Valley News Dispatch category, Page 359

A long-term ramp closure along northbound Route 28 will impact drivers heading to Aspinwall and beyond. Motorists who use the ramp at Delafield Road (Exit 7) will need to find an alternate route to access Aspinwall, Fox Chapel and The Waterworks. The ramp will shut down at 7 a.m. Wednesday...

Kayak rentals returned to Allegheny RiverTrail Park this month after a year without the service. 3 Rivers Outdoor Company (3ROC) launched an outpost on May 1 at the 16-acre site tucked off Freeport Road in Aspinwall. “Bringing people to the water and showcasing the rivers of Pittsburgh, the beauty right...

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. Please include a daytime telephone number. Planting day scheduled at Tarentum friendship garden Volunteers are welcome to help at a summer garden day set for 10 a.m....

New Kensington officials are reviewing new design guidelines and overlay districts that would regulate the city’s ongoing development and revitalization. The design guidelines are intended to become the city’s primary tool for evaluating proposed development, reuses of buildings, facade renovations, landscaping designs and signage proposals. Three overlay districts — design...

PennDOT has awarded the Butler-Freeport Community Trail a $750,000 grant to reinforce sections of the trail that have cracked in Buffalo Township. The 21-mile recreational trail stretches from Freeport to Butler. “I am happy and elated to receive the grant,” said Chris Ziegler, president of the Butler-Freeport Community Trail council....

Highlands High School hosted musical theater students from four Alle-Kiski Valley school districts April 27 for the annual One Song Show Choir Festival. Highlands, Freeport Area, Springdale and Kiski Area choirs participated. Song performances included “Cruisin for a Bruisin’,” “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” “The Greatest Show,” “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine...

Missy Rowan lives next door to her childhood home in Leechburg and says she has no plans of leaving the borough she once vowed to escape. “My mother always said I’d be the one to move away, and here I am, living in Leechburg,” Rowan said. “When I was preparing...

Two structurally deficient and crumbling fire escapes dating to the 1930s have been replaced at Vandergrift’s historic Casino Theatre. Janice Oberdorf, treasurer of the nonprofit Casino Theatre Restoration and Management, said the project took about a year to complete and was long overdue. “It was literally held on to the...

Vandergrift’s only in-house brewery snagged two national awards this week for their marketing efforts in the beer industry. Allusion Brewing Co. won “Best Tap Handle” and “Best Flight Display” at the Craft Beer Marketing Awards, held in Minneapolis on May 4. More than 600 judges voted, with Allusion earning the...

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. Please include a daytime telephone number. Annual St. Joseph HS golf fundraiser set for June 10 The 30th annual St. Joseph High School Spartan Golf Scramble will...

A Burrell geography teacher is one of a dozen finalists for the 2023 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year. The Pennsylvania Department of Education this week announced the names of 12 educators, which included Ashlee Peters-Roberts, a teacher in Burrell’s Huston Middle School. The state’s Teacher of the Year program recognizes...

Both Democrats seeking nomination to the state House seat in District 33 say they would fight to protect abortion rights in Pennsylvania. Tristan McClelland, 21, a Harrison native who lives in O’Hara, is preparing to graduate this year from the University of Pittsburgh with a double major in economics and...

A Tarentum art house has partnered with UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for a monthlong fundraiser benefiting the Free Care Fund. The Manos Gallery is presenting “Artist of Tomorrow,” an exhibit featuring pieces from 65 student artists from across Western Pennsylvania. Paintings, drawings, mixed media and other artistic creations from...

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. Please include a daytime telephone number. Motorcycle poker run to support homeless vets Ride for Homeless Vets Motorcycle Poker Run will be June 12 at Natrona Heights...

New Kensington residents will have opportunities to learn about trees before five dozen are planted in the city this fall. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy will hold two “tree tender” training sessions before the trees are planted in at least two sessions in late October and early November, said Brian Crooks,...

Vandergrift’s trash haulers may soon stop picking up large furniture such as sofas with the regular garbage collection. Council has authorized Solicitor Larry Loperfito to makes changes to the borough’s trash collection rules to prohibit borough crews from taking upholstered furniture and mattresses. Instead, residents would have to contact private...

Avonmore Borough’s former secretary pleaded guilty Friday to the theft of more than $54,000 in taxpayer funds. Rebecca E. Steele, 46, worked for more than a decade as the secretary for the tiny Kiski Valley town when an audit in 2019 revealed large amounts of money had disappeared from borough...

A man awaiting trial on charges that he threw a hammer and shards of glass at a police officer while fleeing from a Kiski Township home in January has been arrested on drug charges by Tarentum police. Tarentum police say Alfred Keith Steele, 42, called 911 shortly before midnight on...

The father of Azuree Charles, the 9-year-old New Kensington boy who was found dead early Wednesday, was arrested Thursday in connection with assault and child endangerment charges from November. Jean J. Charles, 40, was arraigned Thursday on charges of simple assault and endangering the welfare of children regarding an incident...

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. Please include a daytime telephone number. Children welcome at free fishing derby Concordia Lutheran Ministries in Jefferson will have its free Fishing Derby for kids 14 and...

As she wrote prescriptions for her patients, Dr. Danielle Godinez decided to pen a new script for her well-being, figuratively. She was living the hectic life of an ambulatory medicine physician: seeing patients every 15 minutes, filling out mounds of paperwork and logging long hours. Godinez walked out of that...

A Vandergrift man faces 16 felony charges after two police departments in the Alle-Kiski Valley accused him of sexually assaulting young children. Vandergrift police charged Timothy Robert Johnson, 37, of the 300 block of Lowell Street, with 11 felony sex charges after a girl reported he sexually assaulted her multiple...