Western PA Local News category, Page 1777
Allegheny Valley School District will require masks for everyone when school starts
Masks will be mandatory in the Allegheny Valley School District when the new school year begins. The school district’s health and safety plan, adopted Tuesday on a 7-2 vote, requires all students, staff and visitors to wear masks in district buildings and on buses. Masks won’t be required during recess,...
Burrell makes mask-wearing optional
Burrell School Board unanimously approved a health and safety plan that makes mask-wearing optional for students and staff in district buildings. “We wanted to make the mask optional to give parents and staff the freedom to decide,” said board President Pam Key. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
Lower Burrell man accused of sexually assaulting 14-year-old girl
A Lower Burrell man is accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl last summer behind a Sheetz store on the city’s Craigdell Road. Samuel Glendon Feroce, 21, faces charges including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person under 16 and statutory sexual assault in connection with the July 2020 incident....
Bethel Park Public Library’s Wise Walk program returns in September
A biannual outdoor exercise program designed to improve mental and physical health in older adults is about to start its fall session. Bethel Park Public Library’s Wise Walk returns Thursdays Sept. 9 through Nov. 10 in South Park. Participants meet at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot by the gazebo...
Bethel Park School District once again offering seniors free passes to most events
Bethel Park senior citizens have an opportunity to obtain a pass good for free admission to most school district events. The pass is available for residents ages 62 and older. Those interested can get one by stopping by the administration building at 301 Church St. during normal business hours and...
Western Pa. groups prep for fleeing Afghans seeking to resettle in Pittsburgh
At least one Afghan family granted a special U.S. visa to flee their Taliban-toppled homeland is expected to resettle in Western Pennsylvania in the coming weeks. “We are ready for their arrival,” said Ivonne Smith-Tapia, director of refugee and immigrant services for the Jewish Family and Community Services (JFCS), a...
It’s official: Kiski Area School District hires 1st female superintendent
Kiski Area School Board has hired the district’s new superintendent. Misty Slavic, 44, is the first woman to be named to the district’s top post. The board voted 8-0 to approve Slavic’s three-year contract. Her starting salary is $153,000, which will be pro-rated for the 2021-22 school year. School Director...
Police seek help identifying man in relation to Homestead stabbing
Allegheny County Police are asking for help identifying a man who was at the scene of a stabbing last month in Homestead. Investigators did not call the man a suspect. Police want to speak to him in connection with a July 24 stabbing inside the EON Bar and Grill on...
Piece of Kennywood’s Phantom’s Revenge up for auction
For a few thousand dollars, you can own a piece of Kennywood’s Phantom’s Revenge steel roller coaster. A retired lead car from the Phantom’s Revenge is up for auction to benefit Florida-based Give Kids the World nonprofit. “Yesterday, we asked you to tell us your favorite Kennywood coaster,” read a...
Fayette couple killed in 2-vehicle crash on Route 31
A Fayette County couple died from injuries sustained Monday in a two-vehicle crash on Route 31 in Bullskin Township, according to authorities in Allegheny and Fayette counties. Lee Roy Welker, 70, and his wife, Diane, 69, were killed after the Ford Focus they were in collided with a truck just...
Tropical Storm Fred to bring steady rainfall to Western Pa.
Southwestern Pennsylvania should brace for rain and potential flooding as the remnants of Tropical Storm Fred are anticipated to bring heavy rainfall to the region Wednesday. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for much of the region — including Allegheny, Armstrong, Washington and Westmoreland counties —...
McCandless Crossing hosting free outdoor piano recital, 1st ‘Makers Market’
The Town Green at the McCandless Crossing shopping center will be center stage for a pair of free events during the next two weekends. The Fort Pitt Piano Co., which is located in the shopping center, is playing host to a free piano recital from noon to 5 p.m. on...
