Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 95

Valley High School in New Kensington will host the annual Westmoreland County Senior High Honor Band Festival on Friday. The concert is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium. It is open to the public. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children under 10....

As he prepares to retire from his nearly 50-year teaching career, the new president of the New Kensington-Arnold School Board said he wants to be involved in the district’s schools as much as he can. “It’s an honor, it’s a duty, it’s a privilege,” John Cope said shortly after taking...

Gas prices moved lower in the Pittsburgh area and across the nation in the past week, according to the price-tracking website GasBuddy.com. In the Pittsburgh area, the average price dropped 1.2 cents per gallon to an average of $2.85, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 731 stations. That’s 2.3 cents per...

Natalie Cale was moving through the Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer, two stuffed bags in each hand, with a destination in mind. It was her car, where she planned to drop off her load of gifts before heading back in for more. Cale was finding the deals on this year’s...

Organizers of Harrison’s Christmas parade and festival plan to hold the festival under a tent this year to avoid a repeat of last year, when Mother Nature was a Grinch and rained out the festivities. Rain or shine, the parade will begin at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, and is...

Rebecca Dick figured she’d work off some calories before consuming more by taking part in the Deer Lakes Turkey Trot with her father, Robert. “He likes to run, and I like to eat a lot on Thanksgiving,” Dick, of West Deer, said Thursday morning after stretching outside of Deer Lakes...

While many are thankful for their own family on Thanksgiving, Madolyn Hyde was thankful for another. Hyde was among those who came to Cross Roads Community Presbyterian Church in Leechburg on Thursday for the free dinner now in its 10th year put on by Jamie Rimmel, members of her family...

Between 50 and 60 years ago, three brothers decided to play football in their small Vandergrift backyard on Thanksgiving. Pete Guerrera was 12 or 13; Michael Guerrera was 7; and Anthony Guerrera was 5. Now that they’re in their mid- to late 60s — or early 70s in Pete’s case...

A man has been upgraded from critical to stable condition after being shot in Pittsburgh’s East Hills neighborhood Wednesday night, according to police. Officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert and 911 calls of dozens of shots fired in the 2300 block of East Hills Drive just before 9:15 p.m. Officers...

Pittsburgh police detained two juveniles early Thursday morning after a woman reported one of them fired a gun at her on Mt. Washington. According to police, officers went to a convenience store on Bailey Avenue just before 12:20 a.m. for a report of a person who was shot at in...

A section of Nadine Road in Penn Hills that has been closed since a collapse in July has reopened to traffic, Allegheny County Public Works announced Wednesday. Nadine between Allegheny River Boulevard and Lincoln Road closed on July 12 after storms caused a retaining wall to fall over and part...

About 20 residents in a Hempfield neighborhood were evacuated from their homes late Tuesday night as a precaution after a natural gas line was damaged during a car crash. The crash happened after 11 p.m. in the area of Swede Hill Road and Brownfield Drive, the Trib’s news partner, WPXI-TV,...

The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for most of the area beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday and continuing into Thursday morning. The wind is expected to start picking up in the mid-to-late morning Wednesday and continue through the afternoon, meteorologist Bill Modzelewski said. Sustained winds of 15...

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner determined the cause of the unexpected death of a 41-year-old Monroeville woman four days after a crash this month. Nicole Hilla died from a hypoxia brain injury, the medical examiner’s office said. She died at Forbes Hospital on Nov. 8 while being treated for injuries...

Rush frontman Geddy Lee is set to return to Pittsburgh, but he’ll be performing with a pen instead of a bass. Pittsburgh — Homestead, to be precise — is among three East Coast locations recently announced where Lee will be signing copies of his “Big Beautiful Book of Bass” —...

Cathy Blythe was driving past the shuttered Rite Aid on Corbet Street in Tarentum when, she says, God spoke to her. He told her to call the real estate agent selling the building. Blythe took over as pastor of Abundant Joy Fellowship in Tarentum after her husband, Greg Blythe, died...

Gasoline prices in the Pittsburgh area rose over the past week despite falling nationally, according to the price-tracking website GasBuddy.com. In the Pittsburgh area, gas prices went up 7.1 cents per gallon over the past week to an average of $2.86 per gallon, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 731 stations....

Allegheny County police believe a man and a woman were shot to death Sunday night in Wilkinsburg by a passenger their car. Police found Elarrah Nichole Findley, 18, of Pittsburgh lying in the road in the 700 block of Midland Street after multiple 911 calls were received shortly after 9...

A key witness in the trial of convicted New Kensington cop killer Rahmael Holt has been transferred out of the Westmoreland County Prison, the District Attorney’s Office said Friday . Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar said Tavon Harper is being held in Washington County “for his protection.” Harper, 29, was...

An Allegheny County judge heard arguments Thursday in a case where a billboard company is fighting for the right to place a sign near the Tarentum Bridge. Staff for Common Pleas Judge Joseph James said he will render a decision in the case within a week. America First Enterprises, doing...

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 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...

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....