Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 123
New Kensington woman organizes sock drive to benefit homeless sheltersVideo
People are generous when it comes to donating new and gently used clothing, says Michelle Gibb, executive director of the Alle-Kiski Area HOPE Center. “The things that don’t show up in clothing pantries or clothing closets are new socks and underwear, which is really something you can’t have used,” Gibb...
New Kensington, Arnold agree on handling of code, zoning matters at industrial park
New Kensington and Arnold both approved an agreement giving New Kensington complete control of code and zoning matters at Schreiber Industrial Park, which spans both cities. New Kensington’s Redevelopment Authority bought the park for about $8 million in 2018. It stretches for more than a mile along the Allegheny River....
Harrison Township refuses to address police union’s pension enhancement request
Harrison commissioners will not entertain a request from its police officers union to enhance their pensions under the existing contract. Teamsters Local 249, which represents the township’s 12 rank-and-file officers, asked the township to consider enhancements to their pensions as they had for police Chief Mike Klein, said Keith Frank,...
‘Ghost Tour’ to bring local history to life at Brackenridge’s Prospect Cemetery
The past will come to life through the voices of the dead at Prospect Cemetery in Brackenridge. But it is history, not fright, that is the focus of the cemetery’s annual Historical Ghost Tour, being held this year Oct. 10. From the cemetery’s more than 17,000 graves, 13 belonging to...
Arnold schedules fall cleanup for city residents
Arnold residents with things they don’t want but can’t get rid of will have a chance to clean house early next month. The city will hold its fall cleanup event on Saturday, Oct. 5. It will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. along Third Avenue at 18th Street, with...
Elizabeth Bridge closed indefinitely after crack discovered; detour announced
The Elizabeth Bridge spanning the Monongahela River was closed Thursday night and will be closed indefinitely, according to PennDOT. The bridge, on Route 51 between Elizabeth and West Elizabeth, was slated to be shut down at about 10 p.m. Thursday. PennDOT said the bridge was being closed because of a...
New Kensington-Arnold track, football field to be off-limits while surfaces replaced
New Kensington-Arnold School District’s track and football field will be off limits when work to replace their surfaces starts, Superintendent John Pallone said. In August, the school board approved paying ATT Sports about $205,000 to replace the track, and Sprinturf nearly $320,000 for the artificial surface for the football field...
Beloved Highlands turtle to find new home at middle school rain garden
A 1,400-pound concrete turtle that has called two Highlands School District schools home over the past half-century is on the move again. Plans are in the works to move the large concrete turtle in early November to Highlands Middle School in Harrison, where it will become part of a new...
Harrison chooses higher bid for sidewalk ramp work
Harrison commissioners are not going with the lowest bidder for more handicapped-accessible sidewalk ramps in the township. Ron Gillette Inc. submitted the lowest bid for the work, but the commissioners awarded the contract to the second-lowest bidder, Santamaria Landscaping and Cement Contractors. Commissioners accepted Santamaria’s $20,832 bid for four ramps...
Gas leak that forced evacuation of New Kensington vo-tech school to be investigatedVideo
The state’s Public Utility Commission said it will investigate a gas line break Wednesday in New Kensington that forced the evacuation of a school. Northern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center was evacuated in the morning and closed for the rest of the day after work crews ruptured a natural gas...
Metal 3D printing on display at The Corner in New KensingtonVideo
Technology in 3D printing is advancing and one day could rival traditional manufacturing techniques, according to a local expert in the field. Howard Kuhn, a University of Pittsburgh adjunct professor who has taught additive manufacturing — another term for 3D printing — for the past 15 years, was among those...
Harrison approves zoning amendment for school bus depot
Highlands School District’s new bus company will be able to keep its depot in Harrison right where it is. Harrison commissioners approved amending the township’s zoning ordinance to allow a school bus depot in the S-1 Special zoning district. That includes the property on Springhill Road where ABC Transit set...
Gas prices spike following attacks on Saudi Arabia
The national average price of gasoline is up for the first time in 10 weeks following the attacks on Saudi Arabia, according to the price-tracking website GasBuddy.com. The national average has gone up 8.5 cents per gallon in the past week to $2.66, GasBuddy reported. The 8.3 cents-per-gallon increase in...
