Local category, Page 2599
Protective gear headed to Westmoreland as confirmed coronavirus cases grows to 4
Officials say Westmoreland County now has four confirmed coronavirus cases after two were added on Friday. There is no other information available on any of the cases. In the meantime, a shipment of personal protective equipment was expected to arrive Friday for Westmoreland County firefighters, police and ambulance personnel, said...
Gateway floats $40 million bond for capital improvements, including middle school
The Gateway Board of School Directors voted to float a bond of up to $40 million in order to pay for capital projects around the district and to renovate Gateway Middle School as part of a district-reconfiguration plan. The resolution passed 7-2 during the board’s March 17 meeting. Board members...
New Ken-Arnold School District employee’s spouse tests positive for coronavirus, 2nd worker quarantined
The spouse of a New Kensington-Arnold School District employee has tested positive for the coronavirus that causes covid-19, the district announced Friday. “The district responded as quickly as possible in this situation,” Assistant Superintendent Jon Banko said. “Self-quarantine is happening, and we are taking steps to address anyone that came...
‘Life is funny’ says Wilkins comedian, 87
When you ask Skip Davis what inspires him, at age 87, to keep performing as a stand-up comedian at small, local venues, he’ll tell you “life is funny.” “I’m thankful for every day,” Davis said in his Wilkins Township house, the same he’s lived in since the 1960s. “That’s why...
UPMC stands ground, will continue elective surgeries despite Wolf’s orderVideo
UPMC doctors on Friday defended their decision to keep performing elective surgeries throughout its hospitals during the covid-19 outbreak, saying the procedures cannot always be safely delayed. “This is not northern Italy. We are not Wuhan right now,” Dr. Graham Snyder, UPMC chief of infection prevention, said during a news...
Some Allegheny County roads closed due to flooding
Sections of Allegheny River Boulevard and Nadine Road have been closed because of flooding, Allegheny County announced Friday. Allegheny River Boulevard closed between Washington Boulevard and Nadine Road around 10 a.m. Traffic is being re-routed up Nadine Road to avoid a flood along Allegheny River Boulevard. You can take Lincoln...
Highlands Partnership Network plans 2nd food distribution
Highlands area community groups will hold another one-day food distribution next week to supplement efforts by the Highlands School District to get food to students while schools are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Highlands Partnership Network announced it will distribute packed lunches for the week at five locations...
Philips Respironics hiring at Murrysville, Upper Burrell plants to meet demand for ventilators
Philips Respironics, a medical manufacturer that produces ventilators and related breathing equipment, is increasing production and hiring assemblers at its Murrysville and Upper Burrell plants to meet demand spurred by the spreading coronavirus. The company is recruiting for more than 50 positions for assemblers on all shifts at the two...
Allegheny Co. reports 10 new coronavirus cases, Westmoreland adds 2 as Pa. total rises to 268Video
Allegheny County reported 10 new coronavirus cases and Westmoreland County added two, according to information released Friday. The 10 new cases bring Allegheny County’s total to 28. Five of those are hospitalized and the rest are in isolation at home. Westmoreland County reported two new cases, for a total of...
Pittsburgh police chief frustrated by lack of communication from Gov. Wolf over shutdownVideo
Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert said Friday the bureau learned about Gov. Tom Wolf’s order to shut down non-life-sustaining businesses on the news Thursday night and said communication from the state has been lackluster. The governor’s order stating “non-life-sustaining” businesses in Pennsylvania close to help slow the spread of the...
Westmoreland, Monroeville malls closed per Wolf’s order
Westmoreland and Monroeville malls announced Friday they have closed in accordance with Gov. Tom Wolf’s order that all non-life-sustaining businesses temporarily shutter to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Restaurants at the mall will be permitted to remain open for take-out or delivery orders only. Both malls, which are...
North Huntingdon closes offices to public
North Huntingdon has closed its offices in the Town House on Center Highway to the public beginning Friday and continuing until April 6 to prevent the spread of coronavirus that causes covid-19, the township said Thursday night. North Huntingdon will not hold any public meetings while the building is closed...
