Valley News Dispatch category, Page 213

Officials with the state Department of Environmental Protection gave an update Monday on the agency’s investigation in Plum’s Rustic Ridge neighborhood following a fatal house explosion Aug. 12. It came a week after Gov. Josh Shapiro directed the agency to start a stray gas investigation. DEP Secretary Rich Negrin dispatched...

Northbound lanes of Route 28 reopened shortly after 5 p.m. Monday after a crash, PennDOT said. The 4:15 p.m. crash closed the lanes of the highway between the Russellton and the Tarentum exits. Photos from the Frazer Volunteer Fire Department show a medical helicopter arriving following the crash....

A traffic signal more than 50 years old that controls vehicles at a major Fox Chapel intersection will be modernized in the coming years. The borough was named Aug. 11 as part of PennDOT’s Green Light-Go program, designed to improve efficiency and operation of traffic signals across the state. Gov....

Highlands alum Madalyn Heinle is about to set off on the adventure of her life. The 22-year-old will jet off to the Dominican Republic as a member of the Peace Corps, a federal program that deploys volunteers to provide help in 60 developing countries. “I’m very nervous, but the excitement...

Portions of Sixth Avenue in Tarentum were shut down Monday for work by Peoples natural gas company crews. Spokesman Nick Paradise said crews were closing off a gas line in the area. The road is closed from near the Marathon gas station and Gatto’s to the intersection at Lock Street....

Allegheny Township police accused two New Kensington women of breaking into a home after the owners reported seeing activity on their Ring doorbell camera while away on vacation. Hailey Marie Bollinger, 20, of the 500 block of Keystone Drive was charged Aug. 17 with felony counts of burglary, criminal trespass,...

Penn State New Kensington students welcomed themselves to the community by giving back to it. About 120 student-athletes and their coaches took to downtown New Kensington on Friday afternoon to clean up the community as part of a back-to-school community service project. Assignments included cleaning Fourth Street and the outside...

Two boys from Harrison are facing charges after shots were fired early Friday near Heights Plaza. Police responded just before 2 a.m. after several reports of suspicious activity near Community Supermarket, off Freeport Road. They found two children, 11 and 14, fleeing the area and running toward the Sheldon Park...

There might be a course Harmar officials can chart to do the Highland Woods sewage project without rebidding it. That’s what township engineer Matt Pitsch of Senate Engineering told the supervisors Thursday. “I still believe we can get this done for $400,000,” Pitsch said. What Pitsch proposes is the possible...

Construction continues on the long-closed pool at Highlands High School, but the facility likely won’t be open until spring. That means, for the third consecutive year, the high school swim team will practice and host meets away from the building. Last year, the team used facilities at Valley High School....

Donations keep flowing in for Operation Christmas Child, but organizers need somewhere to pack them — specifically in the Deer Lakes area. “We are prayerfully and earnestly in search of a church partner that would like to participate in this mission,” said volunteer Stefani Allegretti of East Deer. Operation Christmas...

While temperatures still hover in the 80s, volunteers at Harvest Baptist Church in Harrison already are thinking about Christmas. The church off the Millerstown exit of Route 28 serves as a drop-off site for Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan’s Purse, an international outreach that sends thousands of stuffed shoe boxes...

Following the naming of a new superintendent in July, the Plum School District named a new assistant superintendent, again from within the district. The school board approved hiring Ashley Boyers, principal of Plum Middle School for the past four years, as the district’s new assistant superintendent. Boyers was given a...

The wheels are starting to turn on a proposal for a playground at Acmetonia Elementary School in the Allegheny Valley School District. The school board will vote on approving funds for a playground at Acmetonia during its Sept. 12 meeting. School board member Amy Sarno and Acmetonia’s PTA have been...

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. Bingo fundraiser to benefit New Ken K9 Unit A bingo to...

A father and son devoted to one another in life will be mourned together this week as Plum residents grapple with the loss from a devastating house explosion nine days ago. Funeral arrangements have been released for Keegan William Clontz, 12, and for his father, Casey Thomas Clontz, 38. They...

Here is a weekly look at recent images captured throughout the Alle-Kiski Valley. From major news events to routine gatherings, the Tribune-Review’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,...

When Brad Stanzione’s great-grandfather launched a recycling business in the 1920s, he had no way of knowing he was creating a family legacy. Since then, each of his sons, grandsons and great-grandsons has followed suit. For Brad, the real journey started about two years ago when he and his brother,...

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. Weekend Civil War history program planned Roaring Run Watershed Association will...

The idyllic innocence of Rustic Ridge shattered a week ago. Tragedy struck this close-knit community in Plum, a neighborhood of more than 200 homes, about 10:23 a.m. last Saturday. An explosion leveled a home on Rustic Ridge Drive and resulted in an inferno that destroyed two neighboring homes. The shock...

Downtown businesses and restaurants stay open late and offer deals during the monthly Tarentum Night Market. During the Aug. 10 event , The Manos Gallery hosted an open house to showcase the work of three women artists, including Sarah Hunter of Greensburg. Hunter visited with guests and talked about the...

Six years after he was killed in a traffic stop gone horribly wrong, the memory of fallen New Kensington police officer Brian Shaw is still alive. That fact was driven home — loudly — by the rumble of more than 700 motorcycles passing through the Alle-Kiski Valley on Saturday in...

Ten homes near a massive explosion that leveled three other houses in Plum last Saturday and killed six people will have to be examined by building experts to determine whether people can live in them again. Allegheny County released a statement Saturday that included for the first time the exact...

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. Adventures with Wine dinner to benefit Peoples Library The Peoples Library...

A yard sign is helping to bring the Plum community together in the wake of tragedy. Corey Smith, a Plum native and 2007 graduate of its high school, is a co-owner of FastSigns in Monroeville. Following last Saturday’s house explosion that claimed six lives, he started Monday by making 10...