Scenes from the Valley: Images captured in the Alle-Kiski Valley from Oct. 31-Nov. 6, 2024
Here is a weekly look at recent images captured throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley. From major news events to routine gatherings, TribLive’s “Scenes from the Valley” photo package brings to life activities and moments happening in your backyard. To have a photo considered as a “Scenes from the Valley” candidate, please...
Nonprofit serving adults with mental disabilities to hold open house at new job training center in Leechburg
The Progressive Workshop of Armstrong County wants to get to know the Leechburg community. The nonprofit is planning an open house at Thursday, at its new Adult Achievement Center on Market Street. Founded in 1968, the workshop provides services and programming for adults with mental disabilities. The company’s Adult Achievement...
Service dogs provide comfort, strength to veterans
A service dog is a veteran’s best friend. These highly trained animals help those who served their country re-enter civilian life by being trusted companions. They can sense something before it happens. They can detect low blood sugar, an oncoming seizure and prevent a panic attack. “I still walk this...
‘The general wants to be heard:’ Restoration eyed for tomb of Samuel McCartney Jackson, Apollo’s most famous citizen
The open archway into Gen. Samuel McCartney Jackson’s mausoleum stares blankly over the hillside at Old Apollo Cemetery, battered by years of crude graffiti and neglect but still structurally sound. Only a few stones have fallen, including one with the Civil War hero’s year of death: 1907. “It still has...
The Stroller, Nov. 10, 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. Holiday program welcoming sponsorships,...
Mt. Pleasant’s doughboy monument to mark 100 years after multiple collision comebacks
Monday will mark a century since Mt. Pleasant first had a doughboy memorial statue keeping watch high over Main Street — although the figure passersby see today is not quite that old. “We are on the fifth rendition of the statue,” said Rick Meason, president of the Mt. Pleasant Area...
Here’s how Trump’s 2nd term could impact Pennsylvanians
President-elect Donald Trump made many promises on the campaign trail. He said he would eliminate taxes on tips and overtime pay, deport masses of undocumented immigrants and solve the conflict in the Middle East. His supporters have celebrated his victory Tuesday, hoping a second Trump administration will mean a better...
Upper Burrell looking into 3rd full-time police officer position
Upper Burrell is putting out “feelers” for a third full-time officer in its police department, Chief Ken Pate said. Township officials have said they are refocusing efforts to bolster their own force. Upper Burrell currently has two full-time officers, including the chief. To add a third full-timer, Supervisors Chairman Ross...
St. Vincent recognizes Westmoreland high school students in mock trial competition
Students from three Westmoreland high schools were recognized for their performance at a mock trial competition at Saint Vincent College last month. Hosted by the college for more than five years, the competition assesses students on their ability to form and deliver opening statements and closing arguments in a hypothetical...
East Deer brush fire, due to terrain, takes more than 2 hours to extinguish
Fire crews in the lower Allegheny Valley put out a brush fire Saturday afternoon in an East Deer field rife with fields, woods, hills and power lines. Crews were dispatched just before 1 p.m. to the area of Cambria Hill Drive for the brush fire, said Jack Bailie, chief of...
3rd Tarentum pit bull mauling victim says ‘it was instinct’ to jump in to try to stop attack on Halloween
It was nothing but “instinct” for a 33-year-old Tarentum man who jumped in to try to stop a pit bull attack in the borough on Halloween. Shawn Flynn Jr. was visiting his friend at her East Seventh Avenue home on Halloween when he looked out the window and saw three...
Irwin business, apartment building damaged by early Saturday blaze
The air still smelled of smoke as Don Sowash took his 11-year-old Morkie, Benny, for a walk down Irwin’s Main Street on Saturday afternoon, pausing at a building he saw engulfed in flames just 12 hours prior. “Lots of smoke (was) pouring out all of these upper windows, and I...
