Valley News Dispatch category, Page 712
Highlands to offer superintendent job to assistant, substitute Mawhinney
The Highlands School District will not be conducting a search for a new superintendent and will be offering the job to its current substitute superintendent, Monique Mawhinney, school board President Debbie Beale announced Monday. Mawhinney, who started as assistant superintendent in April 2018, has been serving as substitute superintendent in...
State police responding to Fawn burglary taser, arrest man
State police said they used a Taser gun to subdue a man suspected of burglarizing a Fawn home last week. Justin Donald Ohler, 31, of Natrona Heights, faces charges of trespassing, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct following the incident around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. State police said troopers went to a...
Mark Madden to host Penguins-Devils watch party in New Kensington
Sports broadcast personality Mark Madden is heading to New Kensington to host a watch party Tuesday night as the Pittsburgh Penguins face off against the New Jersey Devils. Madden invited fans and the general public via Twitter to join him at the event at Leo’s Sport Page at The Quality...
Cheswick looks to fill vacant positions
Cheswick Council is expected to fill two vacant borough positions on Tuesday. The openings include a council seat left vacant after Cathy Crail resigned in late December and the borough secretary position left open when Joseph Puet resigned in January after just a couple of months on the job. Councilman...
Pastor: Higher fee won’t stop Easter egg hunt on Highlands property
The fee for a Brackenridge church to hold its annual Easter egg hunt on Highlands School District property has been slashed by more than half. The school district initially was going to charge Generations House of Worship $4,700 under its recently updated use-of-facilities policy. The fee included a $2,750 facility...
Penn State New Kensington reopens following early morning power outage
Penn State New Kensington reopened Monday afternoon following a power outage that closed the campus all morning. West Penn Power spokesman Todd Meyers said the outage was reported around 8:15 a.m. just east of the campus in the area of Seventh Street Road in Upper Burrell. He said it was...
Police: Allegheny Township woman climbed through window to evade arrest
Authorities were searching for a woman who they say climbed out of a window and knocked on her neighbors’ doors to avoid arrest Sunday night in Allegheny Township. When no neighbors let Cally Jade Mills, 26, inside their residence, she continued to run. “We believe that she’s hiding somewhere with...
Razing once-grand Belvedere Hotel along Route 66 proves to be problematic, costly
The dilapidated Belvedere Hotel along Route 66 in Oklahoma Borough could collapse anytime, spilling debris onto the road and perhaps beyond, local officials are warning. The front wall of the Swiss chalet-inspired, four-story hotel is leaning toward Route 66, Orr Avenue and active Norfolk Southern railroad tracks, according to Lee...
Animal Protectors volunteers team up to bring in, care for abandoned catsVideo
Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series that features Alle-Kiski Valley people and the notable things that they do. A pair of Alle-Kiski Valley women formed a friendship from their fondness for helping cats. Patricia Presutti of Springdale and Monica George of New Kensington have known each other...
Customers flocked to opening of Allegheny Township chicken jointVideo
There’s a new chicken joint in Allegheny Township. Big Shot Bob’s House of Wings opened last Monday, Feb. 11 in Kiski Park Plaza. Customers were lined out the door, according to co-owner Kara Jo Brank. Brank and her husband, Frank, left the corporate world for the culinary scene. After downsizing...
Freeport Area School Board must find way to close $1.5M gap
The Freeport Area School Board has passed a preliminary budget that has a $1.5 million deficit. Ultimately, the board will either have to come up with budget cuts or come up with money to close the gap, perhaps though a tax hike or using reserve funds, before passing a final...
Arnold girl missing more than a week may be in Pittsburgh, public’s help sought
Police are trying to locate a 16-year-old Arnold girl who has been missing for a week. Tauja Brown has been missing from home since Feb. 10, police said Sunday. Arnold police Chief Eric Doutt said Brown, a student at Valley Junior/Senior High School, was last seen in Arnold at 6:30...
Black migration making great impact on Pittsburgh regionVideo
Jobs in the region’s steel mills were a draw for Southern black Americans in the 20 years before World War I, but their skills and experience were greatly ignored, members of the Allegheny-Kiski Valley Historical Society members were told at a Black History Month presentation Sunday. Among those steel mills...
