Murrysville Star category, Page 119
Steelers, Pitt sports radio broadcaster Bill Hillgrove charged with DUI in Murrysville
Murrysville police this week charged Steelers Radio Network personality and University of Pittsburgh sports radio announcer Bill Hillgrove with drunken driving, according to a criminal complaint. Hillgrove, 80, received a DUI charge at his Murrysville home after he crashed into Ferri’s ShurSave supermarket located along Old William Penn Highway, breaking...
R.K. Mellon Foundation funds PPE grants for front-line workers in Allegheny, Westmoreland
A Delmont councilman is continuing the work of the borough’s former fire chief, securing grant funding to supply all Westmoreland County firefighters with face-shield filters to protect against coronavirus. Delmont Fire Chief Rich Balik, who died in late May, was working with the R.K. Mellon Foundation to secure a $10,000...
Murrysville will host glass recycling event
Murrysville and Republic Services will sponsor a pop-up glass recycling event from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The collection will be in the parking lot at Veterans Field, 4200 Sardis Road. All colors of glass bottles, jars and jugs will be accepted. Caps, lids and labels are acceptable. All...
Public meeting will outline Delmont, Salem plan to address sewage, stormwater issues
The public will get a closer look at how Delmont and Salem Township plan to address longstanding sewage and stormwater issues in early July. The Delmont Volunteer Fire Department will host a July 2 meeting that is to include officials from both towns, and the public is invited to see...
Delmont Recreation Board adds live music to ‘Movies in the Park’Video
The Delmont Recreation Board will augment its annual summer “Movies in the Park” series with free live music before the film begins. The first event will be at 6 p.m. June 27 at Newhouse Park, featuring music from The Phisbins. Food will be available to purchase at the concession stand...
Play ball: Youth baseball, softball given green light in Delmont, Murrysville
With Westmoreland County in the green phase of Gov. Tom Wolf’s covid-19 reopening plan, youth athletic associations in Delmont and Murrysville have been given the go-ahead to start their seasons. “We’re ready to go,” said Erin Salas, who serves as softball vice president for both the Delmont Area and Franklin...
Hankey Church, Old Greensburg roads will close through October for Murrysville bridge replacement
PennDOT has announced the closure of Hankey Church Road and upcoming closure of Old Greensburg Road for bridge replacement work on Route 366 in northern Murrysville. Work crews will be replacing the small bridge that carries Greensburg Road (Route 366) over Pucketa Creek between the roads that will be closed....
Murrysville parks reopen, but splash pad, community center remain closed
Murrysville officials have reopened the “destination playground” at Murrysville Community Park, and are hoping that it will remain a viable destination this summer through proper health and safety precautions. Council members began working through the logistics of reopening recreation sites at their June 3 meeting, just two days before Westmoreland...
Franklin Regional gets update from its ‘back-to-school task force’
The Franklin Regional school board will hold a special meeting in July to lay out plans for how education will work in the 2020-21 school year. That meeting date has not been set yet, but members of the district’s back-to-school task force updated the board Monday night on their work....
Franklin Regional passes $61M budget with 2.54-mill tax hike
Franklin Regional school directors voted 6-3 Monday to adopt a 2020-21 budget with a 2.54-mill tax increase. Despite expenditure reductions related to special education funding, fewer commissions on tax collections and no change in insurance premiums, which were expected to rise, the $61.6 million budget stands with the tax hike....
Franklin Regional hires new assistant superintendent from Greater Latrobe
Franklin Regional School District will have several new administrators in the 2020-21 school year, including a new assistant superintendent. The school board hired Robin Pynos on Monday. Pynos, a Duquesne University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania alum, comes to Franklin Regional from the Greater Latrobe School District, where she served...
Franklin Regional school board members butt heads over meeting procedures
Franklin Regional Superintendent Gennaro Piraino decided in early June that he’d had enough of school board members arguing and talking over one another in public meetings. “Maybe I’m overstepping my bounds, but I’m a member of this team of 10,” Piraino said. “Right now, what is happening week after week...
