Valley News Dispatch category, Page 627

Seven people, including a man who claimed to be a Pittsburgh police officer, are facing charges in connection with what Harmar police described as drunken fights at a Harmar hotel over the weekend. Harmar police said they were called Sunday to the Days Inn about a large fight in the...

The Allegheny County Health Department on Tuesday identified as lime the dust coating cars in a Harrison neighborhood and said it’s coming from a nearby company. The department began investigating after getting complaints in August from residents on Opal Court and nearby High Street in the Natrona Heights area of...

Highlands School District is hoping to make out-of-school suspensions a thing of the past on the elementary and middle school levels. Highlands Elementary and Highlands Middle School have created what the district calls a Rams Reflective Room where students spend time with specialists to address problems that led to a...

PennDOT will close one lane of Route 28 southbound between the 40th Street and 31st Street bridges from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday for maintenance work. Work crews will remove debris to improve drainage along the roadway, according to a PennDOT release Tuesday....

A Freeport woman was treated for smoke inhalation after a fire late Monday night in her Washington Street home, fire officials said. There were no other injuries. The woman, her husband and child were at home but able to get out, Freeport police Chief Jeff Swiklinski said. The family names...

Gilpin Supervisors on Monday hired a second fulltime police officer and two part-time officers. It may be the first time in more than a decade for the township to have two full-time officers, Supervisor Chairman Charles Stull said. Police Chief Chris Fabec said Patrolman Chad Shoupe is now a full-time...

Volunteers are needed to “redd up” New Kensington in advance of a wine and beer festival. The Alle Kiski Strong Chamber is holding its second annual Wine & Beer Fest on Fifth Avenue, between Eighth and 10th streets, from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20. The chamber has organized...

Jason Devlin’s family never really got over the death of his great uncle nearly a century ago. And, making matters worse, no one in the family seemed to know any details about how Hugh Devlin died at the age of 18. “A hunting accident” is all his family seemed to...

An independent audit of document disposal by Fox Chapel Area School District found no wrongdoing by staff or administration, an attorney said at the Sept. 9 board meeting. Thomas Breth, a Butler-based attorney, spearheaded an investigation into record shredding by the school district that was presumed to avoid disclosure of...

The Pittsburgh group Venture Outdoors is planning a full moon hike on the Roaring Run Trail in Kiski Township and an Apollo history lesson on Saturday. John Linkes, a director with the both the Roaring Run Watershed Association and the Kiski Watershed Association, was pleased that a Pittsburgh group of...

A Vandergrift man is accused of trading $100 in crack cocaine for stolen jewelry, including a $15,000 Rolex watch. A criminal complaint filed in the case against Levern Baccus, 38, said a Vandergrift couple reported the missing jewelry to borough police on Sunday. The missing items included the Rolex, two...

A former volunteer firefighter watched helplessly last year as his Vandergrift home and everything in it burned. In the six months following the Nov. 7 blaze, Rich Hooks and his wife, Catherine, had to find and furnish a new home while tearing down and removing the one destroyed by an...

The Murrysville man who set up the Pittsburgh eagle webcam now has a live webcam with two cameras in Benezette capturing all of the excitement of the bull elk in rut. Elk in Pennsylvania were wiped out by the late 1870s. But the Pennsylvania Game Commission re-introduced elk from the...

The Allegheny County Health Department is investigating complaints about a white dust in parts of Harrison. The department has received at least five complaints since the beginning of August, according to Jim Kelly, deputy director of environmental health. Opal Court residents have complained about white dust being found on cars...

Brackenridge Council has compiled a list of properties to keep track of tax delinquents and deteriorated structures. Council decided in the spring to survey borough and Allegheny County records to catalog properties that are vacant and dilapidated in response to residents’ complaints about blight. The list will serve as a...

Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series that features Alle-Kiski Valley residents and the notable things that they do. A lifelong Harrison resident’s passion for pets has led to decades of volunteerism at the preeminent animal shelter in Alle-Kiski Valley. Jeanne Lessig is enjoying her 20th year at...

It took years to perfect a much needed new brew for Vandergrift: Allusion Brewing Company has bought a building at 143 Grant Ave. with plans to open a microbrewery and tap room early next year. Allusion closed on the building last week, buying it for about $15,000 from the Vandergrift...

The first day of autumn isn’t until later in September, but kids are back in school, the Steelers are on the field again, and the days are getting shorter — close enough for Summit Hose to hold its annual Fall Festival in Tarentum. Until last year, the festival was held...

From making ears of corn with their hands and pea pods with their thumbs, members of Abundant Joy Fellowship and the Alle-Kiski community came together Sunday to make their mark on the new sign for Tarentum’s Greg Blythe Friendship Garden. The effort was led by Blythe’s niece, Emily Whitco, who...

The first graduating class of Highlands High School has gathered for a reunion every five years. This year marks a milestone, as the members of that charter class from 1969 come together for their 50th reunion. “We have a lot of surprises planned,” said Debbie Cordera, a member of the...