Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 120
Rain expected for Tarentum-Brackenridge parade, some activities moved inside
Organizers of the joint Tarentum-Brackenridge Christmas parade are hoping for good weather as this year’s event approaches. The parade is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Saturday, proceeding from the Tarentum Bridge in Tarentum, down Fifth Avenue to Corbet Street, and then up First Avenue to Morgan Street in Brackenridge....
Tarentum awards contract for 23 building demolitions
Tarentum will pay a single contractor almost $171,000 to tear down 23 dilapidated houses in the borough. Council awarded the contract to Allen Demolition of Wilkinsburg. Costs for individual properties range from $5,000 to $10,000. The borough was considering awarding contracts to multiple companies based on cost, but Allen Demolition...
Walgreens closes Lower Burrell store
The Walgreens store on Greensburg Road in Lower Burrell has closed, a spokesman for the pharmacy chain confirmed Tuesday. The store closed on Nov. 13, spokesman Phil Caruso said. Caruso said the store’s closing was part of a previously announced plan to close a number of stores across the country....
Highlands moving elementary principal to Early Childhood Center
The school educating the youngest students in Highlands School District is set to have its third principal this school year. Samantha Perlik, principal of Highlands Elementary School in Tarentum, will become principal of the Early Childhood Center in January after the Christmas break, school board President Debbie Beale said. The...
New Kensington O’Reilly store opening in early 2020, company says
A new O’Reilly Auto Parts store in New Kensington will open early next year, a company spokesman said. The store on Tarentum Bridge Road at Carl Avenue was previously expected to open this fall. O’Reilly spokesman Mark Merz would not provide more specifics on when the store would open. “There’s...
Highlands says goodbye to 4 outgoing school board members
Highlands School Board gave fond farewells Monday night to four of its members who are leaving the nine-member board following this year’s election. Leaving the board are Michael Masarik from Region 1, Jeff Mundy from Region 2, and Heath Cohen and Michelle Peters from Region 3. Superintendent Monique Mawhinney praised...
Gas prices down in most areas as holiday season approaches
Gasoline prices dropped over the past week in the Pittsburgh area and across the nation. In the Pittsburgh area, prices are down 2.2 cents to an average of $2.78 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 731 stations. That’s 6.1 cents per gallon less than a month ago, and 9.6...
Rahmael Holt joins list of Southwestern Pa. men on death row
On death row There are 136 men on death row in Pennsylvania, including the following from Southwestern Pennsylvania: ALLEGHENY • Richard Scott Baumhammers, 54, sentenced in September 2001, convicted of killing five people in 2000 shooting spree. • Leroy Fears, 57, sentenced February 1995, pleaded guilty to molesting and strangling...
Cop killer Rahmael Holt’s execution could be years away, experts say
Convicted cop killer Rahmael Holt’s appeal of his death sentence to the state Supreme Court could take a year to 18 months to resolve, says a Westmoreland County attorney representing another convicted killer on Pennsylvania’s death row. It may take even longer to be carried out, as there are people...
Arguments in Tarentum billboard case rescheduled
An Allegheny County judge has rescheduled oral arguments in the case of a company fighting to put up a billboard in Tarentum. Arguments are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Nov. 21 in Courtroom 7 on the 7th floor of the City-County Building in Downtown Pittsburgh, according to an order signed by...
Convicted cop killer Rahmael Holt sentenced to deathVideo
A Westmoreland County jury sentenced convicted cop killer Rahmael Holt to death after deliberating for less than three hours Thursday afternoon. The same jury on Tuesday convicted Holt, 31, of shooting and killing New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw after an attempted traffic stop two years ago. “One year, 11...
Officer Brian Shaw’s mother to Rahmael Holt: ‘I will never forgive you’Video
Lisa Shaw says she is still waiting to wake up from the nightmare of losing her son, New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw. “All he wanted to do was make a difference in the community,” Shaw told jurors Wednesday on the first day of the sentencing hearing of Rahmael Holt,...
