Western PA Local News category, Page 2130
Plans approved for a medical marijuana dispensary in Pleasant Hills
Plans for a new medical marijuana dispensary in Pleasant Hills are moving forward. Pleasant Hills Council recently voted 4-2 to grant site plan approval for the Ethos Cannabis business at 560 Clairton Blvd. Council President Cheryl Freedman and members Eileen Solinas, Nicole Leckenby and Robert Karcher voted in favor. Greg...
Pittsburgh police seek missing woman who may be in danger
Pittsburgh police are searching for a missing woman who was last seen Tuesday. Olivia Zane, 23, was last seen in the North Oakland neighborhood. Police say she may be in danger. She is described as 5 feet 5 inches tall, around 170 pounds, with brown eyes and brown hair. Police...
Excavation continues at Plum municipal site along Old Mine RoadVideo
Excavation continues along Old Mine Road in Plum for the borough’s new municipal center project. Massaro Construction Management Services is overseeing Rycon Construction crews at the site, which is next to the Renton Volunteer Fire Department and Plum EMS stations. Digging began in January and is expected to continue through...
After some rancor, Lower Burrell sanctions St. Patrick’s Day parade
Plans for what started as a small community St. Patrick’s Day parade late Saturday morning gained traction, stirring controversy and confusion before receiving official support from Lower Burrell Council. The estimated 20-minute parade on Leechburg Road, from Nevada Street at Stewart Elementary School to Hillcrest Shopping Center at Leechburg and...
Greensburg Salem School Board debates return to in-person instruction
The Greensburg Salem School Board on Wednesday debated whether to bring kids back to school full time — or close to it — starting next month. The district has been following a hybrid model in which students split their time between attending school and learning remotely. Greensburg Salem High School...
Derry man seeks to withdraw guilty plea for friend’s fatal overdose
A Derry man sentenced to a 7-to-14-year prison sentence for the delivery of drugs that prosecutors said led to his friend’s fatal overdose now claims he was “induced” to plead guilty to a crime he did not commit. Glenn A. Levtzow, 39, in court documents filed this week asked to...
Several detained after SWAT team called to Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood
A SWAT team was called to Banksville Road in Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood and several people were detained Wednesday after an investigation into a reported abduction led police to two hotels, according to the Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety. Officers responded to a 911 report of an abduction in progress on...
Pittsburgh floats bonds for capital projects as it awaits federal pandemic relief money
About $17 million in street improvements, $10 million to reduce traffic congestion and $4.5 million to repair landslides are among the projects that will be funded with about $46.6 million in bonds Pittsburgh is floating this week. The price of the bonds was locked in on Tuesday at a 2.5%...
Pitt grad’s short film ‘Thanks to Her,’ building on buzz, seeks funding to grow
University of Pittsburgh graduate Sam Orlowski put her heart into her short film, “Thanks to Her,” a Pittsburgh-set coming-of-age tale about being comfortable with your sexuality. “I am part of the LGBT community, and I have dealt with homophobia,” said Orlowski, who lives in Canonsburg. “I wanted to start a...
Police: Gilpin man reports own dog as stray, asks officer to remove it
A Gilpin man is accused of lying to police last month when they said he reported a stray dog had been barking all night outside his residence and asked for the dog to be removed. Police said they learned that the dog belonged to the man, identified in court documents...
Westmoreland commissioners demand increase in covid vaccine deliveries
Westmoreland County’s Republican leaders on Wednesday demanded Pennsylvania Department of Health officials increase the supply of covid-19 vaccines to the county. In a letter sent to Alison Beam, the state’s acting secretary of health, Commissioners Sean Kertes and Doug Chew called for ‘immediate and substantial adjustments” to the distribution of...
Allegheny County officials: ‘We’re not there yet’ on reopeningVideo
Allegheny County’s covid-19 case numbers are no longer declining, but they’re stable, Dr. Debra Bogen, health director, said Wednesday. The county’s test positivity rate increased slightly from last week, from 5.5% to 5.9%. Hospitalizations and deaths continue to decline. But Bogen said she is concerned about the results of recent...
