Valley News Dispatch category, Page 553

A New Kensington woman who said she was assaulted after being wrongfully arrested last year as a result of mistaken identity is suing the Pittsburgh police and the officer who filed the charges. Desiree Pinkston, 35, said in her federal complaint that Pittsburgh officer Morgan Logan, who was investigating a...

A little bit of Bavarian Germany is coming to Saxonburg. Sprankle’s Markets will host their second annual “Octoberfest”-themed beer and food festival on Saturday in its parking lot at 270 W. Water St. in Saxonburg. The location is has moved from last year’s celebration held at Lingrow Farm in Gilpin....

The Valley News Dispatch is compiling a list of autumn events and Halloween parades, parties and trick-or-treat nights. Send an email to cpinto-smith@triblive.com. Outdoor concert to benefit Lighthouse Foundation Saxonburg Memorial Presbyterian Church will present opera singer Marianne Cornetti in concert at 4 p.m. Saturday outdoors in Roebling Park, Saxonburg....

CNX Resources is applying for permits to develop and operate a Utica shale gas well pad along Evans Road in Washington Township near property owned by the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County. CNX, which has other gas wells on authority property, plans to develop up to seven Utica wells at...

Leechburg Area School District students will return to face-to-face instruction Oct. 5. “I’m thrilled that the students are coming back,” Superintendent Tiffany Nix said. Students have been learning online exclusively since school started Sept 2. The original back-to-school plan approved in June offered students a choice of returning to school...

Oakmont officials are considering an ordinance that would formally allow cycling and off-leash dogs in Dark Hollow Woods Park. Bicyclists and dogs roaming free have been permitted in the park off Crystal Drive during parts of the day and in certain sections of the site for more than a year...

Something smoldering against the outside a cellar door at a recently vacant house shut down busy Custer Avenue in Vandergrift for more than an hour Wednesday afternoon. Vandergrift Volunteer Fire Company Chief Randy Dunmire said Vandergrift police, who were first on the scene, had to force the door open to...

Westmoreland County prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a New Kensington man charged with the fatal beating of his paramour’s 2-year-old son earlier this year. In court documents filed Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Judy Petrush cited three aggravated circumstances that, if proved, warrant a sentence of death by lethal...

Lower Burrell Volunteer Fire Company No. 3 saved more than $300,000 by refurbishing its primary fire engine instead of buying a new one, according to a fire department official and city councilman. The 2001 Pierce fire engine was refurbished for $257,000 and the department expects the work will allow the...

A deteriorating stormwater line in O’Hara will be replaced with a natural open channel thanks in part to a grant from Allegheny County. The township was among three local groups to share in more than $795,000 distributed through the county’s Gaming Economic Development and Tourism grants program. The projects include:$245,248...

Let us know about your Halloween happenings The Valley News Dispatch is compiling a list of autumn events and Halloween parades, parties and trick-or-treat nights. Send an email to cpinto-smith@triblive.com. Vandergrift Area Meals On Wheels seeks volunteers Vandergrift Area Meals On Wheels is looking for regular and substitute volunteers to...

A missing Lower Burrell boy was found unharmed Tuesday night following a three-hour search by the Lower Burrell police department and firefighters. Lower Burrell police officer Aaron Rodgers said the boy was found near Stewart Elementary School at about 7:45 p.m. The boy’s parents called police after he ran off...

New Kensington-Arnold School District is very close to the “tipping point” with the number of students who want to return to schools, and as a result may have to go to a hybrid schedule, Acting Superintendent Jon Banko told the school board Tuesday. The district set a deadline of 8...

A Highlands Middle School student has tested positive for covid-19, according to an email from Principal Kimberly Price. The school was notified of the case on Tuesday, Price wrote. The student is on the middle school soccer team. District Superintendent Monique Mawhinney, district spokeswoman Jennifer Goldberg and school board President...

A West Deer supervisor who loved playing music and scaring people at the haunted house he created died unexpectedly over the weekend. In addition to being a township supervisor, Shawn Maudhuit, 50, was a singer-songwriter-musician and the creator of the West Deer Nightmare haunted house at Bairdford Park. But his...

A 17-year-old New Kensington boy allegedly shot a girl in her leg during a fight in the city Friday evening, according to New Kensington police. Police charged Deonte Joseph Slomkoski with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and possession of a firearm by a minor. Slomkoski’s attorney, Duke...

An employee at the Sheetz store in Buffalo Township tested positive for covid-19 on Monday. The employee was working at the store at 717 S. Pike Road on Monday, according to Nick Ruffner, a public relations manager for Sheetz. The store was immediately closed after the positive test result. It...

Is your non-profit organization going to have a fundraiser? Send information to The Stroller at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Let us know about your Halloween happenings Today is the first day of autumn! The Valley News Dispatch is compiling a...

Personnel moves approved Monday by Highlands School Board included transferring one principal to teacher, accepting the school board secretary’s resignation and signing off on a statement of charges against an unidentified employee. The board did not comment on any of the actions before approving them in a single motion. Samantha...

A Pink Day event has been held annually in Leechburg since 2011, raising more than $100,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, but the covid-19 pandemic forced organizer Sherry Price to cancel this year’s event. Leechburg-area businesswoman Linda Alworth stepped in to help when she found out about the cancellation....

Bubbling cauldrons, pumpkin patches and gory goblins will overtake Camp Guyasuta in O’Hara for one day only in October. Dubbed Haunted Guyasuta, tickets are on sale now for the Halloween-themed event. Haunted Guyasuta will be 3 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 17, with specially timed events for those who prefer...

A Fox Chapel Area senior is spearheading a social justice workshop for teens that aims to challenge discrimination and develop potential legislation. Abby Rickin-Marks said the remote conference Oct. 24 is meant to enlighten students about issues of inequality and arm teens with the know-how to write proposals and petitions...