Valley News Dispatch category, Page 516

Plum High School’s sixth annual Stuff-a-Bus toy drive will be in a different format this year due to the covid-19 pandemic. The event is still set for 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday in the high school parking lot at 900 Elicker Road. However, there will be no hot chocolate...

Property owners in Frazer are going to see their township real estate taxes go up by 76% next year. It’s the township’s first property tax hike in at least 25 years, officials said. Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously passed a $1.3 million budget for 2021 that includes a 1.08-mill increase. The...

Leechburg Area School District plans to return to in-person instruction on Monday despite the state deeming there to be a “substantial” risk of covid-19 transmission in Westmoreland and Armstrong counties. The school board approved the move in a 7-1 vote Wednesday following a lengthy discussion. All students in grades pre-k...

Westmoreland County will award a final round of covid-relief grants next week to small businesses, while nonprofit agencies and local volunteer fire departments will receive awards later this month. Commissioners on Thursday increased grants handed out last week to Penn and Washington townships to cover coronavirus-related costs incurred by their...

Deer Lakes School District will not resume in-person instruction until Jan. 11 at the earliest in response to the surge in covid-19 cases. “Our county continues to remain in a substantial level of transmission as we see dramatic increases in positive cases and hospitalizations,” Superintendent Janell Logue-Belden wrote in a...

Is your church or organization going to host a community holiday event? Send information to The Stroller at vndnews@tribweb.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Festival of Trees raffle supports projects Allegheny Valley Hospital Auxiliary is hosting its annual Festival of Trees raffle to benefit patient care projects at the...

Ten residents and 11 staff members have tested positive for covid-19 at Concordia at Cabot in Butler County, which includes both a skilled nursing and an assisted living facility. All 10 residents are in the Lund Personal Care Center (Bachman Hall), an assisted living section of the campus, along with...

ATI said Wednesday it will phase out production of standard stainless steel sheet products and end finishing operations at its Brackenridge plant in Harrison as it shifts its focus to specialty rolled products. While finishing operations will end at the massive Brackenridge works, the $1.1 billion Hot Rolling & Processing...

Development at the former Bell Harbor Yacht Club site in O’Hara might move forward, more than 10 years after an original proposal to township council. Don Housley from River Road Development on Dec. 1 presented the Miramar Landing plan for 38 single-family townhouse units that would include parking, patios or...

A 9-month-old girl overdosed on heroin Tuesday after police said she ingested the drug while the East Deer woman who was supposed to be caring for her slept. Paramedics who responded to the incident injected the baby with 2 milligrams of Narcan before rushing her to UPMC Children’s Hospital in...

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Freeport. The Freeport Renaissance Association — a community organization dedicated to promoting and beautifying Freeport — is hosting a Small Town Christmas celebration to spread holiday cheer around the town. It’s an annual tradition that began in 2005 and has grown...

Organizers of the Tarentum Night Market have canceled the scheduled December event, citing Allegheny County’s advisory for residents to stay home unless going out for essential reasons because of the covid-19 pandemic. Allegheny County Health Department Director Debra Bogen issued the advisory Nov. 18. The last Night Market, for which...

Tarentum Councilwoman Erika Josefoski has announced her resignation. Josefoski, 36, is one of two council members representing the borough’s 1st Ward; the other is Lou Ann Homa. The seven-member council has two members from each of three wards plus one at-large member. Josefoski said she has verbally informed the borough...

Is your church or organization going to host a community holiday event? Send information to The Stroller as soon as possible to vndnews@tribweb.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Pajama Project seeks pajama donations The Rotary Club of Leechburg and Interact Club of Leechburg Area High School are sponsoring the...

A Tarentum teen who had been reported missing Tuesday has been found, according to his family. Ronald Ratliff, 16, had not been seen since 4 a.m. Tuesday. According to his family, he returned home around 11:30 p.m. Tarentum police had issued a missing person alert on the department’s Facebook page....

An Allegheny Township man accused of shooting two men outside a Leechburg tattoo shop Sunday afternoon was defending himself, his attorney said Tuesday. Police said one of the men who was shot, now paralyzed and in critical condition at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, told investigators he had an altercation...

A virtual 5K run/walk will step off this weekend to benefit the Sharpsburg Community Library. Hosted by the Fox Chapel Area community outreach club, the event is part of fundraising efforts for the annual high school telethon which, for the second year, will support the library along Main Street. Participants...

Is your church or organization going to host a community holiday event? Send information to The Stroller as soon as possible to vndnews@tribweb.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Vandergrift VFW collecting donations for veterans’ shelter Vandergrift Veterans of Foreign Wars is collecting food and small gifts to be donated...

For the second time, Ed Patrick lost his childhood home to a fire. The one-story, wood-frame house at 437 Magnolia Drive in West Deer caught fire in 1982. His dad rebuilt it. It caught fire again on Sunday. Fire officials say it’s a total loss. “There ain’t nothing I can...

New Kensington-Arnold School District will keep its schools closed with its students learning remotely through almost mid-January. The district announced it will continue remote instruction through Jan. 13. Acting Superintendent Jon Banko said students will return to schools on Jan. 14, as long as there is no significant increase in...

A New Kensington man accused of shooting two people in Leechburg has turned himself in to authorities. Pennsylvania State Police said the shooting happened shortly after 3 p.m. Sunday along the 100 block of Market Street. Chad Robert Goldstrom, 37, was taken into custody without incident around 4 p.m. Monday...

Highlands Stuff A Bus event canceled The Stuff A Bus event to benefit Toys for Tots that was scheduled Saturday at Highlands Middle School is canceled due to the district’s change to remote learning. Residents can take donations of new, unwrapped toys to dropoff locations in Heights Plaza near Community...