Local category, Page 2151
Northland Library opening for contactless services, programming remains virtual
Northland Public Library will reopen to the public for contactless services Tuesday after being closed since late December to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Items reserved before the shutdown that were not picked up will be available in the building’s vestibule beginning Jan. 5. Patrons can begin picking...
Pittsburgh police investigating explosions in Lawrenceville, Hill District
Pittsburgh police were investigating explosions Sunday night in the city’s Lawrenceville and Hill District neighborhoods. Police and firefighters went to the 3600 block of Penn Avenue in Lawrenceville in response to reports that an improvised explosive device was thrown from a moving vehicle just after 9 p.m. A parked vehicle...
Police: Wilkinsburg man charged after shots were fired at Harrison housing complex
A Wilkinsburg man is charged with attempted homicide and other crimes after police said he tried to shoot another man and narrowly avoided shooting a 3-year-old girl at Harrison’s Sheldon Park public housing complex last week. Harrison police said after the shooting, Antonio Williams, 20, buckled the girl into a...
Police looking for leads in North Braddock shooting
Police are investigating after a 17-year-old was shot Sunday afternoon in North Braddock. The shooting was reported shortly before 2:30 p.m. near the intersection of Baldridge and Jones avenues. Police said first responders found the victim to have multiple, non-life threatening injuries. He was taken to a local hospital and...
Old New Kensington newspaper surfaces, detailing the life of WWII veteran
A VFW post in Mercer County is trying to solve a mystery that might be answered in the Alle-Kiski Valley. Doug Scott was sifting through old photos and documents at the Cpl. James O. Jordan Post 3374 in Greenville, when he found several documents relating to Everett Goodiski, an Army...
Woman sues Gateway School District, claiming interracial marriage cost her athletic director job
An athletic director at a small college claims she was passed over for a similar job with the Gateway School District because she is married to a Black man, according to a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed Jan. 1 by Pittsburgh attorney Todd Hollis, claims that Korie Morton-Rozier experienced “race...
Impact of Pennsylvania casino closures remains to be seen, though industry was surging this fiscal year
After more than a decade of continued growth for Pennsylvania’s gaming industry that has pumped billions of tax dollars into state coffers and local communities, the casino industry — and that cash flow — were largely upended in 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic. But the industry was on the rebound...
Former Valley News Dispatch news assistant remembered for love of local news, family
Karen L. Stein Motosicky loved letting people know what was going on in the Alle-Kiski Valley. A longtime senior news assistant at the Valley News Dispatch in Tarentum, Motosicky, 68, of New Kensington, died of Lewy body dementia on Saturday, Jan. 2. She had been living at Belair Healthcare and...
Harrison native’s book encourages readers to climb to new heights
Paola Corso recalled a walk through her late father’s neighborhood in Brackenridge. “Luckily, it was windy that day, and I spotted a pair of concrete steps under some leaves,” said Corso, a poet, photographer, literary activist and Harrison native. “I thought about the days my father and grandfather walked those...
Food bank student volunteer organizes collection drives of his own in Murrysville
Garrett Deller of Murrysville was volunteering with the Westmoreland County Food Bank through his membership in the Franklin Regional National Honor Society, but the high school junior decided he wanted to take it a step farther. “One of the older volunteers mentioned that donations were down because of the covid...
Independent chefs say pandemic has aided businessVideo
What’s for dinner? During covid times, that question became challenging for many as restrictions, lockdowns and mandated restaurant closures occurred more than once. Meet three Pittsburgh-area chefs — not affiliated with restaurants — providing home-cooked meals delivered to your door. JSMenusPGH Jake Stewart works out of a kitchen in Springdale...
Pandemic plagued schools in 1st semester, likely to continue after holidays
While the end of a tumultuous first semester is in sight, school districts plagued with uncertainty and ever-changing situations brought on by the coronavirus pandemic are far from in the clear as record-breaking cases are continually reported, leaving no set plans going into the spring months. As the first semester...
The Stroller, Jan. 3, 2021: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your non-profit’s fundraiser or community event in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. HOPE Center requesting gas card donations The Alle-Kiski Area HOPE Center is seeking donations of gift cards in $10 increments from Sheetz or Get...
