Murrysville Star category, Page 121
Murrysville makes adjustments to budget, tax deadlines in anticipation of covid-19 impact
Murrysville officials are proposing some adjustments to the year’s budget and eliminating late-payment penalties for real-estate taxes, in light of anticipated impacts from the covid-19 pandemic. “We figure as we go into May, June and July, we’re going to start seeing the effects of unemployment, and that will be revenue...
Franklin Regional plans ‘back-to-school task force’ to plan for 2020-21 year
As of early May, there’s just no telling what education in Pennsylvania could look like in the fall. Whatever form it takes, and whatever may happen during the 2020-21 school year related to the coronavirus, Franklin Regional school officials want to be prepared. “Right now none of us have a...
Planned power outage set for Forbes Trail area of Murrysville on Thursday morning
West Penn Power officials are planning a brief outage in the Forbes Trail area of Murrysville on Thursday morning. The planned outage will be from about 9 a.m. to noon, in order to upgrade facilities. If the weather does not cooperate, the outage will be rescheduled for Friday. Anyone with...
Export Council’s May meeting delayed 1 week
Export officials will hold their May council meeting a week later than usual. The May 12 meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Export Volunteer Fire Department social hall, the former American Legion building, 5778 Kennedy Ave. Council did not hold an April meeting....
Franklin Regional adopts proposed budget with 2.54 mill tax hikeVideo
The Franklin Regional school board adopted a proposed $61.5 million budget for the 2020-21 school year that includes a 2.54 mill tax hike. The budget includes a nearly $3 million funding gap that will be plugged, for now, with money from the district’s various fund balances, some of which are...
Export native takes over Naval Air Force Atlantic commandVideo
Export native and Navy veteran Rear Adm. John Meier was placed in charge of six nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, 54 air squadrons, 1,200 aircraft and 43,000 officers, enlisted and civilian personnel on May 1. Meier relieved Rear Adm. Roy Kelley during a change-of-command ceremony for the Naval Air Force Atlantic. Kelley,...
Pa. Supreme Court upholds Alex Hribal plea, prison sentence in Franklin Regional stabbings
The state Supreme Court on Monday upheld the conviction and prison sentence for Alex B. Hribal, who was arrested as a teen in the wounding of 20 youths and a security guard during a 2014 knife attack at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville. Hribal’s attorney, Patrick Thomassey, had argued...
Murrysville school plans ‘drive-thru graduation’ for kindergarten students
The drive-through service model is working well for restaurants and some other businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, so Mother of Sorrows School officials in Murrysville thought: why couldn’t it work just as well for kindergarten students making the transition to first grade? The school, on Old William Penn Highway, will...
Murrysville men launch White Valley DistillingVideo
Jim Battaglia grew up hearing stories about how his grandfather used to do some distilling back in the day. “He’d make an additive for farm equipment, but he was also known to make a pretty good whiskey, from what I understand,” said Battaglia, a Murrysville resident. In a roundabout —...
Charley Family Shop’n Save donates $50,000 in food vouchers to Westmoreland food bank
A local grocery store owner is pitching in to help residents in need get food amid the coronavirus pandemic. Charley Family Shop’n Save officials presented $50,000 in food vouchers to the Westmoreland County Food Bank earlier this month, in the form of 2,500 vouchers valued at $20 each. “It’s a...
Fox Chapel Area School District’s new superintendent to come from Franklin Regional
Fox Chapel Area School District has a new superintendent. Mary Catherine Reljac was unanimously hired Tuesday night to replace Gene Freeman as Fox Chapel Area’s top administrator. The district agreed to a four-year contract with a starting salary of $200,000. The contract is expected to be posted on the district’s...
East Suburban clinic reports data breach affecting 500 patients
East Suburban Sports Medicine Center, an athletic training and physical therapy center with branches in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, announced a data security breach that affected more than 500 Pennsylvania residents. Last spring, two patients told center officials that, when they ran a Google search for their names, the results...
Delmont library organizes ‘May the Fourth Be With You’ virtual trivia night
Delmont Public Library employees will mark the unofficial Star Wars holiday, “May the Fourth Be With You,” with an evening of virtual trivia. Teams or individuals will have a chance to earn a $10 or $20 gift card to Kings Family Restaurant by placing first or second after answering 20...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
