Local category, Page 2633
Allegheny Valley School Board eyes proposals for Colfax Elementary demolition
Allegheny Valley School Board has agreed to request additional detailed proposals for the demolition of Colfax Elementary School. Canzian-Johnston and Associates, a New Kensington architectural firm, previously supplied the board with a demolition plan for the school in Springdale. Actual cost of demolition totaled around $676,000 in that plan, according...
Why TV stations and cable providers keep viewers in the dark about their contracts
TV viewers in the Pittsburgh region have been recently warned about losing the ability to watch their local television stations: • DirecTV viewers lose WTAE after negotiations for a new deal fail • WPXI Channel 11 announces PCNC changes • Attention Dish customers: You could lose access to WPXI-TV They’re...
The Stroller, Jan. 20, 2020: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Youth football association collecting shoes Allegheny Valley Youth Football Association is collecting gently-used and new shoes from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturdays through Feb. 15 at Veterans Memorial Field, Lincoln Avenue, Springdale. Shoes will be redistributed through the Funds2Orgs network of small business partners and helps them to create, maintain...
Carlynton mentoring program bonds older students with younger
Briana Netzer-Smith looks forward to going to school these days. Thanks to the new friend she made through Carlynton Junior/Senior High School’s mentoring program, she now has someone to talk with about everything that goes on in her life. “She’s not judgmental, so I can basically talk to her about...
Robert and Linda Reese celebrate 50th wedding anniversary
Robert and Linda Reese celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Jan. 4 in Pittsburgh. The celebration was hosted by their children and attended by many friends and family. Their family includes four children: Julie Bookser (and husband Ryan), Robert Reese Jr., Sharon Reese and Jade Reese. Also nine grandchildren: Ryan...
New name can’t change the splendid view from Veltre’s in PlumVideo
It’s a slightly different spelling with the same spectacular view. An iconic venue in Plum affording stunning views of the Allegheny River and surrounding countryside has reopened. Veltre’s Wedding and Event Centre, formerly Veltri’s Restaurant, opened in 2016 after being shuttered for 12 years. Only a vowel separates the surnames...
West Carson Street reopens after water main break at the West End Bridge
Work to fix a water main break on West Carson Street was finished Monday morning and the road has reopened to traffic, a PennDOT spokeswoman said. The break in a 20-inch main was discovered around 7:15 p.m. Sunday. West Carson was closed near the West End Bridge as crews made...
Pitt student killed by bus remembered as ‘inquisitive, hard-working’
Barbara Como, the University of Pittsburgh senior struck and killed by a bus Saturday, is being remembered as a bright and promising student by faculty and fellow students. Como, of Chester Springs, Chester County, would have turned 21 next month. She was planning to graduate this spring with degrees in...
Canonsburg man pleads guilty to using cell phone to access child porn
A Canonsburg man pleaded guilty in federal court to accessing lewd images and videos of underage children on his cell phone, prosecutors said. Robert Fichter, 54, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child pornography, U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said. Fichter was caught as part of a Homeland Security...
Beaver County teen retains title of Pennsylvania’s pinball champion
Robbie Orsino backed away from the Corvette pinball machine buzzing with adrenaline, eager to see if his multi-ball runs and flipper skills racked up enough points to topple his opponent. “It’s very much a momentum game,” said Orsino, nearly out of breath between turns during Saturday’s International Flipper Pinball Association...
Blaze destroys Freeport house that was being repaired after a fire 4 months ago
A Freeport home that caught fire in September and was undergoing renovations was destroyed early Sunday when another fire broke out. Firefighters were called to a home at 165 Washington St. shortly after 4 a.m. When they arrived, they found the house fully engulfed. “The fire was already through the...
Ligonier Township couple credits faith, ‘love of family’ for 75 years of marriageVideo
Wilma Riffle Pechart remembers Jan. 21, 1945, like it was yesterday. “There was at least 8 inches of snow on the ground, and it was very, very cold. We didn’t send out a single wedding announcement, either,” Wilma Pechart, 91, recalled Saturday at her home in Ligonier Township, with husband,...
