Western PA Local News category, Page 2399
Lengthy protest at Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto’s house morphs into ‘unlawful assembly,’ pepper spray, 1 arrestVideo
An hours-long protest Wednesday night outside the Point Breeze home of Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto ended in chemical spray, chaos and one arrest after a confrontation between protesters and police in riot gear near Mellon Park. A group of about 100 protesters had originally marched from the park to Peduto’s...
The Stroller, Aug. 20, 2020: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Small Acts of Kindness Did your neighbor call and check on you, or bring a face mask or groceries? The Stroller wants to recognize those around us who are performing small acts of kindness for others during this stressful time. Send a short, one-paragraph note highlighting someone and how they...
En plein air: Crabtree sunflower field inspires outdoor painting session for local artists
Crabtree, part of Westmoreland County’s rural landscape, is a long way from Italy and its country vistas of vineyards and olive groves. But it didn’t seem that way for some area artists on Wednesday. “It’s beautiful; it looks like Tuscany out here,” said art instructor Doreen Currie of Unity while...
Greensburg introduces new rec programs after fall sports are canceled
The Greensburg Recreation Department is rolling out new fall programs following the cancellation of football, cheerleading and baseball. Soccer will continue as normal, while kickball, Wiffle ball, an after-school program and a hiking program will be added to the schedule. The remaining recreation programs all comply with the state’s coronavirus...
Penn Hills School District to spend more than $1 million on new boilers for high school, elementary
The Penn Hills School District plans to spend more than $1 million to replace boilers at the high school and elementary school. District plant manager Bora Caliskan said two of five boilers at the high school and one of three boilers at the elementary school are not working. Boilers have...
Annual fire prevention night at Westmoreland Mall canceled due to covid-19
The 25th annual Fire Prevention Night hosted by Hempfield has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event typically draws more than 500 people, and about 80 area fire departments are represented. The event is presented by the Hempfield Township Fire Department’s 12 stations and firefighters from Greensburg, South...
Police: Man who walked into Pittsburgh hospital after being shot has died
A man who walked into a Pittsburgh area hospital with a gunshot wound has died. City police spokesman Maurice Matthews said officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert for a shooting around 7 p.m. Wednesday along the 500 block of Norton Street in Mt. Washington. Responding officers discovered a vehicle that...
Murrysville scales back capital project plans amid pandemic’s financial effects
The effects of the covid-19 pandemic have thrown budgets of all types into upheaval, and Murrysville is no exception. On Wednesday night, Finance Director Diane Heming detailed how the municipality’s five-year capital-improvement plan was scaled back in light of pandemic-related financial projections, including a sharp decline in state money raised...
Police: Penn Hills woman ran through airport security checkpoint, tossed water on TSA agent
A Penn Hills woman was arrested by county police Aug. 19 after tossing water on a TSA agent and running unchecked past the Pittsburgh International Airport’s security checkpoint. Allegheny County police said Brandi L. Bailey, 32, of Penn Hills, threw water on a TSA agent when asked for her identification...
Grant adds water tank, litter carrier to Bradenville firefighters’ all-terrain vehicleVideo
Bradenville firefighters respond to an average of at least 20 brush fires per year on Derry Ridge. Recent improvements to their utility task vehicle mean they’ll have more water and other resources at hand when they’re called to the next emergency on the Derry Township ridge. A $12,500 grant from...
Allegheny County dealing with backlog of covid-19 hospitalization data
The Allegheny County Health Department is catching up on covid-19 hospitalization data that accumulated in the month of July. At a Wednesday news conference, Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen explained why this week, the county dashboard stopped providing daily counts of the number of past and present hospitalizations. During the...
Commonwealth Court must hear gun owners’ challenge over Pittsburgh ban
The state Superior Court on Wednesday moved an appeal by a number of gun owners who sought to file private criminal complaints against Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and members of city council over their passage of new firearms legislation last year to the Commonwealth Court. In a five-page opinion, the...
