Valley News Dispatch category, Page 658
Verona wildlife rehab center receives donation after outrage from shot bald eagleVideo
While rescuing a bald eagle with a fatal shotgun wound was an act of human kindness, so is raising the money to pay for its medical bills at a nonprofit wildlife rehab center. Dorothy Pierini-Rodgers, 61, and her husband, Bill Rodgers, of Blairsville donated about $1,660 of $2,660 raised through...
Lower Burrell’s Ron Hereda elected president of Pa. Firemen’s Association for second time
Ron Hereda, who is synonymous with Lower Burrell’s Kinloch Volunteer Fire Department, has been elected president of the Pennsylvania Firemen’s Association for a second time. Lower Burrell Council honored Hereda, 68, with a certificate of recognition for his longtime service to the city during a council meeting Monday. In addition...
Freeport’s cyber charter school is helping district save money, officials say
Freeport Area School District’s new cyber academy has reduced the flow of district money to outside cyber charter schools, according to Superintendent Ian Magness. Public school districts throughout Pennsylvania are required by state law to pay tuition costs for students who live within their boundaries but choose to attend a...
Heroin falls from driver’s shorts in Tarentum traffic stop
Two men face drug and other charges after police said they pulled over a car in which the men were riding Monday along Route 28 in Tarentum and found heroin and crack cocaine. The northbound car driven by Brad E. Waldbaum, 41, of McKeesport, had been tailgating the vehicle in...
Day 5: DNA, bullets take spotlight in Rahmael Holt murder trialVideo
No DNA or fingerprints place Rahmael Holt at the scene of New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw’s murder, according to testimony Friday in Holt’s ongoing capital murder case in Westmoreland County Court. Testimony from another expert witness called into question the ability of a witness to identify the type of...
Veterans Day events planned in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Veterans Day events are planned throughout the Valley. They include: Apollo Curran-Shaffer Funeral Home will host the 16th annual Apollo Area Veterans program at noon Nov. 11 at the funeral home, 100 Owens View Ave., Apollo. Funeral director Norman E. Connors will celebrate the lives, contributions and impact of each...
The Stroller, Nov. 8, 2019: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Turkey Trot to aid Kiski Area Youth Network The Kiski Valley Turkey Trot 5K Race and 1 Mile Fun Walk to benefit Kiski Area Youth Network will be Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28 at Kunkle Park, 985 Pine Run Church Road, Washington Township. Serious and casual runners and walkers of all...
New Kensington veteran rewarded for his service with keys to free SUVVideo
New Kensington’s Naseem Choudhry earned the free ride he received Thursday at a Monroeville dealership. Choudhry, who served in the Marines from 2009 to 2014, was given a refurbished SUV through Progressive’s Keys to Progress program, which aims to provide military veterans with reliable transportation. “There’s a lot of emotions...
Carrie Fox wins 2 seats on Tarentum Council, her 3rd Ward seat needs to be filled
One candidate claimed victory for two different seats on the Tarentum Council on Tuesday. Carrie Fox was elected to be council member at-large and also to represent the 3rd Ward. Fox, a Democrat, defeated Republican Tiffany Babinsack for the member at-large position, taking 60.4% of the vote to Babinsack’s 38.1%,...
Route 366 in Lower Burrell to re-open to 2 lanes Friday or early next week
PennDOT could reopen the Route 366 bridge near Millers Lane in Lower Burrell to two-lane traffic as early as Friday or early next week, according to Valerie Petersen, PennDOT spokeswoman. Route 366, also known as Greensburg Road in Lower Burrell, has been limited to one-lane of traffic regulated by a...
New Kensington Bridge inspection planned
A traffic restriction on the New Kensington Bridge begins Saturday in East Deer and New Kensington, weather permitting. A routine inspection will restrict traffic to a single, alternating lane on the bridge. Crews from the Markosky Engineering Group will perform the inspection. The traffic restriction will be in place from...
Bullet casings found at Brian Shaw shooting came from .40-caliber gun, detective testifies
Slain New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw died primarily from blood loss caused by two gunshot wounds, a forensic pathologist testified Thursday, the fourth day of the trial of his accused killer, Rahmael Holt. Shaw was hit by three bullets the night of Nov. 17, 2017, after he tried to...