Police: Two girls accused of breaking into cars after escape from Derry Twp. group home
Two teenage girls who escaped from a group home in Derry Township last week are being held in Westmoreland County’s juvenile detention center after their arrests for allegedly breaking into multiple cars in an apartment complex, state police reported. The girls, ages 14- and 16-years-old, escaped late Monday from Adelphoi...
Excela Latrobe introduces improved surgical robotVideo
Students from Greater Latrobe and Ligonier Valley school districts joined other local residents Friday in trying out the controls of an improved surgical robot introduced during an open house at Excela Latrobe Hospital. Seventeen Excela surgeons use the robot and one like it at Excela Westmoreland Hospital to perform precision...
Sale of ‘Hometown Hero’ banners ending in Vandergrift
This year will be the final year Vandergrift residents can purchase Hometown Hero banners for display in the town. Ashleigh Hannigan, assistant treasurer of the Vandergrift No. 1 Fire Department, facilitates the program and said 2020 will be the last year she will sell banners. Hometown Hero banners are designed...
State Rep. Adam Ravenstahl challenged by progressive attorney Emily Kinkead
Pittsburgh attorney Emily Kinkead will join a wave of progressive Democrats who in recent years have challenged establishment incumbents in Allegheny County’s Democratic Party. Kinkead will take on sitting state Rep. Adam Ravenstahl for the District 20 seat in the April 28 Democratic primary. Ravenstahl, the brother of former Pittsburgh...
Lower Valley’s sanitary authority on track for $50 million treatment plant expansion
The Allegheny Valley Joint Sewage Authority’s treatment plant expansion plans are not only on track, they are slightly ahead of schedule. Authority officials said initial permitting has been approved by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The electrical and structural plans are done, and a second round of permitting involving...
Prohibition thinned ranks of Western Pa. distilleries, breweries — but some survivedVideo
Southwestern Pennsylvania’s whiskey industry overflowed with more than 100 distilleries making rye whiskey between the 1880s and early 1900s, but they went dry when Prohibition took effect a century ago. “The distilleries had to close and most did not reopen” when Prohibition was lifted in 1933, said Samuel Komlenic, a...
War on alcohol: An experiment that was a ‘catastrophic failure’
The United States was a battleground before World War I — with armies of people opposed to liquor and saloons lobbying politicians and marching on Washington, D.C., in their mission to outlaw what they considered a scourge on nation’s morality — alcohol. “Prohibition had been a long time in coming,...
Highlands to lose $260K in yearly revenue after Heights Plaza assessment drops
An assessment appeal that slashed nearly $11 million from the value of the Heights Plaza shopping center will cost the Highlands School District $260,000 in revenue each year, according to district Business Manager Lori Byron. The total value of four parcels making up the plaza dropped from $17.3 million to...
Timeline of events important to ProhibitionVideo
Prohibition timeline Calls to ban the production and sale of alcohol in the U.S. started nearly a century before Prohibition, with the creation of temperance societies and growing support of the abstinence movement. Here are some key dates in the push for Prohibition and its eventual repeal: 1826: American Society...
One woman’s marathon journey to a perfect fit in the classroomVideo
Vicky Krug was determined to become a teacher. Her resolve only grew during nearly two decades she spent as a social worker, substance abuse therapist, substitute teacher and tutor earning multiple degrees and certifications along the way. A brain injury she suffered when her car and a truck collided on...
Scouts — both boys and girls — clash at Pinewood Derby in IrwinVideo
Cub Scout Pack 293 leader Daryl Muzy admits technology has improved significantly in the 50-year history of the North Huntingdon-area Cub Scout pack’s annual pinewood derby race. Instead of eyeballing the finish line, as was once done by the scoutmasters, the speedy wooden cars now cross a laser beam that...
The Stroller, Jan. 19, 2020: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Volunteer opportunities available HOPE Center The Alle-Kiski Area HOPE Center has many opportunities for volunteers to help the organization in its quest to eliminate domestic violence. Volunteers are needed to work with children, drive to Pittsburgh to courier food to Tarentum, organize events, present programs in schools and assist in...
Westmoreland bus authority pays $12,500 in overtime in 1st week of running service
Westmoreland Transit Authority paid out about $12,500 in overtime wages for the first week in January after it assumed control over bus and paratransit services from a private contractor. Officials said scheduling procedures that had been in place for years as well as a driver shortage required the agency to...