‘Let me be clear’: Pitt dean admonishes students for partying during pandemic
University of Pittsburgh students who party could tip the school into shutdown mode, a top official at the school warned. Dean of Students Kenyon Bonner cautioned students that large parties carry the potential of becoming covid-19 super-spreader events and threaten the ability to continue classes on the Oakland campus. On...
Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh offers program for children during remote learning
Heather and Paul Cunningham have 6-year-old twins, Jackson and Julie, going into first grade. The couple work full time and their children’s school, Minadeo in the Pittsburgh Public Schools, will be online for at least the first nine weeks of the school year. They spent the final months of kindergarten...
Norwin schools estimated repair tab: $15M – $17M
Norwin officials were told this week that — based on a master facilities study — between $15.4 million and $17 million is needed in the immediate future for repairs to the district’s buildings, stadium and pavement. All of Norwin’s four elementary schools, along with the intermediate, middle and high schools,...
Woman accused of choking prospective witness inside Westmoreland County Courthouse
A 47-year-old woman was arrested at the Westmoreland County Courthouse Wednesday on charges of assaulting and choking a woman who was to testify against her in a custody dispute, according to court documents. Rhonda L. Cathers, 47, of Daisytown, Washington County, was arrested by county park police in the courthouse...
Volunteers give Trafford fence a makeover
A handful of volunteers answered the Trafford Business Association’s call for helping hands Saturday morning at 427 Cavitt Ave. In a little more than four hours, they brightened up the block by improving a fence on the property of Klassy Bar and Grill. The ad hoc work crew cut and...
School districts tweak reopening plans again to require full-time mask use
Districts across the region again are amending reopening plans after the state released additional guidance this week. Students attending in-person classes now are required to wear face coverings at all times while in school with few exceptions, according to the state education and health departments. The changes are based on...
Paving project to restrict Freeport Road traffic, among others, through NovemberVideo
A $9 million PennDOT paving project will restrict traffic for several months in some areas of the Alle-Kiski Valley. Work on the project began in June and is expected to be complete by late November, PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said. Alle-Kiski Valley roads that will be affected include Freeport Road...
Duquesne University freshmen move into dorms with adjusted schedule
Duquesne University hosted its freshman move-in over three days early this week. Normally a one-day affair, the university instead assigned time slots to the approximately 1,200 freshmen and transfer students to prevent crowding in the hallways. “Given the current situation, we just didn’t feel that was safe,” said Adam Wasilko,...
Principals in alleged drug smuggling at Westmoreland County Prison ordered to trial
When investigators listened in on inmates’ telephone calls during an 18-month probe into alleged drug smuggling at the Westmoreland County Prison, they often heard inmates referring to “spicy chicken,” “deuce” or “papers.” But the conversations weren’t referring to food, card games or legal paperwork. It was code that a delivery...
Pa. Supreme Court delays considering appeal of former Westmoreland Sheriff Jonathan Held
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court put on hold the appeal of Westmoreland County’s former sheriff, who is seeking the dismissal of two criminal offenses related to allegations of public corruption. The court this week said it will delay a decision on whether it will consider the appeal in the pending case...
Gateway votes against hiring Mobile Health Services for daily temperature checks of students, staff
The Gateway school board decided Tuesday against doing business with a company its solicitor partially owns that would have provided temperature checks to students and staff every day before entering buildings. The 7-1 vote, with one abstention, came after discussions about whether temperature checks are necessary. Board member Paul Caliari...
They were caught up in the Tim Murphy scandal. Now, they have a co-parenting podcast.
For Shannon Edwards and Jesse Sally, the road from separation to divorce was a very public one. There were newspaper headlines and mentions on national news and comedy shows. There were allegations of infidelity and threats. And now, three years later, there is friendship and a new podcast on co-parenting....
Professors question Penn State reopening as study projects problems
A faculty group at Penn State says the university’s plan to reopen its University Park campus could culminate in thousands of cases of covid-19 and quickly overwhelm its capacity for quarantine. As students began to move into dorms this week, the Coalition for a Just University at Penn State released...
