Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 115

Highlands School District is refusing to identify a teacher placed on unpaid leave in February or disclose the charges approved against the employee. The Tribune-Review filed a Right to Know request for the employee’s name, job title or position, length of employment and salary with Lori Byron, the school district’s...

Cheryl Stover says her Tarentum bar, Barley, is kind of like the fictional Boston bar in the sitcom “Cheers.” “It’s just great. Everybody is so nice,” she said Wednesday. “I know everybody that walks in there.” Stover is celebrating the fifth anniversary of her bar at 319 E. 6th Ave....

Tarentum isn’t giving up on the idea of getting into the building demolition business — but it won’t be this year, according to Borough Manager Michael Nestico. Council President Erika Josefoski in March suggested the borough use part of the money budgeted for demolitions this year to buy equipment, such...

Tarentum is gearing up for a major waterline project on West Eighth Avenue this year. The borough got six bids to replace the waterline along almost all of the road, borough Manager Michael Nestico said. One block was not included because of cost. Ron Gillette Inc. of Harrison submitted the...

Tarentum officials are considering a policy reversal and resuming cutting grass on vacant private properties. Last year, council agreed with its then-new borough manager, Michael Nestico, that the borough should not be cutting grass on vacant properties it doesn’t own. That position was a break with the borough’s long-running practice...

As warned, the Highlands School District released the names of those delinquent in their school district property taxes. The lists for the four communities within the school district — Brackenridge, Fawn, Harrison and Tarentum — were posted to the district’s website on Tuesday. That was one day later than expected....

Traffic restrictions will start Tuesday morning on the bridge carrying Butler Logan Road over Route 28 in Frazer, PennDOT announced Monday. Traffic will be reduced to a single, alternating lane controlled by temporary traffic signals. The restriction is expected to start at 7 a.m. Tuesday and be in place through...

A Tarentum man whose 2-year-old daughter was found unresponsive in a home swimming pool last month faces a felony child endangerment charge. William Richard Nulph, 35, told police he left the toddler unattended on a side deck where she had been playing March 14 so he could take his 8-month-old...

The Harrison Township Water Authority will start flushing hydrants on Monday, April 8, the authority announced Monday. The project is expected to take several weeks, the authority said. Residents may get discolored water while flushing is being done. The authority suggests customers test the water before washing clothes or using...

A Highlands High School student who started an effort to collect toys for needy children at Christmas is undertaking a similar project for Easter. Marissa Callender, a senior, is seeking donations for “Easter Holiday 365” to make the holiday brighter for young children in need within the Highlands community. Callender...

After a week of no change, gas prices are on the rise again in the Pittsburgh area. Pittsburgh gas prices have risen 1.3 cents per gallon in the past week to an average of $2.78 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 731 stations. Prices are 10.7 cents per gallon...

A West Virginia company was performing maintenance dredging downstream of the Allegheny River lock chamber in Harrison this week. The work was needed to maintain the 9-foot navigation depth for commercial vessels, said David Heidish, a project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Pittsburgh. The work is...

Harrison awarded two contracts for road work this year, but may not be able to afford to do all of the work. The two contracts total $481,500, which is nearly $80,000 more than the township wanted to spend, according to township Engineer Raymond Antonelli Jr., vice president of NIRA Consulting...

Three teenagers were jailed Friday afternoon in connection with a Jeannette home invasion that left a man injured. Police Chief Shannon Binda said investigators believe the trio targeted the South Fifth Street row home earlier in the day. Larenzo Dayshawn Peddicord, 18, of Jeannette is charged with robbery, aggravated assault...

Trafford police arrested a man Thursday night they say strangled and threatened to kill a 13-year-old girl. Daniel Edward Magill, 43, is charged with strangulation, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and terroristic threats. Police said the girl called 911 for help around 11:30 p.m. Thursday from inside...

A driver escaped unhurt after flipping a car and taking out a utility pole in Allegheny Township on Thursday evening. The crash happened around 7 p.m. in the 200 block of Crain Road, according to a Westmoreland County emergency dispatcher and Allegheny Township Fire Co. No. 1. The car landed...

Five people and three dogs escaped unhurt from a house fire in Clairton on Thursday night. The house on Constitution Circle was fully engulfed, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. Sources tell me that this fire started because of a grill on a porch. Multiple people and pets in the...

Mt. Lebanon High School will be open for students and staff Thursday while crews continue work to fix water main breaks near the school. The school was closed Wednesday because of the two water main breaks on Cochran Road. Water service has been restored to the school, according to the...

A state police fire marshal is investigating the cause of a fatal house fire early Thursday in Springhill Township, Fayette County. The victim was a woman in her 70s who lived in the lower level of a garage apartment in the 100 block of Greater Point Marion Road, according to...

Opioid addiction will be the subject of a movie and discussion panel at Highlands High School on Wednesday. The school district and the Allegheny-Kiski Health Foundation are sponsoring the workshop “Opioid Addiction: True Confessions of Pain, Misery and Destruction” in the high school auditorium. Middle and high school students and...

Police are looking for a driver who allegedly fired three shots at another car in a road rage incident on Route 28, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. According to WPXI, investigators said the alleged shooter targeted a woman driving southbound on Route 28 near the East Ohio Street exit...

The heart of a Jefferson Township native who died Saturday in a crash along a Tennessee highway will go to a 10-year-old. Sarah Kasunic, 23, was an organ donor, according to information shared in a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for her funeral. The fundraising effort had taken in almost...

Mt. Lebanon High School is closed Wednesday because of a water main break, the district announced on its website. Cochran Road had been closed near the high school, but has reopened, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. Drivers are being advised to avoid Cochran between Cedar Boulevard and Washington Road/Route...

Quack, quack — duck boat tours are coming back. Just Ducky Tours, which operates eight World War II-era amphibious craft out of Pittsburgh’s Station Square, announced on its website that it will be resuming its land and water tours in mid- to late April. The company ended its 2018 season...

The U.S. Postal Service has suspended retail services at the Pittsburgh Network Distribution Center in Marshall after a chemical spill. Spokesman Tad Kelley said the chemical was identified as mercury. “All employees are safe and accounted for and none were exposed to the contaminant,” Kelley said Tuesday. “Professional environmental contractors...