Ex-boyfriend a ‘person of interest’ in disappearance of Kittanning woman Katie Stoner
Kittanning police are looking for the onetime boyfriend of a missing woman. Katie L. Stoner, 27, has been missing from Kittanning since about 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Police on Sunday confirmed they want to talk with John Eugene Colbert, 30, of New Castle. They say he is Stoner’s ex-boyfriend. Kittanning Officer...
As UPMC and Highmark split, patients agonize over having to switch doctors
A New Kensington man may have to say goodbye to his neurologist at an upcoming appointment after being under his care for roughly 25 years. Jack Swanger, 65, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1991 at age 37 when he experienced double vision while on the job as a heavy-machine...
Amateur radio society recruiting members young or old
Amateur radio operators relay radio messages during natural and man-made disasters and fun events like Pittsburgh’s Great Race. And they don’t get a dime. They can’t, according to Federal Communications Commission regulations. Instead, their noncommercial messages relay information — often when cellphone towers are damaged and unavailable, such as in...
Kittanning police searching for missing woman, 27
Kittanning Borough police are getting tips about the whereabouts of a missing 27-year-old woman, but she was still missing as of 3 p.m. Saturday. Katie L. Stoner, 27, has been missing since 6:30 p.m. Thursday. “We’ve had some tips and we want others to call,” Officer Ken Bussard said. Police...
Spray paint defaces veterans memorial in Brackenridge Memorial ParkVideo
Someone used silver spray paint to deface the bronze on the veterans monument in Brackenridge Memorial Park. Who did it and why is unknown — for now. “Someone took it upon themselves in the middle of the night to come to Memorial Park to spray paint all of original bronze,”...
Underground fire at East Deer site is getting smaller, officials say
The plan for dealing with an underground fire at the former Pittsburgh Glass Works plant in East Deer appears to be a simple one: Let it burn. East Deer Commissioners Chairman Tony Taliani said representatives from the state Department of Environmental Protection, Allegheny County Health Department and Vitro, the property...
Power outage planned in Lower Burrell next week
There will be a planned power outage in Lower Burrell next week. According to the city, First Energy-West Penn Power will interrupt service in the area of Michigan Avenue between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21 to upgrade facilities. In case of inclement weather, the outage will...
Tarentum considering regulations governing solar panels
Tarentum is considering regulations that would govern the installation and use of solar panels in the borough. The proposed ordinance includes proposed fees and technical requirements for what are broadly referred to as “customer-owned generation of electricity,” which could include things besides solar panels, such as windmills. Tarentum operates its...
Allegheny County Council to consider tearing down Deer Lakes Park building
The Deer Lakes Park Administration Building could soon be slated for demolition. Allegheny County Council at its meeting Tuesday will consider a bill submitted by county Executive Rich Fitzgerald to authorize demolition of the building. The building functions as an office facility. The bill states that the county Department of...
Harrison commissioner: Garbage-bill scofflaws at root of illegal dumping problem
A Harrison commissioner wants to publicize the names of residents who are behind on their garbage bills, hoping it spurs at least some of the residents to pay up and alleviates a problem with illegal dumping. More than 500 residential garbage accounts are delinquent in Harrison, and Commissioner Charles Dizard...
Westmoreland County Democrats host candidates forum in Washington Township
The Westmoreland County Democratic Party will hold a candidates forum for Region 2 on Tuesday at the Washington Township Community Building. Region 2 includes Kiski Valley communities in Westmoreland County. “Our incumbent Westmoreland County commissioners, candidates for court of common pleas and county row offices have all accepted our invitation...
Apollo man accused of assaulting woman headed to court, some charges dismissed
A Leechburg judge dismissed felony assault charges against an Apollo man accused of attacking a woman. James Orlando Oquinn, 29, will head to the Armstrong County Court of Common Pleas on a new felony charge of allegedly strangling the woman, District Judge James Andring ruled Wednesday. The woman told Apollo...