Jury finds Rahmael Holt guilty of killing New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw
A Westmoreland County jury found Rahmael Holt guilty on all counts of killing New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw following an attempted traffic stop two years ago. The jury reached its verdict in less than 90 minutes after closing arguments Tuesday. “A verdict like this doesn’t bring Brian back, but...
Prosecution expected to rest in trial of accused cop killer Rahmael Holt
Prosecutors are expected to rest their case Tuesday against alleged New Kensington cop killer Rahmael Holt, but it remained unknown Monday whether Holt would take the stand in his defense. Holt is accused of killing New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw after a traffic stop on the city’s Leishman Avenue...
New memorial to Valley High School veterans dedicatedVideo
It’s not yet mission accomplished, but significant progress was made on a new memorial honoring veterans who have attended — and will attend — Valley High School in New Kensington. Enough of the new “Veterans of Valley High Memorial” was completed in time for a dedication ceremony on Monday, Veterans...
Single-digit wind chills in forecast for Pittsburgh region
A record-breaking bitter cold snap and a bit of snow are on tap for the Pittsburgh region Tuesday. Temperatures during the day and into the night Tuesday will be about 20 degrees below normal, National Weather Service meteorologist Shannon Hefferan said. After a high in the 50s on Monday, the...
Gas prices edge downward in Pittsburgh, nationally
Gas prices dropped in Pittsburgh and across the nation over the past week, according to the price-tracking website GasBuddy.com. In the Pittsburgh region, gas prices were down 2.9 cents per gallon to an average of $2.80, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 731 stations. That’s 3.8 cents per gallon less than...
Day 5: DNA, bullets take spotlight in Rahmael Holt murder trialVideo
No DNA or fingerprints place Rahmael Holt at the scene of New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw’s murder, according to testimony Friday in Holt’s ongoing capital murder case in Westmoreland County Court. Testimony from another expert witness called into question the ability of a witness to identify the type of...
Bullet casings found at Brian Shaw shooting came from .40-caliber gun, detective testifies
Slain New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw died primarily from blood loss caused by two gunshot wounds, a forensic pathologist testified Thursday, the fourth day of the trial of his accused killer, Rahmael Holt. Shaw was hit by three bullets the night of Nov. 17, 2017, after he tried to...
Day 3: Witness testifies he twice saw Rahmael Holt with a gun
A man who shared a house with accused New Kensington cop killer Rahmael Holt testified Wednesday that he twice saw Holt with a gun. Michael Luffey, 35, was the lead witness to testify for the prosecution on the third day of Holt’s capital murder trial before Westmoreland County President Judge...
Driver of SUV stopped night New Kensington Officer Brian Shaw was fatally shot testifies during trial’s 2nd day
Rahmael Holt jumped from an SUV the night he allegedly shot New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw because its driver wouldn’t let him hide his gun in the vehicle, according to testimony Tuesday on the second day of Holt’s trial in Westmoreland County. Tavon Harper, 29, the driver of the...
Emotions high as trial of New Kensington officer’s accused killer begins
Rahmael Sal Holt insists he didn’t kill New Kensington police Officer Brian Shaw two years ago, but his lawyers won’t have to prove or say who did, according to a legal expert who identified a potential defense strategy for the capital murder trial slated to start Monday morning. Bruce Antkowiak,...
Vo-tech in New Kensington looks to attract students with open houseVideo
Brandon Meanor was working as a carpenter before graduating from high school — and bought a house not long after. He was able to do that with the training and experience he gained as a student at Northern Westmoreland Career & Technology Center in New Kensington. He didn’t want to...
6 cars damaged, destroyed by fire in Harmar hotel parking lotVideo
High winds contributed to several cars being damaged or destroyed when one caught fire in a Harmar hotel parking lot Friday morning. The fire at the Hampton Inn on Freeport Road was reported around 6:30 a.m., according to Allegheny County 911. The fire was not far from the front entrance...
Blight, redevelopment major issues for Tarentum Council candidates
Tarentum voters will fill five seats on the seven- member borough council this year. Voters across the borough will have a choice to make for one at-large representative, between Democrat Carrie Fox and Republican Tiffany Babinsack. There’s also a choice in the 1st Ward, between incumbent Democrat Erika Josefoski and Republican...
