Local category, Page 2059
Crafton Elementary School supports student battling leukemia
A fifth grader at Crafton Elementary School was able to celebrate her own day through her biggest passion — dancing. The school held a Team Lexi Day on Feb. 26 for 11-year-old Lexi Schmidt, who was diagnosed with leukemia last July. Students lined up outside, chanting “Lexi” as she arrived...
Trial for Greensburg man charged with robbery, murder of Vandergrift woman set for June
The murder trial for a Greensburg man charged with the 2017 bludgeoning and strangulation death of a Vandergrift woman is set to begin in June. Prosecutors contend that Walter Cable, 28, is one of two men who robbed 34-year-old Ronny Cable. They are not related. She was beaten with a...
Without St. Patrick’s Day parade, groups produce virtual Irish celebration in Pittsburgh
For the second consecutive year, there is no luck of the Irish for an in-person St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Pittsburgh. But there will be a virtual party to recognize the upcoming celebration. The “Virtual Shamrock Shindig Celebrates Everything Irish” takes place at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 12. The...
Hempfield couple, among the 1st to get covid-19, glad they shared their recovery story
Michael Duffy had some reservations when his wife Lisa decided to go public a year ago after they became the second and third Westmoreland County residents to test positive for covid-19. The Duffys, of Hempfield, contracted the virus during a Caribbean cruise in March 2020, when the world was just...
WQED, Western Pa. groups to host youth mental health virtual event
In addition to all the other problems it has caused, the covid-19 pandemic has given rise to mental health issues for 11- to- 17-year-olds. The disruption of in-person classes, as well as extracurricular and social activities, has left a significant number of young people depressed and worried about their futures....
Springdale teacher-turned-cookie-maker offers online class in cookie decorating
Springdale’s Amanda Monnich is uniquely qualified to provide online classes teaching people how to decorate freshly baked sugar cookies. Formerly a teacher with cyber-school experience, Monnich, 31, became inspired to run her cookie business full-time after taking a cookie-decorating class in 2019. “It was just a fun hobby, and now,...
Part of Brownsville Road in South Park closed following crash
Part of Brownsville Road in South Park is closed after a vehicle crashed into a utility pole, Tribune-Review news partners WPXI-TV reported. The road is closed in the area of Wilhelm Avenue. Police are waiting for crews to make repairs to the pole and powerlines. The road remained closed as...
The Stroller, March 10, 2021: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
The Valley News Dispatch will publish a list of community Easter egg hunts and activities. To have an event listed online and in the print edition, send the information as soon as possible to The Stroller, Valley News Dispatch, 210 Fourth Ave., Tarentum PA 15084 or email Carol Pinto-Smith; email...
Irwin ponders upgrading parking meters — old ones give away time for too little money
Irwin officials have found that too many of the borough’s old parking meters have problems that make drivers happy — meters that give away more time than drivers pay for and rates so low that plinking a nickel into a meter gives the motorist 30 minutes of parking. The borough...
Women’s History Month documentary, virtual book discussions and more at Northland Public Library
Following is a sampling of upcoming programs offered at Northland Public Library. Some of the virtual programs require registration online at northlandlibrary.org or by calling 412-366-8100. The library is located at 300 Cumberland Road in McCandless. Registration and links for live streaming many of the programs for children can be...
Police: 3 people shot in Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhood, 2 are critical
Multiple people were shot in Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhood, Public Safety officials reported Tuesday night. Allegheny County 911 dispatch confirmed police were called to Suismon and James streets around 9:20 p.m. Officials said three men were taken to a local hospital with gunshot wounds, two in critical condition and one...
Greater Latrobe plans in-person prom with outdoor Grand March
Greater Latrobe Senior High School is planning an in-person prom at an entertainment complex that will allow for social distancing. The school board learned at its Tuesday meeting that the prom is scheduled for May 21 at Zone 28, a 50,000-square-foot entertainment venue in Harmarville. The complex offers such activities...
