Valley News Dispatch category, Page 689
10 people at Indiana Twp. group home checked out after fumes fill building
Ten people at an Indiana Township group home for youths were taken for evaluation and released Thursday night after apparently being affected by fumes. Allegheny County spokeswoman Amie Downs said someone called 911 from the Western Pennsylvania Adult and Teen Challenge campus off of Lefever Hill Road reporting that people...
Leechburg police hope DNA can crack bank robbery case
Investigators are hoping DNA tests could help identify the culprit who pulled off a bank caper in Leechburg last year. Someone tunneled from a vacant storefront at 154 Market St. into the wall of the First Commonwealth Bank next door at 152 Market St. in January 2018. The FBI believes...
East Deer couple charged with stealing more than $3,000 worth of items, scrapping them
An East Deer couple is charged with breaking into a house and stealing more than $3,000 worth of items later sold at a scrap yard. Joseph Samuel Gould, 35, told police he stole copper wire and a generator from the home and sold them for about $72 at PJ Greco...
Tarentum man accused of beating son, 3, for soiling himself
A Tarentum man is accused of beating his 3-year-old son with a belt because he soiled his diaper. Andre Coral Stanford Jr., 36, of East Street faces a felony charge of endangering the welfare of children and a misdemeanor charge of simple assault. A warrant was issued for his arrest...
No one injured in wild wreck on Route 908 in FawnVideo
Officials said it’s miraculous no one was injured in a wild wreck on Route 908 in Fawn on Thursday morning that left one car on top of another. Both cars were resting against a guardrail just short of a steep embankment when they came to a stop, stacked almost like...
3 Highlands teachers receive grants from school retiree group
Three Highlands teachers have received grants from the Pennsylvania Association of School Retirees. High school Spanish teacher Laura Proano and Kevin Mason, a fifth-grade teacher at the middle school, are sharing a $750 educational support grant from the association. Jody Shumaker, a second-grade teacher at Highlands Elementary School, received a...
Highlands Elementary school to showcase technology
The technology that Highlands elementary students use for learning will be on display during an upcoming event. Highlands Elementary School and Remake Learning will host a “Technology Showcase” on the evening of Thursday, May 9. It will run from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the cafeteria at the school...
Motorist suffers head injury when car goes over hillside in Bell Township
A man was transported to a local hospital with a head injury after crashing his four-door Saturn over a hillside in Bell Township. Township Fire Chief Steve Master said crews were dispatched to the intersection of Route 819 and Route 66 near the Bell and Washington townships border shortly before...
Man accused of home improvement fraud in Apollo, North Apollo
A 46-year-old contractor is accused of home improvement fraud and theft in North Apollo and Apollo last year. Charles Todd Doland of Woodward Avenue, Apollo, is accused of accepting almost $11,000 in upfront money but not doing the work. He allegedly took a $4,700 down payment to install a metal...
School bus company owner cautions that switching carriers can be tricky
Price shouldn’t be the only consideration in choosing a school bus company, but price was why Mark D. Schmitt didn’t make an offer to the Highlands School District. Schmitt owns Monark Student Transportation in Richland and has been in the business his entire life. He considered submitting a proposal to...
Highlands searching for new assistant superintendent
The Highlands School District is looking for a new assistant superintendent. The position became vacant when the school board named Monique Mawhinney to replace Michael Bjalobok as superintendent beginning April 1. Mawhinney started as the district’s assistant superintendent in April 2018. The district had not had an assistant superintendent since...
Tarentum Police looking for burglary suspects
Tarentum police are looking for two men accused of breaking into and stealing items from a borough home on Tuesday. Police Chief Bill Vakulick said the burglary was reported to police shortly before noon Tuesday. It occurred in the 600 block of Second Avenue. Police believe one of the men...
