Westmoreland happenings: Ice Cream Sunday, parish festival, class reunion, more
Church News • Level Green Presbyterian Church will host its annual Ice Cream Sunday at 10 a.m. July 27 at the church, 105 Olive Drive, Trafford. The theme will be “Caring for the Kids in Our Community” and will honor and bring awareness to those who work every day helping...
Pittsburgh VA on pace to lose 3% of workforce by year’s end
More than 200 federal workers providing or supporting medical care for Pittsburgh-area veterans have left their jobs this year as the Trump administration pressures agencies to slim down. By its own count, the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System has lost 238 employees since January, with another 87 set to leave...
Plum mayor, neighbors hope Rustic Ridge lawsuits will bring answers
After families of six people killed in a 2023 house explosion in Plum sued multiple companies for alleged negligence and wrongful death Tuesday, the borough’s mayor and neighbors in the Rustic Ridge housing plan say they hope the suits will offer some answers nearly two years later. Filed in Allegheny...
Pine-Richland employees, positions added to union representing support professionals
Several employees and classifications of employees are being added to a union representing support professionals in the Pine-Richland School District. The school board approved the agreement with the Pine-Richland Education Support Professionals Association at its July 21 meeting. The association approached the district about adding the positions to the bargaining...
Penn Hills establishes tax credit program for volunteer firefighters
Penn Hills leaders have officially established a volunteer service tax credit program. During council’s monthly voting meeting July 21, members voted to unanimously adopt a program that provides a tax credit for residents volunteering with one of the municipality’s fire departments. “We are the largest suburb in Allegheny County,” Mayor...
Unity pizza shop robber sentenced
A Unity man was ordered to serve up to an additional 23 months in jail for the armed robbery last year of a pizza shop. Austin M. Lewis, 25, pleaded guilty in April to two felony robbery counts and two related misdemeanor offenses in connection with a Jan. 8, 2024...
Family of South Greensburg man hit by snowplow files wrongful death lawsuit
The wife of a South Greensburg man who was hit by snowplow in January has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the landscape company hired to clear the parking lot were the crash occurred. Paul Tucci, 73, suffered fatal injuries as he walked to his vehicle Jan. 5 after an...
Overbooked housing leads Pitt to rent hotel, apartments for students
Hundreds of students attending the University of Pittsburgh in Oakland will live in a hotel or apartments this fall, a move university officials say they made to accommodate the large, incoming freshmen class. Pitt received a record number of applications for the fall semester — 65,000 — which is a...
Pittsburgh council votes against preservation of Donny’s Place
Donny’s Place — one of Pittsburgh’s oldest gay bars — will not receive official historic designation, clearing the way for its demolition. Pittsburgh City Council voted Tuesday against making the shuttered bar a historic landmark amid legal battles over its proposed designation. The defunct establishment at 1226 Herron Ave. in...
Failure to pay $3.6M in taxes on illegal workers leads to prison for Belle Vernon man
A Belle Vernon man who ran a temporary staffing agency and failed to pay $3.6 million in employment taxes for illegal employees will serve 2½ years in federal prison. Andy Ha, 28, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty in February to...
Police probe Wilkinsburg rollover crash
Two men were hospitalized early Tuesday after their car crashed and overturned in Wilkinsburg, authorities said. Police who were dispatched at 12:12 a.m. to the 400 block of Ardmore Boulevard said they found a red Chevy Camaro overturned, with two men inside. Paramedics took the driver, who police did not...
Kamins give $65M for UPMC Presbyterian tower project, medical research
Philanthropists Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin on Tuesday continued their recent giving spree by announcing $65 million toward UPMC’s Presbyterian hospital tower and medical research. The research portion of the gift is geared toward studying the brain and heart and is specifically in response to cuts in federal research...
Staffing agency owner sentenced after employing, harboring illegal workers
A Belle Vernon man was sentenced to more than two years in jail and must pay a $3.6 million fine after pleading guilty to running a temporary staffing agency that provided workers who were living illegally in the United States. Federal prosecutors said Andy Ha, 28, also failed to pay...
