Valley News Dispatch category, Page 101
Upper Burrell data center to be company’s ‘U.S. flagship,’ founder says
A new data center in Upper Burrell could hold 3 gigawatts of power — about three times more than the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant can generate — and employ hundreds if plans come to fruition at the vacant portion of the Alcoa Technical Center. TECfusions, a Florida-based data...
Pittsburgh interior designer to face judge in business fraud case out of Fox Chapel
An interior designer accused of swindling a Fox Chapel woman out of $170,000 is headed to court, the latest in a flurry of legal cases surrounding the embattled Pittsburgh business owner. Lauren Michelle Piasecki, 44, of Pittsburgh’s Stanton Heights neighborhood waived her preliminary hearing Wednesday in a Sharpsburg district court....
Blawnox officials celebrate their police officers’ next chapters
Blawnox police Chief Patrick Goodman sat at the main desk of the police station talking with his fellow officers on the first floor of the borough building. Some wearing fully-equipped uniforms and a part-timer in plain clothes. It was a familiar scene since 2019 when Goodman took over the small...
O’Hara property taxes going up about 14%
O’Hara property owners will have to pay about 14% more in real estate taxes as part of the township’s 2025 budget. Council voted 5-2 on Dec. 10 to pass its spending plan and raise the millage rate from 2.1 mills to 2.4 mills. Council Vice President Mike Hamill and Councilman...
MAWC opens talks to buy, run Gilpin water and sewer systems
Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County officials will open negotiations to take over operations of a small water system in Gilpin, Armstrong County. Gilpin supervisors this week solicited an offer from the county authority to purchase or operate the township’s water and sewer systems service. On Wednesday, the authority said it...
West Deer foots bill for $203,000 ambulance
While ambulance services across the state struggle to stay afloat, West Deer EMS just got a life-saving lift. The township is footing the bill for the group’s $203,000 ambulance, delivered to the East Union Road station on Tuesday. Chief Bill Humes knows how significant it is. “There’s only so much...
Reconfigured Bon Air Elementary layout finalized for next school year
Burrell School District has a plan to accommodate fourth graders at Bon Air Elementary School next school year. A task force of about 20 staff members and parents reviewed Superintendent Shannon Wagner’s proposed building layout to have the elementary school on Leechburg Road house kindergarten through fourth grades next school...
Springdale property owners to see 18% increase in borough real estate taxes, trash collection up, too
Property owners in Springdale will pay 18% more in real estate taxes. The 2025 spending plan increases the borough’s millage rate by 1.5 mills, to 9.75 mills. Officials have said that assessment appeals on industrial properties led to an $11 million loss in expected revenues, leaving borough property owners to...
2 guns among possessions stolen from New Kensington vehicles in overnight hits
At least two handguns are among items stolen from vehicles recently in New Kensington. The thefts have the city’s police department advising residents to secure their vehicles and their valuables. Residents of the area across Seventh Street from New Kensington’s Mount Vernon neighborhood said they believe three males are involved,...
Plum School Board approves tax increase limit; advances building project, electric bus purchase
Plum School Board members say they will limit any potential tax increase next year while moving forward with a building project and the purchase of electric buses. The board this week voted unanimously to keep a property tax increase for the 2025-26 school year to within its state-imposed inflation limit...
The Stroller, Dec. 18, 2024: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your non-profit’s community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least two weeks in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15084. Please include a daytime telephone number. Follow the Stroller on X at @VNDStroller. Local food shuttle available...
Arnold mother, daughter buy building, open discount store to serve community
As a lifelong resident of Arnold, Heather Irene Houser says she knows what people in the city want and need. She also knows that the stores that met those needs when she was growing up are long gone from the city. And not everyone is able to get to the...
Highlands basketball coach resigns amid hazing allegations
The Highlands High School varsity boys basketball season will continue despite the resignation of its head coach, Bill Flow. Flow, hired this summer, submitted a letter of resignation Monday, citing personal reasons, school officials said. He remains a teacher at the high school. The departure comes on the heels of...
Burrell High School staff gets wet for a good cause
Rain wasn’t in Tuesday’s weather forecast, but it certainly was pouring for some Burrell High School staff. Burrell’s unified bocce team held a “rain rally” Tuesday, where Principal John Boylan and a few teachers got soaked by Lower Burrell Fire Co. 3’s truck hose as a fundraiser for the team....
$3 million winning lottery ticket sold at Waterworks Market District
A $3 million lottery ticket was sold Friday at the Giant Eagle Market District in the Waterworks near Aspinwall. The winner purchased a jackpot-winning Lottery Cash 5 ticket, matching all five balls drawn that evening. The Market District store will get a $10,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. Nearly...
Proposed Huston Middle School realignment separates 5th and 8th grade students
The proposed reconfiguration of Charles A. Huston Middle School in Lower Burrell accommodates an additional grade level and separates younger students from older students without rearranging much of the building. “This is what the administrative team has developed over time and lots of conversations,” said Burrell Superintendent Shannon Wagner. “This...
Luke and Mike’s Frontporch in Aspinwall set to close
After 14 years of “blood, sweat and tears,” an Aspinwall-based restaurateur is calling it quits. “It was time,” said Sheri Rice on Monday of Luke and Mike’s Frontporch, the popular bar and restaurant she co-owns with her ex-husband, Billy Rice. “We did try and make this corner beautiful and try...
New Kensington girl among Pittsburgh-area youth boxers building the region’s fighting legacy
Four years ago, Gea Fultz of New Kensington was an 11-year-old girl walking into a gym full of boys training to fight. “It was really scary at first,” said Fultz, 15, now a sophomore at Valley High School. “I felt like I had to prove myself.” The proof? In August,...
The Stroller, Dec. 17, 2024: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your non-profit’s community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least two weeks in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15084. Please include a daytime telephone number. Follow the Stroller on X at @VNDStroller. Monthly Breaking Bread dinner...
New Kensington gun-shop thief pleads guilty in smash-and-grab heist
A man accused of burglarizing a New Kensington gun store in January pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court. Steyn Sarduy, 19, of New Kensington will be sentenced on March 17 by U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer on charges of conspiracy and theft of a firearm from a licensed...
Fire at Plum church started by candle, ruled accidental
One person was taken to a hospital with smoke inhalation from a fire Sunday night at a church in Plum, a spokeswoman for the Allegheny County Department of Emergency Services said Monday. The fire at St. Januarius on Renton Road was reported around 9:15 p.m. Investigators believe the fire was...
Globe trotters: Acmetonia Elementary students study holidays around the world
One by one, first grade students at Acmetonia Elementary School grabbed their “passport” and “suitcase” — a manilla envelope and folders — as they prepared to globe trot to learn how Christmas and other holidays are celebrated around the world. While they won’t leave their school, they get a look...
Probe continues in Vandergrift bar shooting
It’s not unheard of for commotion to erupt in and around Anthony’s bar in Vandergrift. “There’s typically fights in the parking lot right here,” said Kristen Hawley, who lives across the street from the bar. But gunshots are a first. Two people opened fire early Sunday morning, wounding each other...
Gilpin waiting to see if water system can be sold
The fate of the Gilpin Municipal Authority is up in the air after officials were unable to fill soon-to-be empty positions. According to township Supervisor Charles Stull, the authority has two employees who are set to retire at the end of the year and officials have been unable to find...
For the 35th year, the Fox Chapel Area School District telethon is raising money for Backpack for Hunger
There are children in the Fox Chapel Area School District who go hungry. Weekends can be times when they don’t have a hot meal. An extended number of days away from school such as the upcoming holiday break can mean even less available food. Their peers are doing something about...