Appellate court reinstates federal discrimination lawsuit against Pittsburgh police
The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday reinstated a lawsuit filed by a candidate for the Pittsburgh police who says he was not hired for the job because he has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Christopher Gibbs filed a discrimination complaint under the Americans with Disabilities Act against the...
Greensburg woman receives jail sentence for drug possession that led to spouse’s overdose death
Jodie Graft had a simple message to the woman she still blames for her daughter’s overdose death last year in Greensburg. Graft, sobbing, peered over a Plexiglass shield, looked directly at Mary Crimboli-Baker as she stood next her defense lawyer in a Westmoreland County courtroom, and said she wished it...
5 things about covid vaccines as Johnson & Johnson enters market
The United States seems to be turning a corner on the pandemic as more Americans are getting vaccinated each day. The Food and Drug Administration has approved Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot covid-19 vaccine for emergency use. Combined with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, President Biden said Tuesday, the U.S. would...
She’s lovin’ it: 100-year-old McDonald’s worker has no plans to retireVideo
Ruth N. Shuster was crowned “Queen for a Day” at McDonald’s Big Mac Museum in North Huntingdon, a well-deserved honor for a loyal employee who has greeted customers at the eatery the past 27 years. What made this honor — a throwback to Jack Bailey’s 1950s-era television show of the...
Tarentum awards contract to demolish fire-damaged home on Lock Street
Tarentum Council has awarded a contract to tear down what remains of one of two Lock Street homes destroyed by fire on Feb. 15. Investigators ruled that the accidental fire started after a pot of food had been left on a stove with a burner in the “on” position. The...
Former Southwest Greensburg part-time cop to stand trial on oppression charge
A Connellsville woman testified Wednesday that she feared for her safety when an off-duty police officer pulled her over in East Huntingdon in his personal car. Kelsie Provance said she wouldn’t roll down her window when James Edward Shaw, 54, of Mt. Pleasant Township twice approached her Kia Soul on...
McKeesport Council meeting postponed amid complaints that it locked out public
A McKeesport City Council meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening has been postponed following allegations that the municipality has violated the state Sunshine Act. The meeting can be rescheduled, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge John McVay found Wednesday, once council makes arrangements to allow public participation. Four community members filed a...
Vandergrift website remains dark, officials mum on details
Vandergrift residents still don’t have a functioning borough website, and some residents are seeking answers from council. The website went offline more than a week ago. The outage was brought up by Councilwoman Karen McClarnon during Monday’s virtual council meeting. Visitors to the disabled website encounter an oversized message stating...
Former cop in North Braddock, Blawnox will serve a year of probation for theft
When the state police suspected in 2019 that a Blawnox police officer was stealing money from vehicles he was sent to investigate, they set up an “integrity test” for him. Trooper Jonathan Eberhardt put $225 of marked money in a pill bottle in the cup holder of a car, entered...
New Kensington-Arnold to interview 7 candidates for superintendent
New Kensington-Arnold School Board will soon begin interviewing candidates for district superintendent, including the man who has been serving as the district’s acting chief since last summer. The district in December hired the Pennsylvania School Boards Association to help it find a replacement for former Superintendent John Pallone, who resigned...
Franklin Regional National Science Bowl team advances to national competitionVideo
Last year, Franklin Regional’s National Science Bowl team made it to the semi-final round, finishing in third place after a loss to North Allegheny Cyber School. Last month, the team — including many of the same members as last year — overcame the same opponents, only this time it was...
Coroner IDs woman, 88, killed in Hempfield crash
An 88-year-old woman was killed in a two-vehicle crash in Hempfield on Wednesday afternoon. Elizabeth R. Anderson, of Hempfield, was pronounced dead shortly after 2 p.m., according to the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office. The crash occurred at about 1:50 p.m. at Racetrack and Wilson Fox roads, near Hempfield’s border with...
Police say cash from wallet stolen at Westmoreland courthouse used to pay court fine
A Hempfield man was charged with the theft of a wallet from an X-ray scanner at the front entrance of the Westmoreland County Courthouse. Park Police said Verne Klingerman II, 54, used money from the stolen wallet to pay a $30 fine one floor above in the county’s Clerk of...
