Valley News Dispatch category, Page 616

A couple is interested in putting horses on a 24-acre property in Frazer and is asking the supervisors to amend the township’s zoning ordinance so they can. Frazer doesn’t allow agricultural operations on properties within its two residential moderate density (RM) zoning districts. Keeping horses is considered as an agricultural...

Someone drove a pickup truck in circles on several West Deer sports fields, causing significant damage, officials said. Township Manager Dan Mator said Thursday he estimates repairs for the damaged fields at Nike Site Park and Bairdford Park will cost thousands of dollars. The township has been working to improve...

New Kensington native and Santa Clarita writer Anthony Breznican had just dropped off his children at elementary school Thursday morning when he swung around and went back. There’d been a shooting. Not at his children’s school, but a high school nearby. When police officers who live in the neighborhood began...

Buffalo Township residents would not pay more in township real estate taxes next year under a preliminary budget approved Wednesday. Supervisors approved a preliminary $2.5 million budget that would keep the tax rate at 5.5 mills. Spending would increase by about $196,000, according to the budget. A homeowner with the...

A Texas man was being held in the Westmoreland County Prison without bail on gun violations after he was spotted in the parking lot of a Washington Township concrete supplier in the middle of the night, according to police. Bayron Ivan Lopez, 27, of Houston, was arrested at 12:35 a.m....

Burrell High School to perform, `Macbeth` The drama department at Burrell High School will present William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” at 7 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday in the high school auditorium, 1021 Puckety Church Road, Lower Burrell. Tickets are $10. For tickets, visit onthestage.com and search for Burrell High School, and...

More pieces are falling into place for a proposed Plum municipal center. Council voted 5-0 Wednesday night to appoint Massaro Construction of O’Hara as the Plum Town Center’s construction manager at an estimated cost of $425,000. Councilmen John Anderson and Mike Pastor were absent. The project’s estimated cost is $12...

A new estimate knocks down the cost of artificial turf to a $550,000 option for a renovation project at Burrell High School’s Buccaneers Stadium. The original estimate for the field renovation with natural sod was about $400,000, while artificial turf was expected to cost $1.2 million to $1.3 million. However,...

Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County board members on Wednesday approved a $1.76 million project to install a new water line under the Kiski River. Officials said about 1.5 miles of pipe will be installed, including an 800-foot section of 20-inch fused PVC material, that will run below the bed of...

Two Alle-Kiski Valley communities rescheduled municipal meetings that had been scheduled for Tuesday. Hyde Park Council moved its meeting because several council members were sick. The meeting was rescheduled for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 19. Allegheny Township Supervisors postponed their meeting because it didn’t have a quorum or a majority of...

Retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Dawn Serakowski thought her daughter was in class. Instead, Kamdyn Serakowski, a senior at Kiski Area High School, surprised her mother Tuesday when she took the podium at Kiski Area Upper Elementary School to deliver the keynote speech for the school’s 16th annual Veterans...

Two Alle-Kiski Valley townships have been awarded $100,000 in state funding for improvement projects. The money for West Deer and Fawn comes from Allegheny County’s Gaming Economic Development Fund Grant. The program is funded through gambling revenues and doesn’t use money from the state general fund money. West Deer’s money...

Musical food drive to benefit Allegheny Valley Association of Churches Food Bank “Will Sing for Food,” a food drive to benefit the Allegheny Valley Association of Churches food bank, will be from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Natrona Heights Veterans of Foreign Wars, 894 Veterans Drive, Harrison. The...

Members of a West Deer family discovered their house was on fire Tuesday night when the lights snapped off and they went to investigate, according to a township fire chief. “It probably was the fire burning some of the circuits,” said West Deer No. 3 Fire Chief Josh Wiegand. The...

A one-vehicle crash along Route 28 southbound between the Tarentum and Harmar exits snarled traffic Tuesday. State police said no one was hurt when a white van went off the road and into a guardrail shortly before 3 p.m. Southbound traffic was reduced to one lane in the area, and...

Buffalo Township Supervisors are scheduled to vote Wednesday on the final site plan for a $1 million nature center and park along the Butler-Freeport Community Trail. The nature center site is owned by the township and operated by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. The proposed nature center and park...

An infant boy and his 18-month-old sister were removed from an Avonmore mobile home Monday after troopers said they found squalid living conditions and arrested the children’s mother and her boyfriend. Washington Township District Judge Jason Buczak denied bond for Kaitlyn D. Thorpe, 20, of Avonmore, and Timothy L. McMunn,...

A Westmoreland County jury found Rahmael Holt guilty on all counts of killing New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw following an attempted traffic stop two years ago. The jury reached its verdict in less than 90 minutes after closing arguments Tuesday. “A verdict like this doesn’t bring Brian back, but...

Freeport High School to present, `Mamma Mia` The drama department of Freeport Area High School will present the musical, “Mamma Mia,” at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Freeport Area Middle School, 325 Fourth St., Freeport. Tickets are $11; senior citizens over 65, $7. For tickets,...

J.P. Stark & Son Inc. has stood the test of time. The animal feed store on Thompson Road in Fawn has been around for nearly a century, having survived a fire and the loss of small family farms that used to make up a majority of its business. Without adapting...

Spice, a small dog found in North Braddock, was close to death. Emaciated and dehydrated, Spice’s temperature was so low, he was suffering hypothermia. The skin-and-bones terrier mix was in no condition to go to a shelter. Instead, Springdale-based Paws Across Pittsburgh was called. Spice was less than 3 pounds....

Prosecutors are expected to rest their case Tuesday against alleged New Kensington cop killer Rahmael Holt, but it remained unknown Monday whether Holt would take the stand in his defense. Holt is accused of killing New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw after a traffic stop on the city’s Leishman Avenue...