Valley News Dispatch category, Page 275

A longtime educator and former Valley Points Family YMCA employee is opening a new preschool program after a drama-­filled departure from her previous teaching post at the West Vandergrift Early Learning Center in Vandergrift. Andrea Bennett was a YMCA employee for 35 years before cleaning out her classroom at the...

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. Armstrong Conservation group to have tree seedling sale Armstrong Conservation District...

Seven Westmoreland County communities from Greensburg to New Kensington to Monessen are getting a unique opportunity — the ability to re-create neighborhoods and business districts free of blight. Using $10.4 million in federal money, the project calls for identifying as many as 500 properties for demolition, although some might end...

Brackenridge officials find themselves overwhelmed by the public support continuing to flow into the borough after police Chief Justin McIntire’s death. A case in point is the dinner being planned to benefit the family of McIntire, who was shot and killed in the line of duty Jan. 2. Councilman Dino...

Cheryl Peck Yakopec introduced herself, not as a judge, but as a “Valley girl” to students attending an after-school program at the Salvation Army in New Kensington. Peck Yakopec, a district judge in Lower Burrell and Allegheny Township for 28 years, said she was among the students who voted to...

North Apollo’s electric bill for a storage building never arrived. The borough’s council president and vice president didn’t receive bank statements for their taxes, and the owner of a local diner had to use her personal post office box for business mail. That’s just a sampling of complaints from public...

A man awaiting trial on a felony strangulation charge was accused by Lower Burrell police of driving with a suspended license in a car that had no insurance and had an expired registration and inspection. Thomas Henry Suppers Jr., 37, of the 500 block of Sycamore Street in Vandergrift was...

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. Lower Burrell Citizen Police Academy accepting applications The Lower Burrell Citizen...

A second man has been arrested in connection with an incident last month at a Harmar motel during which a convicted felon who is not allowed to have a gun allegedly pulled a stolen pistol on a couple who were arguing outside their room at 2 a.m. Harmar police charged...

A popular year-‘round garden center in Allegheny Township is under new ownership. Dave Vargo, former owner of Kiski Garden Center, sold his business Friday for $200,000 to Pat D’Amico of Buffalo Township. Vargo removed a large banner outside his former business that same afternoon as D’Amico looked on and later,...

Kiski Township police accused a resident of causing serious injuries to a man who offered him a ride home. Michael William Hungerford Jr., 38, of the 100 block of Florida Avenue in Kiski Township was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault along with two counts of simple assault...

The Harrison commissioners are eyeing a $640,000 sewer project to help ease overflows in the neighborhoods near Sylvan Park Pool. The Little Bull Creek sanitary sewer upgrade is being done to comply with a years-old consent decree from the federal government. “It is a complicated project, but we hope to...

The Brackenridge street where police Chief Justin McIntire lived his life — and met his death — may soon bear his name. On Thursday, exactly one month after McIntire was shot and killed on duty, borough council authorized Solicitor Craig Alexander to draw up an ordinance renaming Third Avenue in...

The closing of the Walmart store in The Waterworks mall dampened collection efforts by Salvation Army bell ringers and caused a shortfall in the annual fundraising campaign, leaders at the Allegheny Valley Corps in Brackenridge said. “With that store not available to us, and some other situations, we’re facing a...

Lower Valley Ambulance Service is providing Spring­dale Township and the six other communities it serves with details about how the money would be spent if the municipalities agree to its appeal for a dedicated funding source to pay for its operations. Late last year, the ambulance service told officials in...

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. Adult prom event planned Feb. 11 in Brackenridge A King and...

The lawyer for a Lower Burrell man awaiting trial in a fatal 2021 shooting at an Upper Burrell bar said his client’s mental health could limit his criminal responsibility for the homicide. Public defender Wayne McGrew told a Westmoreland County judge during a hearing Thursday that Daniel Moles should be...

New Kensington’s municipal authority crews were repairing two waterline breaks Thursday — a main line in Lower Burrell under Violet Drive and another waterline under Kennedy Avenue in New Kensington. Fluctuating temperatures and ground movement caused the two breaks, said Ron Balla, assistant superintendent of distribution for the Municipal Authority...

ATI had a strong finish in 2022 with fourth-quarter sales of $1 billion, company officials announced Thursday. It is an increase of more than 30% over the same time period in 2021. “We’re executing expertly against robust markets,” CEO Bob Wetherbee said in a release by the company, which moved...

A canine-loving couple are moving ahead with plans to open a full-service dog kennel in Allegheny Township. Dan and Lindsay Janoski live on 15 acres along Indian Hill Road. Lindsay Janoski grew up with fond memories of her grandparents’ former dog kennel, Mar-Ken-El in Allegheny Township. “I’ve had dogs my...

There aren’t that many music events in the area dedicated to promoting local bands that play original music. But thanks to the Southern Fried Rock Show, four area country rock bands playing mostly their own songs will be showcased Saturday night at the Freeport Event Center. This year marks the...

Janice Friel-Kaufman grew up in Harrison in an ardent military family. Her father was an Army lieutenant; one uncle was a Navy bombardier who was shot down over the Pacific; another uncle was a Marine Corps pilot who flew the first rescue missions into Okinawa. There were several others. “I...

A Bell Township bar was sued this week by a woman who claimed she was left a quadriplegic when she was served too much alcohol and fell off a stool. According to the lawsuit, Mary Jo Jordan, 55, of Avonmore contends her injuries two years ago were caused by negligence...

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. Highlands HS to present annual cabaret concert Saturday The 11th annual...

Little time and little name recognition are two challenges the Republican candidate for the state House 32nd District sees himself and his Democratic opponent sharing. Clayton Walker figures that helps level the playing field between himself and Joe McAndrew as they vie to succeed a titan of Pennsylvania politics in...