Valley News Dispatch category, Page 125

Changes in dress code, grading and class times could be coming to Highlands School District when students head back to class Aug. 27. Building principals have presented proposed 2024-25 handbooks that the school board will vote on during its next meeting at 7 p.m. Monday. The most significant changes include...

Burrell School District officials are eyeing improvements to the district’s internal communication system for emergencies. The school board is considering a service agreement with Emergent 3 for technology software to handle internal communications among district staff during emergencies or drills. The contract would be for a three-year term. The first...

Allegheny County Police say a Plum woman drove drunk, with her 7-month-old in the back seat, when she was involved in a crash in January that killed a 74-year-old man in O’Hara. Alyssa J. Galiano, 29, turned herself in Friday morning after an arrest warrant was issued. She faces felony...

Publicize your nonprofit’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. Casino Theatre plans auditions for holiday show The Casino Theatre in...

Plans for Cranberry-based MPF Management to have a portion of Indiana Township rezoned for potential oil and gas development were put to a halt by township supervisors. The board voted 4-1 Aug. 14 to deny advertising a public hearing on a request to change a 59-acre parcel along Route 910...

Township Manager Daniel Miller is now the arbiter of information in Allegheny Township. Supervisors agreed to put Miller in charge of what goes on the township’s bulletin board, outdoor electronic sign, website and other means of communication as one official, Supervisor Mike Korns, awaits his day in court. Korns is...

As part of a continuing retention and recruitment effort, police officers in Verona soon will be making more money than ever before. Verona Council voted Tuesday, Aug. 13 to raise the pay rate by 15% for all of the department’s current and future police officers. The borough is looking to...

The Plum School District has flexibility as it begins a three-step process to borrow $30 million for a building project. The school board last week authorized district administration to work with financial advisers, bond counsel, an underwriter and the district’s solicitor to prepare for borrowing nearly $10 million for the...

Plum police Chief Lanny Conley has a new five-year contract and two newly promoted officers to go along with it. Council approved the contract and promotions at its meeting on Monday, Aug. 12. Conley’s current salary is $154,628. The contact includes 3.5% annual raises with the first effective in January....

The lower lakes at Deer Lakes Park are “virtually unfishable,” said Tom Fitzgerald, a longtime fisherman and East Deer resident. Fitzgerald walks the park nearly every day and notes three glaring issues with the ponds: overgrowth, algae and lily pads out of control. “There are parts where it looks like...

Vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance used his speech to an invitation-only crowd at Lower Burrell’s VFW post to criticize President Joe Biden’s administration for its withdrawal from Afghanistan. “We lost 13 brave service members we didn’t need to lose,” said Vance, flanked by Republican lawmakers, most of whom also are...

The girls tennis team at Highlands School District will be serving up their skills away from their home court this season while the district completes a $1 million capital project. Court resurfacing and a revamped track at the nearby middle school are included in the work. “Crews will come Monday...

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. Professional wrestling event to benefit Citizens Hose/EMS/Rescue Citizens Hose Fire, EMS...

Fox Chapel Area School District officials are preparing to welcome students for the start of the 2024-25 school year. First day of classes is scheduled for Aug. 22. Teachers reported to work and had staff meetings with administrators Aug. 14. Superintendent Mary Catherine Reljac said there is a lot of...

Lawyers for Brackenridge man facing a potential death penalty if he is convicted of killing of his 9-year-old son contend the investigation that led to his arrest in 2022 was the product of biased prosecutors and based on insufficient evidence. Jean J. Charles, 44, is awaiting trial on charges of...

The Highlands School District could reap a tax windfall of $28,000 if the board accepts an assessment appeal settlement proposal from the owners of the Highlands Mall, the 15-store shopping plaza off of Freeport Road. The district also would earn more tax income each year going forward. The Highlands Mall...

Ian Smith is a go-with-the-flow type of guy. Whether it’s the flow of an ocean or a river, he’s there. Smith fell in love with surfing after taking lessons on the East Coast and decided to bring the activity home with him. “I loved the sport and wanted to bring...

One of the major problems facing the early settlers of the Alle-Kiski Valley was crossing the rivers. Before 1900, for the residents of communities near Tarentum, the closest bridge crossing was Garvers Ferry Bridge, which was built in 1886 near Freeport. The problem was alleviated, somewhat, in 1900 with the...

One of the few remaining movie theaters in the Alle-Kiski Valley is set to close, but only for a few weeks as new ownership takes over. The AMC Classic South Pike 10 cinema complex is scheduled to shutter its doors Thursday, according to Buffalo Township Supervisor Mike Oehling Jr. and...

A man accused of robbing a New Kensington gas station early Wednesday was quickly identified and arrested thanks to an anonymous tip. Police had sought the public’s help in identifying a man who, armed with a knife, robbed the Sunoco station on Tarentum Bridge Road at Caldwell Avenue around 4:30...

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. Annual Riverbration planned in Kittanning The Kittanning Boat Races Riverbration event...

A Westmoreland County judge ordered an Arnold man jailed earlier this month after being charged in connection to the fatal stabbing of his mother to undergo a mental health evaluation. Brian Rebold, 38, was charged with criminal homicide and first-degree murder following the Aug. 4 death of his 73-year-old mother...

From Bluey to Dora to Transformers, nearly 350 colorful bookbags — and all the supplies that could fit into them — went home with school-aged children at the Paul Field Memorial Back-to-School Bash at the Salvation Army in Brackenridge. In its 15th year, the event doubled as a festival for...

Vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance will make a campaign stop in Lower Burrell on Thursday. Vance, the Republican senator from Ohio, will speak at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 92 on Wildlife Lodge Road at 10 a.m., his campaign announced Tuesday. VFW Post 92 posted on Facebook on Tuesday evening...