Valley News Dispatch category, Page 664
West Deer, Deer Lakes School District look for ways to spur growth
West Deer and Deer Lakes School District officials are exploring a joint effort to jump-start development and increase the tax base. Township Supervisor Arlind Karpuzi and school board president William Lupone discussed the matter at last week’s supervisors meeting. Karpuzi wants to focus on doing something that would benefit current...
Alle-Kiski Pavilion halfway house for state inmates closes in Arnold
The Alle-Kiski Pavilion, a halfway house along Fourth Avenue in Arnold, has closed because of budget cuts at the state Department of Corrections. As a result, 35 inmates have been relocated to other facilities. Alle-Kiski Pavilion, owned by the GEO Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla., serves as a halfway...
World-renowned violinist, daughter to perform at Tarentum churchVideo
Violinist Andres Cardenes has performed all over the world with talented musicians. But he said the 16-year-old girl with whom he will perform Sunday in Tarentum tops them all. “Getting to perform with my daughter is number one,” Cardenes, the distinguished professor of violin studies at Carnegie Mellon University’s School...
Upper Burrell’s Oak Lake Golf Course to close
After a failed sealed-bid auction to sell Oak Lake Golf Course in Upper Burrell last year, the owners will close the 18-hole course Thursday, Oct. 24 and hold a public auction two days later. All of Oak Lake’s assets will be for sale at the Saturday auction, including the land,...
Shaler man waives drug charges to Armstrong County court
A Shaler man agreed Tuesday to stand trial for having about six bricks of suspected heroin when he was pulled over last month along Route 28 in South Buffalo. Anthony Donell Rue, 40, of Center Street, waived charges to court in the courtroom of District Judge J. Gary Decomo. He...
The Stroller, Oct. 19-20: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Alle-Kiski HOPE Center seeks donations The Alle-Kiski Area HOPE Center, Tarentum, is in need of household and personal items for the clients that it serves. Items needed include hair products, regular-size conditioner, make-up for all skin colors, new infant rattles, teething toys and pacifiers; and new brooms, mops and dust...
Tree of Life survivor among ‘A Gathering of Authors’Video
An author alone in a bookstore bothers Francine Costello. “I hate to see authors sitting in a bookstore waiting for people to come and buy books so they can sign them, and no one is there,” said Costello, co-owner of Word Association Publishers in Tarentum. “They are all by themselves....
Alle-Kiski Valley knitters show love by the skeinVideo
A dozen Alle-Kiski women are investing their dexterity and love for others by crocheting knit caps for newborns and a host of crocheted or knitted items to help cancer survivors. The items include “knitted knockers.” When a woman’s breast must be surgically removed and she decides against augmentation, she can...
Lower Burrell limits yard waste disposal to weekends during City Hall project
Lower Burrell residents who want to dispose of leaves and limbs behind City Hall will be able to do so only on weekends because a renovation project has closed some areas of the City Hall campus along Schreiber Street. Nita Serene, a city secretary, said the restriction will be in...
Westmoreland judge calls father of accused cop killer ‘danger to the community’
A Westmoreland County judge ruled Thursday that the father of accused cop killer Rahmael Sal Holt will remain in jail on $100,000 bond until after his son’s capital murder trial next month. Gregory Baucum Jr., 48, of Pittsburgh has been in jail since March after he was arrested and charged...
Food pantry opens in Harmar after overcoming hurdles
Feeding the Flock Ministries opened its Harmar food pantry Thursday, ending a months-long permitting dispute with the township. “It’s wonderful,” Director Michele Bock said. “I’m just hoping that moving forward we can be a good neighbor to the community.” Feeding the Flock, a nonprofit food ministry, is located at the...
Demolition of Belvedere Hotel in Oklahoma Borough cost 40% less than expected
The demolition of the Belvedere Hotel in Oklahoma Borough came in $36,000 under budget. The demolition was completed Friday and took a little more than a week. The final cost was $48,700, or about 40% less than expected. Originally, Westmoreland County came up with $75,000 and Oklahoma Borough pledged $10,000...
