Small egg farms avoid shortages, keep prices stable
Art King knows egg prices nationally have been on a roller coaster ride. They still cost an average of almost three times what they did in July 2023, but not at his farm market. As co-owner of Harvest Valley Farms in West Deer, King has been selling eggs for about...
3 candidates nixed from Gilpin supervisor ballot after court ruling
Editor’s note: This story was changed to reflect that former candidate Thomas Rupert is a Democrat. The list of candidates for Gilpin supervisor in the primary is significantly shorter after a court ruling knocked three of six candidates from the May ballot. Armstrong County Common Pleas Judge Chase McClister ruled...
‘We’re praying’: Riders fear proposed Pittsburgh Regional Transit cuts
Monroeville resident Shane Beachy does not want to quit his job as a cook at Trafford restaurant Veronica’s On Cavitt. But, if Pittsburgh Regional Transit follows through on a proposal to eliminate service to the borough, Beachy, 49, may have no choice. The transit agency is weighing a 25-cent fare...
Redeemer Lutheran High School adding gym as it settles in at former St. Gerard church
Redeemer Lutheran High School plans to break ground in June on a roughly $4 million gymnasium. It’s sorely needed, said Eureka Van Wyk, business manager and athletic director at Redeemer Lutheran School. Two years ago, the parochial school system moved its high school students to the former St. Gerard Majella...
Rock climbing wall, a staple since the 1980s, part of upcoming open house at North Allegheny
Alumni who used North Allegheny’s rock climbing wall can relive some memories at an open house from 6 to 9 p.m. April 9 at Newman Stadium on the high school campus in McCandless. The wall, built in the 1980s, is located underneath the homeside bleachers of the stadium on the...
First draft of Burrell School District budget proposes roughly 4% tax increase
Burrell School District’s draft budget for next school year has just under a 4% real estate tax increase for property owners. The draft budget totals close to $37.7 million, which is a 3% increase from this school year’s budget, said Business Manager Jennifer Callahan. The real estate tax increase included...
Police: Ohio man found with gun at Pittsburgh International Airport
An Ohio man has been charged with a felony firearms violation after he was found to have a handgun at a security checkpoint at Pittsburgh International Airport. Allegheny County Police said Transportation Security Administration officers found the firearm in a passenger’s backpack around 2 p.m. Tuesday. Police identified the passenger...
Men plead guilty to killing roofer in front of young son
Ted Jones was supposed to be going to karaoke. The evening of Nov. 7, 2020, he had planned to drop his son off at his sister’s to enjoy a night out. Instead, as he arrived at his North Braddock home that afternoon, Jones, 52, was shot and killed during a...
West Deer man charged with attacking medical staff at Monroeville hospital
A West Deer man was charged with attacking a doctor and nurse last month at Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. Gabriel A. Brewer, 34, of West Deer’s Russellton neighborhood, was taken by ambulance to the hospital on March 14 after he was found unresponsive on a bench in an Allegheny County...
West Deer man charged with attacking medical staff at Monroeville hospital
A West Deer man was charged with attacking a doctor and nurse last month at Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. Gabriel A. Brewer, 34, of West Deer’s Russellton neighborhood, was taken by ambulance to the hospital on March 14 after he was found unresponsive on a bench in an Allegheny County...
Northern Tier Regional Library’s used book sale set in memory of longtime staff member
Northern Tier Regional Library is kicking off April with its annual used book sale from April 3-7 on the lower level of the facility, 4015 Dickey Road. “We are excited to welcome everyone in for the book sale. The book sale remains our biggest fundraiser of the year. The money...
East Huntingdon solar farm ordinance faces court challenge from Erie-based company
An Erie-based energy company is suing East Huntingdon, claiming a new ordinance effectively bans solar farms in the township. GreenKey Development Inc. says in its lawsuit filed in Westmoreland County court that East Huntingdon supervisors hastily and improperly adopted an ordinance in February to set specific and strict requirements for...
