Patrick Varine stories, Page 4

Pennsylvania State Police arrested a Florida man Wednesday after discovering more than 37 pounds of suspected cocaine inside a hidden compartment in his vehicle. Troopers conducted a traffic stop on a Ford Explorer traveling near mile marker 83 on the turnpike in Mt. Pleasant Township. Police identified the driver as...

Monessen High School was evacuated after contractors accidentally struck a gas line Thursday morning, according to county emergency officials. Westmoreland County 911 received a call around 10:20 a.m. that a crew working near the high school had damaged a gas line connecting the school to the main Peoples Natural Gas...

Attendees at next month’s Steel City Con in Monroeville will have a chance for an autograph or photo op with one of the legends of the boxing world. Mike Tyson will be among the celebrities appearing at the convention, set for Aug. 8-10 at the Monroeville Convention Center. In addition...

Extreme heat is back with temperatures expected soar past 90 degrees Thursday, according to Jared Rackley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Moon. Pockets of the region could see a heat index — that’s how hot it feels taking the humidity into account — above 100 degrees on...

Car cruise The Rev’d Up Car Cruise will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 27 in Monroeville. It will be at 101 Mall Blvd., and the afternoon will feature new and vintage cars, food trucks, live music and more. Those seeking to display a car can register...

Murrysville officials want to upgrade the adaptive system used to coordinate Route 22 traffic lights through the town’s commercial corridor. “The system we have in place is about 12 years old, and we think it’s run its course,” Murrysville Chief Administrator Michael Nestico told council at its meeting this week....

A Belle Vernon man was sentenced to more than two years in jail and must pay a $3.6 million fine after pleading guilty to running a temporary staffing agency that provided workers who were living illegally in the United States. Federal prosecutors said Andy Ha, 28, also failed to pay...

A Pittsburgh man is charged with selling methamphetamine and an AR-15 rifle to an informant, according to North Huntingdon police. Chad T. Chamberlin, 51, of the city’s Bloomfield neighborhood, was charged with drug possession with intent to deliver, and possession of a firearm with an altered manufacturing number. In May,...

The 3-by-3-foot steel plate on State Road in Monessen may not look like much, but what it covers underground is much larger. Monessen officials have issued an emergency declaration in order to address a 12-by-15 hole caused by mine subsidence. “It almost looks like one of the old mine ‘portal’...

An Irwin man has been charged with possession of more than 100 images and videos of child pornography, state police said Monday Joshua D. Ward, 34, of Third Street, is charged with 110 counts of possession of child sexual abuse material and criminal use of a communication device, according to...

Route 981 has reopened after a multi-vehicle crash Monday morning in Derry Township. First responders were called to the intersection of Route 981 and Lee-Valley Road around 7:21 a.m. for a report of a three-vehicle crash. Mutual Aid Ambulance spokesman Shawn Penzera said no one was injured in the crash....

Murrysville Council will consider whether to add a disc golf course to Murrysville Community Park. “It’s an extremely fast-growing sport, and it’s been on a real upward trajectory since covid,” said Dan Flanigan, a disc golf course designer with the Professional Disc Golf Association, which oversees leagues and tournaments across...

A pest-control company is pestering Murrysville residents. “We’ve had some issues lately with companies soliciting who do not have a permit,” Murrysville Chief Administrator Michael Nestico said at council’s latest meeting. “In particular there’s a pest-control company, Moxie, that we’ve had issues with lately, and it’s also been difficult to...

AAron Capouellez wants people to know everything they can about how to create, maintain and foster nurturing habitats for Pennsylvania’s frogs and toads. But he doesn’t want them to know where those habitats are, necessarily. It’s one of the odd contradictions of amphibian conservation and a bit of a catch-22...

Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Fairview Park Old Fashioned Picnic The historic Fairview Park, which was once home to the region’s only amusement park that catered to Black families, will hold its 23rd annual Old Fashioned Picnic on Aug. 16. This year will also mark the park’s...

Penn State Master Gardeners invite the public to a free open house at their demonstration gardens in Hempfield. The open house will be 9 a.m. to noon July 19 at the Penn State Extension’s Donohoe Center, 214 Donohoe Road in Hempfield. Visitors can walk through more than a dozen demonstration...

Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com or bkikel@triblive.com. Quilt show The Quilt Company East’s “Under the Sun” quilt guild show will be held at Christ the Divine Shepherd Parish, 245 Azalea Drive in Monroeville. It will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 17-18, and 10 a.m....

Members of the public got their first detailed look Wednesday evening at what would be the largest natural gas-fired power plant in the U.S. if it’s built: a 3,200-acre project in Homer City, Indiana County. Representatives from Homer City Redevelopment were on hand alongside officials from local trade unions and...

Members of the Delmont-Salem Rotaract Club will install a peace pole” in Delmont’s Newhouse Park later this summer. The small monument, supported by Rotary and Rotaract clubs across the globe, is an eight-foot pole on which “May peace prevail on Earth” is inscribed in eight different languages. That is surrounded...

Developers will present plans Wednesday for a $10 billion, 3,200-acre, natural-­gas power plant in Indiana County. The former Homer City Generating Station, once a coal-fired plant, is being proposed to provide the electricity required for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. Members of Homer City Redevelopment Group will host an open...

Mike Casper always has some vinyl records lying around. “We get a lot of vinyl donated, and a lot of times people will bring things in they don’t have the (record) sleeves for anymore and we can’t do much with those,” said Casper, an employee at CD Warehouse in Hempfield....

Jim Fox III remembers sitting down to a table at Dick’s Diner as a child with his father, even though his dad was the founder of the popular Fox’s Pizza chain. The family recognized the appeal of a small-town diner like Dick’s. Today, Fox owns the restaurant, which will be...

AAA East Central will host an event in Tuesday in Monroeville for drivers to replace license plates that have begun peeling. In Pennsylvania, drivers can be pulled over and fined up to $100 for an illegible license plate, defined as a plate where one or more characters cannot be recognized...

Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com. Baseball history presentation A guest speaker from the Heinz History Center will come to Murrysville on July 21 to give a talk on the history of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball. It will be at 7 p.m. at the Sampson/Clark Homestead, 5332 West Pike...

PPG to host annual butterfly count The 25th annual North American Butterfly Count will take place from 9-11:30 a.m. July 12 in Monroeville. The event is organized by the North American Butterfly Association. Anyone interested in participating can meet at the PPG Monroeville Business & Technology Center at 440 College...