Valley News Dispatch category, Page 645

Weather permitting, PennDOT crews will conduct survey work requiring a single-lane closure on Route 28 southbound Monday and Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. between the Highland Park Bridge and Millvale, exit 3. The survey is for a future paving project, according to Steve Cowan, PennDOT spokesman. The survey...

The day-to-day life of a World War II naval electrician from the Alle-Kiski Valley is documented in a diary a New York man found in a bookstore four years ago. The diary was kept by William T. Eckersley, who was born Oct. 19, 1927, in Arnold. Eckersley also lived in...

Two people are facing charges in connection with the robbery of a girl in Vandergrift’s Kennedy Park on Tuesday. Police say Tavon Rasheed Williams, 20, who was staying at a Linden Avenue residence in the borough, and a 17-year-old accomplice approached the victim in the park along Jackson Avenue about...

Highlands School District is again seeking bids to restore the clock tower at the district’s elementary school in Tarentum. The school board rejected the two bids the district received in May for the masonry restoration at Highlands Elementary School, and approved re-bidding the project. A third bid had been rejected...

Tiffany Seitz was sure she’d never win Miss Pennsylvania. After all, the cards appeared to be stacked against her. She found out she’d be competing just six weeks before the competition when another contestant was forced to drop out because of a conflict with school. Having placed first runner-up in...

Addison Uskuraitis, 11, is painstakingly pulling weeds around a raised bed filled with dinosaur kale. When asked if she would enjoy eating the kale, even served with bacon, she recoiled and responded with a hearty “No!” It’s the tomatoes growing in another part of the bed of this Vandergrift community...

Lower Burrell City Administrator Amy Rockwell is the new president of the Association for Pennsylvania Municipal Management (APMM), a state-wide organization of professional managers for local and county governments. Rockwell, a city resident, will serve a three-year term. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for her and the City of Lower Burrell,”...

Natural gas lamps along Allegheny River Boulevard in Oakmont may be going out as a borough committee seeks state funding for replacements. Oakmont Boulevard Project members have been working on converting the gas lamps across from the businesses along the cobblestone road to LED lights for years. Some were converted...

Free bicycle helmets and tuneups will be featured at Tarentum’s first bike rodeo. The event, sponsored by the borough’s Special Events Committee and police department, is set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 13, at the borough marina under the Tarentum Bridge. About 100 helmets will be available...

A series of public discussions on diabetes was so well-received last summer that a Tarentum nurse is doing it again this year. The main difference will be the location. Denise Kissell, a registered nurse and certified diabetes educator, is holding the talks in the gazebo in Brackenridge Memorial Park. The...

A Saltsburg man will serve at least six years in prison for causing a crash in Plum that killed a junior firefighter from Tarentum and his girlfriend’s mother. Edward Leonard Cass III, 27, was convicted on all charges, including two counts of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence....

A Pittsburgh man wanted on a warrant was jailed early Wednesday after state police say he led them on a more than 100 mph chase down Route 28 in a stolen vehicle. Jozsef “Joe Ball” Harangozo, 36, was suspected of being “under the influence of controlled substances” as he fled...

Two people are dead following a head-on crash of two pick-up trucks Wednesday morning along Route 28 in Mahoning Township, Armstrong County. State police identified the victims as Tyler Zeigler, 28, of Butler, and Mark Kirkpatrick, 59, of Summerville, Clarion County. The head-on crash happened on Routes 28/66 near Wadding...

The name of Ed Saliba will remain at the top of the New Kensington Fire Department’s chain of command. On Monday, Edward C. Saliba, the son of the city’s longtime fire Chief J. Edward Saliba, was appointed unanimously by council to succeed his father as the city’s fire chief. The...

Route 28 will be reduced to a single lane in Springdale and Harmar townships early Wednesday morning. Crews will be conducting demolition work on the Hite Road Bridge, near exit 12, causing single-lane restrictions in both directions. The southbound lanes will be restricted to one lane from 3 a.m. to...

Vandergrift got some bad news from the Westmoreland County planning department last month. The borough was turned down in its bid to acquire funds to pave 12 streets this summer. Instead, Vandergrift will have to reapply for funding through the federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program next year. The...

A Harmar bridge will shut down this month and remain closed for three months for a $1.1 million bridge replacement project. Little Deer Creek Bridge on Jacoby Road will close at 6 a.m. July 17, according to the Allegheny County Department of Public Works. The closure will be followed by...

What’s next for the only remaining Kmart in the Alle-Kiski Valley? Some customers shopping Tuesday at the Big Kmart in Hyde Park Shopping Center in Allegheny Township were pondering that question as they commented on changing conditions at the store. The Valley’s only other Kmart, along Tarentum Bridge Road in...

Leechburg-area children and adults are encouraged to take part in the second annual Operation Gratitude collection of letters, cards and drawings for troops and first responders from the community. The drive is underway through the end of the month. Sponsor Brittany McLaughlin said she is hoping to get at least...

A Harrison man was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges of possessing child pornography last year, according to federal prosecutors. According to U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady, Jack Ulrich Jr., 41, used computer graphics files to store pornographic photographs and videos of minors, some of whom...

Fox Chapel Area School District Superintendent Gene Freeman has announced his impending retirement after five years with the district. His departure is effective June 12, 2020. Freeman said it has been a great honor to lead the district and he’s proud of the path it has taken. Since he began...