Valley News Dispatch category, Page 650
New Kensington front yard tabbed best in the nationVideo
Living in a downtown Pittsburgh high-rise gave Colorado native Kevin Prall a feel for life in the Steel City. While life 25 floors above Stanwix Street afforded him spectacular views, it put Prall, 56, a professed plant lover and professional landscaper, out of touch with the earth. “I need to...
Shredding investigation clears Fox Chapel Area School District
An independent audit of document disposal by Fox Chapel Area School District found no wrongdoing by staff or administration, an attorney said at the Sept. 9 board meeting. Thomas Breth, a Butler-based attorney, spearheaded an investigation into record shredding by the school district that was presumed to avoid disclosure of...
More than a farm: Blackberry Meadows in Fawn works with, engages communityVideo
Before Jen Montgomery and Greg Boulos bought Blackberry Meadows Farm in Fawn in 2008, customers rarely ventured up to the fields. They instead got all their produce from a barn along Ridge Road. About three years ago, the couple decided to change that by inviting people up to the farm....
Pittsburgh group to visit for moonlight hike on Roaring Run and history tour
The Pittsburgh group Venture Outdoors is planning a full moon hike on the Roaring Run Trail in Kiski Township and an Apollo history lesson on Saturday. John Linkes, a director with the both the Roaring Run Watershed Association and the Kiski Watershed Association, was pleased that a Pittsburgh group of...
Police: Vandergrift man traded $100 of crack cocaine for $15K Rolex, other jewelry
A Vandergrift man is accused of trading $100 in crack cocaine for stolen jewelry, including a $15,000 Rolex watch. A criminal complaint filed in the case against Levern Baccus, 38, said a Vandergrift couple reported the missing jewelry to borough police on Sunday. The missing items included the Rolex, two...
Vandergrift couple owe property taxes even after fire ravaged home
A former volunteer firefighter watched helplessly last year as his Vandergrift home and everything in it burned. In the six months following the Nov. 7 blaze, Rich Hooks and his wife, Catherine, had to find and furnish a new home while tearing down and removing the one destroyed by an...
Double your elk-watching: Murrysville company sets up live webcam in Benezette
The Murrysville man who set up the Pittsburgh eagle webcam now has a live webcam with two cameras in Benezette capturing all of the excitement of the bull elk in rut. Elk in Pennsylvania were wiped out by the late 1870s. But the Pennsylvania Game Commission re-introduced elk from the...
Health department investigates complaints about white dust in Harrison
The Allegheny County Health Department is investigating complaints about a white dust in parts of Harrison. The department has received at least five complaints since the beginning of August, according to Jim Kelly, deputy director of environmental health. Opal Court residents have complained about white dust being found on cars...
Brackenridge tries more ways to go after delinquent taxes, blight
Brackenridge Council has compiled a list of properties to keep track of tax delinquents and deteriorated structures. Council decided in the spring to survey borough and Allegheny County records to catalog properties that are vacant and dilapidated in response to residents’ complaints about blight. The list will serve as a...
Men found dead in Arnold home remembered as good neighborsVideo
Officials on Monday identified two men found dead in an Arnold house on Friday. Michael Joseph Hans, 42, and Paul Anthony Mistrick III, 64, both of Arnold, were found inside Mistrick’s Fifth Avenue residence, officials said. Autopsies were done Saturday. Westmoreland County Deputy Coroner Sean R. Hribel said he could...
Wooden Door Winery offers historic escape in VandergriftVideo
A local couple poured their passion for wine making into a year-round winery. Winemakers Jeff and Krissy Pollick of Allegheny Township opened their first winery, Wooden Door Winery, in 2010. Their most recent location, along Custer Avenue in Vandergrift, goes by the same name and is housed in a restored...
Belvedere Hotel’s remnants set to be demolishedVideo
All it will take is about 45 truckloads to remove what is left of the 115-year-old Belvedere Hotel in Oklahoma Borough. Demolition starts Wednesday and is expected to last until Sept. 30, closing Orr Avenue from Route 66 to Hancock Avenue. The 11,000 motorists who travel Route 66 will not...
