Valley News Dispatch category, Page 657
Hospice workers grant Harrison man’s wish to visit his wife’s grave
When Carmen Amelio’s wife died in 2001, he wanted to give her the grave site he thought she deserved. So Amelio set out on a labor of love. He invested nearly $30,000 in his wife’s memory. He paid for a mausoleum so he could be buried with her. He installed...
Ten Commandments monument dedicated at new home in New KensingtonVideo
A Ten Commandments monument stood outside New Kensington’s Valley High School when Adele Jablonski was a student there decades ago. On Thursday, Jablonski, 64, joined students from Mary Queen of Apostles School, including her 9-year-old granddaughter, Liliana Hadley, at a ceremony dedicating and blessing the monument in front of its...
Forecast brighter for Touch A Truck II in North Apollo
Last year, rain dampened attendance at the Kiski Township Police Department’s Touch A Truck event. This year, the forecast is for much brighter skies for Touch A Truck II on Saturday. It will again be held at the River Road Auto Sales at 2118 River Ave. in North Apollo. Various...
Familiar faces will staff new First Commonwealth Bank in HarrisonVideo
First Commonwealth Bank will be opening its new office in Harrison on Monday. For customers unsure about the move 2 miles down Freeport Road, a familiar face will be there — Cheryl Rezak. Rezak, 59, has worked at the bank in Heights Plaza shopping center for nearly 40 years. She...
Burrell grads set to ride out Hurricane Dorian in N.C.
Erika Fitch and Patrick Duffey wanted to try something new, so the 2012 graduates of Burrell High School packed up their apartment in Robinson and moved to North Carolina three months ago. Preparing for a hurricane wasn’t the new experience they were looking for, but that’s what they’ve found themselves...
Allegheny Valley school officials to consider youth club’s request to use soccer field
The Allegheny Valley School Board will hold a special meeting Thursday to consider a proposal from Arsenal Football Club of PA to use a district soccer field. The meeting will be held at 3:30 p.m. at Acme Elementary School, 300 Pearl Ave. in Cheswick. District spokeswoman Jan Zastawniak said the...
Etna man charged with stealing car, burglarizing chamber of commerce office at Pittsburgh Mills
At Etna man is accused of stealing a car and breaking into the Alle-Kiski Strong Chamber at the Pittsburgh Mills mall. Frazer police charged Richard D. Lenhart, 48, with burglary, trespassing, receiving stolen property, access device fraud, theft, and traffic violations in connection to the Aug. 28 incident. He remained...
Allegheny County receives $3.5M grant to help reduce youth homelessness
A Tarentum-based domestic violence center has a number of programs that could benefit from an Allegheny County grant aimed at reducing youth homelessness. Depending on the grant’s focus, Michelle Gibb, Alle-Kiski HOPE Center executive director, said there are different ways the grant could benefit her organization, which provides numerous homeless...
Tarentum considering installing electric vehicle charging station
An electric vehicle charging station could be coming to Tarentum — and using it might be free. Borough officials are considering installing one or more ChargePoint charging stations in the borough parking lot near J.G.’s Tarentum Station Grille. A state reimbursement program would cover most of the installation cost, borough...
Communities asked to extend sanitary authority for $18M loan
The four communities that founded the Upper Allegheny Joint Sanitary Authority are being asked to extend its life so the authority can borrow $18 million. The money would be spent on equipment and infrastructure such as a bigger pump station and lines and a new retention tank to increase the...
Lower Burrell man accused of almost hitting trooper, fleeing DUI checkpoint
A Lower Burrell man is in the Butler County Jail, accused of nearly running down a state trooper at a DUI checkpoint over the weekend. Terrell Eugene Leonard, 27, of Craigdell Road faces nine charges, including felony aggravated assault on a police officer. Police said the incident began Saturday night...
Demolition work on former Belvedere Hotel to begin next week
Demolition and cleanup of the former Belvedere Hotel in Oklahoma Borough — which was reduced to a pile of asbestos-contaminated rubble in July and is considered a “public health hazard” — will begin on Sept. 11, officials said. The $85,000 project will close a section of Orr Avenue between Hancock...
