Valley News Dispatch category, Page 693

An inaugural crafts and vendors festival held Saturday, March 9 in a Leechburg church is good clean fun with a serious purpose. All money raised at the festival, held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., will be donated to the Apollo Relay for Life anti-cancer program. Four Lutheran churches put...

A state grant will pay for repaving a number of Vandergrift streets this year. Vandergrift Council recently awarded a paving contract to A. Liberoni Inc. of Plum. Their price is a little more than $180,000. It was the lowest of nine bids received. According to the contract, 10 streets will...

A $328,000 state grant to a Penn State New Kensington collaborative with 14 Alle-Kiski Valley school districts will pay for teacher education and learning modules for students to take on computer coding and other technologies. The grant is part of $30 million awarded by Gov. Tom Wolf’s PAsmart, which is...

The Kiski Watershed Association will participate in the Great American Cleanup with a cleanup event at the West Leechburg Wildflower Preserve from 9 a.m. to noon March 23. Volunteers are needed and should wear boots, gloves and clothes that can get dirty. Registration is not necessary. The Keep America Beautiful/Great...

Separate projects along Route 28 will restrict traffic for several months in most of the stretch from Harrison to around the Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer. The larger of the two projects is the completion of a $34 million project started last year. That work covers a seven-mile stretch of...

Lower Burrell’s new solicitor appears to be charging about half as much as the city’s former solicitor, but the former solicitor questions whether the city will wind up paying half as much. City council voted this month to part ways with its longtime solicitor, Stephen Yakopec Jr. It then hired...

The Highland Hose Volunteer Fire Company kicked off the 2019 fish fry season on Ash Wednesday. Like many volunteer fire departments, churches and service organizations, Highland Hose serves fried fish throughout the Lenten season as a way of raising funds as well as bringing the community together....

A Harrison man was arrested this week after police say he assaulted another man because he was singing Christmas songs in the car. According to court documents, Clayton Lucas, 25, of Eisenhower Drive told police he began to choke a man who was driving the car because the driver was...

Lawyers for John Kunco, the former Harrison man who served nearly three decades behind bars for the rape of a New Kensington woman, wants a judge to dismiss the case. In court motions filed Thursday, lawyers contend missing evidence and the loss of testimony through the deaths of the alleged...

Kiski Township police are investigating two fraudulent withdrawal attempts from North Apollo Borough’s bank account in February. According to borough council, someone tried to withdraw $4,200 from the borough’s Apollo Trust Bank account on Feb. 12 and another $5,000 on Feb. 26. An unauthorized person tried to convey the money...

A Deer Lakes School District principal is being recognized for her efforts to make sure students are eating a healthy breakfast every day. Jennifer Cavalancia, principal at Curtisville Primary Center, was named as a 2019 Pennsylvania School Breakfast Hero, sponsored by the No Kid Hungry campaign. Cavalancia said in a...

An Oklahoma Borough man will serve five years on probation and a year of house arrest for his role in what Westmoreland County prosecutors continue to maintain is the theft of more than $200,000 of natural gas. Jeffrey Zinchini, 60, avoided jail time as part of a sentence announced Thursday....

A 30-year-old Duquesne man accused of helping Rahmael Sal Holt escape arrest following the November 2017 shooting death of a New Kensington police officer was convicted Thursday of hindering apprehension in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski found Holt’s cousin, Marcel R. Mason, guilty of the third-degree...

The death of a 1-month-old boy who police said suffocated after his father fell asleep with him was not an accident, Westmoreland County’s top prosecutor said Thursday. Owen Copney was repeatedly told not to fall asleep with the boy, Isiah, on his chest but did it anyway, District Attorney John...

Motorists traveling on Route 28 near the Pittsburgh Mills mall will be among those who will have to work around lane restrictions for most of the spring and summer. The traffic disruption stems from a major overhaul of the Butler-Logan Road bridge, which crosses over Route 28 in Frazer. The...

A chronic problem with the Vandergrift pool is prompting council to apply for an $80,000 loan to buy a pool liner. Councilman Pete Basile, the recreation committee chairman, pleaded with his council colleagues to take some action to keep the borough-owned Joseph A. Petrarca Veterans Memorial Pool running with summer...

West Deer is selling a Harley Davidson motorcycle to raise money for police equipment. A bid of at least $17,500 is required for the 2001 Harley Davidson Willie G. motorcycle, which remains in its original packing crate. Township Manager Daniel Mator said a local family that collects motorcycles donated the...

Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent. As such, it also marked the beginning of fish fry season. Many local fire departments and churches will offer various meatless dinners and a la carte items every Friday through Good Friday (April 19) as a way to help raise money for their...

Lower Burrell Council voted unanimously Monday to approve $2.8 million in spending for the long-anticipated renovation of City Hall. The biggest chunk of money will go to Arcon Contracting of Lower Burrell, which bid $2,015,000 to be the project’s general contractor. Arcon beat out 11 other bidders. Other contracts awarded...

Tarentum is considering getting into the building demolition business. Council President Erika Josefoski is suggesting the borough buy its own equipment, such as an excavator. The borough could use the equipment to tear down abandoned and dilapidated buildings instead of hiring a contractor. The borough has a big enough budget...

State grant money coming to Tarentum for a dog park may instead be used to update the borough’s outdated utility billing systems. The borough is slated to receive more than $200,000 in Keystone Communities grants. The bulk of it, $191,000, would pay for several repairs, improvements and additions at Riverview...

A Vandergrift man admitted he fell asleep with his infant son, who suffocated and died, according to police. Owen Labrenn Copney, 26, said he had been warned about falling asleep with his 1-month-old son, Isiah, on his chest. He faces a pair of felonies in connection with his son’s death....

Vandergrift residents who turn a blind eye to code violations on their property are about to see the light. Council on Monday approved the so-called Quality of Life ordinance that will allow the borough to issue tickets to code violators and fine them. The fine for the first occurrence is...