The Stroller, May 10, 2025: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your non-profit’s community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least two weeks in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15084. Please include a daytime telephone number. Follow the Stroller on X at @VNDStroller. Civil War photos wanted...
Retail revival: What it takes to bring shopping plazas back to life
Hyde Park Plaza in Allegheny Township was on the ropes a few years ago. A shuttered Kmart was eating up 85,000 square feet of retail space. Only six of 16 storefronts were filled. Label Shopper, a discount clothing retailer in the vein of Marshalls and TJ Maxx, was the closest...
Penn-Trafford School Board tasked with closing $400K budget deficit
Property tax bills could increase by about $80 per year in Penn-Trafford School District following preliminary budget approval by a divided school board this week. But the tax hike would still not be enough to cover the more than $400,000 deficit in the district’s 2025-26 budget, business manager Brett Lago...
St. Nicholas Croatian Church in Millvale plans luncheon to mark 125th anniversary
St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Croatian Church in Millvale, the first Croatian church in the U.S., will celebrate 125 years on June 1. The 125th anniversary celebration will begin with a Mass at 10 a.m. with Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik as celebrant, followed by a luncheon from noon...
Police: Man shot in chest in Clairton
A man was hospitalized in critical condition after being shot in the chest Friday evening in Clairton. Allegheny County Police said they were called to the 1200 block of Marion Circle around 7 p.m. for a shooting. Police found a man suffering from a gunshot wound to his chest. He...
Fans gather for a peek of famous Skenes card at Dick’s House of Sport in Ross Park Mall
Dick’s Clothing and Sporting Goods is the proud new owner of the highly sought-after autographed Paul Skenes rookie debut baseball card and wants to share it with everyone, especially Pittsburgh Pirates fans. The 2024 Topps Chrome patch card, purchased at auction for $1.11 million, was delivered Thursday night to Dick’s...
Police charge 6 in Pens, Pirates ticket scam conspiracy targeting charity for kids
The tickets to Pittsburgh Penguins and Pirates games and other events were supposed to go to disadvantaged or at-risk kids as an act of charity. Instead, according to a grand jury investigation, they were intercepted by unscrupulous people who exploited a nonprofit trying to help underprivileged children. Pennsylvania State Police...
Oakmont, Verona to host events in advance of U.S. Open
Residents of Oakmont, Verona and Plum are bracing for the onslaught of out-of-towners the U.S. Open will bring. However, before the prolonged rush-hour traffic and battles for parking begin, residents are invited to party. The Oakmont and Verona Chambers of Commerce have teamed up to plan an Open-themed block party...
4 Western Pa. high schools to compete in national robotics competition
Plum Senior High School’s robotics team has spent hundreds of hours designing, building and refining a 15-pound machine to compete for a national title this weekend. But the 23-student team is fully prepared to watch their labor of love shatter to pieces. Plum is one of dozens of schools that...
Man critically wounded in Sharpsburg stabbing incident
A man was hospitalized in critical condition after being stabbed in Sharpsburg. Allegheny County Police said the incident took place shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday at the Lafayette Bar & Hotel along South Main Street. Police said the man is expected to survive. No information about suspects was released. No...
Fetterman again in the news for the wrong reasons
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, has again found himself in the news for the wrong reasons, with recent stories calling his mental health into question. Fetterman, the former Braddock mayor and Pennsylvania lieutenant governor who was once considered a rising progressive star, has faced his share of bad press over...
Irwin man pleads guilty to sexual assault of teen
An Irwin man was ordered to serve up to nine years in prison for the the sexual assault of a teenage girl during a July 4 party in 2020. Chad S. Flow, 51, formerly of Hempfield, pleaded guilty Friday to felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault...
UPS closing North Apollo facility amid network reconfiguration
UPS is shipping out of North Apollo. The borough’s package distribution center is among the three UPS facilities in Pennsylvania and 73 nationwide closing as the company leans into automation and cuts back on Amazon shipments. The facilities are used to receive, store and send packages with delivery drivers. Saturday...