Tarentum’s Hebe statue welcomes arrival of fall
It may not feel like it, but autumn is here — and Tarentum’s Hebe statue is ready for it. Fall officially arrived at 3:50 a.m. Monday. At the borough’s end of the Tarentum Bridge, which sees some 30,000 vehicles daily according to PennDOT, the statue of Hebe is sporting a...
Fundraising begins for memorial for murdered New Kensington child
Donations have started pouring in to help pay for a memorial for a New Kensington child murdered 40 years ago. Tiffany Miller was 5 years old when she went missing from her home in Peach Court on Sept. 21, 1979. Her body was found in the Allegheny River in Plum...
Memorial to honor 5-year-old Tiffany Miller, murdered in New Kensington 40 years ago
It doesn’t take long looking at Tiffany Miller’s well-kept grave at Union Cemetery in Arnold to realize her death was a tragedy. Tiffany was 5 years old when she died 40 years ago in 1979. She might have said she was almost 6, her birthday coming in December. While her...
Woman’s body recovered from Mon River
Authorities say a woman’s body was recovered from the Monongahela River Thursday morning. According to Pittsburgh police, officers went to the Homestead Grays Bridge around 10:15 a.m. in response to a report of an unoccupied, possibly disabled vehicle in the southbound lanes. Around the same time, a person called 911...
Harrison’s Honor Roll memorial partially restored
Crews with Greensburg-based Allegheny Restoration completed masonry work this week on the veterans’ Honor Roll memorial at Freeport and Springhill roads in Harrison. Over three days, the company removed mortar between the limestone memorial’s stones, repointed it, pressure washed it, replaced broken stone, applied caulking on its cap stones, and...
Highlands OKs $3K performance bonus for business manager
Highlands School District’s business manager has received a $3,000 performance bonus. The school board approved the payment to Lori Byron this week. School board President Debbie Beale said Superintendent Monique Mawhinney recommended the bonus for Byron. Mawhinney did not respond to request for comment through district spokeswoman Jennifer Goldberg. Beale...
No students hurt in crash involving Highlands school bus
No children were hurt when a Highlands School District bus was involved in a crash on Freeport Road Wednesday afternoon, according to the district and Harrison police. The crash happened around 3:15 p.m. near Montana Avenue, police Chief Mike Klein said. Montana Avenue goes back to the district’s high school....
Clairton schools cancel classes amid bedbug issue
Clairton City School District is dismissing students early Thursday and will be closed Friday because of bedbugs, the district announced. According to a letter dated Wednesday from Superintendent Ginny Hunt, a bedbug incident occurred in the district’s building, which houses its elementary and middle/high school. Bedbugs are small, oval, brownish...
New Kensington’s Dattola Theater gets lifeline from business leaders
Three local business leaders on Wednesday announced their plan to buy the former Dattola Theater in downtown New Kensington. Corey Pistininzi, Sean Watson and Dante Cicconi, under the name “NK 50,” have an agreement to buy the Fifth Avenue theater from the city’s Redevelopment Authority. The purchase price is not...
Man in critical condition after being shot in Pittsburgh’s Arlington Heights
A man was found shot multiple times in Pittsburgh’s Arlington Heights neighborhood early Wednesday morning. Officers responded around 12:25 a.m. to a report of shots fired in the 3100 block of Cordell Place, which is off of Arlington Avenue. There, a 32-year-old man was found in an outside courtyard with...
Philadelphia resident may have Pa.’s first 2019 human case of West Nile Virus
The first case of West Nile Virus infection in a person this year has been detected in a Philadelphia resident, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced Tuesday. Samples were being sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation, the department said. State residents are being urged...
Perdue recalls frozen chicken tenders over undeclared wheat allergen
Perdue Foods is recalling about 495 pounds of a frozen, ready-to-eat chicken product because of misbranding and undeclared allergens that were shipped to stores in five states including Pennsylvania, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced. According to the recall notice, the product contains wheat, a...
