Valley News Dispatch category, Page 693

A 21-year-old man has been charged in connection with a shooting Thursday in Plum. Malik Hawkins, no address given, was arrested without incident, Allegheny County Police said Friday. He was being held in the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh without bail on charges of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, burglary, weapons...

The installation of new water valves in Tarentum has been finished early. The work, initially expected to take two weeks, was completed on Thursday, Borough Manager Michael Nestico said. Residents were warned on Jan. 3 that the work could cause brief water outages. Nine new valves were installed as part...

Four seats on Tarentum Council will be up for election this year instead of the usual three. The extra race comes about because of the resignation of 3rd Ward Councilwoman Rhonda Dzugan. The six remaining council members accepted her resignation Thursday. In her resignation email Tuesday, Dzugan cited family matters...

New Kensington council will be hiring three new police officers to fill vacancies created by retirements, city Clerk Dennis Scarpiniti said. Council is scheduled to vote on the hires at a special meeting at 4 p.m. Monday, once members receive an approved list from the city’s Civil Service Commission. That...

A truck driver from Florida was not hurt after rolling over his flatbed tractor-trailer on Route 28 in Harrison early Thursday afternoon. The crash was reported shortly after 12:30 p.m. It happened on the southbound side of the highway just past the curved bridge over Saxonburg Road past Exit 16...

School officials are hoping the solid bonds the Freeport Area School District has with the Lenape Vocational School continue. Wesley P. Kuchta, Lenape’s new administrative director, spoke before the school board Wednesday night and emphasized the success Freeport Area students have had at Lenape. “It’s important that superintendents and I...

The driver of a tractor-trailer truck was injured late Thursday morning after he lost control of his truck and it flipped onto its side on the off-ramp of Route 28 near Tarentum. State police charged the driver, Brian Dawson, 52, of Cabot, with driving a vehicle at unsafe speeds. State...

Police still have not found the elderly man who went missing from South Buffalo more than two weeks ago. Several hundred emergency volunteers, family and friends searched for Kenneth L. Himes, 70, after he left the home of a family member along Cadogan-Slate Lick Road between 11:30 p.m. Christmas night...

The legal challenge to an Upper Burrell supervisors’ decision to allow unconventional gas drilling is stalled in Westmoreland County Court, in part, because not all of the paperwork has been filed. Upper Burrell Citizens Against Marcellus Pollution, a group seeking to curb gas drilling in the largely rural township, appealed...

Huntley & Huntley has applied to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for permits to drill unconventional gas wells at two sites in Upper Burrell. The sites are on industrial property owned by Acronic and Alcoa. The “Selene” and “Calliope” well pads are about a mile apart, located off of...

The lights are out on the Apollo Bridge, and the borough isn’t sure how to turn them back on. The lighting outage is just one of many tasks at the Apollo Borough office that need to be handled in the absence of a borough manager. Council Vice President Diane Bradshaw...

Arnold has a new treasurer. Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to appoint Deputy Treasurer Cathy Ozdany, 65, of Arnold, at a salary of $45,364. She will fill the position vacated by Joseph Puet, who was hired as Cheswick’s borough secretary last year. “She was the only one that applied for...

Police say an Arnold man nearly hit an officer with a car during a high-speed car chase through three Alle-Kiski Valley municipalities Monday night. Police allege Robert Maxwell Vining Jr. was drunk and high at the time. Vining allegedly apologized to the officer for nearly striking him with the car....

Property taxes aren’t going up in Tarentum in this year despite nearly $1 million in increased spending. Council approved the borough’s $3.58 million 2019 general fund budget. That’s up about 32 percent from the $2.71 million 2018 general fund budget. The property tax rate remains at 5.48 mills. The owner...

Ground at Highlands Middle School has been selected as the site of a “green infrastructure” project in Harrison. If permitted by the school district, the proposed rain garden would be built this year, said Jeff Bergman, director of community forestry with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. The garden is part of...

Tarentum Council is considering renaming the borough’s community garden. The existing Friendship Garden, from which people are free to take whatever fruits and vegetables they want or need, could be renamed to honor Pastor Greg Blythe. Blythe, pastor of Abundant Joy Fellowship, was one of the founders of the garden,...

Tarentum Council is looking to fill an empty seat. In an email Tuesday afternoon, Councilwoman Rhonda Dzugan informed the borough she would be resigning from the seven-member council because she is unable to fulfill her duties. Council will vote to accept her resignation during its meeting starting at 6 p.m....

A Tarentum man is accused of leading police on a chase through Arnold and New Kensington last year before crashing his SUV into another vehicle and injuring three people. Jaquay Karohn Primus, 22, was arraigned Tuesday on felony charges of aggravated assault, drug possession, receiving stolen property and illegally possessing...

Lisa Wilson made an impassioned farewell speech to customers at New Kensington’s Kmart store as it ended operations Sunday after more than a half-century. “The time now is 6 p.m., and the night has come that’s bittersweet,” Wilson said over the store’s loudspeaker in a video that was posted to...

Harrison commissioners on Monday unanimously approved a new contract with the union representing the township’s public works employees. The three-year agreement is retroactive to Jan. 1 and runs through Dec. 31, 2021. Commissioners voted at a special meeting held Monday afternoon. About 10 employees are represented by Local 238 of...

A Butler County judge has increased the bond for a teen accused of allegedly making an online threat to shoot students in the South Butler County School District. Jason Bowen, 18, of Middlesex Township, is charged with terroristic threats, causing catastrophe, possession of drug paraphernalia and a weapons offense. District...