Leechburg Road reopened after morning crash
A pickup truck was bent into a V on Thursday morning in a crash on Leechburg Road in Allegheny Township. The crash happened at about 8:45 a.m. Thursday when a driver ahead of the pickup was making a left turn into Sevic Landscaping along the 4000 block of Leechburg Road,...
Apollo-Ridge Elementary evacuated during bomb threat
Apollo-Ridge Elementary School was evacuated Wednesday as officers responded to a bomb threat, according to a statement from district Superintendent Matthew Curci. The threat was found in the school Wednesday morning, Curci said. Officials notified law enforcement and took students to the nearby high school while police and bomb dogs...
The Stroller, Nov. 7, 2019: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Valley High School to present murder-mystery comedy The Valley High School Drama Club will present the comedy, ”Madam’s Been Murdered, Tea Will Be Late,” at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the high school auditorium, Stevenson Blvd., New Kensington. Tickets are $5. For tickets, visit vhsdrama.org/boxoffice/ or at the door....
Riverfront Theater Company takes comedic look at sibling rivalry
Riverfront Theater Company is gearing up for its 2020 season by treating audiences to a special production of Christopher Durang’s comedy, “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” for two weekends in November. The comedy, which won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play, is being presented Nov. 7-9 and...
Super Bowl champion Lower Burrell Flyers, Recruits honored by city councilVideo
An overflow crowd gathered Monday in council chambers at Lower Burrell City Hall, but it wasn’t a hot topic or controversial that packed the room. Instead, double Super Bowl wins by the city’s youth football teams — the Lower Burrell Flyers and Recruits — drew the crowd. City council and...
2 newcomers, 1 incumbent elected to Vandergrift Council
Two newcomers will join Vandergrift Council, and incumbent Kathy Chvala will return for another term, according to unofficial Westmoreland County election results. Five candidates ran for three open council seats. John Uskuraitis, who cross-filed as both Democrat and Republican, got the most support, collecting 27.4% of the vote. Republican Karen...
Freeport Area School Board adds 2 newcomers, returns 3
Two political newcomers led voting to win seats on the nine-member Freeport Area School Board, according to unofficial election results. Republican Greg Selinger, 40, and cross-filed candidate Adam Toncini, 36, will join cross-filed incumbents Frank Prazenica Jr., 72, and Melanie Bolinger, 48, and Michael Huth, 68, on the board for...
Newcomer wins 6-way race for Allegheny Valley School Board
The prospect of revisiting the fate of Colfax Elementary ranked among the top issues for five candidates elected Tuesday to Allegheny Valley School Board. The five winners included two newcomers, a former board member and two incumbents, according to unofficial results. The winners included Paula J. Moretti, a cross-registered newcomer...
3 incumbents, 2 newcomers claim victories in Deer Lakes School Board race
Three incumbents and two political newcomers won seats on Deer Lakes School Board in Tuesday’s election, knocking a fourth incumbent out of office, according to unofficial election results. Cross-filed newcomer Cristy McCloskey, 46, of West Deer, emerged as the top vote-getter with 19.9% of the votes counted, the results showed....
Republican Michael Korns unseats Democrat Joseph Ferguson in Allegheny Township
An Indiana University of Pennsylvania professor will represent Allegheny Township as supervisor after beating out a longtime elected official for an open seat in Tuesday’s election. Republican Mike Korns collected 58.7% of the votes counted compared to Democrat Joe Ferguson’s 41%, according to the county’s unofficial election results. There were...
Man remains hospitalized after Vandergrift shooting
Authorities are investigating a shooting that happened Tuesday in Vandergrift. A 20-year-old man was recovering Wednesday after being shot once in the leg, according to Vandergrift police Chief Joe Caporali. Caporali said the shooting was reported around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Franklin Park. The 20-year-old man was found a short...
Day 3: Witness testifies he twice saw Rahmael Holt with a gun
A man who shared a house with accused New Kensington cop killer Rahmael Holt testified Wednesday that he twice saw Holt with a gun. Michael Luffey, 35, was the lead witness to testify for the prosecution on the third day of Holt’s capital murder trial before Westmoreland County President Judge...
Man says in lawsuit that Arnold police beat him up, violated civil rights
A Verona man contends in a federal lawsuit that two Arnold officers beat him up after responding to a burglary call that he had nothing to do with in 2018. Matthew Heyl, 28, and his attorneys filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh against the officers, the...
