Valley News Dispatch category, Page 649

Two Harrison residents were jailed on drug charges after police discovered more than $25,000 worth of cocaine in a home along North Canal Street. Police Chief Mike Klein said officers were responding to a disturbance call Thursday in the township’s Natrona section when they found resident Jervon Faison. He told...

A Tarentum man is wanted by state police in connection with the Sept. 17 shooting death of a Fayette County man outside his home. Trooper Richard Sizer said police are seeking the whereabouts of Omari Parker Jr., 18, who is wanted in connection with the slaying of Tywain James Reid,...

A Pittsburgh Mills mall store owner accused of selling counterfeit merchandise will be able to get a misdemeanor charge against him thrown out if he completes 100 hours of community service, a judge ruled Friday. Tommy Wang, 42, of Pittsburgh’s Highland Park neighborhood had been scheduled to appear Tuesday for...

Frank J. Furko’s claim to national fame was being the owner of a 20-pound tabby cat named Pudgie Wudgie — a famed feline in the 1990s. But Furko was more than that to people who knew him in the Oakmont and Plum areas. Furko of Plum’s East Oakmont neighborhood died...

A man with Alle-Kiski Valley ties who has drug charges pending against him in Allegheny Township is accused of shooting a man to death in Arizona. The Arizona Daily Star reported that Cam-Ron Broadway, 35, is charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a man in Tucson in March....

For the second time this week, a landslide along Route 66 in Gilpin has closed the road and it is expected to remain closed until July 1, according to PennDOT. Route 66 will be closed in both directions between Main Street in Leechburg and Airport Road in Gilpin as the...

Allegheny River Boulevard in Oakmont between Terrace Place and Virginia Avenue is expected to be closed late next month as part of a brick repair project. Council awarded the nearly $197,800 job to Apollo-based Kishmo Concrete Contractors at a meeting June 17. “They’ve done previous work for us, and they...

A Kittanning Township woman is accused of striking a pedestrian with a car while the alleged victim was searching for ghosts in April. State police said Moniekia D. Erdley, 34, yelled at the alleged victim and her friends to get off the road around 2:30 a.m. April 28 in the...

A discount grocery store in Allegheny Township apparently is closing soon. Save-A-Lot, located at 500 Hyde Park Road in Allegheny Plaza, is advertising 20% off all items in the store via handwritten signs displayed in store windows. There is no visible signage informing customers that a closing in imminent, but...

Frank C. Prazenica Jr., of the Freeport Area School Board is the new president of the ARIN 28 Intermediate Unit. The new vice president is Charles R. Glasser of the Marion Center Area School Board. The unit’s secretary is Danielle L. Patterson and treasurer is Clifford A. Geary, both of...

A recreational boating advisory will remain in effect for the Pittsburgh Point because of swift water until 8 p.m. Friday, while lock No. 5 in Gilpin on the Allegheny River will remain closed until at least Saturday because of high water. Also because of high and swift water, the Allegheny...

Frazer hired four recent police academy graduates and a soon-to-be graduate to replace five part-timers who resigned to take jobs elsewhere over the past several months. With the new hires, Frazer now has 10 part-time officers. Chief Terry Kuhns and Sgt. Aaron Scott are the only full-timers. Police departments across...

Brendan Dawson first thought about becoming a priest as an altar boy in third grade. The idea would come up from time to time over his life, but he thought his future lay along another path. “I decided I was going to go to Pitt and study political science and...

Mark Dunmire didn’t always want to be a priest, but that didn’t stop him from thinking about it. Now that he’s about to be ordained a deacon, he’s well past the point of accepting a calling that began years ago with a suggestion from his parish priest. Dunmire, 35, of...

“Chief 56” has acknowledged his last call. An icon of New Kensington firefighting, J. Edward Saliba Sr. died Wednesday afternoon. “He was 89 and a half,” said his son Edward Saliba Jr., who followed his father’s footsteps and now is the city’s fire chief. “It’s a sad day for New...

Burrell School District students will continue to have a familiar face as their school resource officer for at least another three years. School board members agreed Tuesday to keep Lower Burrell Detective John Marhefka as the resource officer, extending the district’s contract with Lower Burrell through June 30, 2022. The...

Nearly 140 Alle-Kiski Valley kids are learning how to have fun while also giving back to their community this week at the annual Fun and Freedom summer camp in Springdale. The camp is run by the faith-based nonprofit Fun and Freedom, which holds several events for area children throughout the...

Police now believe an Arnold shooting wasn’t just a drug deal gone bad; it was a robbery setup from the start. Police believe three people were involved in the plot, including a woman who initially met the victim and two men who tried to rob him, Arnold police Sgt. Joe...

A pickup truck rolled over while trying to get onto Route 28 at Exit 14 Tuesday night, causing traffic to be rerouted. Fawn Township police responded to the incident around 10:30 p.m. Officials said the pickup truck was attempting to get on the ramp heading southbound when it rolled over....

If you’ve done a poor job of parking in the Alle-Kiski Valley, odds are good that Tom Moses or one of his followers on Facebook has photographed your handiwork. “For years, I’ve been posting pictures of bad park jobs,” Moses said. “I tend to notice it. Nobody escapes me taking...

River Road reopened Wednesday after landslides had closed the road Tuesday, according to PennDOT. The road was open before 2:30 p.m., a PennDOT spokeswoman said. The road had been closed at the Leechburg and Parks Township borders, from the the intersection of Main Street in Leechburg and to Airport Road...

Police officials say a recent state Supreme Court ruling that postponed the finalization of a multi-municipal SWAT team in the Alle-Kiski Valley by several months is probably a good thing. The court ruled May 31 that municipalities must enact ordinances under the state’s Intergovernmental Cooperation Act to allow police to...

A Leechburg man was arraigned Monday on charges that he shot a woman in the face before shooting himself in the head at a Vandergrift residence in May. Police said Roy Edward Berry Jr., 49, was in a bedroom with a woman on May 5 when he fired a shot...

DNA testing helped authorities identify a man whose body was found in the Allegheny River in late March as 70-year-old Kenneth Himes, state police said Tuesday. Himes was reported missing from his brother’s home along Cadogan-Slate Lick Road in South Buffalo at about 2 a.m. Dec. 26. Police said he...