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Valley News Dispatch category | TribLIVE.com

Valley News Dispatch category, Page 669

Leechburg Cemetery Co. seeks assistance with grounds maintenance 
The Leechburg Cemetery Company doesn’t have enough volunteers to maintain the grounds that command a hill off of Pershing and Evergreen roads. Knee-high grass and weeds compete with numerous Memorial Day flags recently placed on tombstones at The Leechburg Cemetery. Volunteer and borough resident Larry Boehm squeezes in time mowing...
Alle-Kiski Valley pools dive into the summer season
Four swimming pools across the Alle-Kiski Valley dive into their summer seasons with Saturday openings. For Springdale Township’s Bouquet Park Pool, it took a successful $20,000 fundraising campaign to make this season happen. Pool officials had been worried they would have to scrap the summer season and file for bankruptcy...
Deer Lakes High School prom 2019
Deer Lakes High School had its prom Friday night. Here is a photo gallery of the highlights....
Armstrong County creates court program to help veterans get back on track 
Armstrong County veterans who are accepted into a new court program after running afoul of the law will be expected to do what they did while in uniform: follow orders and work hard to accomplish a mission. In this case, the mission is for veterans to get their life back...
Burrell School District proposes 2.9% property tax hike
Burrell School District’s $32.5 million preliminary budget for next school year calls for a 2.9% increase in property taxes. If the school board approved the proposed 2.8 mill increase, the owner of a home assessed at $22,500 who currently pays $2,159 in taxes would see their annual bill go up...
New Kensington police step up patrols in area of deadly shooting
New Kensington police have increased patrols in the area of a shooting early Thursday that left a newspaper delivery driver dead. Police Chief Bob Deringer told the Tribune-Review on Friday he had no updates on the investigation into the death of Gregory Smith, 69, of New Kensington. “No new leads,...
Child welfare officials seek foster families in Westmoreland County
The Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau is making a bid to recruit additional foster families as it marks Foster Care Awareness Month. Officials from the bureau are partnering with the SWAN Legal Services Initiative as well as 13 private providers and foster care agencies to host a foster family recruitment event...
Arnold planning to have 10 dilapidated buildings razed
A demolition project planned in Arnold has shifted into gear as the city seeks contract bids. There are 10 abandoned and deteriorated structures the city hopes to tear down. City Redevelopment Director Rick Rayburg said the demolition bids are to be opened May 31 in the city’s redevelopment office. Rayburg...
Lower Burrell's Trinity United Christian Church pastor pens 'The Call'
The printed word will be there for future generations. “I wanted a written record of this church, a first-hand account of the history here,” says the Rev. Cletus L. Hull III, pastor of Trinity United Christian Church in Lower Burrell since Jan. 1, 1996. Hull penned the 189-page “The Call,”...
Highlands again refuses to name employee put on unpaid leave
Highlands School District placed a middle school English teacher who has worked for the district for more than 20 years on unpaid leave in April. But the district is refusing to name the teacher despite a recent state ruling in a separate but similar case where the district was ordered...
Lower Burrell man, son of district judge, pleads guilty to marijuana distribution charges
The son of a local district judge and nephew of Westmoreland County’s district attorney pleaded guilty Thursday to drug distribution charges. Stephen Yakopec III, 29, of Lower Burrell, could face up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced in about three months. In court on Thursday, Yakopec pleaded...
Brackenridge memorial reassembled following vandalism repairs 
It’s a matter of respect for those who served and sacrificed. That’s what Brackenridge American Legion Commander Frank Svitek said Thursday as workers reassembled the honor roll memorial across the street in Brackenridge Memorial Park. The 54-year-old memorial’s bronze pieces were cleaned and restored after being vandalized in February. They...
Jeannette man charged with raping girl over 8 years
A Jeannette man was arrested Thursday by Westmoreland County Detectives and charged with raping a girl over the past eight years. Ronald Lee Rice, 59, was arraigned before Washington Township District Judge Jason Buczak on charges of rape, aggravated indecent assault on a person less than 13 years old and...
