Western PA Local News category, Page 57
Officials quiet after Springdale man detained by ICE
Springdale and federal officials remained mostly mum Wednesday after the arrest of a borough resident by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Tuesday. Randy Cordova-Flores, 36, remains in custody at Northern Regional Correctional Facility and Jail near Moundsville, W.Va., according to ICE records. Originally from Peru, Cordova- Flores was detained after Springdale...
Here are the numbers behind the Stewart School sales agreement
Burrell School District officials believe the $1 redevelopment sales agreement of the former Stewart Elementary School property is the most fair and reasonable price for the property, and it will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenue for the district moving forward. The school board Tuesday approved a...
Amid financial challenges, Millvale hires consultant to find new borough manager
Millvale hopes to have a new borough manager hired by summer, council President James Machajewski said. At its Feb. 10 meeting, council voted 6-0 to engage Public Partners, a program of the Allegheny League of Municipalities, to conduct a search for a manager. Councilman Al Atkinson was absent. The borough...
Westmoreland happenings: Pancake and sausage dinner, art reception, bingo night, more
Art A closing reception in memory of artist Tony Naponic and a display of some of his paintings will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at You Are Here Gallery, 406 Clay Ave., Jeannette. A native of Adamsburg, Naponic died in 2003. Details: yah406clay@gmail.com. Fundraisers • A bingo...
From Sewickley to Slovakia: Esmark sponsors new international ice hockey team
All eyes may be on Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics, but an interesting ice hockey alliance has formed in recent weeks between Sewickley and Slovakia. These worlds collided when Jim Bouchard, founder and chairman of Esmark Inc., took a call last year from his family’s former nanny, Miriam Marhevska....
Norwin area: Movie night at Sage’s Army, church fish fry, more
Sage’s Army to hold movie night Sage’s Army, a nonprofit drug prevention and recovery organization, will show the movie, “The Fantastic 4: First Steps,” at 6 p.m. Feb. 18 at the organization’s headquarters at 6044 Lincoln Highway, Hempfield. The doors will open at 5.30 p.m. The free movie night will...
Delmont police chief will retire in April
Longtime Delmont Police Chief T.J. Klobucar said the day he worked his first Apple’n Arts Festival, he could tell that Delmont was the right place. “I knew this community was for me,” said Klobucar, 50, who announced his pending retirement from the police department at Tuesday’s borough council meeting. “It’s...
Ex-boyfriend testifies New Florence woman ‘despised’ her mother, discussed wanting to kill her
Melissa Fox-Beacom regularly brought up her hatred for her mother in conversations with her daughter’s ex-boyfriend, he testified Wednesday. She never referred to Alice Robson as mom. “ ‘My mother’ — she’d say it with an attitude,” Ace Vavrek remembered. “ ‘My mother.’ It’s like she despised her.” Even so,...
Imperial man pleads guilty to federal weapons charges
An Imperial man pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday to weapons charges related to a pistol that was converted into a fully automatic handgun. Prosecutors said Ja’Shon Spencer, 22, was in possession of a machine-gun conversion device attached to a Glock semi-automatic pistol on June 16, 2025, otherwise known...
Compromise sought to salvage controversial $6M Pittsburgh master plan
A Pittsburgh councilman has offered a compromise that could pave the way for consultants to finish a costly, controversial master plan for the city. Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, previously pushed for clawing back about $2 million that had not yet been spent on the $6 million effort. On Wednesday, he...
Kingfly Spirits in Strip District abruptly closes
Distillery Kingfly Spirits has closed its doors for good after seven years of serving the Strip District. In a social media post on Wednesday, the distillery wrote “as of today, we are moving on to the next chapter of life,” stating that Kingfly would not be conducting future bottle sales,...
Verdict: Thomas Stanko guilty in murder of Cassandra GrossVideo
Kathe Gross let out a fist pump and a cheer in a Westmoreland County courtroom Wednesday as a jury convicted Thomas G. Stanko of first-degree murder in the 2018 disappearance of her daughter, Cassandra Gross. The verdict, delivered after four hours of deliberation, concludes a nearly eight-year legal saga for...