Hempfield Area suspends pay-to-play fees for 2nd year
For the second consecutive year, Hempfield Area School Board members voted to suspend pay-to-play fees for athletes and band members because of the covid-19 pandemic. During Monday’s meeting, board members unanimously voted to suspend the fees for the upcoming school year, which cost $100 per participant for the first sport...
Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh to require masks in school
Masks will be required for the start of the school year at all schools within the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh. The mask mandate applies to all students, faculty and staff, regardless of vaccination status — unless a medical or developmental condition prevents an individual from wearing a mask, the diocese...
Masks optional at Norwin; mask/maskless classes may be created in elementary grades
Norwin students will have the option of wearing masks in class under a health and safety plan that was the focus of an hour-long debate this week over whether the district should require students to wear masks. The near-unanimous approval of the state-required health and safety plan by the school...
Greater Latrobe School District, former wrestling coaches sued in federal court over hazing allegations
A student and his parents sued the Greater Latrobe School District, two former wrestling coaches and two students, alleging that the boy was assaulted during practice. It is, at least, the second lawsuit filed stemming from allegations of hazing by members of the wrestling team that came to light in...
After fire in her cell, police add arson charges to Greensburg DUI suspect
A Greensburg woman charged with DUI early Tuesday now is charged with arson and risking a catastrophe after city police allege she set fire to toilet paper in a cell block. Elisha M. Darnell, 42, was ordered held in the county jail on $10,000 bond following her arraignment on charges...
Pine-Richland requiring masks for all staff, students to start school year
Citing Allegheny County’s rapid rise in rate of covid-19 transmissions and the need for students to get back to full in-person learning, the Pine-Richland school board on Monday voted to require all staff and students to wear masks while indoors when classes begin on Aug. 31. The board voted 7-2...
Hempfield Area to complete air quality, asbestos tests at district buildings
Hempfield Area School Board members are moving forward with an indoor air quality survey in the district’s nine buildings. During Monday’s school board meeting, members agreed to hire Dauphin County-based Skelly and Loy, Inc. to complete the survey at a cost of $9,475. School board member Sonya Brajdic was absent...
AHN covid vaccine clinic canceled in New Kensington
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Tribune-Review learned around noon Wednesday that this scheduled covid vaccine clinic has been canceled. No reason for the cancellation was immediately available. It was not immediately known if the clinic would be rescheduled. Original report follows: Allegheny Health Network will hold a covid vaccination clinic in New...
Riverview football coach Trevor George wins 6 months of ‘Clean Eatz’
Riverview football coach Trevor George is stocking his fridge with healthy food — for free — just in time for the fall season. George, of Oakmont, won six months of meal plans from a new Blawnox café called Clean Eatz, a national chain that offers health-conscious meals that include wraps,...
Former Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez sentenced to up to 4 years in prison for sex assaultVideo
Former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez was sentenced Tuesday to serve up to four years in prison for the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl. Vazquez, 30, was convicted in May by a Westmoreland County jury of 15 offenses in connection with a sexual relationship he had with a Scottdale...
Greensburg’s singing florist Gary Pratt wins music industry award
Sometimes it takes a while to become an overnight success. Sounds like the opening line of a great country song — or the story behind one. Country singer/songwriter Gary Pratt of South Greensburg has been in the music business for decades, but, recently, he’s been gaining recognition far beyond Western...
Harrison police charge woman with driving drunk, nearly hitting 2 while fleeing
Harrison police charged a 19-year-old woman with driving drunk, speeding through neighborhood streets and nearly hitting two people playing basketball in an alley Monday evening. Township police charged Nakeela T. Johnson, of Harrison, with a felony count of fleeing or eluding police, two misdemeanor counts of recklessly endangering another person,...
Boil advisory in effect for parts of Fox Chapel area
A boil water advisory is in effect for some residents in the Fox Chapel area. Officials at the Fox Chapel Authority confirmed the alert but the manager was not immediately available for details. The Authority, based in RIDC Park in O’Hara, serves about 5,500 customers in a 15-square-mile area. Residents...