Franklin Regional graduation officially postponed until July
Franklin Regional graduates may have had a chance to do a drive-thru “graduation,” but if the real thing is going to happen, it won’t be until July. School district officials announced over the weekend that plans for a traditional graduation ceremony will be postponed until July 24. “Though we strongly...
More than 100 turn out for Murrysville Black Lives Matter support walkVideo
Aryanna Hunter admitted she wasn’t sure what to expect Sunday after she organized a peaceful Black Lives Matter support walk through Murrysville. But after the three-hour event, Hunter said she was astonished with the turnout and support. “I thought I might be the only woman standing on a corner by...
Naturalist resumes free wildlife programs in Murrysville’s trails and parks
There are plenty of hotly-debated aspects of the covid-19 pandemic, but one that seems to have been embraced by most people is the notion that being outside is a healthy, relatively low-risk behavior. No one is happier about that than Susan Miller of Plum, who recently resumed her monthly outdoor...
Murrysville Black Lives Matter protest set for Sunday
Aryanna Hunter of Murrysville wasn’t able to attend Pittsburgh protests against police brutality over the past week. An Army veteran, Hunter works as head of the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Veteran Services, and wanted to rally support in her hometown as well. She’ll get to do it this weekend...
Many Westmoreland taxpayers not noticing extended discount period
Many Westmoreland County residents aren’t taking advantage of this year’s extended discount period for property taxes, and it’s causing headaches for local tax collectors. Earlier this spring, the county commissioners extended the deadline for the 2% property tax discount — which usually ends in April 30 — through Aug. 31...
Murrysville Recreation Department details summer plans, programs
The Murrysville Recreation Department is venturing into summer events as Westmoreland County continues making its way through the “green phase” of the state’s covid-19 reopening plan. Concerts The “Tuesdays at Townsend” concert series will resume June 23. Free concerts at Townsend Park will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 8...
Delmont officials look to address improper dumping at Shields Farm
Delmont officials will place a gate restricting access to the borough dump site on the Shields Farm property during weekdays to prevent what police say is a mounting issue with garbage dumping. “It’s getting to be a real problem,” Chief T.J. Klobucar said. “We’ve issued some citations recently, and we...
Delmont’s Apple’n Arts Festival looking at options for 2020 event amid coronavirus concernsVideo
Officials from the annual Apple’n Arts Festival are getting a little bit antsy. The event regularly draws thousands to Delmont in the fall, and with the region having shifted into “green status” in the state’s phased covid-19 reopening plan, festival organizers were looking for some direction from the borough on...
Franklin Regional school board set to vote on 2.54-mill tax hike next week
There have been some tweaks to Franklin Regional’s proposed final 2020-21 budget but, for taxpayers, it remains largely the same. Despite expenditure reductions related to special education funding, fewer commissions on tax collections and no change in insurance premiums, which were expected to rise, the $61.31 million budget stands with...
Overdoses continue to drop in Westmoreland, but traffic deaths jump 50%
Westmoreland County Coroner Ken Bacha’s 2019 annual report released Monday showed an expected decline in drug overdose deaths for the second consecutive year, but it also disclosed a dramatic 50% increase in traffic fatalities. The local traffic deaths, which jumped from from 18 in 2018 to to 27 in 2019,...
Contractor: All but 4 Sloan Elementary classrooms will be ready for 2020-21 school year
Construction officials for Franklin Regional’s Sloan Elementary project anticipate that all but four classrooms will be ready in time for the start of the 2020-21 school year. “The majority of the classrooms will be completed, with the exception of the additional kindergarten classrooms on the far right side of the...
2 more coronavirus cases, no new deaths reported in Westmoreland County
Two new covid-19 cases and no additional deaths were reported Thursday in Westmoreland County. The countywide case total is now 455 with 38 deaths, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. County Coroner Kenneth Bacha reported 32 coronavirus deaths, less than the state’s number, but Bacha’s office has not updated...
Shady Side Academy students win Emmy award
Eight Shady Side Academy students can call themselves Emmy winners after the school’s WSSA-TV Film Club earned a trophy in the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) 2020 Mid-Atlantic High School Production competition. The Student Emmy was awarded for a short-form video, “Grateful for Our Teachers,” which features...