Mt. Pleasant drunk driver sentenced to jail term for 2020 crash that injured 2 pedestrians
Vincent Polito’s life was changed forever when he was struck by a drunk driver along the side of a Mt. Pleasant road nearly five years ago. Polito, 23, now requires around-the-clock care as a result physical and cognitive injuries sustained when a vehicle driven by 35-year-old Elizabeth Sirianni hit him...
Expert: Social Security not meant to be one’s only retirement income, but often becomes that
Not everyone is going to have a viral social media video and a runaway crowdfunding campaign to pay for retirement. An 81-year-old waitress at an Eat’n Park in Ross, known only as Betty, will be able to work and worry less thanks to both of those, brought about by a...
Letter calls on Carnegie Mellon to denounce higher-ed actions by Trump administration
A letter signed by more than 150 Carnegie Mellon University faculty, staff, alumni and students calls on the university to denounce what it calls the Trump administration’s “punitive withholding of federal funding and detainment and deportation of international scholars.” The letter also asks Carnegie Mellon not to comply with federal...
Mass firing of federal health workers includes Pittsburgh region
More than 200 federal employees who work at the Bruceton Research Center, a research facility south of Pittsburgh, will lose their jobs by June 30, they were told this week. They work at the Pittsburgh Mining Research Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, part of the...
Gainey blasts Trump administration for targeting East Liberty Social Security office
More than two dozen people joined Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey in East Liberty on Tuesday to rally in support of the neighborhood’s Social Security office, which had been targeted for possible closure by President Donald Trump’s administration. The office — along with the Greensburg Social Security Administration buildings and the...
Direct flights to Punta Cana will begin this winter through American Airlines
A direct route to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic from Pittsburgh International Airport is launching this winter through American Airlines — for the first time in over a decade. The service will be once per week on Saturday only, and it will start Dec. 6, American Airlines said. The Allegheny County...
Springdale Council sifts through 15 applications for borough manager position
Springdale Council is considering applications from 15 candidates to fill the borough manager’s post. After the window to submit applications closed Monday, interim Manager Jason Dailey said council’s personnel committee will rank the applicants before conducting interviews. Of the 15 applicants, Dailey said four have previous municipal experience. Though the...
‘Miscarriage of justice’: Mom pans prison terms for son’s murderers as too short
Monica Reifman’s teenage son was shot 17 times in broad daylight. Two other people were wounded. That, she told a judge on Tuesday, is certainly worth a longer sentence than the 15 to 30 years in prison the prosecution offered to the two men pleading guilty. “That they could be...
Grant Street in Pittsburgh reopened to 1 lane after being closed due to popping manhole covers
Pittsburgh police have reopened Grant Street to one lane after it was closed to traffic in Downtown Pittsburgh as two manhole covers along the thoroughfare popped loose, one with a thunderous boom, around noon Tuesday. The cause was traced to a fire affecting electrical wires under Grant Street, according to...
Hampton bringing teen edition of Broadway’s ‘Hadestown’ to high school stage
When it comes to announcing their spring musical, Hampton High School teachers keep the students guessing by floating different possibilities of what it will be, sophomore Lordyn Schomaeker said. Schomaeker, 15, was “very, very excited” when the word finally came down that this year’s production would be the teen edition...
Judge clears Region 2 candidate to run for Pine-Richland School Board after objections
Judge John McVay ordered objections to Pine-Richland School Board candidate Robert Stein’s election petitions be denied on March 31, leaving Stein clear to run in the May primaries. The objections, filed by Pine-Richland attorney Chris Cafardi, alleged that Stein, who is running in Region 2 of the district, did not...
Businesses to stay open as Market Square upgrade, traffic shifts begin
A yearlong renovation to Market Square in Downtown Pittsburgh scheduled to begin Tuesday will cause a shift in traffic patterns. Construction will start in the north half of the square, including McMasters, Market and Graeme streets. One-way traffic heading toward Downtown on Forbes Avenue from Wood Street to Stanwix Street...
Westmoreland cultural groups, nonprofits will seek crucial helpers at volunteer fair
It can take as many as 150 volunteers to help run the midsummer Westmoreland County Arts and Heritage Festival, and Executive Director Diane Shrader is looking to sign up some of those unpaid workers at a Friday event in Greensburg. The festival is one of more than two dozen organizations...