Harrison woman’s love for animals leads to longtime stint as shelter volunteer
Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series that features Alle-Kiski Valley residents and the notable things that they do. A lifelong Harrison resident’s passion for pets has led to decades of volunteerism at the preeminent animal shelter in Alle-Kiski Valley. Jeanne Lessig is enjoying her 20th year at...
New Allusion microbrewery to open in Vandergrift early next year
It took years to perfect a much needed new brew for Vandergrift: Allusion Brewing Company has bought a building at 143 Grant Ave. with plans to open a microbrewery and tap room early next year. Allusion closed on the building last week, buying it for about $15,000 from the Vandergrift...
Fall comes early with Summit Hose festival in Tarentum
The first day of autumn isn’t until later in September, but kids are back in school, the Steelers are on the field again, and the days are getting shorter — close enough for Summit Hose to hold its annual Fall Festival in Tarentum. Until last year, the festival was held...
Residents use hands, feet to decorate new sign for Tarentum community garden
From making ears of corn with their hands and pea pods with their thumbs, members of Abundant Joy Fellowship and the Alle-Kiski community came together Sunday to make their mark on the new sign for Tarentum’s Greg Blythe Friendship Garden. The effort was led by Blythe’s niece, Emily Whitco, who...
First Highlands High School class gathering for 50th reunion this month
The first graduating class of Highlands High School has gathered for a reunion every five years. This year marks a milestone, as the members of that charter class from 1969 come together for their 50th reunion. “We have a lot of surprises planned,” said Debbie Cordera, a member of the...
Cats rescued from New Kensington home could be ready for adoption soonVideo
Most of the cats rescued from a New Kensington house last month where their owner died will be ready for adoption in a couple of weeks, a manager at Frankie’s Friends Cat Rescue said. New Kensington police are investigating what happened to the woman found dead Aug. 8 in her...
Wrestlers take down drainage problems at Lower Burrell’s Kotecki Park
Sometimes there are not-so-glamorous aspects of beauty that make ethereal places such as parks special. But mud and drainage issues can dash anyone’s dreams for a public space. Such was the case in planning for a dog park at Kotecki Park in Lower Burrell, where planning and the brawn of...
Man wounded in Brackenridge shooting
A man was shot and wounded in Brackenridge on Saturday afternoon, police said. The shooting was reported at 5:13 p.m. at a home on Third Avenue. A neighbor who lives two houses down and declined to give her name said she heard a gunshot, ran to her door and heard...
Saxonburg arts festival brings out tens of thousands to quaint townVideo
Spotty clouds and a few drops of rain did little to deter the crowds at the Saxonburg Festival of Arts on Saturday. The weekend event, in its 34th year, usually draws between 20,000 and 30,000 people over two days, according to Hannah Shannon, volunteer coordinator. The festival continues Sunday from...
Music of West Deer’s John Vento inspires play
The music inspired the play. Songs written by John Vento, a Penn Hills native who lives in West Deer, for the album “Love. Lust. And Other Wreckage,” became the foundation for a stage production written by Pittsburgh playwright Amy Hartman. Hartman’s previous plays have been nominated for the American Critic’s...
Burrell High graduates rode out Dorian, ‘made the best of it’
An Alle-Kiski Valley family that relocated to the North Carolina coast weathered Hurricane Dorian without much trouble. Erika Fitch said there wasn’t any damage to her parents’ home in Topsail, about 30 miles north of Wilmington. Fitch, from Upper Burrell, and her fiance, Patrick, from Lower Burrell, both 25, moved...
No injuries in Lower Burrell basement fire
Officials said no one was injured in a basement fire that broke out in a Lower Burrell home Friday afternoon. The fire at 155 Craigdell Road was reported around 12:30 p.m. Firefighters rescued two dogs and two exotic birds. Officials said no one was home when smoke filled the residence...
Arnold police find 2 bodies in Fifth Avenue home
Arnold police and Westmoreland County detectives are investigating the discovery Friday afternoon of two bodies inside a home on the city’s Fifth Avenue. The bodies of two men were found inside 1531 Fifth Ave. around 1 p.m., according to officials at the scene. Police did not immediately comment on the...