Vandergrift to add police officers
Two new full-time officers will join the Vandergrift police force. Christian Disciscio and Jerrod Thompson were hired by borough council Tuesday night. Both will make $44,624 to start, or, 70 percent of a full-time salary They replaced Ben Michaels and Jose Pentova, who left to serve elsewhere. The hires are...
Car catches fire near kerosene tank at Sheetz in Plum; no one injured
A car caught fire Tuesday night near a kerosene tank in the parking lot of a Sheetz gas station in Plum, prompting officials to shut down the gas pumps and close the convenience store for several hours. No one was injured in the incident, officials said. Plum police and firefighters...
Traffic restrictions continuing on East 10th in Tarentum
Work that tied up traffic on East 10th Street in Tarentum on Tuesday will continue Wednesday, borough Manager Michael Nestico said. Borough public works crews on Tuesday were helping a private contractor repair a collapsed manhole and pipe on East 10th near Ormond Street. Nestico said he learned late Tuesday...
Refurbished Leechburg Public Library reopensVideo
Leechburg’s public library reopened Tuesday. The early afternoon turn-out was slow, but appreciative. In recent days, the refurbished library got attention from about 10 community volunteers who spruced up the facility, library board President Karen Freilino said. Librarian Lisa Kimbrugh welcomed Brooklyn Redmond, a sixth grader, as the first patron,...
Man, woman face drug charges following Kiski Township arrest
Kiski Township police said a phony car inspection sticker and a confidential informant’s tip helped them stop a suspected methamphetamine deal last Thursday. A criminal complaint filed in the case said a pickup driven by Jacqueline D. Pratt, 50, of Avonmore drew an officer’s attention because it appeared to have...
4 men charged in Arnold shooting near police station
Police say two men involved in a shoot-out just a block from Arnold’s police station in May still are at large. Four New Kensington men face charges in connection with the shooting, in which more than 30 shots were fired. Two of the men are in jail awaiting hearings. Arnold...
New Kensington traffic stop yields drugs, gun
New Kensington police say they found drugs and a gun on a man they pulled over along Seventh Street last week. Matthew Bryant Mojica, 27, of Strabane, Washington County, faces drug, gun and related charges after the incident on Aug. 27. Police say Mojica had bags of powdered fentanyl, heroin...
Hand, fingerprints sought for new sign at Tarentum community garden
The growing season is starting to wind down at Tarentum’s Greg Blythe Friendship Garden, and children and families are being invited to the garden this weekend. In addition to a work day on Saturday, children and families will be able to contribute their finger and handprints for a new, permanent...
Tarentum Recreation Board hosting health fair in park
Helping people live a healthier life is the driving force behind a new health fair in Tarentum. The Tarentum Recreation Board is holding the fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Carl J. Magnetta Jr. Memorial Amphitheater in Riverview Memorial Park. “Health fairs serve a lot of...
For chronic Lyme patients, every day can be a struggleVideo
It was bad enough that Amy Wiester of Bell Township contracted Lyme disease at age 6 after suffering a tick bite at her family’s farm. But Wiester, 36, was bitten twice more by Lyme-carrying ticks, in 2004 and 2018. The disease — and the co-infections that frequently accompany it —...
Upper Burrell pallet supplier thrives making old things new againVideo
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 Czebiniak at mczebiniak@tribweb.com. Joe Delo’s father once questioned his decision to rent...
Alle-Kiski residents lend voices to Vietnam War exhibit at Heinz History Center
Alle-Kiski Valley residents’ experiences and artifacts punctuate the Heinz History Center’s “The Vietnam War: 1945-1975.” And if you want to see them, you only have until Sept. 22. The Vietnam War exhibit has been one of the Center’s most popular exhibits attendance-wise, especially the guided tours on weekends, according to...
Fire at Heights Plaza in Harrison believed to be suspicious
A fire at the rear loading dock of the former Save-A-Lot in Heights Plaza in Harrison appears to have been deliberately set, officials said Monday. The blaze was contained to the rear of the building and did not extend to nearby businesses, said Citizens Hose Fire Chief Sean Jones. “It’s...