Errors in covid data reveal unreliable tracking system for nursing homes
For three or four hours a day, Shelly Kennedy sees nothing but spreadsheets. She has two computer screens at her desk at Presbyterian SeniorCare Network. On one monitor is a spreadsheet tracking covid-19 cases, deaths, personal protective equipment — the list goes on — for each of the network’s facilities,...
More than 1,200 species and counting, free pocket field guide developed for Buffalo Creek watershed
The Buffalo Creek watershed might not be a national park, but it has enough wildlife and varieties of plants — more than 1,200 species — to warrant a pocket field guide developed by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. Audubon, government agencies and other nonprofits have been working for years...
PWSA truck falls in hole in Lawrenceville
Mintwood Street in Lawrenceville was closed for a few hours after a Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority truck fell into a hole Saturday afternoon. PWSA workers were working on a nearby project earlier in the day. A private contractor was working on a sewer line for a private property in...
Police: Woman in critical condition after she was shot in neck in Wilkinsburg
Police are investigating a shooting that occurred on the 1200 block of Morrow Street in Wilkinsburg. Wilkinsburg Police got the call just before 3 p.m. First responders found a woman who had been shot in her neck. She was transported to a hospital where she was listed in critical condition....
Pittsburgh schools delay in-person instruction
Students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools will remain in remote instruction Monday, upon their return from winter break. Superintendent Anthony Hamlet announced Friday on the district’s Facebook page that he and the district’s board of directors are still finalizing plans to bring students back to buildings. A small number of...
Ziccarelli asks state Senate to overturn Brewster victory
New Kensington lawyer Nicole Ziccarelli will ask the Republican-controlled state Senate to reject state certification and overturn the re-election of incumbent Democrat Jim Brewster in the 45th District. The district includes parts of Westmoreland and Allegheny counties, and that fact is central to the disputed election results. According to official,...
Westmoreland County closes in on 20,000 covid cases, adds 6 deaths
The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Saturday reported 473 new cases of the coronavirus in Westmoreland County during the past 48 hours, as cases continue to dip in the area. The numbers represent 118 new cases reported New Year’s Day and 355 on Saturday. The county’s total cases are at...
State Rep. Mike Reese of Mt. Pleasant Township dead at 42
State Rep. Mike Reese, elected in November to his seventh term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, died Saturday at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg following an apparent brain aneurysm. Reese, 42, of Mt. Pleasant Township, was a 12-year House veteran representing Westmoreland and Somerset county residents in the...
Allegheny County surpasses 55,000 covid cases, draws closer to 1,000 deaths
Allegheny County on Saturday recorded a 48-hour total of 1,601 new coronavirus cases. Officials reported 553 cases on New Year’s Day and 1,048 cases the day after. The county has reported nine days of 1,000 or more new cases. Twenty-two new deaths were reported Saturday, lifting the county’s toll at...
New owners of Apollo’s Chambers Hotel look beyond pandemic to brighter future for historic business
The historic Chambers Hotel in Apollo is under new ownership. Jennifer and Walter Seniow purchased the hotel that dates to 1889 late last spring. They opened in November for about a month before facing covid-related shutdowns mandated by the state. “Some people say we’re crazy to buy a bar during...
Upper Burrell medical device company to expand and hire employees
A 35,000-square-foot expansion at Xodus Medical Inc. in Upper Burrell will increase production and warehouse capacity and create 20 to 30 jobs. Xodus invents and produces medical devices used in surgery to increase patient safety and improve surgical outcomes in medical centers worldwide. The Upper Burrell site, in the Westmoreland...
100 years ago, KDKA gave birth to religious radio broadcasts at Calvary Episcopal in Pittsburgh
Before Jerry Falwell, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Joel Osteen, Archbishop Fulton Sheen and famous radio evangelists such as Father Charles Coughlin and Aimee Semple McPherson, there was Edwin Van Etten. It was the Rev. Edwin Van Etten, far from a household name, who helped popularize the live radio sermon....
