The Stroller, Dec. 24, 2023: 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. Merry Christmas, dearest readers A very Merry Christmas to all our...
Burrell works to provide students with real-world experience
The high school experience isn’t what it used to be, say two Burrell teachers leading the way in providing students with real-world experience and future readiness opportunities. This school year, Burrell High School teachers Darcy Holtzman and Ron Zanella have offered high school juniors and seniors job site tours, work...
Caring on Christmas: How health care, emergency workers handle holiday shifts
Patrick Merkel knows that when someone calls the Allegheny County 911 center on Christmas, they might be experiencing the worst day of their life. Merkel is just one member of the team on the front lines on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. With up to 70 people working each shift...
Westmoreland natives killed in Christmas Eve 1944 U-boat attack have lives preserved digitally
Christmas Day 1944 never came for four Westmoreland County natives and 759 fellow servicemen who were passengers on a World War II troop transport ship headed for Cherbourg, France. On Christmas Eve, about 5 miles from its destination, the SS Leopoldville was torpedoed by a German submarine and sank, taking...
How to celebrate New Year’s 2024 in, around Westmoreland County
New Year’s Day falls on a Monday this year, meaning those who stay up late will be ringing in 2024 on a Sunday night. Although that may not be the day of the week that one might associate with revelry, there are more than a few places where you can...
Greensburg Salem High School show-and-tell introduces fourth graders to exotic species
Jayceona Smith had something to prove when she gingerly touched her finger to the back of Arthur, a curly-haired tarantula. “I want to see the alligator, the snake and the tarantula,” said Smith, one of the fourth-grade students at Greensburg’s Nicely Elementary who had a chance to see and learn...
Students with hearing loss, visual impairment tour Westmoreland Advanced Technology Center
Nearly 30 middle and high school students with hearing loss and visual impairments toured the Westmoreland County Community College’s Advanced Technology Center in East Huntingdon recently to experience the classrooms and labs. Burrell, Derry Area, Greater Latrobe, Greensburg Salem, Hempfield Area, Kiski Area, Ligonier Valley, New Kensington-Arnold, Norwin, Southmoreland and...
Latrobe council presents Student Showcase Award to Greater Latrobe student athlete
Kate Wolford, a senior and student athlete at Greater Latrobe Senior High School, was presented with the fall Student Showcase Award during December’s city council meeting. Wolford, 18, is a swimmer, and her involvement includes private swimming lessons, working with the YMCA and participating in various student groups such as...
‘Festivus’-themed event brings local leaders together at Greensburg Hempfield library
It’s a holiday for the rest of us — and for the small businesses and local organizations of Greensburg. Representatives from both groups were among those gathered in the upper meeting room of the Greensburg Hempfield Area Library for a “Festivus”-themed networking mixer event on Dec. 13. The gathering was...
‘Cease fire now’: Pittsburgh locals gather for global solidarity vigil in support of Palestine
“Free Palestine!” and “Cease fire now!” chants could be heard in Pittsburgh’s Friendship Park on Saturday as about 100 people gathered for a solidarity vigil in support of Palestine. Hosted by two groups — Jewish Voice for Peace Pittsburgh and Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Pittsburgh...
South Buffalo police accuse man of repeatedly raping child for 9 years starting when they were 5
South Buffalo Township police accused a man of sexually assaulting a child over a nine-year period that began when they were 5. Eric Lynn Nulph, 73, of the 300 block of Troy Hill Road in Rayburn with felony counts of rape of a child, statutory sexual assault, sexual assault, involuntary...
Pine-Richland basketball game supports boy in need of bone marrow transplant
Students and basketball players from Pine-Richland and Seneca Valley are coming together to support a boy who needs a live-saving bone marrow transplant. Jax Ramirex is the 8-year-old son of Pine-Richland’s school psychologist, Dr. Missy Ramirez. He is battling a rare genetic disorder called immune dysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X-linked syndrome,...
1 of 2 teens killed in McCandless wreck identified
One of two teens killed in a single-vehicle wreck early Saturday in McCandless has been identified. Taylor Orlowski, 18, of Baden, died at the scene, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. A 14-year-old boy was flown to a hospital, where he died, according to Allegheny County Police. First...
