Valley News Dispatch category, Page 345

Wicked Witches Bar & Grille in Harmar is gearing up for its 14th annual Ride Now for Autism motorcycle run in July. The charity ride attracts hundreds from across the country on a 100-mile ride to raise funds for the Autism Society of Pittsburgh. There are two to three stops,...

A food truck event held once in Arnold late last year is coming back this month, with monthly dates scheduled through October. The first of five Arnold community events will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. June 26 in a lot at 1701 Fifth Ave. Future dates — all...

Publicize your community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15068. Please include a daytime telephone number. HOPE Center accepting donations for its SAF-T pet kennel The Alle-Kiski HOPE...

Tamara and Bryan Baum are united in their love for firefighting — and for each other. The married couple from Washington Township are volunteer firefighters with Vandergrift Volunteer Fire Department No. 1. The Baums have served with the department for about 15 years, responding to the same fire calls when...

The Corpus Christi Celebration has been a Tarentum tradition since 1943, and the festival with colorful sawdust carpets returned Sunday after the pandemic caused a brief hiatus over the last two years. This year, hundreds participated in creating 17 religious artworks made out of dyed sawdust and laid out on...

The Cheswick Volunteer Fire Company is coming close to finalizing its merger with the Allegheny Valley Fire Company. Once the state approves the merger, Cheswick will officially consolidate with Allegheny Valley, said Nino Pollino, president of the Cheswick department. The state requested documentation from the borough expressing its support of...

Floods came with living in Freeport. “You just knew it was inevitable,” said Jim Scott, who grew up in a house on First Street with Buffalo Creek at one end and the Allegheny River at the other. “If you lived there, you took the chance of having to deal with...

As part of a comprehensive plan for Lower Burrell’s parks, the city is asking residents to take an online survey on what facilities and activities they want to see in the city’s five parks. City parks include Braeview Fireman’s Park, Burrell Lake Park, Kotecki Memorial Park, Kinloch Fireman’s Park and...

One’s imagination is the menu at a new doughnut shop in New Kensington. Customers of Lasko’s Little O’s can pick a glaze, choose toppings and select a drizzle to create a doughnut that maybe even Homer Simpson couldn’t dream up. “We’re like a Subway for doughnuts,” owner Mikey Lasko Sr....

Publicize your community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15068. Please include a daytime telephone number. West Deer parish to host revival A free all-day tent revival will...

The Burrell School Board is proposing a $34.7 million budget with a 2.9% real estate tax increase for the 2022-23 school year. The owner of a home with an average assessed value of $22,900 will see a tax increase of $68; under the Homestead Act exclusion, the same owner would...

Blanket punishments and cookie cutter programs aren’t appropriate responses when children have experienced trauma, according to Duquesne University professor Tammy Hughes. Hughes discussed the psychology and needs of such children at the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit’s 2022 School Safety and Security Symposium at Westmoreland County Community College. “This isn’t about breaking...

A Harrison man faces more than two dozen felony counts after state agents accused him of having child pornography videos on his cellphone, including some involving kids as young as 2. Gregory Paul Rosato, 58, of the 1400 block of Pennsylvania Avenue was charged by the state Attorney General’s Office...

A surprise was in store for a Cheswick councilman during a meeting Tuesday evening. Councilman Frank Meledandri was awarded the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs President’s Award for his 40 years serving the borough. The award recognizes individuals who have served in a position for a decade or more. Meledandri’s...

Fathering comes in all forms. For many dads, it means getting involved with their children’s sports activities. But for fathers who go even further and become coaches, they are impacting more than their children’s lives. They are serving as father figures, as role models, for groups of kids. Meet local...

Publicize your community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15068. Please include a daytime telephone number. Lower Burrell church offers free reading workshop Redemption Church Reading Outreach Tutoring...

The first emergency responders arriving on the scene where 17 cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in Harmar in late May had only their training to rely on when making split-second decisions amid the chaos. Nine of the cars, including tankers, landed in Guys Run, a tributary feeding...

New Kensington firefighters quickly put out a fire Friday afternoon at a what was reported to be an abandoned house. The fire in the 300 block of Industrial Boulevard was reported around 4:30 p.m. It took responding firefighters about 15 minutes to put out the fire, a Westmoreland County Department...

An Allegheny County Police Academy cadet from Green Tree was awarded the Officer Brian Shaw Memorial Scholarship on Friday. Shaw, of Lower Burrell, was a New Kensington police officer who was shot and killed after a traffic stop and foot chase in 2017. He was 25. Nicholas Rajakovich, 26, won...

An Apollo man was the winner in the 18th annual Team Bass Tournament for disabled veterans that was held recently on the Monongahela River near West Brownsville in Washington County. Veteran Mark Rosensteel of Apollo, president of the Keystone Paralyzed Veterans of America chapter, won the June 12 tournament with...

A man is accused of holding a woman hostage at gunpoint over two days this week in New Kensington. New Kensington police charged Drayvawn Lamont Smith, 24, described as homeless, with unlawful restraint, strangulation and simple assault. He was arraigned Thursday afternoon and is being held in the Westmoreland County...

The Harmar bald eagles, now in their ninth year of breeding on the same hillside above Route 28, raised a family of two eaglets that took to the skies this week. “The first flight of one of the juveniles on Wednesday was smooth but when it came to land, she...

A woman wanted on warrants issued in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties was arrested when New Kensington police spotted her inside a McDonald’s restaurant. Police also charged her with felony possession of contraband after they said she handed a crack pipe over to a deputy sheriff who came to transport her...

Mother Nature forced a rescheduling Thursday of a new monthly food and music festival in Vandergrift. Gathering on Grant organizers decided to move the event from this past Thursday to next Thursday, June 23, in response to what was a rather ominous storm forecast. Vandergrift Council helped organizers by unanimously...

The oldest continuously operating hotel, bar and restaurant in the heart of historic Saxonburg in Butler County is on the market. The Hotel Saxonburg, built in 1832 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is listed for about $1.2 million with Coldwell Banker of Fox Chapel. The business,...