Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 109

Two events are taking place this weekend at Tarentum’s community garden. A ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday to rededicate the garden, now known as Tarentum’s Greg Blythe Friendship Garden. The Tarentum Recreation Board is sponsoring a plaque. The garden was renamed for Blythe, one of its founders,...

If you missed the strawberries in Cheswick, or just can’t get enough, there’s another opportunity coming up. The Burtner House will hold its annual Strawberry Festival on Saturday, June 15. The festival is one of the major fundraisers supporting the historic landmark in Harrison. It will run from 11 a.m....

State police have identified a pedestrian hit by a truck on Route 30 in Hempfield Tuesday morning. Gloria A. Piper, 71, of Penn suffered a suspected serious injury in the incident shortly after 9 a.m. near Nature Park Road. According to state police, Piper was walking north across Route 30...

PennDOT will close part of the inbound Parkway East next weekend, a PennDOT spokesman confirmed Tuesday. The westbound lanes will be closed from Friday, June 14 through Monday morning, June 17, Steve Cowan said. Details of the closure have not yet been finalized, he said. “We are still working out...

A 49-year-old man has died after getting shot in the head Tuesday morning during a suspected robbery attempt in Wilkinsburg, poice said. The man, whom police did immediately identify, died in a hospital at 5:50 p.m., Allegheny County Police Sgt. Veneranda Costa said. Police had initially said the man was...

The Homeless Cat Management Team will be offering several free and low-cost spay and neuter clinics from June to December in Tarentum. No-charge clinics for feral cats only will be held on June 22, July 27, Aug. 24, Oct. 5, Nov. 9 and Dec. 7. “Fast track” clinics, which cost...

State police at Kiski said the driver of a car that crashed into a tractor trailer Tuesday on Route 22 in Salem has died from his injuries at Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. Trooper Chad W. Howell reported the crash occurred at 4:52 a.m. at the intersection of Route 819 and...

The Pittsburgh area came within a couple degrees of setting a new record low temperature Tuesday morning. The temperature at Pittsburgh International Airport, where the official measurements are made, was down to 43 degrees as of around 6 a.m. Tuesday, National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Kennedy said. That’s just shy...

Two people were taken to a hospital after an assault Sunday night in Aliquippa. Police were called to an apartment complex on Superior Avenue around 11 p.m. after a report that shots were fired, Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV reported. No evidence of a shooting was found, but two people were...

Gasoline prices are down again in Pittsburgh, and the national average has fallen for four straight weeks — not something drivers expect at the start of the summer season. “More impressively is the surprise that may soon hit some motorists: the nation’s cheapest gas prices may soon fall back under...

Highlands School Board has changed the date of its June voting meeting. It will be held June 25 instead of June 24. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. in the audion at Highlands High School in Harrison. The board is expected to vote to adopt a proposed $46.2 million...

The Allegheny County Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of a house fire in Penn Hills on Sunday night. Firefighters responding to the fire at 52 Overbrook Road shortly after 11 p.m. found smoke and fire at the back of the house. Firefighters got the fire under control quickly. There...

Highlands School District’s new bus contractor has scheduled a dinner to try to attract drivers away from W.L. Roenigk, the district’s outgoing transportation company. ABC Transit is inviting all of the district’s current bus and van drivers and monitors to the buffet dinner starting at 5:30 p.m. June 12 in...

A Butler man died from injuries suffered in a crash Sunday in northwestern Butler County, according to state police. Authorities identified the man as 18-year-old Cole Wilson. The crash happened around 4:30 p.m. at Route 108 and the northbound ramp of Interstate 79 in Worth Township, authorities said. State police...

They say the squeaky wheel gets the grease. In Harrison, the tall grass that gets complained about the most may get cut. With a roster of five to six dozen uncared for properties, the township’s five part-time summer workers can only get to so many, commissioners Chairman Bill Heasley said....

A 16-year-old girl reported missing from Ohio was recently seen in the Pittsburgh area, Allegheny County police said Friday. Mandy M. Constable was last seen around 6:45 p.m. Tuesday leaving her home in Springfield Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, about 60 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, police said. “At this point, they...

Summer food programs will be available at five locations in Highlands School District this year. The federal program offers free breakfast, lunch and snacks to children up to age 18 when school is not in session. The Highlands school year ends June 7. Four locations in Highlands will run from...

Mother Nature shattered a seven-year-old rainfall record on Wednesday. A total of 1.93 inches fell at Pittsburgh International Airport, where the National Weather Service takes its official measurements, according to meteorologist Bill Modzelewski. That broke the record of 1.29 inches for rain on May 29 that had stood since 2012....

Cleanups of the Allegheny River shoreline in Harrison and Tarentum are scheduled for this weekend. Allegheny CleanWays, a nonprofit environmental group fighting illegal dumping in Allegheny County, scheduled cleanups in Harrison on Saturday and in Tarentum on Sunday. Morning sessions will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and afternoon...

JoAnn Monteleone hopes she has helped at least one person. Chances are, in 17 years leading the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in Harrison, she’s helped and touched many more. She has survived cancer, while it has taken loved ones all around her, including her husband, Tony, in 2016....

The campfires were virtual, but the fun was real. First-graders at Highlands Elementary School in Tarentum celebrated the approaching end of the school year Thursday with some fun and games that were part of the school’s annual “Camp Day.” “They worked really, really hard this year and we wanted to...

A billboard company owner says he will continue to fight in court for the right to put a digital billboard at the Tarentum end of the Tarentum Bridge. Jerry Oliver, owner of Oliver Outdoor, said he will take his case to Allegheny County court after Tarentum’s five-member Zoning Hearing Board...

New Kensington police say a city resident was drunk and refusing to cooperate with officers when he was shocked with a Taser. According to police, Sgt. Kevin Hess tried to stop Lee Edward Jones, 51, for speeding on Stevenson Boulevard about 8 p.m. Saturday. Police said the Jeep Jones was...

Trib Total Media is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any suspects in the shooting death of Gregory Lee Smith. Smith, 69, of New Kensington was shot and killed while he was out on his route delivering the Trib about 3 a.m. May...

A group of Tarentum residents plans to fan out across the borough Saturday to clean up about a half-dozen abandoned and empty houses overrun by tall grass, overgrown shrubs and unsightly garbage. It’s the first public cleanup effort by the Tarentum Action Committee, a group of about 30 volunteers who...