Valley News Dispatch category, Page 606

The Leechburg Drama Club is hoping its second annual talent show fundraiser Friday is at least as successful as last year’s inaugural event, which raised $4,000 to help put on a high school musical. Regardless, those attending Friday’s event are going to get a good show, according to Leechburg Area...

An Allegheny County judge heard arguments Thursday in a case where a billboard company is fighting for the right to place a sign near the Tarentum Bridge. Staff for Common Pleas Judge Joseph James said he will render a decision in the case within a week. America First Enterprises, doing...

Wintry weather has further postponed the reopening of Harmar’s Jacoby Road, officials said Thursday. The road has been closed since July as part of a $1.1 million bridge replacement project. The section of road between Rosedale Road and Ecker Lane was supposed to reopen sometime this month, but the county’s...

Volunteers needed for free tax service AARP Tax Aide is recruiting volunteers for the upcoming tax preparation season. Tax Aide volunteers assist taxpayers with filing their federal, state and local taxes at no charge. Sites are located at senior centers, libraries, churches and the officers of state representatives in the...

State police are investigating the theft of a furnace and hot water tank from a Brady Township home. Troopers from the Butler station reported a burglary occurred sometime between Nov. 10-13 in the Brady Hills Mobile Home Park along Bluebell Lane. Someone entered the victims’ residence and stole the items...

Leechburg Council has approved a $1.2 million preliminary budget that includes a 24% increase in property taxes. Under the preliminary plan, the borough’s tax rate would go up 4 mills, to 22.3 from 18. At the proposed rate, someone with a house assessed at $25,000 would pay about $558 in...

Details of a reported armed robbery along Route 28 in Harmar that left one man wounded remain a mystery, state police said Wednesday. A Pittsburgh man who was treated at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison for shooting-related injuries told police that he had been robbed and shot near Route 28’s...

Police officers from Washington Township served lunch Wednesday to students at Kiski Area Upper Elementary School. Officers lined up behind the cafeteria counters and served pizza and sandwiches to fifth- and sixth-graders. The event isn’t new. Officers usually serve lunch at the school once a year. But this was the...

Organizers of the joint Tarentum-Brackenridge Christmas parade are hoping for good weather as this year’s event approaches. The parade is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Saturday, proceeding from the Tarentum Bridge in Tarentum, down Fifth Avenue to Corbet Street, and then up First Avenue to Morgan Street in Brackenridge....

Tarentum will pay a single contractor almost $171,000 to tear down 23 dilapidated houses in the borough. Council awarded the contract to Allen Demolition of Wilkinsburg. Costs for individual properties range from $5,000 to $10,000. The borough was considering awarding contracts to multiple companies based on cost, but Allen Demolition...

Laurie Churma of Washington Township was joined by friends and family Tuesday as they paid tribute to her son Kody and raised money to fund research into the disease that took his life. In less than two years, Kody Churma went from a healthy young man to one who was...

Vandergrift Police Department collecting donations Vandergrift Police Department is conducting its Feed the Families Project through Friday. Non-perishable food items and monetary contributions will be accepted from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Friday at the borough building, 109 Grant Ave., in care of Officer Gray. Five Forces collecting personal...

A Vandergrift man who police say attempted to flee from authorities was arrested Tuesday afternoon on charges of having suspected heroin and other narcotics. Jerry Moore, 61, of Custer Avenue was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, driving with a suspended license, two counts of possession of controlled substances and...

Carrie DelRosso, an Oakmont councilwoman and public relations consultant, announced she will challenge state Rep. Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont, in next year’s election for the 33rd state House seat. DelRosso hopes to earn the Republican nomination. Dermody has held the seat since 1991. He defeated Republican challenger Joshua Nulph last year....

An Oakmont native who confessed to killing a Bethel Park woman in the Nevada desert two months ago will remain in Allegheny County Jail without bail, a judge ruled Tuesday. But John Matthew Chapman, 39, of Oakland, Md., has yet to be charged with the death of Jaime Mae Feden,...

The Walgreens store on Greensburg Road in Lower Burrell has closed, a spokesman for the pharmacy chain confirmed Tuesday. The store closed on Nov. 13, spokesman Phil Caruso said. Caruso said the store’s closing was part of a previously announced plan to close a number of stores across the country....

The school educating the youngest students in Highlands School District is set to have its third principal this school year. Samantha Perlik, principal of Highlands Elementary School in Tarentum, will become principal of the Early Childhood Center in January after the Christmas break, school board President Debbie Beale said. The...

A new O’Reilly Auto Parts store in New Kensington will open early next year, a company spokesman said. The store on Tarentum Bridge Road at Carl Avenue was previously expected to open this fall. O’Reilly spokesman Mark Merz would not provide more specifics on when the store would open. “There’s...

Highlands Middle School students to present, `The Music Man Kids` The drama department at Highlands Middle School, Harrison, will present, “The Music Man Kids,” at 6 and 8 p.m. Friday in the middle school auditorium, 1350 Broadview Blvd., Natrona Heights. Tickets are $4 for floor seats and $2 for the...

Editor’s note: Building the Valley tells stories of businesses big and small and the employees who make them special. If you know of any standout employees, bosses or companies with a great story to tell, contact reporter Madasyn Lee at mlee@tribweb.com. Ross Walker grew up thinking living with dead people...

Highlands School Board gave fond farewells Monday night to four of its members who are leaving the nine-member board following this year’s election. Leaving the board are Michael Masarik from Region 1, Jeff Mundy from Region 2, and Heath Cohen and Michelle Peters from Region 3. Superintendent Monique Mawhinney praised...

The flowers of a makeshift memorial at a Washington Township intersection where a Brackenridge woman died in a July 27 crash haven’t faded yet. The fatal crash happened when Haley Montgomery’s northbound car tried to turn left from Route 66 onto Route 366 but was struck by an oncoming SUV....

Mezzo-soprano Marianne Cornetti began singing at local churches, including Brackenridge’s Trinity United Methodist, as a teenager before making her professional debut with the Pittsburgh Opera and singing professionally for three decades. On Sunday, she returned to Trinity United Methodist to hold a concert to raise money for the Allegheny Valley...

A Venango County man drove more than 120 mph while holding a woman against her will in his car as police pursued him on Route 28, according to state police. Kirk Edward Heath, 43, was arraigned Monday on 19 charges, including kidnapping to facilitate a felony and fleeing or attempting...

Just four days after Rahmael Holt was sentenced to death for the Nov. 17, 2017, killing of New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw, Westmoreland County detectives charged his cousin, Lisa D. Harrington, with hiding the murder weapon and hindering apprehension. Assistant District Attorney James Lazar said the decision to charge...