Valley News Dispatch category, Page 691
North Apollo man, 21, dies in motorcycle wreck on Dime Road, Parks Township
Armstrong County Coroner’s Office has identified the man who died in motorcycle crash Friday night on Dime Road in Parks Township. The crash victim was identified as Alec D. Miller, 21, of North Apollo. Miller was killed near Ed’s Tire & Auto Services when his bike, a 2018 Husqvarna, went...
Volunteers put on the glam for Highlands prom-goersVideo
They came in all colors and textures — up ’dos, down ’dos and braids. Welcome to prom prep — free and courtesy of a team of volunteer hairdressers, makeup artists and manicurists Friday at Highlands High School. The special primping event took place hours before Highlands’ prom, “A Night at...
Buffalo Township receiving road work bids
Buffalo Township officials want to improve Beale Road this spring or summer, according to township Road Master John E. Gaydos. “About a mile on Beale will be paved,”Gaydos said. He said 14 roads are on the list to receive seal coating. That list includes Buffalo Trail, Mesa, Bison, Cherokee, Settler’s...
AHN says it’s unsure how LifeCare bankruptcy will impact Harrison patients
A Texas company that operates a long-term skilled nursing unit at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison has filed for bankruptcy, but officials with the hospital’s parent company are unsure how it will affect operations there. New LifeCare Hospitals LLC of Plano, Texas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday. The...
Brackenridge church to bless firefighters
A Brackenridge church will be blessing firefighters on Saturday. Fire departments are the focus of this year’s “Blessing of the First Responders” at Generations House of Worship, 1160 Parkside Drive. The event will begin at 2 p.m. with a blessing over vehicles and equipment. The event is scheduled to run...
Washington Township awards $206,000 contract for road work
Township supervisors Thursday announced the low bidder for a road work contract: Suit-Kote Corp. of Meadville with $206,000 for seal coating township roads and the Kunkle Park parking lot and road. This year’s township seal coating will cover the following roads: Crestwood Drive, Gilmar Road from Utopia Road to Beamer...
Greensburg man accused of ripping off Upper Burrell employer
A Greensburg man is accused of stealing more than $8,000 worth of industrial metal from his Upper Burrell employer in just one month. A video arraignment was held Friday for Jeffrey Alexander Hart, 31, of Kenneth Street, who was being held in the Westmoreland County jail. In Hart’s arrest report,...
Highlands looking at about $100K for Tarentum clock tower project
Repairs to the clock tower at Highlands Elementary School in Tarentum could cost the district nearly $100,000, based on bids opened Thursday. Highlands received two bids for the project, from Wilson Restoration of Plum and Pullman SST of Kennedy. A third company, Marsa of Castle Shannon, attempted to submit a...
Limited space remains for annual St. Joseph High School golf fundraiser
St. Joseph High School’s biggest annual fundraiser is coming up in June. Limited space remains for the 27th annual “Spartan Scramble,” being held June 10 at Lenape Heights Golf Resort in Manor, Armstrong County. The event includes golf, dinner, auctions and a “super raffle.” More than 100 golfers participate each...
Tarentum forced to buy tons of road salt by start of summer
At this time of year, salt is more likely to be used for french fries or margaritas than for melting snow and ice. But Tarentum will buy nearly 300 tons of road salt by the end of June — because a contract says it has to. And, worse, there’s no...
Tarentum forgives $83K in delinquent property taxes
With a vote Thursday, Tarentum Council wiped its books clean of property taxes that had not been paid for more than 14 years and likely never would be paid. Others who owe but have not gotten on payment plans will find their names posted to the borough’s website Friday, borough...
Anytime Fitness in Oakmont named top club in Pennsylvania
Anytime Fitness in Oakmont was recently named the top club in the state by company officials. There are more than 70 clubs in Pennsylvania and 2,466 in the United States. The 24-hour gym at 111 Allegheny Ave. had ranked in the top 20 nationally since March 2018 and reached No....
Tarentum girl, 2, helps honor first responders who saved her life
In March, Tarentum police and Eureka paramedics responded to a true life-or-death call. Life won. Isabella Nulph, 2, nearly drowned in a pool in the backyard of her family’s Fifth Avenue home March 14. The first responders who helped save her life — two Tarentum police officers and five crew...
