Valley News Dispatch category, Page 658

Highlands School District placed a middle school English teacher who has worked for the district for more than 20 years on unpaid leave in April. But the district is refusing to name the teacher despite a recent state ruling in a separate but similar case where the district was ordered...

The son of a local district judge and nephew of Westmoreland County’s district attorney pleaded guilty Thursday to drug distribution charges. Stephen Yakopec III, 29, of Lower Burrell, could face up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced in about three months. In court on Thursday, Yakopec pleaded...

A Jeannette man was arrested Thursday by Westmoreland County Detectives and charged with raping a girl over the past eight years. Ronald Lee Rice, 59, was arraigned before Washington Township District Judge Jason Buczak on charges of rape, aggravated indecent assault on a person less than 13 years old and...

A babysitter will be charged with child endangerment after Tarentum police say she left a 2-year-old boy alone in Riverview Memorial Park on Tuesday. Karen Jones, 56, of Pittsburgh, allegedly told police she left the boy in the park so she could go back to the child’s Second Avenue home...

Funding for family centers in Pennsylvania has been fully restored for the next two years, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services said Thursday. A change in how state money is allocated that would have caused eight of Allegheny County’s 10 centers to close generated widespread concern and...

Highlands School Board has approved a proposed final $46.2 million 2019-20 budget which includes a 3.3% property tax increase, the maximum the state allows for the district without a referendum or special exceptions. The school board approved the proposed final budget Monday. The 0.81 mill increase would raise the district’s...

Residents are confused and a legal expert is concerned after the Highlands School Board approved changes to its policy on public comment at its meetings. As revised, residents now are only able to comment on agenda items at the end of the school board’s planning meetings, and at the beginning...

A newspaper delivery driver was shot and killed while out on his route early Thursday in New Kensington, police said. Gregory L. Smith, 69, of New Kensington was shot in the head, according to the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office. The coroner’s office ruled the death a homicide. New Kensington police...

A 16-year-old Harrison boy accused of setting fire to a Sheldon Park apartment building that caused about $500,000 damage last month was ordered by juvenile court Tuesday to stay in the Shuman Juvenile Detention Center until his hearing is held, an Allegheny County detective confirmed. Two women and a wheelchair-bound...

At least two incumbents of the New Kensington-Arnold School Board are on their way out, and another’s tenure appears to be hanging in the balance, according to Westmoreland County’s unofficial election results. In the Democratic Party race for Region I, two candidates received the same number of votes for one...

All events are on Monday unless otherwise noted. Allegheny Township The Pennsylvania Hero Walk Team, also known as Kiski Valley Veterans and Patriots, will sponsor a service at 10 a.m. Saturday at the War Memorial, 21 Towne Center Drive. The event will honor the late Sgt. Jason M. McClary, and...

Attorney Steve Yakopec Jr. squeaked by in the 11th hour — literally — of election night Tuesday to win a Democratic nomination for one of two city council seats up for grabs in November. Yakopec edged out incumbent Democrat Christopher Koziarski by just five votes, but only after absentee ballots...

After 25 years in education, Debbie Beucker is ready to call it a career. Beucker has worked in the Highlands School District for 16 of those years, split evenly between serving as assistant principal of the district’s high school, then in the same job at the middle school. She’ll retire...

The race for Cheswick Council appears to have still come up two people short after Tuesday’s primary election. Republican incumbents Michael Girardi and Brad Yaksich were the only two running for three open four-year seats and one open two-year seat. Girardi got the nomination for both the two-year seat and...

Two incumbent Tarentum council members lost their seats in Tuesday’s primary, according to unofficial election results. In the Democratic race for a four-year, at-large seat, Councilman Tim Cornuet lost his bid for re-election to 3rd Ward Councilwoman Carrie Fox, who also won her party’s nomination for her four-year seat in...

A Tuesday morning house fire in Vandergrift was arson, state police Tpr. Seth Hellman said Wednesday. The intentionally set blaze caused about $3,500 in damage, mostly to flooring to a vacant house at at 924 Holland St. , Vandergrift fire Chief Steve Potoka said. There were no injuries. Patrolman Willie...

More than 500 runners, walkers, strollers — and even four-legged participants — came out May 19 for the St. Margaret Foundation Brian Demchak Hope Run. In its 31st year, the family friendly 5K raises money to help underserved patients at UPMC St. Margaret, near Aspinwall. Streets are filled with people...

A 2-year-old boy found alone at a Tarentum park on Tuesday is home safe but a babysitter will be charged with child endangerment, WPXI reported. Police had posted a picture of the toddler on social media asking for the public’s help in identifying him or his family. They said he...

First-time political candidate John Andrejcik clinched a victory over incumbent Lower Burrell Mayor Richard Callender in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, preliminary vote tallies show. Andrejcik, 60, a Navy veteran and retired Allegheny County Common Pleas court reporter, secured 55% of the vote to Callender’s 45%, with all nine precincts reporting, according...

The husband of a district judge edged out an incumbent Harrison commissioner in Tuesday’s Democratic Party primary, while another incumbent on the ballot cruised to victory. In Harrison’s 3rd Ward, challenger Eric S. Bengel defeated incumbent Robin Bergstrom by 18 votes, 182-164, according to unofficial results. Bengel, who had never...

Plum School District’s packed primary race resulted in Republican committee-endorsed candidates sweeping their party nods with several Democratic newcomers on the November ballot, ensuring a contested general election for six seats. Incumbents Steve Schlauch (14.13 %), Sue Caldwell (13.18 %) and Karin Acquaviva (11.92 %), along with fellow Republicans Jacqueline...

The challenger who defeated incumbent Arnold Mayor Karen Peconi in Tuesday’s primary called her actions last summer “an embarrassment” to the city, and it appears many Democratic voters agreed based on Joe Bia II’s victory by a three-to-one margin. Bia, an Arnold councilman with two years left in his first...

Two challengers sent an incumbent packing Tuesday in primary races for Highlands School Board, according to unofficial results. All three candidates cross-filed to seek two nominations up for grabs in the Republican and Democratic primaries in Highlands’ Region 3. Kristie J. Babinsack, 46, won the GOP and Democratic races, collecting...

A longtime aide to former state Sen. Don White will replace his former boss in Harrisburg, according to unofficial election results. Republican Joe Pittman collected nearly two-thirds of the votes cast in Tuesday’s primary to defeat Indiana University of Pennsylvania professor Susan Boser in a special election race in the...