Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 72

Highlands School District has collected about $1.1 million more in property taxes over the first four months of the fiscal year compared to the same period a year ago, despite projections that Pennsylvania districts would see such collections plummet because of the covid-19 pandemic. Highlands Business Manager Lori Byron said...

An Arnold man is accused of assaulting an unborn child this month. Arnold police said in a criminal complaint that Aaron Michael McFadden, 28, knew a woman was five months’ pregnant with his child when he punched her three times in the stomach Nov. 3. Police said McFadden went to...

Two men were shot in McKees Rocks Sunday night, according to Allegheny County Police. The shooting near Island Avenue and Churchhill Street was reported to 911 at about 7:25 p.m., county police said. McKees Rocks police found the men with non life-threatening injuries near that location. Their ages were not...

A staff member at Roy A. Hunt Elementary School in Arnold has tested positive for covid-19, New Kensington-Arnold acting Superintendent Jon Banko said Sunday. Four people who were in close contact with the unidentified employee are quarantined, Banko said. “Everyone that is considered a close contact of this staff member...

Highlands School District announced Sunday that its middle school will move to full remote learning beginning Monday and lasting through the Thanksgiving break because of cases of covid-19 among students and staff. The temporary closure and full remote learning plan affects the middle school only. All other buildings will operate...

A woman died in a motorcycle crash in Washington County Saturday afternoon, according to the Washington County Coroner. The coroner’s office said the crash happened around 2:30 p.m. on Old Steubenville Pike in Robinson Township. According to the coroner, Kristine Irvine, 48, was a passenger on a motorcycle traveling west...

The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh has issued a wind advisory for Sunday. The advisory will run from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sustained winds of 25 mph, with gusts up to 50 mph, are expected. The advisory covers Allegheny County and all surrounding counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Strong winds...

All students in the North Hills School District will learn remotely from Nov. 23 through Dec. 4, the district announced Friday. That effectively means students will work online for six days — Nov. 23 and 24 and Dec. 1 through Dec. 4 — because there is no school Nov. 25...

Six people, including three police officers, suffered smoke inhalation in a fire in Pittsburgh’s Perry South neighborhood Friday night, according to police. Police, firefighters and medics responded to the one-alarm fire in the 2000 block of Drum Street around 10:30 p.m. Police arrived first and saw smoke coming from the...

A Leechburg woman unintentionally gave a Kiski Township police officer a bag of methamphetamine during a traffic stop Friday night, township police said. It was one of two drug arrests police made that night. Kiski police said an officer stopped Bobbie Bernat, 42, for driving erratically about 11:40 p.m. on...

Tarentum officials are eyeing another batch of dilapidated houses to tear down, after work on one group has been completed. All 23 houses under a $171,000 contract awarded about a year ago have been demolished, borough code enforcement Officer Anthony Bruni said. The work started in December 2019. Bruni said...

After hard fought games, win or lose, even if they feel the officials made bad calls, football coaches walk across fields, shake the other coach’s hand and say “good game.” Should it hold that President Trump loses his bid for reelection to Democratic challenger Joe Biden, Joe DiSarro, a professor...

Tarentum residents won’t pay more for garbage collection next year, although the borough will. Council voted 5-0 Thursday to approve a one-year contract extension with its current hauler, Waste Management, for 2021. Council members Adam Blythe and Erika Josefoski were absent. Borough Manager Michael Nestico said the per-ton cost to...

Highlands School District plans to have students return to its high school for classes on Monday, Superintendent Monique Mawhinney said Thursday. The district closed the high school and canceled all after-school activities this week after a covid-19 case resulted in a significant number of required quarantines. Greensburg Salem Superintendent Gary...

New Kensington-Arnold School District will resume in-person instruction for students on Monday, Acting Superintendent Jon Banko said Wednesday. The district moved all students to remote instruction for the week of Nov. 2 on the advice of state officials citing Westmoreland County as having a substantial rate of community coronavirus spread....

A New Kensington man has been reported missing in Butler County. Gregory Jones, 21, is a junior computing major at Slippery Rock University, university spokesman Robb King said. Jones was last seen on campus Oct. 25. He was driving a dark purple 2004 Lexus; King did not know the exact...

Mario Taliani of Arnold was surprised when he went to vote Tuesday — not by anything on the ballot, but by the ballot itself. Taliani went into his polling location at Roy A. Hunt Elementary School expecting to vote on an electronic machine. He didn’t know they had been replaced...

A Roy A. Hunt Elementary School student is quarantined after testing positive for the coronavirus, New Kensington-Arnold School District announced. Students in third through sixth grades attend the elementary school in Arnold. Superintendent Jon Banko would not say in which grade the infected student is enrolled. Banko did say the...

President Donald Trump, Democratic candidate Joe Biden and their campaigns are expected to make appearances across Pennsylvania, including in the Pittsburgh area, in the final days before the Nov. 3 election. With 20 Electoral College votes, Pennsylvania is a key battleground in the presidential race. Trump and Vice President Mike...

President Donald Trump will make three stops in Pennsylvania on Saturday, including an appearance at a rally in Butler County in the final weekend before the Nov. 3 election. Trump’s campaign announced that he will deliver remarks at 1:30 p.m. in Bucks County, followed by rallies at 4 p.m. at...

Leaders from New Kensington, Westmoreland County and Penn State participated in a virtual groundbreaking Wednesday for an innovation and manufacturing lab that will support education and manufacturing in downtown New Kensington. Called “The Digital Foundry at New Kensington,” it will be built over the next year at the site of...

A Texas man accused of various crimes against a child has been apprehended, Gilpin police said Thursday night. Gilpin police were looking for Michael Henry Brucker, 31, of Montgomery, Texas. He is accused of sexually assaulting a child younger than 13. Charges against Brucker include aggravated indecent assault of a...