Jefferson Hills to explore use of bus garage as substation for JHFR, Gill Hall stays closed
Jefferson Hills officials want to explore the use of a bus garage and other sites as a possible substation for Jefferson Hills Fire Rescue in lieu of reinstating the Gill Hall Volunteer Fire Company. A bus garage along Gill Hall Road in Jefferson Hills may be used as a substation...
Buffalo Township man with dementia found after search died of hypothermia
A Buffalo Township man who was found by searchers late Tuesday after going missing earlier in the evening died of of hypothermia, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. Dennis Fester, 74, who suffered from dementia, went missing Tuesday. His wife, Sally Fester, said her husband went for a...
Penn Hills residents express concern for hiring company to appraise sewage system
Dozens of Penn Hills residents tuned in to a virtual meeting Monday to discuss a plan that could lead to the sale of the municipality’s sewage system. Of those who spoke, nearly all were against an idea to hire Philadelphia-based Public Financial Management (PFM) to look into how much the...
Hempfield woman pleads guilty in coffee, urine tossing cases
A Hempfield woman has pleaded guilty in connection with three incidents last year in which investigators said she assaulted a police officer, a deputy sheriff and a prison guard. Sonya Rae Connors, 53, was sentenced by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio to serve up to 23 months...
Couple sues Penn Hills police over broken arm during wrongful arrest
A Penn Hills husband and wife are suing the police department there, alleging that an officer responding to a domestic disturbance wrongfully arrested the woman and, in doing so, broke her arm. Barbara Ann Thompkins, 61, and her husband, Eric Klavon, filed the civil rights complaint in federal court on...
Police say Pittsburgh man restrained and assaulted New Kensington friend, fought with officer
Police say a Pittsburgh man who was taken into the home of a New Kensington friend because he had no place to stay assaulted the friend repeatedly and kept him from escaping his own home. Police say Darius Delaine Smalls, 29, then fought with police when they answered the distress...
Pittsburgh Controller’s Office signs on to end use of racially derogatory acronym in annual reports
Following guidance from its national professional association, the Pittsburgh Controller’s Office will no longer use “CAFR” as shorthand for “comprehensive annual financial reports.” The long-standing acronym sounds like “Kaffir,” an offensive term used by Apartheid-era South Africans for the Blacks who live there. The Government Finance Officers Association, the trade...
Giant Eagle to offer covid vaccine clinic for Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers, staff
Giant Eagle will offer a two-day covid-19 vaccination clinic for Pittsburgh Public School employees at Heinz Field this week, Giant Eagle and school officials said Wednesday. Officials said there will be enough vaccine for as many as 3,000 PPS employees at the Thursday and Friday clinics on Pittsburgh’s North Shore....
Page Dairy Mart on Pittsburgh’s South Side celebrating 70 years of sweet treats
At 10 years old, Chuck Page began working for the family business. He cleaned milkshake collars — stainless steel attachments used to keep ice cream from splattering from the top of a paper cup when blending ingredients. Fifty-seven years later, he’s still at the milkshake machine. “I love ice cream,”...
Hempfield man faces multiple drug charges after traffic stop in Latrobe
A man found hiding in a van after the female driver was stopped by Latrobe police early Tuesday is charged with three felony drug counts. Nathaniel W. States, 22, of Hempfield was arrested by officers on three counts of manufacture, delivery and possession of controlled substances and multiple counts of...
Pittsburgh officials add their support to national $15 minimum wage
Pittsburgh City Council is formally asking federal and state officials to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. The action, passed unanimously by council Tuesday, is symbolic, and has been taken before. But council members said they did so to stand up for more than 2,000 home care workers...
North Hills mourns death of 17-year-old victim of single-car crash
The Ross Township community is mourning the death of a 17-year-old former North Hills High School student who died in a single-vehicle crash on Sunday night. Jacob Christopher Weiland of Pittsburgh was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident on March 7 by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner. The...
AHN, Highmark Health outfit first responders with more personal protective gearVideo
For about a dozen ambulance services that received free boxes of personal protective equipment Tuesday during a distribution of masks, gowns and face shields at AHN Hempfield Neighborhood Hospital, the initiative was a lifesaver — literally and financially, recipients said. “This will really help out. (PPE is) in really short...
