Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 79

PennDOT has again extended the expiration dates on driver licenses, identification cards and learner permits because of covid-19, the agency announced Friday. Driver licenses, photo identification cards and learner permits scheduled to expire from March 16 through Aug. 31 have been extended until Aug. 31. The extensions are in addition...

A 44-year-old Butler man allegedly admitted spray painting graffiti derogatory toward Blacks on a sidewalk outside a Black family’s home, according to city police. Butler police charged Philip Anthony Rienzi Friday with criminal mischief and ethnic intimidation, both misdemeanor offenses. According to police, a pedestrian reported the graffiti on East...

About $12.25 million will be coming to Westmoreland County for wastewater and stormwater projects, the state announced Wednesday. The Western Westmoreland Municipal Authority and the City of Arnold got loans for wastewater projects, while Penn Township received a loan for a stormwater project. The money was part of $66 million...

PennDOT plans to close the Tarentum Bridge for several weekends while preservation work is being done. The work is scheduled to start in the fall, stop for the winter, continue in the spring and be finished next summer, PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said Tuesday. About 30,000 vehicles cross the bridge...

A New Kensington councilman claims city residents would be willing to pay more for garbage collection if it meant getting better service. Councilman Todd Mentecki said people from across the city have complained about problems with the city’s new garbage company, County Hauling. After more than six months it hasn’t...

A Tarentum man was arrested after getting into a fight with another man at a Harrison custard shop Sunday night. Harrison police said Jacob A. Fisher, 24, threatened the other man’s 5-year-old daughter and spit at him before punching him in the face at Della’s Frozen Custard, formerly Del’s Custard,...

Gasoline prices fell slightly over the past week as markets await the next chapter in the coronavirus situation, an industry analyst said. “As cases continue to rise, the likelihood rises that gas prices will stabilize and demand may continue to see small decreases, which is the name of the game...

Drivers will have to contend with lengthy detours while a section of Saltsburg Road in Plum is closed for 27 days starting Saturday. While the posted detour for passenger vehicles is about 11 miles, the one for commercial truck traffic is more than twice as long. Saltsburg Road (Route 380)...

Highlands School District students would be in schools two days a week and work remotely the other three days under the district’s tentative reopening plan. The district also would offer a full virtual learning option for families with children who cannot return to any in-person schooling in August, according to...

Five more workers have tested positive for covid-19 at Shell Chemicals’ ethane cracker construction site in Beaver County, a company spokesman said in a statement. That brings the total number of positive tests to 18 since the pandemic began, Shell spokesman Michael Marr said in an update. A covid-19 testing...

A 20-year-old man was found shot dead in McKeesport Thursday night, according to Allegheny County police. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner identified the victim as Keith Jones Jr. of McKeesport. According to police, someone called 911 shortly before 10 p.m. and reported finding a man lying on the ground in...

Diocese of Greensburg Bishop Edward C. Malesic will serve as the next bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland. The appointment by Pope Francis was announced Thursday. Malesic, 59, was introduced to the Diocese of Cleveland during a 10 a.m. press conference during which he said he was humbled by being...

A Fayette County man was being held on $500,000 bail after allegedly assaulting a woman and fleeing into the woods with her year-old baby girl. State police filed several felony charges against Anthony Cronin, 34, of Brownsville, including aggravated assault, kidnapping, burglary, strangulation, unlawful restraint, attempted sexual assault, child endangerment,...

A 5-year-old was seriously hurt after being hit by an SUV in East Pittsburgh on Saturday, according to state police. The incident happened around 5:15 p.m. in the 500 block of Bessemer Avenue, state police said in a release issued Wednesday. State police said the child ran into the street,...

Gov. Tom Wolf has granted a third extension for licenses to carry firearms, state police announced Wednesday. Permits expiring on March 19 or later are now valid through Sept. 30. The previous extension was set to expire on July 31. The extensions were needed because some county courthouses and sheriff’s...

After a four-day break, the Pittsburgh area is set to enter another stretch of days with 90-degree temperatures, according to the National Weather Service. And it’s going to get muggy, too, with dew points rising to oppressive levels in the lower 70s, meteorologist Bill Modzelewski said. While the high Wednesday...

Two women were taken to a hospital after a crash in Coraopolis early Wednesday morning. The women were in a car that crashed into a storefront on Fifth Avenue around 2 a.m., the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. They were trapped in the car by debris and had to be...

One person is dead and another is in custody after a shooting in Uniontown. The shooting happened around 9 p.m. Tuesday near a Sunoco gas station on Connellsville Street, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. Police told the station that the victim was shot inside a vehicle and pronounced dead...

A Butler County man died in a motorcycle crash in Fayette County, according to state police. The crash happened Saturday in the area of 1510 Sugarloaf Road in Henry Clay Township, state police said in a news release issued Tuesday. According to state police, David Earl Bender, 79, of Valencia...

A 4-year-old boy was flown to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh after a “serious incident” in Connoquenessing Creek in Butler Monday evening, according to police. Police, medics and firefighters responded to a swimming hole near Kauffman Drive around 7:20 p.m. Monday. According to police, the boy was playing in the...

A North Apollo man is accused of threatening to kill another man as he hit him numerous times in the head and torso with a chain, according to Kiski Township police. Police charged Randy Lee Hollis, 58, with two felony counts of aggravated assault as well as lesser charges including...

A suspicious object in a mailbox in Pittsburgh’s Brighton Heights neighborhood was found to be a mail scanner, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety. Police said a resident called 911 around 6:20 a.m. Tuesday after hearing beeping coming from the mailbox at Brighton Road and Benton Avenue. Officers confirmed the suspicious...

A Christopher Columbus statue in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood and a Black Lives Matter mural in Downtown Pittsburgh were both recently vandalized. It was at least the second time in the last two months that vandals hit the Columbus statue in Schenley Park, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV, reported. Words including...