Cops: Woman stole $50K from Hempfield medical technology firm
State police this week arrested a Greensburg woman on multiple charges of access device fraud and theft in the embezzlement of about $50,000 from her former employer. Traci L. Himler, 48, is accused of writing checks to herself and making unauthorized bank withdrawals when she worked as business manager of...
10,000 sandwiches to be distributed in Oakmont on Monday
Thousands of sandwiches made of donated deli meat and cheese will be handed out Monday to people struggling for food in Oakmont during the coronavirus pandemic. Eric Chaffin, of the Chaffin Luhana Foundation, said he didn’t want to see kids go hungry as their schools closed in an effort to...
Norwin distributes lunches to students
Norwin will begin serving a bagged lunch of a peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese sticks, snack crackers, milk, fruit and juice for students enrolled in the district’s free and reduced lunch program from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today from the Norwin High School Auditorium doors, Door No. 6....
Wolf’s shutdown could be more harmful than coronavirus, health expert says
With Gov. Tom Wolf’s announcement Thursday that all non-life-sustaining businesses in Pennsylvania should close, we spoke to Pittsburgh-based infectious disease and critical care physician Dr. Amesh Adalja for a reaction from a medical expert. A senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, Adalja works on pandemic preparedness,...
Tarentum police recover 2 stolen vehicles
Tarentum police said they are looking for men who stole two vehicles and entered many others in the borough overnight, according to police Chief Bill Vakulick. Police said several young men were captured on surveillance footage entering vehicles in the area of East 10th Avenue and Mill and Butler streets....
Adapting to Coronavirus: Back home in Beaver County, a Pitt freshman learns at a distance
Editor’s note: Adapting to Coronavirus is a regular series spotlighting the ways a global pandemic is changing the everyday lives of people in Western Pennsylvania. The coronavirus pandemic has caused global disruption to governments, economies and the daily lives of millions. College students haven’t been left out of that mix...
Flood advisory in effect for Western Pa. counties
Allegheny and several surrounding counties are under a flood advisory until mid-morning Friday. Meteorologist Lee Hendricks, with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, said the region could see up to an inch of rain Friday morning falling on saturated ground and streams that are already fairly high. The advisory, which...
UPMC emergency medicine doctor reacts to first coronavirus death in state, dispels mythsVideo
The first death related to coronavirus has been recorded in Pennsylvania and cases continue to rise in the state. So how should citizens deal with the spread of virus as it hits home? We posed that question and others to Dr. Adam Tobias, emergency medicine physician at UMPC. In an...
Woman killed in fire in Greenfield
A woman was killed early Friday in a fire at a home in Pittsburgh’s Greenfield neighborhood, public safety officials said. The victim was on the second floor of the home on Bigelow Street, where the fire broke out about 3:20 a.m. Fire crews and EMS responded to the duplex in...
The Stroller, March 20, 2020: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Send cancellations to The Stroller The Stroller will publish news of cancellations and events that will still occur in the upcoming days. If your non-profit has to cancel or change an event or is helping members of the public, please send information to: The Stroller, Valley News Dispatch, 210 Wood...
Deal to save Levin’s falls through; stores close, but owner hints at possible return
Two weeks after announcing a bid to buy back his family’s furniture company, Robert Levin on Friday announced the deal fell through. Levin said he learned Thursday that Michigan-based Art Van Furniture LLC, which bought Levin Furniture in 2017, decided not to proceed with the terms of their agreement. Instead,...
John Oyler: voluntary selective social distancing
These certainly are unique times. Who could have predicted the complete suspension of all major sporting events, the transition of education from classroom to online, the proliferation of working at home and the disappearance of toilet paper from supermarket shelves? I must admit, I agree with the logic of “social...
Some PNC branches to close, others to operate ‘drive-up’ services amid coronavirus
Temporary changes have been made at PNC Bank offices to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, officials announced Thursday. Beginning Friday, the Pittsburgh-based bank will keep about three-quarters of their branch locations open, offering drive-up services only. A full list of PNC Bank locations can be found on their...