Nonprofit serving adults with mental disabilities to hold open house at new job training center in Leechburg
The Progressive Workshop of Armstrong County wants to get to know the Leechburg community. The nonprofit is planning an open house at 2 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14 at its new Adult Achievement Center on Market Street. Founded in 1968, the workshop provides services and programming for adults with mental disabilities....
The Stroller, Nov. 9, 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. Job fair planned at...
Tarentum man faces multiple charges in connection with Halloween dog attacks
A Tarentum man is facing multiple charges for allegedly allowing his dogs to run loose and attack people on Halloween. Brandon Jerome Baynes, 36, is charged with three counts each of several charges, including animal neglect, and most of which are summary offenses. One of the charges, recklessly endangering another...
Deer Lakes High School tutors go old-school with 1-to-1, ‘paper-and-pencil’ tutoring
The struggle is real for some elementary children. A fledgling tutoring program, organized by Deer Lakes School District students and open to people across the Alle-Kiski Valley, aims to help with classroom challenges. KFIVE is an initiative for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. Services are free and offered from...
Elderly pedestrian identified who was struck and killed in Harrison
A Harrison man is dead after he was struck Friday evening by a vehicle near the Sheetz convenience store in Harrison. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Gary Rhebb, 74, of Harrison’s Natrona Heights neighborhood. Harrison Police Sgt. Justin Bouch said the victim was struck by...
Students at East Union Intermediate Center in West Deer honor veterans with a day of service
Military veterans and student at East Union Intermediate Center gathered items Friday to pack into gift bags that will be delivered to a veterans home in Butler. The event was part of a day of service to thank local veterans held in the Deer Lakes School District. There were 14...
Westmoreland County among 1st in state to study suicide with aim toward prevention
Sixty Westmoreland County residents died by suicide last year. Reducing that number is the aim of a new board that’s forming to study suicides in the county, especially those involving veterans, so the group can identify ways to prevent them. Findings of the review board could result in legislation and...
Gainey joins other elected leaders to tout expanded Pittsburgh-area search-and-rescue unit
Had Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge pinned people under the wreckage when it collapsed in 2022, local first responders would have had to wait for a highly specialized search-and-rescue unit from Philadelphia to help. “If anyone was trapped under the rubble of that bridge, they would’ve had to wait 12 hours,”...
Hampton Heroes: Vet brings message of ‘ordinary people doing extraordinary things’
While serving with the U.S. Army in the Middle East, Sgt. Maj. Colin Boley received orders to lead a raid on an enemy position. “They told me that we had a meeting place, simply two people, not a big deal,” he recalled. “So I decided to tell my young leaders,...
Hampton Heroes: Middle school teachers among 2024 inductees
Two Hampton Middle School faculty members, plus the father of a teacher at the high school, have been honored for their military service. Hampton Heroes, a school district program to honor local veterans, has inducted about 200 men and women since its formation in 2001. This year’s inductees include Mark...
Hampton Heroes: Interviews with veterans help students gain perspective
In 1969, the U.S. Army drafted 20-year-old David Augustine and eventually assigned him to a unit patrolling highways along the coast of South Vietnam. “One morning, he and his platoon could hear a battle going on in the distance,” Brooklyn Fitzsimmons, his granddaughter, reported. “They all got into their tanks...
Authorities padlock Oakland’s Panther Pit after DA calls it nuisance bar
The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office on Friday padlocked the Panther Pit Bar and Grill in Oakland after the District Attorney’s Office alleged that it is a nuisance bar operating without a liquor license. Located on Meyran Avenue, the Panther Pit was raided in September by Pennsylvania State Police Liquor Control...
UPMC announces more layoffs, cuts
UPMC is laying off 100 employees and cutting an additional 200 vacant positions as part of ongoing cost-saving measures at the Pittsburgh-based health giant. This comes after UPMC cut 1,000 jobs in April. “Targeted adjustments are frequently made to improve organizational efficiencies and eliminate redundancies,” UPMC said in a statement....