Vandergrift Council candidates to speak at forum
Vandergrift residents will have an opportunity to hear from three borough council candidates Thursday at a candidate forum at the Center on Franklin Avenue. Three four-year council seats are up for election this year. Candidates expected to attend include Republicans Tim Turner and Karen McClarnon and Democrat John Uskaritis. Council...
The Stroller, Oct. 18, 2019: Events in the A-K Valley
Classical music concert planned in Tarentum The concert series at Central Presbyterian Church, Tarentum, will present, “Variations on a Harp,” at 4 p.m. Sunday at the church, 305 Allegheny St. Harpist Isabel Cardenes, violinist Andres Cardenes and violist Warren Davidson will perform music by Handel, Bach, Faure and others. Donations...
Prosecutors: Man accused of killing New Kensington officer was armed drug dealer
Westmoreland County prosecutors said Wednesday they have evidence that the man accused of killing New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw was an armed drug dealer who sought to avoid arrest when he fired the fatal shots. According to court documents presented during a pretrial hearing in preparation for the capital...
School-based mental health program now at Deer Lakes
Deer Lakes School District officials said it made sense for them to partner with Wesley Family Services to offer Allegheny County’s only public school-based partial hospital program for students with severe mental health and psychological issues. The program had been based in Highlands School District for more than a decade,...
The Stroller, Oct. 17, 2019: Events in the A-K Valley
Lower Burrell festival to feature all things pumpkin There will be several special activities Saturday as part of the pumpkin patch at Bethel United Methodist Church, 150 Alder St., Lower Burrell. A craft show will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and there will be a pumpkin-themed bake sale,...
Allegheny Valley opts to demolish Colfax Elementary
Colfax Elementary School is destined to vanish from Springdale’s landscape, probably before the 2020-21 school year starts. The Allegheny Valley School Board voted 6-3 on Monday to demolish the vacated elementary school rather than try to sell it. It’s an issue the board has been wrestling with for months, even...
Lawyer: Police illegally searched phone of suspect in Lower Burrell man’s overdose
The lawyer for a Penn Hills man awaiting trial on charges that he sold drugs used in last year’s fatal overdose of a Lower Burrell man contends a police search of her client’s cellphone was illegal. Christopher Napper, 25, is charged with drug delivery resulting in death, drug possession counts...
Deer Lakes’ ‘Sharing Table’ program to reduce waste, address hunger
If you’re not going to eat that apple, don’t throw it away. That’s the philosophy behind the Deer Lakes School District’s new food sharing program, known as Sharing Tables. Starting Monday, students will be asked to leave unopened or unused food or drinks they don’t want on designated Sharing Tables...
Laundromat operator signs on for Tarentum ‘Depot’ project
A Buffalo Township businessman has signed a 20-year lease to operate a laundromat in a Tarentum building being redeveloped as a community resource center. Joe DeCroo, who operates Plaza Laundry in Harrison and the Springdale Laundromat, plans to locate his third laundromat in a Fifth Avenue building called The Depot,...
Allegheny Valley Salvation Army to launch kettle drive with 5K run/walk
The Allegheny Valley Salvation Army wants to get a running start on its red kettle drive this year. The Brackenridge-based group will launch its iconic red kettle campaign in November with a new 5K run and walk, and a 1-mile fun run for kids ages 12 and under. The Red...
St. Margaret Foundation to move New Kensington Family Health Center
UPMC St. Margaret plans to move its family health center in New Kensington from city hall to a new building on Fifth Avenue, the hospital’s foundation announced Tuesday. The St. Margaret Foundation announced a $3.4 million capital campaign for the health center’s new home. The foundation said it has raised...
Harmar church launching food bank after reaching settlement for property use
A Harmar church is set to launch its food pantry this week after reaching a settlement with the township to allow it. The agreement ended Feeding the Flock Ministries’ court appeal seeking to reverse an April decision by the township’s zoning hearing board, which sided with the township’s zoning officer...
Allegheny Township installs license plate reader system
Allegheny Township’s license plate reader system is up and running. Police Chief Duane Fisher told supervisors this week that an automated license plate reading system was installed in the Weinels section of the township. Also known as ALPRs, the devices can vary widely in appearance and are usually mounted at...