Police: Babysitter to be charged for leaving toddler alone in Tarentum park
A babysitter will be charged with child endangerment after Tarentum police say she left a 2-year-old boy alone in Riverview Memorial Park on Tuesday. Karen Jones, 56, of Pittsburgh, allegedly told police she left the boy in the park so she could go back to the child’s Second Avenue home...
Funding for Pennsylvania family centers restored for 2 years
Funding for family centers in Pennsylvania has been fully restored for the next two years, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services said Thursday. A change in how state money is allocated that would have caused eight of Allegheny County’s 10 centers to close generated widespread concern and...
Public can see Highlands budget that would raise property tax
Highlands School Board has approved a proposed final $46.2 million 2019-20 budget which includes a 3.3% property tax increase, the maximum the state allows for the district without a referendum or special exceptions. The school board approved the proposed final budget Monday. The 0.81 mill increase would raise the district’s...
Highlands comment policy causes confusion, raises concerns
Residents are confused and a legal expert is concerned after the Highlands School Board approved changes to its policy on public comment at its meetings. As revised, residents now are only able to comment on agenda items at the end of the school board’s planning meetings, and at the beginning...
Newspaper delivery driver killed in New Kensington shooting
A newspaper delivery driver was shot and killed while out on his route early Thursday in New Kensington, police said. Gregory L. Smith, 69, of New Kensington was shot in the head, according to the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office. The coroner’s office ruled the death a homicide. New Kensington police...
16-year-old accused of Sheldon Park arson staying in Shuman Detection Center
A 16-year-old Harrison boy accused of setting fire to a Sheldon Park apartment building that caused about $500,000 damage last month was ordered by juvenile court Tuesday to stay in the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center until his hearing is held, an Allegheny County detective confirmed. Two women and a wheelchair-bound...
New Ken-Arnold School Board: 2 incumbents out, another tied
At least two incumbents of the New Kensington-Arnold School Board are on their way out, and another’s tenure appears to be hanging in the balance, according to Westmoreland County’s unofficial election results. In the Democratic Party race for Region I, two candidates received the same number of votes for one...
Memorial Day happenings around the Alle-Kiski Valley
All events are on Monday unless otherwise noted. Allegheny Township The Pennsylvania Hero Walk Team, also known as Kiski Valley Veterans and Patriots, will sponsor a service at 10 a.m. Saturday at the War Memorial, 21 Towne Center Drive. The event will honor the late Sgt. Jason M. McClary, and...
Close Lower Burrell council race sees 1 incumbent dumped, mayor loses bid as well
Attorney Steve Yakopec Jr. squeaked by in the 11th hour — literally — of election night Tuesday to win a Democratic nomination for one of two city council seats up for grabs in November. Yakopec edged out incumbent Democrat Christopher Koziarski by just five votes, but only after absentee ballots...
Highlands assistant middle school principal retiring
After 25 years in education, Debbie Beucker is ready to call it a career. Beucker has worked in the Highlands School District for 16 of those years, split evenly between serving as assistant principal of the district’s high school, then in the same job at the middle school. She’ll retire...
Cheswick primary comes up 2 candidates short for council spots
The race for Cheswick Council appears to have still come up two people short after Tuesday’s primary election. Republican incumbents Michael Girardi and Brad Yaksich were the only two running for three open four-year seats and one open two-year seat. Girardi got the nomination for both the two-year seat and...
2 Tarentum council members lose seats in primary
Two incumbent Tarentum council members lost their seats in Tuesday’s primary, according to unofficial election results. In the Democratic race for a four-year, at-large seat, Councilman Tim Cornuet lost his bid for re-election to 3rd Ward Councilwoman Carrie Fox, who also won her party’s nomination for her four-year seat in...


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