Valley News Dispatch category, Page 541

After the mid-March economic shutdown to halt the spread of covid-19, Paul Schimizzi didn’t know what to expect when his auto dealership reopened in May. “I didn’t know if we were going to sell 50 cars,” the president of Hillview Motors in Hempfield said. Instead, the dealership sold substantially more...

Running up to a burning house to check for potentially trapped occupants is just a normal part of the job for West Deer police officer and volunteer firefighter Edward Newman. Newman had been on routine patrol last Saturday when he spotted smoke coming from the 250 block of Little Deer...

Small Acts of Kindness Did your neighbor call and check on you, or bring a face mask or groceries? The Stroller wants to recognize those around us who are performing small acts of kindness for others during this stressful time. Send a short, one-paragraph note highlighting someone and how they...

West Deer’s leaders are considering new rules that could stop low-income residents and senior citizens from having to pay increased real estate taxes. Township Supervisor Brandon Forbes is pitching an idea that would add any township real estate tax increase as a lien on a person’s property. It would not...

O’Hara teen Braden McCormick combined his mom’s passion for gardening and his desire to help feed the needy to earn his Eagle Scout rank from the Boy Scouts of America. McCormick spent more than 43 hours constructing a potting bench for the Sharpsburg Community Garden, a Main Street spot that...

Mariah Passarelli is going to share her story. The Vandergrift native who lives in Downtown Pittsburgh is one of eight people competing in The Moth’s first virtual East Coast Regional “GrandSLAM—A Multi-City Showdown” at 7:30 p.m. Monday. The Moth is a non-profit group based in New York City dedicated to...

A man threatening to “shoot officers in the face with his gun” was one of four people arrested early Saturday morning following a fight at a North Apollo bar, police said. Officers with the Kiski Township Police Department responded to the R Bar, located at 418 16th St., in response...

Is your non-profit organization going to have a fundraiser? Send information to The Stroller at least a week in advance to vndnews@tribweb.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Follow the Stroller on Twitter @VNDStroller for a daily link to The Stroller. Annual Mutts & Margaritas event goes virtual this year...

A motorcyclist was injured late Friday night in a crash along Route 66 near the intersection of Route 356 in Washington Township, the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety said. Emergency responders set up a landing zone for a medical helicopter shortly after the accident was reported at 11:10 p.m....

A motorist was trapped in a vehicle that went over a guardrail and overturned off Route 356 in Allegheny Township on Friday night, according to dispatches from Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety. Emergency responders were at the scene around 7:45 p.m. and were cutting brush around the vehicle to...

Springdale Township officials are investigating an incident last week in which a road department worker received a serious electrical shock after running over a downed power line on a riding mower. Joe Luera, 56, a part-time Springdale Township employee, was rushed to UPMC St. Margaret hospital and then taken to...

After over 25 years in business, Tarentum’s Hometown Restaurant has closed. Rebecca Coy owned and operated Hometown Restaurant. She spent 25 years waking up at 4:30 in the morning to get to the restaurant before breakfast at 6 a.m. She made everything, from breakfast to salad dressing. “Everything was homemade,”...

Citing the ongoing public health threat of the coronavirus, Bishop Edward C. Malesic will make his public farewell to the diocese’s 138,000 Roman Catholics in a virtual Mass. Officials with the Greensburg Diocese said Friday the Mass will be livestreamed at 3 p.m. Aug. 30 from Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in...

Because of the covid-19 pandemic, organizers will make $8,000 less on the Ninth Annual Officer Derek Kotecki Golf Tournament at Hill Crest Country Club on Saturday. The golf outing honors the memory of Lower Burrell Police K-9 Officer Derek Kotecki, who was killed in an ambush in 2011. The golf...

Can you dig it? Judy Quick can. The 77-year-old Gilpin woman lives in a custom-built, subterranean home. “I mow my roof,” Quick said while giving a tour of her unorthodox three-bedroom, two-bathroom home that’s on more than 11 acres in rural Armstrong County. She said advantages of underground living include...

Property owners in Highlands School District have more time to pay their school property taxes at a discounted rate. Act 75 of 2020 allows school districts to extend their property tax discount and base periods and waive penalties through June 30, 2021. It’s at each school board’s discretion what to...

Small Acts of Kindness Did your neighbor call and check on you, or bring a face mask or groceries? The Stroller wants to recognize those around us who are performing small acts of kindness for others during this stressful time. Send a short, one-paragraph note highlighting someone and how they...

Motorists traveling Route 28 between the Millvale and Highland Park Bridge exits will encounter single-lane restrictions in both directions from 7 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday as crews patch the concrete roadway and repair inlets, PennDOT said. The work is part of an $11.5 million project that is being...

West Deer Supervisors approved a zoning change that could enable a developer to build up to 18 homes in the township. Supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to rezone a property at 4391 Bakerstown-Culmerville Road from rural estate to rural residential. More homes can be built on properties that are zoned rural...

The 52 power outages reported across Pennsylvania in 2019 marked a record high since the state Public Utility Commission began collecting reliability data 27 years ago, the agency reported. The “reportable outage events,” mainly caused by severe thunderstorms that downed trees, interrupted service to about 2 million customers statewide, according...

As Upper Burrell Township supervisors pursue a controversial 2-mill fire tax to buy a new fire truck, the township’s volunteer fire company will display the proposed truck for the public to see on Monday. The truck will be on display for the public at the Upper Burrell Volunteer Fire Company...