LGBTQ landmark Brewers Bar gets new ownership in Lawrenceville
After being put up for sale this summer, Brewers Bar in Lawrenceville — Pittsburgh’s oldest gay bar — will remain intact with new ownership in 2025. Justin Beiter will be the face of the bar as a co-owner and operator. He said it will be rebranded, but it will remain...
Springdale Township property owners hit with 46% tax hike
Springdale Township property owners will pay 46% more in real estate taxes next year under the township’s $1.14 million budget approved by commissioners. The 2025 spending plan, which increases the millage rate from 6.5 to 9.5 mills, passed 3-0 during a commissioners’ meeting, with Commissioners Tim Basilone, Rick Schwartz and...
Rosendahl’s owner upset Irwin officials won’t renew lease in order to make borough offices accessible
A fixture in downtown Irwin for nearly a century is being booted from its Main Street building to make way for municipal offices accessible for those with disabilities. Borough council this week decided not to renew the lease of Rosendahl’s Appliance Center when it expires March 31 so the administrative...
TribLive wins national award in best website category
TribLive has earned a top honor in the prestigious EPPY Awards, a national competition that recognizes the best in digital journalism. TribLive placed second in the “Best Daily Newspaper Website” among news organizations with more than 1 million unique monthly visitors. The EPPY Awards, now in their 26th year, drew...
Yough teacher uses love of running to raise money for drug prevention
A Yough High School teacher who recently ran in the New York City Marathon has not only used her sport to stay healthy, but to raise money for drug prevention programs — a cause that hits home for her. Jessica George, 44, of Unity began running in 2017 as a...
East Huntingdon man to serve up to 20 years in prison for sexual assault of child
A former custodian and janitor at the Mt. Pleasant Area School District will serve at least eight years in prison after being sentenced this week for repeated sexual assaults of a child over a 10-year period. Jeffrey D. Miller Jr., 50, of East Huntingdon was charged last year with eight...
4 injured in crash in Findlay as slick road conditions persist in Pittsburgh region
A large crash early Friday morning in Findlay Township left four people hurt. Several vehicles and a bus were involved in a crash around 4:30 a.m. on the Flaugherty Run Road exit ramp to Clinton Road, according to TribLive news partner WTAE. Four people were taken to the hospital. Their...
Data center planned at vacant portion of Arconic site in Upper Burrell
When complete, a new data center facility in Upper Burrell will have the potential to hold a digital cloud like Meta or other technology household names, its developers said. TECfusions, a data center owner and operator, closed on property at a vacant portion of the Arconic property in Upper Burrell...
The Stroller, Dec. 13, 2024: 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. Food bank accepting donations...
Harvest Baptist and Walmart enable kids to ‘Shop with the Heroes’
Kourtney Hawkins and her daughter, Daisy, have struggled through extraordinary losses the past two years. Hawkins’ son, Ryder, died two years ago, and her husband, Scottie Joe, was killed in June in a motorcycle crash along Markle Road in Allegheny Township. “My daughter has been through it,” Hawkins, of Vandergrift,...
Junior Achievement of Western Pa. hosts high school students for stock market competition
In the volatile world of the stock market, the difference between finishing on top and, say, 98th place is about three minutes. At least that’s one of the lessons learned by budding Deer Lakes School District investors. “The stock market is unpredictable,” said Sam Guthrie, a Deer Lakes senior and...
Friends recall West Deer’s Rev. James Legge as tireless advocate for less fortunate
The Rev. James Legge, longtime pastor at Bull Creek Presbyterian Church in West Deer, is being recalled by friends as a team player and ardent supporter of leveling the playing field for the less fortunate. Serving on the board at Allegheny Valley Association of Churches and the Alle-Kiski Area HOPE...
Randy Glick retires as Derry police chief; borough seeks talks for school policing contract
Derry Borough is searching for a new police chief after the town council this week accepted Randy Glick’s retirement resignation. The borough also is entering negotiations with officials at Derry Area School District in an attempt to reach a new agreement for the police to provide coverage at the school...