Harrison commissioners fill township boards, with one oddity among the appointments
At their final 2023 meeting, the Harrison commissioners filled openings on township boards, all with defined terms — except for one. That one is a seat on the Upper Allegheny Valley Joint Sanitary Authority occupied by Commissioner Charles Dizard who continues to serve, oddly enough, until further notice. Dizard, who...
Harrison residents to pay more in sewage fees; renamed ordinance will make more sewer repairs possible
Note: The cost per 1,000 gallons used was incorrect in the original story. The corrected figures appear here. Harrison residents will not be paying more in property taxes in 2024 but will see an increase in sewage fees. Sewage fees will rise by $20 per quarter, from $1.25 per 1,000...
Initial reports indicate Columbia Gas lines not involved in Sewickley Heights explosion
Columbia Gas lines do not appear to have been involved in the Dec. 12 cottage explosion in Sewickley Heights, the state Public Utility Commission said Friday. Pipeline safety engineers from the PUC are investigating the incident which injured one person and destroyed a structure at 543 Backbone Road. “At this...
Police searching for man they suspect of stabbing woman in Carnegie
Police are searching for a Pittsburgh man they said is responsible for stabbing a woman overnight in Carnegie. Joshua Meyer, 41, is described as 6-feet, 2-inches tall and weighs about 240 pounds. He is known to frequent Carnegie and the city of Pittsburgh’s Elliott neighborhood. He fled the scene. Allegheny...
2-year-old Oil City toddler found dead, stuffed in bag
A 2-year-old boy was found dead in Oil City, Venango County, stuffed inside a bag in a basement. The body of toddler Keaton Morrison was found Wednesday in a home along North Street, according to Tribune-Review news partner WTAE. Police said the boy’s mother, Caleigh Gladfelter, reported him missing the...
Square Cafe in East Liberty will pay $89,000 in back wages after reports of tip mishandling
Employees of a popular diner in East Liberty will be paid back wages after allegations that thousands of dollars in tips were mishandled. Square Café, along S. Highland Avenue, was investigated by the U.S. Labor Department after reports from restaurant servers, according to Tribune-Review news partner WTAE. Under federal law,...
The Stroller, Dec. 23, 2023: 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. Community safety night planned in Kiski Township A community safety night...
Longtime judge Rita Hathaway, Westmoreland’s 1st woman president judge, set to retire
Rita Hathaway was a young mother and third grade teacher in 1983 when she suspected one of her students had been the victim of abuse. When her efforts to intervene on behalf of the child went unanswered, she decided she’d never again be in a position where she couldn’t help....
Options abound for Western Pennsylvanians celebrating a dry holiday
Recovering addict Lisa Hoey of Pittsburgh’s South Side says alcohol was an integral part of her holidays. It was part of nearly every detail — from baking cookies and entertaining, to watching TV specials and wrapping gifts, said Hoey, now sober for more than two decades. An alum of O’Hara...
Holiday tree house: Ligonier Township home decked out with dozens of themed Tannenbaums
Jane Mattern decks out more than 40 Christmas trees, at least one for every day of the holiday season and for every room of her family’s expansive Ligonier Township home. The variously themed trees range from an 18-foot live Fraser fir that stretches toward the living room’s cathedral ceiling to...
U.S. Steel sale will create new jobs, spark investment in Mon Valley, analyst says
John C. Tumazos thinks unions and Pennsylvania politicians have gotten the U.S. Steel sale all wrong. The Wilkinsburg-bred metals industry analyst said Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion acquisition of the Pittsburgh-based steel icon will not trigger mass layoffs in Southwestern Pennsylvania or encourage the new owners to idle mills. Instead, the...
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy wraps up 1st project funded by parks tax
The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is completing its first project partially funded by the city’s controversial park taxes, with four more projects in the works for the new year. The 0.5-mill parks tax — or $50 per every $100,000 of a property’s assessed value — was first collected in 2021 after...
