Valley News Dispatch category, Page 659

The construction of Allegheny Health Network’s neighborhood hospital in Harmar is moving forward after being delayed for more than six months. AHN spokesman Daniel Laurent said construction is expected to start in July but couldn’t immediately provide a specific date. “We can’t wait to get started,” Laurent said. AHN officials...

The nearly $1 million bridge replacement project along Greensburg Road in Lower Burrell got underway late last week, and will keep a section of the busy road to one lane near Miller’s Lane until Nov. 5. A temporary traffic light is controlling the single lane traffic. Millers Lane will be...

Since a landslide closed Lover’s Leap Road in Gilpin last week, PennDOT has re-opened one lane, the agency announced Wednesday. The road had been closed in both directions from Mule Hollow Road to Pitt Street. Currently Lover’s Leap is one-lane with a stop sign in both directions. The open lane...

Officials from Cheswick and Springdale Township are expected to vote Thursday on the final items needed for the new Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department to begin operating on Monday. Michael Girardi, vice president of the Allegheny Valley Regional Police Commission overseeing the department, said they will meet at 4:30 p.m....

Parishioners at Harvest Baptist Church in Fawn see first responders as real life heroes who put their lives on the line for the safety of their communities every day. For the past four years, the church has held an annual event to thank them for their service. This year will...

Property taxes in the Highland School District will climb by 1% for next school year, which is about $25 per $100,000 in assessed property value, district officials said . The tax hike is less than the 3.3% increase in a preliminary budget that school board members approved last month. “I’m...

It’s a washout for two nonprofit trail organizations scrambling to cover about $60,000 in repairs to the Roaring Run Trail in Kiski Township and the Butler-Freeport Community Trail. Relentless storms over the past month caused washouts so bad a koi fish was transported from someone’s pond last month onto the...

A Leechburg man pleaded guilty Tuesday to one felony offense for forcing a teen-aged boy to watch him and an adult woman have sex two years ago. Mark Leone, 50, formerly of Allegheny Township, was sentenced by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio to serve up to 23 months...

A state-of-the-art surveillance system at the Pittsburgh Mills mall complex in Frazer is helping police crack down on an increase in shoplifters caused by the opioid epidemic, police Chief Terry Kuhns said. “People who are addicted to opioids are coming up here and stealing items to support their drug habit,”...

Inclement weather chased people away from the opening night of the annual Fireman’s Jubilee in Springdale, but organizers got a better forecast and extended the family food special to bring people back in droves Tuesday. The 90-year-old Fireman’s Jubilee is the major fundraiser for the Springdale Volunteer Fire Department. The...

A Leechburg man accused of shooting a woman in the face before shooting himself will be released from jail while he awaits trial. Roy Edward Berry Jr., 49, was granted a $10,000 non-monetary bond Tuesday after he waived his preliminary hearing. Berry had been in the Westmoreland County Prison since...

Route 910 between Harmar and Indiana Township has reopened after being shut down for nearly six hours Tuesday morning. Motorists who travel nearby Freeport Road tangled with heavy delays from the detoured traffic. The portion of Route 910 was closed after a tractor trailer split and the bottom of the...

The tree line and rock face along Route 28 in Harmar have become eagle central as two juvenile eagles fresh out of the nest above the busy highway flit about with their parents. The birds officially graduated, flying for the first time on Saturday, according to the Audubon Society of...

Gilpin Supervisors are advertising a proposed ordinance that would make it legal to drive all-terrain vehicles on township-maintained roads, but not on state roads such as Route 66. If the legislation passes, the township roads would be designated multi-use roads. ATV operators would be required to obtain a permit from...

The New Kensington Board of Health will meet next week to consider several dilapidated properties for demolition. The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the start of the regular council meeting in the council chambers, 301 11th St. Dennis Scarpiniti, city clerk, said the following properties will...

The Allegheny Valley Volunteer Fire Department is considering selling a former substation along Freeport Road to Harmar. Harmar officials made an offer to buy the building in late January because they want to use it as headquarters for the township’s public works department. Chuck Miller, president of the fire department,...

Parishioners from Holy Martyrs Church in Tarentum and other area churches have been creating elaborate carpets made of dyed sawdust to celebrate the Christian holy day of Corpus Christi (the body of Christ) for 76 years. This year, the weather cooperated and dozens of volunteers gathered on Sunday, June 23,...

Part of Watt Road in Washington Township will be closed for about 12 hours Thursday for construction work, according to PennDOT. The closure will begin at 6 a.m. near the road’s intersection with Pine Run Road near Elbert N. Kunkle Park. The road will reopen after work is done, anticipated...

Bridge demolition work is underway on Hite Road over Route 28 in Springdale and Harmar townships. Crews from Swank Construction are working around-the-clock through Friday night, PennDOT said. Lane restrictions will be in effect on Route 28 with some exceptions. There will be no restrictions in the highway’s northbound lanes...

A Saltsburg man accused of killing a Tarentum junior firefighter and his girlfriend’s 43-year-old mother in a drunken-driving crash finally began his trial Monday morning in Allegheny County. The trial for Edward Leonard Cass III, 27, trial had been rescheduled eight times before Monday. Allegheny County Judge David R. Cashman...

Loving kindness is an old — but still good — idea, Hank Commodore and like-minded people believe. So good, in fact, that in 2018 the Leechburg Area School District wove it into the fabric of the district’s curriculum. They made it a mission for students when dealing with peers and...

More than 40 classic cars were on display in Springdale on Sunday as part of the annual Springdale Volunteer Fire Department’s car cruise. The department has been holding the car cruise for four years in conjunction with its annual jubilee fundraiser, which kicks off Monday. Cheswick resident Bob Laczek had...

Springdale High School will start next school year with one fewer principal after the school board Monday accepted the resignation of Principal Michele Welter. Welter’s last day will be July 31. She has worked in the district for about five years. Superintendent Pat Graczyk said Welter is leaving for an...