Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 113

Allegheny Valley Hospital is looking for volunteers to join the hospital’s lobby escort team. According to the hospital, lobby escorts greet outpatients and visitors and help them find their destination in the hospital. “This position offers significant opportunity to work directly with patients and their families,” the hospital said. Openings...

First Commonwealth Bank will be closing its existing bank in Harrison and opening a new location nearby in September, the bank has told customers in a letter. According to the letter, the bank’s existing location in Heights Plaza will permanently close at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 6. The new...

Walmart will be offering free health screenings at all of its stores in southwestern Pennsylvania on Saturday. The screenings will be available between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., the company announced. Services and information that will be offered include: • Free total cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose and body mass...

Three Highlands teachers have received grants from the Pennsylvania Association of School Retirees. High school Spanish teacher Laura Proano and Kevin Mason, a fifth-grade teacher at the middle school, are sharing a $750 educational support grant from the association. Jody Shumaker, a second-grade teacher at Highlands Elementary School, received a...

The technology that Highlands elementary students use for learning will be on display during an upcoming event. Highlands Elementary School and Remake Learning will host a “Technology Showcase” on the evening of Thursday, May 9. It will run from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the cafeteria at the school...

Price shouldn’t be the only consideration in choosing a school bus company, but price was why Mark D. Schmitt didn’t make an offer to the Highlands School District. Schmitt owns Monark Student Transportation in Richland and has been in the business his entire life. He considered submitting a proposal to...

The Highlands School District is looking for a new assistant superintendent. The position became vacant when the school board named Monique Mawhinney to replace Michael Bjalobok as superintendent beginning April 1. Mawhinney started as the district’s assistant superintendent in April 2018. The district had not had an assistant superintendent since...

Part of Pleasantville Road in Harrison will be closed for three months while a bridge is being replaced, PennDOT announced Wednesday. The work to replace the bridge over Little Bull Creek between Burtner Road and Keystone Street is scheduled to start at 7 a.m. on Monday. Pleasantville Road will be...

The Highlands School Board came up one vote short Tuesday in a move to replace the district’s longstanding bus company, W.L. Roenigk, with a competitor, ABC Transit. The board held a special meeting at the high school Tuesday after a vote to award the five-year contract to ABC Transit was...

West Mifflin police are asking for the public’s help finding two missing teen girls. Someone last had contact with Brianna Shumard, 17, on Feb. 24, police said. She is described as having dark or multi-colored hair, and weighing 130 pounds. Bailey Reagan, 15, was last seen between 2 a.m. and...

Harrison may not be able to repair all the roads it planned to this year. The township sought bids to resurface 18 roads and to seal and coat nine alleys and lanes. The two contracts came in at $481,500, nearly $80,000 more than the township budgeted, according to township Engineer...

Anyone interested in helping restore Harrison’s crumbling Honor Roll war memorial is asked to attend an upcoming meeting. A committee is being formed to address the condition of the memorial, prominently located at the intersection of Freeport and Springhill roads. The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 2...

Harrison commissioners agreed to help the volunteers struggling to operate the township’s historic Burtner House. With fewer than 10 active members, the Burtner House Restoration Society said earlier this year it was becoming impossible for it to maintain the home and that the group was in danger of shutting down....

Pittsburgh gas prices have fallen 1.2 cents per gallon in the past week to $3.04 per gallon, according to GasBuddy. Gas prices in Pittsburgh are 27.7 cents per gallon higher than a month ago, and are 8.5 cents per gallon higher than a year ago. According to GasBuddy, Pittsburgh prices...

The Easter Bunny is set to skydive Saturday into an egg hunt at Golden Rams Stadium. Generations House of Worship will host its sixth annual Easter Egg Hunt and Celebration from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the stadium and Highlands Middle School, 1350 Broadview Boulevard in Harrison. The Easter...

Allegheny Valley Hospital has a week of events planned to celebrate its 110th anniversary. The events will be held the week of May 6 at the hospital in Harrison. Festivities will include a community night with kids’ activities and a big-band concert, a Stork Club recognition for people who were...

Springdale Township commissioners have approved merging the township’s police department with Cheswick’s, effectively ensuring the creation of the new Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department. Cheswick Council gave its OK to the proposed merger earlier this month. Township commissioners voted 4-0, with one abstention, to create the new, merged department with...

Summit Hose has rescheduled Saturday’s “boot drive” fundraiser that helps pay for Tarentum’s Fourth of July fireworks display. The boot drive now will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 4 at the Tarentum end of the Tarentum Bridge. Chief Joshua Fox said the drive was rescheduled because...

Highlands School District is seeking bids for the restoration of the clock tower on its elementary school in Tarentum. The district decided to repair the clock tower at Highlands Elementary after learning that removing it would cost more than fixing it, according to district officials. The prospect of removing the...

The Highlands School Board is skirting Pennsylvania’s transparency laws and violating the district’s own policies by holding private committee meetings where important matters are discussed behind closed doors, according to a legal expert and a review of district policies and practices. At a public meeting Monday, board member Judy Wisner,...

State Sen. Jim Brewster is hosting a free shredding event in Plum. It will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 27, at the Plum Community Center, 499 Center-New Texas Road. The event, held in partnership with the Plum Library and the Plum Community Center, is...

A Tarentum man involved in a disturbance at the Praha Hotel earlier this month pleaded guilty to lesser charges Wednesday. Misdemeanor charges of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person were withdrawn against Felix Brun Sondova Blancarte, 34. He pleaded guilty to summary offenses of disorderly conduct and public drunkenness....

The Harrison Township Democratic Committee is hosting a non-partisan public forum for township commissioner and Highlands School Board candidates. The forum will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Natrona Heights Veterans of Foreign Wars, 894 Veterans Drive. It’s off of Freeport Road near Harrison Hills Park....