’-themed milk for May the 4th Be With You DayVideo
Turner Dairy Farms is adding a little intergalactic flavor to its specialty milk line, changing the labels on its Birthday Cake Milk in recognition of the annual unofficial Star Wars holiday, May the Fourth Be With You Day. Turner’s will sell Blue Banthamilk on a limited basis. And yes, the...
Murrysville council looks at options for slowing Wiestertown Road traffic
With a horse stable down the street, and increasing development at Murrysville Community Park raising the number of cars driving on Wiestertown Road, council members plan to boost the police presence there. Concerns about drivers speeding on the single-lane rural road near the park aren’t new. A previous iteration of...
Gov. Wolf: Northcentral, northwestern Pa. to be among first to reopen for business
Residents of northcentral and northwestern Pennsylvania are projected to be the first in the state to be released from Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order, and many retail stores in those areas should be able to reopen, under a statewide plan released Wednesday night. Wolf wants to begin easing some pandemic...
Conservancy preserves 27 acres of South Huntingdon farm land on Earth Day
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy members weren’t able to hold the signing ceremony they’d hoped for. Nonetheless, they were able to preserve nearly 30 acres of Westmoreland County farm land on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The farm, in South Huntingdon, will be part of the conservancy’s Farmland Access Initiative, which...
Murrysville staff begins pandemic-related adjustments to 2021 budget
Murrysville Chief Administrator Jim Morrison has noted several times over the years that he and the municipal staff take a cautious approach to the annual budget. “We are a conservative bunch here, and the numbers reflect that,” he said. “However, there are so many things that are unpredictable at this...
Franklin Regional earns another ‘Best Communities for Music Education’ award
Classes may not be meeting in person and buildings may be closed, but there is still plenty happening in and around the Franklin Regional School District: • The district earned a “Best Communities for Music Education” designation from The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation for its commitment to...
Murrysville teen shifts nonprofit’s aim to encourage front-line health care workersVideo
When Anup Nadesan and Joseph Bonfiglio started a tennis nonprofit called My Ground Strokes last summer, their goal was to teach the game to children with developmental disabilities. Through a partnership with East Suburban Citizens Advocacy and the Rashid Hassan Elite National Tennis Academy, both based in Murrysville, My Ground...
Former Latrobe shelter dog nominated for national Hero Dog awardVideo
When Grace Coleman began bringing her dog Penny to her office, she hoped it would help brighten her co-workers’ days. She never expected the spaniel mix, adopted from Action for Animals in Latrobe, to become one of the most effective employees at Crisis Center North, which works with domestic violence...
Rotary members living out ‘Service Above Self’ motto during pandemic
The Rotary International motto is “Service Above Self.” So it only makes sense that members of the Murrysville-Export Rotary Club are doing what they can to help others in the community. Club members on April 17 delivered lunch to staff at Redstone Highlands in Murrysville, “to show appreciation for the...
Franklin Regional nurse wins state association’s Excellence in School Nursing Award
As Franklin Regional Middle School nurse Beth Frydrych was about to be recognized with a statewide award, she found herself forced to reinvent her role as the coronavirus pandemic made its way into Western Pennsylvania. “It’s all new, and who knows what will come up?” asked Frydrych of Murrysville, who...
Murrysville awards contract for summer road work
Murrysville council awarded a $1.2 million contract to Tresco Paving for the municipality’s 2020 overlay program. This year’s program includes just over 8 miles of roadwork, and the bid from Plum-based Tresco came in below engineering estimates, council President Dayne Dice said. Roads on the list include: • Old William...
Report: 14-year-old girls charged with setting 4 fires in McKeesport
McKeesport police say two 14-year-old girls kept a notebook of properties they wanted to burn down, and the list included four houses where fires have been set in recent months. According to the Trib’s news partner WPXI, the two teens have been charged with four counts each of arson and...
Franklin Regional sets potential dates for prom, graduationVideo
Tonight students from Franklin Regional would have been at their prom. But school district officials are hoping it can still happen, having set potential dates for a postponed prom and graduation ceremony. “We want these things to happen for you guys,” said high school Principal Ron Suvak in an address...
Homewood homicide suspect, from Clairton, arrested by U.S. marshals in New Jersey
A Clairton man wanted in connection with a Homewood homicide was arrested Friday by U.S. marshals in New Jersey, according to Pittsburgh police. Sanders Barber, 44, was taken into custody by marshals and New Jersey State Police, on a Pittsburgh arrest warrant. Barber was charged April 8 with the fatal...
Franklin Regional will implement pass/fail grading system for remainder of academic year
The Franklin Regional School District will implement a pass/fail grading system for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year, but school board members had a lengthy discussion about its merits and shortcomings. “I would rather our teachers focus on creating assignments and lessons to engage students instead of focusing on...
Giant Eagle to convert Parkway Center store to curbside pickup, delivery only
Giant Eagle announced Friday that it will convert its Parkway Center Mall location near Green Tree into a curbside pickup center, allowing the grocery giant to increase pickup and delivery orders its employees fill. “As we’ve been piloting creative solutions to increase our curbside pickup and delivery capacity, we have...
Pennsylvania’s ‘masks in public’ order manifests in a variety of ways in Western Pa.
Alyson Holt’s house in Murrysville is starting to fill up with 3D printers. Her husband, Gary, already had two and recently ordered a third. These days, they are humming steadily, creating moldable face masks using polyactic acid plastic, the most common material for 3D printing. The Holts are using a...
Murrysville to reduce number of monthly planning meetings
Murrysville officials are hoping that reducing planning commission meetings from two to one per month will make it easier for the commission to achieve a consistent quorum to conduct business. The seven-member commission was only able to hold one monthly meeting during at least six months of 2019, according to...
Murrysville will likely delay construction of park amphitheater
With live concerts an unlikely scenario in the near future, and a group of consultant proposals that missed the mark, Murrysville officials are likely to hold off on plans to build an amphitheater at Murrysville Community Park. “We received five (consultant) proposals, and to say the least, I think we’re...
