Valley News Dispatch category, Page 5
Highlands students shaping school experience through Superintendent Cabinet
Highlands senior Jamarkus Prager is more invested in his academic career because he feels like his voice matters. The 18-year-old is a member of the Superintendent Student Cabinet, a program by district Superintendent Monique Mawhinney across all grade levels. “We basically talk about problems or issues and how we would...
The Stroller, March 12, 2026: 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. Follow the Stroller on X at @VNDStroller. Lower Burrell to celebrate...
Arnold, Vandergrift, East Vandergrift to leave Alle-Kiski Intergovernmental Council
Three municipalities are leaving the Alle-Kiski Intergovernmental Council, citing membership costs and internal administrative changes. Arnold Council voted Tuesday to leave, citing lack of recent progress as a deciding factor. Councilman Aaron Moore said the council is well-intentioned, but the only deliverable it has produced was a 2025 blight plan....
Fish fry major fundraiser for Indiana Township fire department
A Lenten fish fry fundraiser going on for about a decade has been a boon for the Rural Ridge Volunteer Fire Company in Indiana Township. A new generator, flooring and financing general operations have all come from community support, said company president and fish fry coordinator Ted Bajack. About $15,000...
Longtime firefighter, former Sharpsburg chief Lou Costanzo recognized for 50 years of service
Lou Costanzo has helped keep Sharpsburg residents — and others across the Lower Valley — safe for more than half a century. The lifelong borough resident joined the fire department at 18, following “all the older guys who I saw doing it and loving it.” Costanzo never left. He worked...
Aspinwall Council censures mayor for allegedly illegally recording private meeting
Aspinwall Mayor Scott Zimmermann has been censured by council members for what they claim was illegally recording a private meeting with borough officials. Council voted 5-1 on Wednesday, March 11 to pass a resolution expressing its disapproval of the mayor’s actions and requested that he resign. Councilwoman Patti McCaffrey dissented...
Lower Burrell votes to donate land for Stewart Elementary housing project
Lower Burrell didn’t donate the pickleball courts behind city hall to Burrell School District as part of the deal to redevelop the Stewart Elementary School property because the city never really owned the courts. The city mistakenly built them on land owned by the school district. City council this week...
Fox Chapel teen who spearheaded recycling initiative needs volunteers to keep up pace
A Fox Chapel teen is making a dent in local landfills with his start-up, Green Bridge 412, but the soon-to-be college freshman needs someone to take the recycling reins. Over the past year, Kabeer Chopra and his team of volunteers rid thousands of pounds of plastic bags, glass bottles and...
The Stroller, March 11, 2026: 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. Follow the Stroller on X at @VNDStroller. Local food shuttle available...
Neighbors shocked, relieved by charges against man accused of intentionally blowing up Plum home
On the evening of April 22, 2022, Terri Aubele remembers nearly being knocked to the ground by an explosion that leveled the home next to hers on Plum’s Hialeah Drive. She said it was chaos as she scrambled to get her grandchildren out of the house. The family had been...
Sharpsburg nonprofit to renovate historic 1900s-era hotel for affordable apartments
A Sharpsburg social services group that has worked for 12 years to bridge racial and economic divides is now ensuring people can afford to put down roots in the borough. Roots of Faith, which opened in 2014 as an outreach of Faith United Methodist Church in Fox Chapel, purchased the...
Trib honors employees for exceptional values
Six employees of Trib Total Media have been honored with the company’s CORE Value Award, recognizing their outstanding work and commitment to the organization’s guiding principles: ownership, integrity, collaboration, accountability, respect and evolution. The recipients — Jessica Jones-Spithaler, Dirk Kaufman, Mark McConnell, Stephen Rydzak, Jonathan D. Silver and Paula Reed...
380 Auction back to business in Murrysville after fire in greenhouses
For an establishment hit by a multi-alarm fire less than 24 hours earlier, Tuesday was about as close to business as usual as it could be at 380 Auction & Discount Warehouse in Murrysville. With the exception of a work crew attaching plastic sheeting to a greenhouse frame — the...
Lower Burrell man charged with 2 counts of attempted homicide
A Lower Burrell man is facing two felony charges of attempted homicide after, police say, he traded gunfire with officers in February. Jordan Blaise Lindner, 29, is accused of firing shots into a home near Rodgers Drive and then at police officers during a standoff at his home next door....
Upper Burrell teen to display Holocaust education project at Tri-City Historical Society
When Burrell High School senior Lily Sassani wanted to bring light to little-known stories about Girl Scouts’ role in society during the Holocaust, she turned to history books. After two years of research, writing and interviews, she shaped her findings into a Holocaust education patch that troops across the world...
Accomplishments of trailblazing women to be celebrated in Harrison
Women’s History Month is the perfect time to spotlight trailblazing females who hailed from Pennsylvania and those with special ties to the Alle-Kiski Valley, according to Harrison library leaders. From Rachel Carson, Springdale native and founder of the modern environmental movement; to Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross;...
Fire destroys Plum homeVideo
Chris Delsignore could only stand by and watch as his childhood home was engulfed in flames. “There’s nothing really to say. I mean, everything is gone,” he said. “I just basically stood here and watched my inheritance burn to the ground. Everything my dad worked for his whole life —...
The Stroller, March 10, 2026: 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. Follow the Stroller on X at @VNDStroller. Luck of the Irish...
Shady Side Academy officials amend proposed entrance plans; review underway
Shady Side Academy officials are moving forward with new plans for a proposed west entrance to its Upper School campus in Fox Chapel. Revisions were made following objections from residents and the Fox Chapel Parks Commission to the academy’s original designs, which called for the removal of about 400 trees...
Plum Council passes resolution not to cooperate with ICE in split vote
In a party-line vote Monday night, Plum Council opted 4-3 to pass a resolution that bars police or borough employees from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. The resolution makes Plum the latest in a series of local municipalities that have sought to limit their connection to ICE and Border Patrol...
Plum police say man intentionally blew up house in 2022 Holiday Park explosionVideo
Almost four years after an explosion obliterated a home in Plum’s Holiday Park neighborhood, police are accusing a former resident of the house of purposefully causing the blast. Plum police say Jacob Rabb, 41, of Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood intentionally manipulated a natural gas line to a dryer in the...
East Deer native gifts $1 million to IUP’s proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine
Terry A. Serafini, an East Deer native and Pittsburgh businessman, has donated $1 million to the Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s proposed College of Osteopathic Medicine as the university plans a fall 2027 opening for the new school. “I have a soft spot in my heart for IUP, and I appreciate...
Fire damages greenhouses at 380 Auction in MurrysvilleVideo
380 Auction & Discount Warehouse owner Jane Beacom was sitting in her home Monday afternoon when she heard a loud bang. “One of our neighbors was taking down a shed today, so at first I thought it was that,” Beacom said. “Then I heard another loud bang, came outside and...
New Kensington-born singer, songwriter, drummer Cam Chambers impacts Pittsburgh music scene
For Cam Chambers, a Pittsburgh-based vocal producer, singer and drummer, music is synonymous with love. “It’s written in love. The intention is to love something — whether it’s yourself, whether it’s a person, whether it’s a moment, and that’s a reminder,” he said of music. “The process of being around...
Allegheny Township man facing more than 400 child pornography charges
An Allegheny Township man is facing nearly 450 felony charges relating to distribution and possession of child pornography. According to Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law offender database, Jesse Lee Roberts, 38, has been registered as a tier-three sex offender since 2018. Allegheny Township police received a tip in January that Roberts was...