‘Betrayal of veterans’: Deluzio rips proposed Trump cuts to VA clinical trials
Pittsburgh-area veterans are being treated like pawns in a game played by the Trump administration as cuts and a hiring freeze threaten medical treatment, U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio said Friday. Providing this treatment is the cost of waging war, said Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, as he blasted the administration for keeping...
Vandal strikes vehicle parked at Vereb Funeral Home in Harrison
Contractor Brad Rowan parked his work van overnight at Vereb Funeral Home in Harrison this week in advance of a job at the building. He never dreamed, however, that it would be vandalized in the building’s parking lot along Freeport Road. “I understand everyone is upset about the situation,” said...
Pa. AG sues Pittsburgh interior designer for bilking customers out of nearly $200K
The Pennsylvania attorney general is suing a Pittsburgh interior designer for nearly $200,000, alleging that she and her company failed to follow through on jobs they promised and were paid for up front. Lauren Piasecki, 44, of Morningside, has already been charged with multiple counts of theft, home improvement fraud,...
Allegheny County Police investigate Pittsburgh police in-custody death
Allegheny County Police homicide detectives Friday were investigating the death of a man overnight while in Pittsburgh police custody. The man, identified as 29-year-old James Richard Brown Jr. by the Medical Examiner’s Office, was behaving erratically and trying to get into a city police vehicle and was “taken to the...
Work will start in Murrysville to make temporary Route 380 light permanent
Construction work at the intersection of Route 380 and Saltsburg Road in Murrysville will begin May 19, Murrysville officials said at their monthly council meeting Wednesday night. Canonsburg-based Olympus Energy funded temporary traffic improvements last year as part of its Hermes fracking well pad project, built nearby on the Murrysville-Plum...
Law enforcement memorial to be unveiled at annual recognition of fallen officers
A permanent Law Enforcement Officers Memorial will be unveiled Thursday in Greensburg as part of an annual service remembering officers killed in the line of duty. The event will be held at noon, weather permitting, in the courtyard of the Westmoreland County Courthouse. The permanent memorial is affixed to the...
Freeport Area weighs how fast to raise taxes as decision on high school renovation nears
Property owners in the Freeport Area School District may be facing a tax increase for next school year, even though the school board passed a preliminary budget that includes no tax increase. That’s because the preliminary 2025-26 budget shows a $450,000 deficit, and administrators warn more revenue will be needed...
Team Rubicon volunteers lend helping hand in Allegheny County after storm damage
When severe storms rolled through the region last week, Bill Robinson watched the downpours and battering winds wreak havoc on his yard in Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood The winds were so strong that he struggled to open his door to let his dog, Lola, in the house. By the time the...
Past, present leaders vie for Westmoreland Register of Wills post
In an unprecedented move last summer, a Westmoreland County judge ordered Westmoreland County’s three-term Register of Wills to resign. In February, Gov. Josh Shapiro and the state Senate chose a new temporary administrator for the courthouse office where wills, estates, adoptions, guardianships and marriage licenses are filed and processed. Now,...
Tarentum staple, Asay’s News Stand, closes just shy of 100 years in borough
A small Tarentum mini-mart which drew generations of residents for cigarettes, milk and lottery tickets, has closed its doors. Asay’s News Stand, at 328 E. Sixth Ave., was sold May 1 — just four years shy of marking 100 years in the borough. “I will miss a lot of the...
U.S. Steel seeks presidential pass to disregard Biden-era emissions standards
U.S. Steel is among the industrial polluters seeking exemptions to Biden-era requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals. The Pittsburgh-based company, with its Mon Valley Works, is taking up the Trump administration on its offer to request a two-year presidential pass on recently updated provisions of the Clean Air Act....
Former Stanton Heights church, mansion on the market for $1.9 million
A converted church featuring custom, giant murals inside and out is for sale in Stanton Heights. Nationally known comedian Steve Hofstetter recently relocated from Pittsburgh to South Carolina and is selling the property that once housed his nonprofit Steel City Arts Foundation. The church was originally Stanton Heights United Methodist...
