Valley News Dispatch category, Page 409

Leechburg Area School District will return to its former health and safety plan, making masks optional in schools. The message was conveyed in a letter sent to district families on Friday. This follows the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Dec. 10 decision, which affirmed a lower court ruling that the state’s acting...

Christmas carols and other music filled the social hall Sunday at United Methodist Church in Brackenridge. All of the performers — about 20 in total — are on the autism spectrum. The event, hosted by Band Together Pittsburgh and the Autism Society of Pittsburgh, aims to build community through music,...

Salamander Park in Fox Chapel will transform into an illuminated wonderland for a winter walk on the longest night of the year. The Winter Solstice Lantern Walk, hosted by the Fox Chapel Parks Conservancy, will wrap up a year’s worth of fundraisers aimed at protecting the borough’s green spaces. “Well...

The Freeport Area School Board has a new president, vice president and a couple new members. Former vice president Adam Toncini was appointed as board president, and Greg Selinger was named vice president at Thursday night’s reorganization meeting. Newcomers Melanie Zembrzuski and Gary Risch Jr., along with incumbents John Haven...

Rich Hill tried to end his time as Washington Township supervisor with a bang, but federal regulations defused his plan. Hill, who did not run for reelection, attended his final supervisors meeting Thursday. As a final act at the meeting’s end, he moved to allocate federal covid-19 assistance funds to...

The Kiski Area School District hosted its ninth annual Stuff-a-Bus Toy Drive at Kiski Area High School on Saturday to ensure children in the community will wake up to presents Christmas morning. New toys for any age range were donated to Toys for Alle-Kiski Kids, a local group that aims...

Publicize your holiday events, club meetings and fundraisers for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Free Christmas dinner planned Saturday Harvest Church in Natrona Heights, Harrison, will serve a free Christmas dinner from noon to 4...

That tall glass of water can carry a vastly different price tag depending on where you live, according to a Tribune-Review analysis of water prices throughout the region. The examination of prices charged by 24 water providers in the Alle-Kiski Valley and across the region revealed customers paying quarterly rates...

As New Kensington moves ahead in developing a downtown park, one resident thinks the plan could be grander. Melvyn Smith is pitching a plan to council that would expand the park into an “L” shape that would cut off Barnes Street and tie into an existing city parklet at Fifth...

Students at Kiski Area School District will be able to choose whether to mask up or not when they go to school Monday. The district announced it will institute a mask-optional policy, effective Monday, after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday affirmed a lower court ruling that Acting Secretary of...

Santa Claus will be in Lower Burrell for Cookies With Santa on Saturday at the city’s Volunteer Fire Company No. 3. But first, he will be traveling through the streets in the city’s Kinloch section Wednesday. For more than 50 years, the city’s Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 has driven...

Work began this month on Federal Street in Harrison’s Natrona neighborhood to tear down two historic Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing houses from the 1850s. Harrison Commissioner Chuck Dizard said the houses were falling in under their own weight. “They were in terrible condition and unsafe for the neighborhood,” he said. The...

Publicize your holiday events, club meetings and fundraisers for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Food bank accepting donations for prepared baskets Allegheny Valley Association of Churches Food Bank will give out specially prepared food baskets...

Leechburg Area School District elementary students have once again done their part to make sure people don’t go hungry this holiday season. The young learners collected more than 1,400 canned goods for the Leechburg Food Bank. Food was collected in each homeroom at David Leech Elementary from Nov. 8-19. Students...

Residents displaced by a fire Thursday at Arnold Manor public housing in Arnold are expected to return to their apartments next week. The 76-unit high-rise complex, built in the 1970s, was evacuated about 2 p.m. Thursday when a fire erupted in apartment No. 411. The American Red Cross and a...

Vandergrift police say a man beat and strangled his girlfriend after she discovered him using the Tinder dating app, authorities say. Steven Joseph Trenga, 26, of Wallace Street in Vandergrift was charged with a felony count of strangulation and a lesser charge of simple assault in connection with a Dec....

A man has been charged with three felony drug counts and a dozen other offenses, including endangering the welfare of a child, after an Arnold patrol officer said he saw him toss a bag of suspected narcotics out of his vehicle. Joseph Christopher Marzullo, 34, of Michigan Avenue, Lower Burrell,...

Harrison police charged a man with aggravated assault after officials say an officer was kneed in the head while trying to take him into custody during a domestic dispute. Altamese Thompson, 28, of Park Avenue, was charged with a felony count of aggravated assault, along with two counts of making...

Tributes began rolling in on social media hours before the family announced the sad news. David A. Regoli, 56, passed away on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. A lawyer, former Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court judge and Lower Burrell councilman, his unexpected death due to complications from a routine cardiac procedure...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it has assembled a national team of experts for the cleanup of the nuclear dump in Parks Township. The Corps made the announcement during a virtual public meeting Thursday. The Corps is working on a more than $500 million project to dig up...

At first sight, wheelchairs, crutches and leg braces might not be associated with exercising. But seeing what the people who use those devices can do might change one’s perspective. They lift weights, skate on sleds and shoot a hockey puck 60 mph. They pound tires with a sledgehammer and drive...

Plum officials, environmental groups and some area residents are organizing to prevent a second wastewater injection well project in Plum. Borough Council President Dave Odom led a two-hour public information session Wednesday evening at the Plum Community Center. The Sedat 3A wastewater injection well, at 1815 Old Leechburg Road, began...

Publicize your holiday events, club meetings and fundraisers for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. New Kensington Salvation Army seeks red kettle volunteers The Salvation Army needs volunteers to ring the bells at the red kettles...

Local gun safety advocacy groups and community members gathered in Rachel Carson Riverfront Park in Cheswick on Thursday afternoon to raise awareness about gun safety. CeaseFirePA hosted the gathering, attended by about 15 people, to bring attention to the support of state Rep. Carrie Lewis DelRosso, R-Oakmont, for Senate Bill...