Pittsburgh push to regulate Airbnb, other short-term rentals, draws mixed reviews
Depending on who’s talking, short-term rentals are either depleting Pittsburgh’s housing stock and destroying local communities or helping the local economy and providing visitors with options beyond hotels. The dueling opinions were presented Wednesday to Pittsburgh City Council members, who are contemplating regulating short-term rentals like those through Airbnb and...
Longest cold case in Allegheny County solved using DNA
Allegheny County’s longest cold case for an unidentified victim has been solved using DNA technology. On Wednesday, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office announced the body of an unknown homicide victim discovered over 30 years ago — described as a 5-foot-10 white male, weighing 175 pounds — was identified as...
Bridgeville’s Sarah Street, Missouri Avenue eyed for paving
Bridgeville officials hope to be able to pave Sarah Street and a portion of Missouri Avenue this summer. Council on Feb. 9 authorized its engineer to prepare specifications and bid its road paving program that will include Sarah Street and Missouri Avenue as the base bid. Alternate bids include Charlet...
Bon Air Elementary construction bids still over budget
Project bids for a heating and cooling project and kitchen addition at Burrell’s Bon Air Elementary School are over budget again. Superintendent Shannon Wagner said bids for the Bon Air project are a little more than $10 million, the amount budgeted by the district. “The architect is taking a look...
Lancaster man pleads guilty for shooting truck at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport
A Lancaster County man was sentenced this week to serve up to five years in prison for a 2024 shooting at a truck as it left Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe. Tyler J. Mieczkowski, 24, pleaded guilty Tuesday to felony counts of aggravated assault and fleeing from police in...
ICE blames Biden administration for Brentwood man’s entrance into U.S.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Wednesday blamed the Biden administration for allowing a Brentwood man, now in custody, into the United States. Maklim Gomez Escalante, 35, was detained Jan. 20 after arriving at a district court hearing where he had been subpoenaed to testify in an unrelated matter....
VisitPittsburgh opens applications for $15K grant in event marketing
Tourism company VisitPittsburgh is offering $15,000 worth of marketing to four mid-sized cultural festivals or events planned between the end of spring through winter. On Monday, applications for the Festivals & Cultural Events Fund (FCEF) opened, with new parameters surrounding the grant. Derek Dawson, VisitPittsburgh’s vice president of Strategic Initiatives,...
McCandless named 96th designated Bird Town in Pennsylvania
McCandless is for the birds, literally. Recognized as the 96th Bird Town in Pennsylvania, McCandless was presented with a certificate and two Bird Town street signs by Nick Stahlman, community conservation adviser for the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, during council’s Feb. 9 meeting. “This community is working to promote...
Deer Lakes Lancer Foundation welcomes 1st board
The Deer Lakes Lancer Foundation is ready to accept donations, and it already has a volunteer. Tuesday evening, nine board members, all district residents, were appointed to oversee the foundation’s projects. The foundation was created to fund educational technology for teachers to use in the classroom; items that the athletics...
Kraft Heinz pauses split as new CEO calls challenges ‘fixable’
Kraft Heinz said Wednesday it’s pausing a planned split and launching a $600 million investment campaign to tackle what new CEO Steve Cahillane called “fixable” challenges. The company announced in September it will divide its roughly 200 brands into one firm focused on high-performing sauces and spreads and another made...
Greensburg proposing fines up to $600 for throwing snow onto streets
The Jan. 25 storm that dumped about 10 inches of snow on Greensburg helped officials learn they were missing something: an ordinance that addresses snow being thrown onto plowed streets. Streets superintendent Tom Bell said he reported a couple of situations to police where residents had thrown snow into clear...
Look back: 25th anniversary of the Three Rivers Stadium implosion
It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since Pittsburghers watched the implosion of Three Rivers Stadium. It was on Feb. 11, 2001 — a quarter-century ago — that the home of the Steelers and Pirates was brought down in a thick cloud of dust on the city’s North Shore....
‘Game jam’ puts Westmoreland County gifted students’ creativity to the testVideo
Cameron Yourema’s method to create a board game was literally mayhem. “We were trying to follow the mayhem rule as much as we could,” said Yourema, a Valley High School sophomore, of the “Game Jam” board game design competition held Tuesday. “We tried to make a more chaotic game. “What...
