Valley News Dispatch category, Page 501

Kiski Area School District officials continue to be concerned about significant drops in student progress compared to last school year at every educational level. Principals at each school building have been reporting how students are faring during this pandemic school year at recent school board meetings. Students who have not...

Publicize your non-profit’s meetings, fundraisers and community events in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. New Caring Cabinet opens in Oakmont Oakmont United Methodist Church, 419 Maryland Ave., has a new Caring Cabinet for those in need. The...

A partial wall reconstruction project in Leechburg is progressing. Portions of the 260-foot-long wall along the borough’s Third Street are collapsing. Plans call for about 150 feet of the wall to be replaced in a project that is expected to cost more than $216,000. Council on Wednesday awarded a contract...

An Armstrong County man is accused of assaulting four police officers Thursday after he was arrested on charges of stealing three vehicles in New Kensington and Lower Burrell. Drew Edward Simmers, 31, of Manor Township, was arraigned in two cases Friday on charges including four counts of aggravated assault, theft,...

Work on building a path for pedestrians and bicyclists along Springhill Road in Harrison is expected to start in April, a spokesman for the Alle­gheny County Department of Public Works said. The start date won’t be confirmed until about two weeks before construction begins, spokesman Brent Wasko said. Wasko said...

Publicize your non-profit’s meetings, fundraisers and community events in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. HOPE Center accepting gift card donations The Alle-Kiski Area HOPE Center is accepting donations of gift cards in $10 increments from BP, Community...

A Butler County man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on child sex abuse charges, federal prosecutors said Thursday. Thomas Romspert, 29, of the city of Butler is the sole defendant in the three-count indictment made public this week, U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said. According...

Deer Lakes School Board narrowly approved offering in-person instruction to students five days a week in a move that will eliminate the hybrid model now in place. Following a 5-3 vote to approve to change, Superintendent Janell Logue-Belden said she would meet with administration and staff to determine when the...

If anyone ever called the Saxon Inn looking for Ralph McClain, he was never there. McClain figured anyone who didn’t call him “Fritz” didn’t know him, said his daughter, Michelle Gutonski. “A lot of people never knew my dad’s first name,” Gutonski said. “Everybody called him Fritz.” Ralph L. “Fritz”...

Representatives from the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County plan to talk with companies that work around two of its fresh water sources — the Beaver Run Reservoir in Westmoreland County and the Youghiogheny River in Connellsville and McKeesport — about maintaining the integrity of its drinking water. The authority plans...

Publicize your non-profit’s meetings, fundraisers and community events in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Several food and clothing distributions are planned Saturday in the Alle-Kiski Valley: Free Pot Love luncheon planned Saturday Cross Roads Community Presbyterian Church...

Students at Riverview High School in Oakmont and their rivals across the Allegheny River at Springdale Junior-Senior High School are competing to collect canned goods for their respective food banks. The “Souper Bowl” kicked off Feb. 16. Riverview’s student council and Students Against Destructive Decisions group have a donation box...

Even Ash Wednesday isn’t immune to a pandemic, but even a pandemic can’t stop Ash Wednesday. One Leechburg church didn’t let covid-19 restrictions stop its annual “Ashes to Go” ministry Wednesday. The Revs. Gary and Lisa Lyon, co-pastors at Cross Roads Community Presbyterian Church, started “Ashes to Go” in 2016,...

A 33-year-old Apollo man is accused of sending inappropriate messages to at least two young teenage girls and, in one case, of trying to seduce a girl while his girlfriend and daughter also were in the house. Police in Apollo and Kiski Township filed charges against Nicholas Owen McMunn in...

West Leechburg Borough is seeking a new part-time secretary and treasurer. Pat Grantz, who held the position for 43 years, died earlier this month, leaving what Mayor Jim Gallucci said are “big shoes to fill.” Councilwoman Marcia Cole has volunteered her time to serve as interim secretary until the position...

Allegheny Valley School District students will be able to return to in-person learning four days a week beginning Monday, March 8. The school board voted 7-1 in favor of bringing students in kindergarten through 12th grade back to school four days a week after impassioned arguments supporting the move from...

Without a tax increase, New Kensington-Arnold School District is looking at a $1.5 million budget deficit for next school year that would force it to empty its reserves. The school board’s finance committee met virtually Monday to review the district’s proposed final 2021-22 budget. It would spend $38.7 million on...

Publicize your non-profit’s meetings, fundraisers and community events in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Drive-through food distribution set at Lernerville Speedway Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank will host a drive-through food distribution for anyone in need from...

While many jobless Pennsylvanians have struggled to get unemployment benefits during the covid pandemic, the state has paid out at least $2.5 million in fraudulent claims, state officials said Tuesday. That might be just the tip of the iceberg, the officials said. The $2.5 million was siphoned off by just...

State police say a Penn Borough man assaulted two people during a fight about who was going to use the bathroom at an apartment Monday, according to court documents. Dakota Scheetz, 24, was arraigned Tuesday on two counts each of harassment and simple assault filed by troopers after the 5...

Highlands School District is considering allowing students to return to school four days a week, with reduced social distancing. The district is now using a hybrid schedule that has students separated into two groups, each of which learns in school two days a week and remotely three days a week....

Spring fish fry fundraisers at Aspinwall’s Christ the Divine Teacher Catholic Academy won’t resemble years past, but organizers said the Lenten events will forge on. The school along Brilliant Avenue will host two takeouts, Feb. 26 and March 26. Hungry diners can pick up meals from 11 a.m. to 1...

A song published 120 years ago, “Wade in the Water,” is making waves for a local singer today. Freddye Stover, known in the regional music scene as Miss Freddye, debuted her version of “Wade in the Water” as her latest single. ‘I grew up in church listening to ‘Wade in...

Fox Chapel Area senior Abby Rickin-Marks has emerged as a change-maker in teen mental health advocacy, winning the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Keystone Pennsylvania Youth Award. Given to youth leaders who shift perceptions and spearhead change in mental health education, the NAMI honor comes with a $500 scholarship....