Valley News Dispatch category, Page 338

With weather made for being out on the river, it couldn’t have been a better day for the annual Lock Fest in Harrison, a free water safety event. The event gave the community a chance to get an inside look of the inner workings of Lock and Dam 4 in...

The history of the Underground Railroad in the region will come alive today when the Apollo Area Historical Society offers a free presentation about the pathway to freedom at 6:30 p.m. in Apollo’s historic Drake Log Cabin. The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established...

More the 100 people, including police officers from across the state and Marines, paid respects to fallen Oakdale Police Officer Charles G. Stipetich on Saturday. Stipetich, 23, was fatally shot on July 3 while off duty in what police described as a road rage incident. He lived in Blawnox, and...

When residents of Kiski Township and North Apollo awoke Friday morning, some were surprised to learn they had lost their 24-hour, seven-days-a-week police department. Four police officers and the police secretary quit Thursday and early Friday, leaving only a newly appointed police chief and the school resource officer. State police...

Publicize your community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15068. Please include a daytime telephone number. Operation Gratitude to benefit troops, first responders The fourth annual Operation Gratitude...

New Kensington police charged a woman wanted on an warrants with a felony after they said she lied about having drugs in her possession when she was arrested for driving with a license that was suspended for DUI. Ashley Rae Karns, 38, was charged with felony possession of contraband by...

Gene and Dorothy Miller decided to go into the furniture business after she was hurt in a car crash and unable to continue working as a nurse. Using money from their family vacation budget, they started Arnold Furniture in 1975 — now in its third generation of family ownership and...

A man from Pittsburgh’s Carrick neighborhood is accused of providing a gun used in the attack that ended in the death of a man in New Kensington on Sunday. Raquan Carpenter, 18, is the seventh suspect New Kensington and Westmoreland County authorities named in the killing of Jason Donald Raiford,...

Kiski Township police officers cited what they describe as a “hostile work environment” in resignation letters to the township. Four of the township’s six officers resigned Thursday or early Friday, as did the township’s police secretary. The resignations came after the department’s former officer-in-charge filed a grievance with the township...

With options from two companies providing six bids, Lower Burrell Council is favoring vendor-provided, 65-gallon bins with lids on wheels for residents to store recyclables and tote to the curb. Shank Waste Service Inc. of Lower Burrell and Waste Management of Moon Township submitted bids with city-supplied and contractor-supplied bins...

Tight finances have prompted Vandergrift Council to delay joining the Alle-Kiski Intergovernmental Council. Action on joining the group of local communities, part of Westmoreland County’s first sub-regional plan, was tabled following a discussion at Tuesday night’s council meeting. The Westmoreland County Planning Department established the council last year to provide...

Upholstered furniture items are now forbidden to be put out for garbage pick-ups in Vandergrift. Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance prohibiting residents from doing that. Anyone wanting to test how serious borough officials are about the ordinance should be prepared to pay a fine ranging from a minimum...

A homeowner dealing with ongoing vandalism issues in Vandergrift has an ally committed to combating negative art images in the borough with positivity. Deanna Whaley said it’s not the first time she has dealt with vandalism on her property, along the 200 block of Franklin Avenue, and she’s tired of...

The Kiski Township Police Department is virtually dismantled after four of the township’s six officers, including former Officer in Charge Sgt. Thomas Dessell, and a police secretary resigned. “The walk-off is due to the harassment and intimidation brought on by township supervisors,” Dessell said. State police are handling emergency calls...

Publicize your community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15068. Please include a daytime telephone number. Free concert planned at Concordia Lutheran Ministries Concordia at Cabot Haven Apartments...

An 18-year-old Pittsburgh man has been arrested in connection with the killing Sunday of a New Kensington man, the seventh suspect to be charged in the case, authorities said Thursday. Raquan Carpenter was arrested Thursday in connection with the death of Jason D. Raiford, 39, of New Kensington, who was...

Union workers at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison are lauding a new three-year pact that will raise the hourly wage of some employees by as much as 26% over the next three years. Members of Service Employee International Union Healthcare Pennsylvania began negotiations with Allegheny Health Network officials in early...

The new owner of Heights Plaza says it will revitalize the long-troubled Harrison shopping center and add several new tenants by the end of the year. Benbrooke Realty Investment Co., a New York-based real estate manager, announced Thursday that it recently finalized its ownership arrangements for the nearly 30-acre shopping...

A Vandergrift man pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to robbing the Apollo Trust Bank last July. Bradley Mondi, 35, was accused of using “intimidation” to rob the tellers of $6,666 when he walked into the bank in North Apollo at around 2 p.m. on July 12, 2021, and pulled...

People are invited to stop by Allegheny River Lock 4 in the Natrona section of Harrison on Saturday for a boatload of fun. Lock Fest, the annual water safety event hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District, will be presented free to the public from 10 a.m....

Three of the six teenagers charged in connection with a fatal shooting Sunday in New Kensington are in custody, including the 14-year-old police say was the shooter. Braedon Matthew Dickinson, 14, of Herminie; Amir Kennedy, 14, of New Kensington; and Jonathan Eugene Felder, 17, of Arnold are in custody. According...

Publicize your community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15068. Please include a daytime telephone number. Boaters bash planned Saturday in New Kensington Lighthouse Marina, New Kensington, will...

A familiar face in Tarentum will fill a vacancy on council. Kevin Bertocki, owner of Asay’s newsstand along Sixth Avenue, was appointed to fill the 2nd Ward term left by Adam Blythe who resigned in May. “I’m just trying to help the borough out,” Bertocki said. “I’m a business owner,...

A Cheswick couple face multiple felony drug charges after Allegheny Valley Regional Police accused them of selling heroin and crystal meth they packaged in a candy bag. Joseph Sciulli, 37, and Danielle Taylor, 47, of the 1400 block of Freeport Road each were charged with four felony counts of delivery...

Sharpsburg butcher Dom Perrotte started sweeping sawdust from the floor in a cousin’s meat market before he was a teen. “I wiped the glass display cases and washed the platters for a lot of years before I went into business on my own,” said Perrotte, who owned a Main Street...