2 Westmoreland apartment complexes named in lawsuit over disability access
Ann Sloan was surprised to learn that the owner of the Hempfield apartment complex where she lives is being sued by the federal government for discriminating against disabled renters by building units that have “significant accessibility barriers.” “Everything is fine for me,” said Sloan, who uses a walker to get...
Could it happen? Study into Route 28 expressway expansion to I-80 gets funding
The Armstrong County Commissioners and the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission have received funding to conduct a feasibility study for making the Route 28 expressway a limited access highway all the way to Interstate 80. Officials have wanted to expand Route 28 from Kittanning in Armstrong to I-80 in Jefferson County for...
Freeport Area OKs proposed tax hike of about 3%, final vote in June
By a one-vote margin, Freeport Area School Board approved a proposed 2019-2020 budget raising taxes to the state-mandated limit. The result would be a 3% or $62 annual increase in real estate taxes on an Armstrong County property with a median assessed value of $32,465. In Butler County, taxes on...
‘Todo Tango’ coming to Tarentum’s Central Presbyterian Church
Do the tango with mom on Sunday. “Todo Tango,” a performance of tango dance music and songs featuring Warren Davidson on violin, Tom Roberts at the piano and mezzo-soprano Raquel Winnica Young is happening at 4 p.m. on Mother’s Day at Central Presbyterian Church in Tarentum. It’s the last concert...
Billboard firm appealing Tarentum’s denial of digital signs near bridge
An advertising company is challenging a Tarentum official’s decision to quash the firm’s plans to put up a digital billboard at the end of the Tarentum Bridge. The borough’s zoning hearing board is scheduled to hear Oliver Outdoor’s appeal this month. The Butler-based company is appealing zoning officer Anthony Bruni’s...
4 Armstrong County drug task force members on leave after money goes missing
Four members of Armstrong County’s Narcotics Enforcement Team (ARMNET) are on administrative leave while the district attorney investigates $300 missing in a drug case. The issue surfaced last week during First Assistant District Attorney Jared Trent’s preparation for the jury trial of a Kittanning man on drug charges. Trent found...
Highlands changes expectations for savings with new bus company
Highlands School District says it will save only about half the money it expected to save by bringing on a new bus company. And its current transportation provider, W.L. Roenigk, insists the district would actually save more than $1 million over five years by sticking with them. The school board...
Fishing teaches lessons, builds bridges at Valley High School in New KensingtonVideo
Something was fishy at Valley High School on Wednesday. The annual fish-for-fun day for fourth-graders was sponsored by Arnold and New Kensington police. The fishing day was established about four years ago by the Arnold and New Kensington police chiefs and New Kensington Patrolman Joe Locke, a previous school resource...
Brackenridge’s Platinum Ridge to celebrate $1.5M faceliftVideo
Matt Tack wants to celebrate, and apologize, on Saturday. Tack is the new administrator at Platinum Ridge Center for Rehabilitation and Healing in Brackenridge. The 97-bed licensed skilled nursing facility had been under renovation for about three years. “It’s been a long time,” Tack said, saying that the center was...
Surveillance cameras capture Vandergrift Dollar General robbery
The search is continuing for a man who robbed the Dollar General store in Vandergrift last week. Vandergrift police have released surveillance photos of the April 30 crime and are seeking tips regarding the case. The photos show the robber entering and leaving the store in the 500 block of...
Learn how to get your Real ID at events in Oakmont, Harrison and New Kensington
State Rep. Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont, and PennDOT are offering free public information sessions locally on the new requirements for residents to obtain Real ID. Although not mandatory, Pennsylvania residents trying to board domestic flights after Oct. 1, 2020, will need to present a Real ID driver’s license or identification card...
Johnstown man accused of leading Lower Burrell police on chase
A Johnstown man is accused of driving into a parked vehicle in Lower Burrell and leading police on a chase through New Kensington before he was pulled over early Saturday, police said. Christopher Jamison, 36, also is accused of driving a vehicle without an ignition interlock device, which he is...