Crafted vintage beaded ornaments bring bling to Christmas for local collector
He calls them Fauxberge. They’re blinged-out Christmas ornaments that had their height of popularity half a century ago and have become a passion of collector Patrick Hubert of Mt. Pleasant Township. Hubert employs the punny term to describe the holiday decorations because some of the finest examples pay tribute, in...
PA Humanities project tells the stories of Black Pennsylvania
The voices of Black Pennsylvania took center stage Wednesday at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center during an immersive storytelling experience that showcased a project by PA Humanities titled “Voices of History: Stories of Black Pennsylvania.” The program was inspired by a talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson,...
Hill District tenants demand action from HUD over hazardous living conditions
Tenants of NB Affordable properties in the Hill District gathered at the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Downtown Pittsburgh Wednesday to voice concerns and demand change to their living conditions: infestations of raccoons and rats, no heat, missing floorboards, elevators that don’t work and more. According to One...
Fire at Verona apartment leaves at least 6 people homeless
At least six people were left homeless Thursday evening after a fire ripped through an apartment building in Verona. Multiple fire departments responded to the call for a fire with entrapment shortly before 5 p.m. in the 400 block of Center Avenue. Bystanders and borough police were kicking in doors...
MAWC says inventory finds 3% of water system has lead service lines
Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials said they suspect just 3% of its water system contains lead service lines and have started to notify impacted home and business owners of its findings. An inventory of the system’s more than 123,000 customers revealed more than 4,000 properties could be serviced by...
Leechburg Drama Club stages ’50s film noir parody as fundraiser
Leechburg Area student Katie Monroe has been in seven shows with the Leechburg Drama Club. She remembers the first year the club began hosting a student-run production that serves as a fundraiser for the club’s spring musical. Three years later, she’s one of the student officers helping to direct and...
Mt. Lebanon businessman gets 3 years in prison for fraud stemming from arson
A Mt. Lebanon man will spend three years in federal prison stemming from fraud allegations related to a South Side property he owned that burned down. Prasad Margabandhu, 48, pleaded guilty to bankruptcy fraud and mail fraud in September before U.S. District Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand. On Thursday, she ordered...
Westmoreland’s fired deputy purchasing director testifies courthouse boss initiated alleged theft scheme
Westmoreland County’s former deputy director of purchasing told a judge her boss said he and his five department employees were authorized for additional pay in August 2023. Kristen Coyne claimed she didn’t learn those pay hikes had actually been rejected by county officials until both she and her boss were...
Chorus to approve U.S. Steel-Nippon deal grows louder
United Steelworkers President David McCall was mentioned only once by name Thursday afternoon at a rally supporting the sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel, but his intransigence over the $15 billion acquisition looms much larger with a decision on the deal likely imminent. “I want to know: Who’s...
Drones, SWAT team used in standoff with Greensburg man wanted on assault warrant
A Greensburg man wanted on aggravated assault and other charges forced a SWAT team to enter a Perry Avenue residence to arrest him Thursday. Tyler Schultheis, 34, was wanted on a warrant issued Wednesday listing charges of aggravated assault, strangulation, terroristic threats and unlawful restraint, according to court records. A...
Police flag Pittsburgh man for Steelers parking lot scam
Police have sacked a Pittsburgh man they say netted more than $1,000 Sunday by getting Pittsburgh Steelers fans to pay to park at a North Side lot he doesn’t own. Alphonso Rattliff, 30, on Sunday charged 23 drivers headed to see the Steelers play at Acrisure Stadium $50 apiece to...
New Kensington man sentenced in kidnapping case called ‘a single woman’s worst nightmare’
A New Kensington man convicted of kidnapping a woman he met online in 2022 was sentenced to serve five to 10 years in prison for what a Westmoreland County prosecutor called a chilling crime. “This defendant is more dangerous than anyone else I could imagine. The facts of this case,...