3 facing meth charges in North Vandergrift section of Parks
State troopers arrested three people Monday in Parks and charged them with possessing or selling methamphetamine. Troopers said Steven Taylor Green, 43, of Erie was at the residence of Liana Nicole Zaffuto, 32, and Jeffrey Shawn Lookhart, 34. The troopers were at a residence in the North Vandergrift section of...
West Penn Power spending $43 million to trim, remove trees along power lines
West Penn Power plans to spend $43 million this year to trim and remove trees that could pose problems for power lines in an effort to minimize outages across its 24-county service area. Six contractors for the Greensburg-based utility company have trimmed more than 600 circuit miles of electric lines...
Bridge replacement to close Harrison road for 3 months
Part of Pleasantville Road in Harrison will be closed for three months while a bridge is being replaced, PennDOT announced Wednesday. The work to replace the bridge over Little Bull Creek between Burtner Road and Keystone Street is scheduled to start at 7 a.m. on Monday. Pleasantville Road will be...
Vote to replace Roenigk bus company at Highlands comes up short
The Highlands School Board came up one vote short Tuesday in a move to replace the district’s longstanding bus company, W.L. Roenigk, with a competitor, ABC Transit. The board held a special meeting at the high school Tuesday after a vote to award the five-year contract to ABC Transit was...
Upper Burrell awaits judge’s OK on redrawn voting districts
Westmoreland County elections officials Tuesday approved a redistricting plan for Upper Burrell that is expected to shorten lines at the polls. The proposal calls for moving the line that separates the town’s two voting precincts several blocks in the Seventh Street and Pleasant Valley Road areas, elections bureau director Beth...
Oakmont apartment struck by lightning, no injuries reported
Dave Kalatschoff was shocked when lightning struck his Oakmont apartment on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. “I saw this big white flash, and it felt like someone shook you really, really hard,” he said standing outside the three-story building near the intersection of Eighth Street and Washington Avenue. “I didn’t get...
PennDOT schedules road maintenance in Westmoreland County
PennDOT officials on Tuesday said numerous maintenance projectshave been scheduled for Westmoreland County this week. Crack or joint sealing will take on Leechburg Road in Lower Burrell, Bushy Run Road in Penn Township and Belle Vernon Monessen Road in Rostraver Township. Shoulder repairs will take place on Baker School Road...
Kiski Area students get real lessons from a real cop
The mood was sober during Allegheny Township police Officer Charity Butz’s presentation Tuesday on the dangers and penalties for driving under the influence for a freshman health class at Kiski Area High School. But the students perked up considerably when they wore goggles that simulate being drunk or under the...
Police say Homestead man shot in Kittanning over drug debt
A 40-year-old Homestead man was shot in the hand in Kittanning on Friday over a drug debt, state police said. Police said the incident happened in an apartment along the 100 block of South Jefferson Street at about 9:45 a.m. Willie Lunsford, 33, of Mount Union; Eric McKenzie, 32, of...
Armstrong County man charged with raping mentally disabled teen
An Armstrong County man already required to register as a sex offender is accused of raping a mentally disabled teenage girl last year, according to state police. Dwayne Edward Hawk, 52, of Manor Township also is charged with statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and three related charges. He was...
Deer Lakes High School hosts prom for senior citizens
If you’re over 55 years old and looking for an excuse to dress up and have some fun then you’re in luck. The Deer Lakes High School National Honor Society is putting on a Senior Citizen Prom Night in May as a way to provide a night of entertainment for...
Harrison commissioners OK removing roads from projects
Harrison may not be able to repair all the roads it planned to this year. The township sought bids to resurface 18 roads and to seal and coat nine alleys and lanes. The two contracts came in at $481,500, nearly $80,000 more than the township budgeted, according to township Engineer...
Highlands school board candidates outline priorities at Harrison forum
More transparency, more fiscal responsibility and a focus on teaching basic life skills to complement a strong curriculum were among the ideas expressed by Highlands School Board candidates at a forum in Harrison. “I’ve gone to many, many meetings and watched the deterioration and frustration of the community,” said Region...
