Nadia Commodore stories

Before February of last year, Danny English was the type of man who liked to keep busy. Working as an office manager for State Farm while following his musical passions, teaching piano lessons and directing the music program for Aspinwall Presbyterian Church, English said his life was “busy, but I...

For years, the Arnold community has been facing issues involving drug-related deaths and acts of violence. Arnold resident Cheryl Banks hopes to provide a solution. Banks, 65, is spearheading a drug march led by Voices of Westmoreland, an organization dedicated to advocating for those living in Westmoreland County. The march,...

Coming from humble beginnings in Penn Hills, Col. Rance A. Lee didn’t imagine life would lead him to where he is. “My parents didn’t have a lot of money for college so I had to look for other avenues to pay for school,” said Lee, who grew up as the...

For the sixth year, Mogie’s Irish Pub in Lower Burrell will host a benefit concert honoring fallen New Kensington Officer Brian Shaw organized by the foundation that bears his name. Shaw was a member of the New Kensington department for five months when he was shot and killed during a...

Rachel Coyne is concerned about her upcoming semester at Chatham University’s Eden Hall campus in Richland. The school announced it is closing the sole dormitory on the branch campus, and students instead will be housed at the university’s main campus in Pittsburgh. Coyne, like other students who planned to live...

After working as an aide for people with autism for more than 40 years, New Kensington resident Judy Leonard’s post-retirement plans were to travel and relax. God, she said, had another plans. “When I retired, I was trying to see what I was going to do with my life,” Leonard...

For a guy who doesn’t consider himself a chef, Lower Burrell’s Tom Fleck has done pretty well for himself in the kitchen. “I’m just a guy who likes to cook and can cook pretty well,” he said. Indeed, the contractor for the federal Emergency Management Agency who goes by the...

Penn State New Kensington student Karisa Smalling has some concerns about changes for Penn State’s Commonwealth campuses. “My concern is that they are claiming to make these changes to create the most efficient organization possible, but I don’t see how offering buyouts to employees is going to make it more...

Bob Bozzone already was working at Allegheny Ludlum as a junior metallurgist in the early 1960s when the company’s Bagdad plant in Gilpin was being built. “I would watch it be constructed,” Bozzone told the Valley News Dispatch in 2010 when the Bagdad plant celebrated its 50th anniversary. “As they...