Pittsburgh man charged with selling crystal meth, illegal firearm in North Huntingdon
A Pittsburgh man is charged with selling methamphetamine and an AR-15 rifle to an informant, according to North Huntingdon police. Chad T. Chamberlin, 51, of the city’s Bloomfield neighborhood, was charged with drug possession with intent to deliver, and possession of a firearm with an altered manufacturing number. In May,...
Allegheny County issues warning after 4 sickened by salmonella linked to raw milk
Allegheny County health officials are advising people to discard raw milk products from a Chambersburg farm after some residents became sickened with salmonella. Since July 1, the Allegheny County Health Department identified four residents who got sick after consuming raw milk products from The Family Cow. Raw milk is milk...
Pittsburgh City Council approves Bakery Square expansion
Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday approved legislation that paves the way for a massive expansion of the Bakery Square development in the city’s East End. Council members unanimously supported a measure to expand the special zoning district to allow Bakery Square to grow, nearly a year after the proposal received...
Councilman pushes for annual Pittsburgh vehicle fleet report
Pittsburgh City Councilman Bobby Wilson is proposing an annual report that would keep the public informed about the condition of the city’s vehicle fleet, which officials say is aging and frequently breaks down. Wilson, D-North Side, in a statement Tuesday said the Annual Fleet Investment and Efficiency Report would evaluate...
Back-to-School Bash spaghetti dinner offers ‘great meal, greater cause’
A plate of pasta will go a long way at the first annual Back-to-School Bash spaghetti fundraiser in Brackenridge. Hosted by Highlands School Board member Elijah Majocha, the festival-themed event will serve up food, music, baked goods and more than 60 raffle baskets — all to benefit students and teachers...
‘It’s hard not to break’: Daughter of Plum house explosion victims continues to grieve without closureVideo
Wherever Taylor Oravitz goes, her childhood home goes with her. The Plum native had her Rustic Ridge Drive home’s GPS coordinates tattooed on her forearm, though not for nostalgia’s sake. Rather, it’s a kind of memorial in ink and flesh. On Aug. 12, 2023, a massive explosion at her family’s...
‘Series of failures’: Lawsuit blames fatal Plum house explosion on pipeline leak, water heaterVideo
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was originally published on July 23. It’s being reposted on the two-year anniversary of the tragedy in Plum. Families of the six people killed in a 2023 house explosion in Plum’s Rustic Ridge subdivision have sued multiple companies for negligence and wrongful death, blaming them for...
Pine-Richland directors approve personnel moves ahead of coming school year
The Pine-Richland School Board has approved bringing on and letting go teachers and other employees ahead of the coming school year. Seven new hires and one reassignment are all effective Aug. 15. Pine-Richland students return to classes on Aug. 20. Lynzee Gladziszewski was hired as a health and physical education...
Councilman voted new chief of Springdale Volunteer Fire Department
After the resignation of longtime Chief Kevin Wilhelm this month, the Springdale Volunteer Fire Department selected borough Councilman Dan Copeland as its new man in charge. Copeland, who also serves as Springdale’s water committee chair, has been an officer at the department for 17 years, including 13 years as captain....
Mine-related sinkhole opens in Monessen
The 3-by-3-foot steel plate on State Road in Monessen may not look like much, but what it covers underground is much larger. Monessen officials have issued an emergency declaration in order to address a 12-by-15 hole caused by mine subsidence. “It almost looks like one of the old mine ‘portal’...
Baby’s death spurs homicide charge against Pittsburgh teen already accused of child abuse
Police have charged a Pittsburgh teenager with homicide in the death of the 10-month-old son of the person he was dating. Dominick Pinnick, 18, of Homewood had been under arrest since Sunday on attempted homicide and other charges after police said he abused and critically injured the baby when he...
Oakmont parish looks to expand child care offerings
The Holy Family Parish-St Irenaeus is hoping to expand its day care services by transforming four classrooms. Quintin Kittle, an architect for Q K Architecture and representative for Holy Family presented proposed plans for the site during the Oakmont Council meeting last week while seeking conditional use for the property....
