Western PA Local News category, Page 1914
Allegheny County surpasses 100,000 covid-19 cases, half-million residents fully vaccinated
Allegheny has become the second county in Pennsylvania to surpass 100,000 cases of coronavirus. In its covid-19 report released Saturday, the Allegheny County Health Department reported 186 new cases of the virus. That brings the county’s total since the pandemic began to 100,039. Only Philadelphia, with 146,238 cases, has more....
Pittsburgh’s green fleet bolstered by 9 electric vehicles, including bucket truck
The City of Pittsburgh is getting its first all-electric bucket truck for its Forestry Division. It’s just one of nine new electric vehicles the city plans to buy with the help of a $160,000 state grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Alternative Fuels Incentive Grants program (AFIG). In...
Pittsburgh police free elderly couple from car on railroad tracks
Pittsburgh first responders on Saturday morning freed an elderly couple from a car that was found on railroad tracks on West Carson Street. A Pittsburgh police officer noticed the car, a four-door Mercury, on the tracks shortly before 9 a.m. Medics and firefighters were able to get the man and...
Franklin Regional life-skills students use mobile kiosk to take entrepreneurship on the road
Teachers in the Franklin Regional School District are slowly but surely creating a small army of entrepreneurs and skilled workers through programs funded by the nonprofit Franklin Regional Panther Foundation. The foundation’s first $12,000 grant in 2017 helped establish the FR Panther Shop, where life-skills students in the Work Exploration...
Burrell passes preliminary 2021-22 budget to raise school taxes by 3.5%
Property owners in Burrell School District will pay 3.5% more next school year. The school board unanimously approved a preliminary budget of $32.7 million that includes a tax hike of 3.5 mills. For a home assessed at $22,900, the district’s average home tax assessment, the homeowner would pay an additional...
Film Pittsburgh, other area organizations awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts
Film Pittsburgh this week received its first grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, placing it among seven other arts organizations in the region to receive funding from the federal agency. The $25,000 grant will support its filmmaking conference in November, where the group will welcome 50-100 filmmakers for...
Unity awards $2M in contracts for paving, roof replacement, storm sewer project
Supervisors in Unity are tapping the township’s first-ever bond issue to finance replacing the municipal building roof, storm sewer improvements and a massive paving program that will include more than 80 roads. At their May meeting, the supervisors awarded a $121,700 contract to TRS Roofing of Williamsburg, the sole bidder,...
Man critical after McKeesport shooting
A man is in critical condition after a shooting early Saturday morning in McKeesport. First responders were called to the 2300 block of Grandview Avenue about 12:55 a.m. where they found a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the upper body, police said. The victim was transported to an...
Baldwin-Whitehall Educational Foundation scholarships, college accolades and more
2021 BWEF Scholarship Recipients Baldwin-Whitehall Educational Foundation will award $8,000 in scholarship funds this spring, raising the scholarship value to more than $25,000 since 2018. Annual BWEF Scholarships • Taylor Mincin, presented in memory of William Madison • Julia Stipetic, presented by Definitely You • Colton Brain, presented in memory...
Degrees, honors and more for Carnegie-area college students
Graduates medical school Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine conferred a doctor of medicine (MD) degree upon 98 students who compose Geisinger Commonwealth’s graduating class of 2021, including Alexander P. McGeough of Carnegie. Commencement ceremonies were held May 2 at Mount Airy Resort in Mount Pocono. The ceremony was also live-streamed....
Student news: Dean’s list, civic engagement and leadership awards
Fox Chapel Area graduate Alex Barcic qualified for the Spring 2021 dean’s list at Belmont University. Eligibility is based on a minimum course load of 12 hours and a quality GPA of 3.5 with no grade below a C. About 53 percent of Belmont’s 6,170 undergraduate students qualified for the...
Citizenship awards, U.S. Naval Academy graduate and more for Sewickley area students
Citizenship awards Quaker Valley School District Superintendent Dr. Tammy Andreyko recognized the winners of the Superintendent Citizenship Award, which can be earned in fifth, eighth and 12th grades at each school. Andreyko presented the awards to Abby Johnson, Brody Jones, Hannah Olawaiye, Katie Schillo and Liam Welge. Each year, the...
Letter to the editor: Plum loses a true legend
On Sunday, May 2, Plum Borough lost Coach Lou DeFabio and God gained a legend. Coach Lou, known to hundreds of Plum youth/families, was the epitome of “the man, the myth, the legend.” The man loved his beloved Maureen, inspired his sons Louis and Anthony, and shared himself with an...
A ‘Tony’ for Tony: County detective honored for commitment to Westmoreland drug court
For months as the coronavirus pandemic raged, Westmoreland County drug court participants quarantined at home and away from the much-needed counsel and treatment for their addictions. That’s where Tony Marcocci, a detective with the county District Attorney’s Office, stepped up, according to the two judges who oversee the special court...
The Stroller, May 15, 2021: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Information about Memorial Day events should be sent as soon as possible to: Carol Pinto-Smith, Valley News Dispatch, 210 Wood St., Tarentum, PA 15084; e-mail cpinto-smith@triblive.com or fax 724-226-4677. Food distribution set Tuesday in Cheswick A free drive-thru food distribution will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Feeding the Flock...
Carlyton High School’s first graduating class celebrates 50th anniversary with current seniors
Phyllis Timbario remembered what it was like entering her senior year at Carlynton High School some 50 years ago. She was from Carnegie and part of the first graduating class of the new school formed from the merger of Carnegie and Crafton school districts. “One on hand we were getting...
Norwin turnout strong for covid vaccineVideo
After having lived in a dormitory at Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a roommate who contracted covid this past school year, Norwin graduate Jade Taylor did not hesitate to get a covid vaccine Friday afternoon at Norwin High School. “I have a lot of family members who are younger and...
‘Hair metal’ stadium tour featuring Motley Crüe, Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett postponed to 2022
If you wanted to pour some sugar on your significant other during the Def Leppard show at PNC Park this summer, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer. The stadium tour featuring classic-era “hair-metal” bands Motley Crüe, Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, has been rescheduled...
Buy or sell: Regent Square hosts community yard sale Saturday
In search of illuminated reindeer, a treadmill, stained glass window, kayak or a 2009 Yamaha V Star 650 motorcycle? Stop by the Regent Square Civic Association’s annual Yard Sale. The shopping extravaganza is 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. “There are some really interesting items,” said Sam Belfoure, of...
Bald eagle chicks thrive along Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers
All three bald eagle nests along the Monongahela River and Youghiogheny River near McKeesport in Allegheny County have chicks this spring, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. At the Youghiogheny River nest, near McKeesport, there is at least one young bird on private property, said Douglas Bergman, a game warden...
Teen dies nearly 2 years after he was shot at the 2019 Fourth of July celebration in Pittsburgh
A Beaver County teen who was shot while attending Pittsburgh’s 2019 Fourth of July fireworks celebration downtown has died. Keyari A. Wynn, 18, of Aliquippa, was 16 years old when he and another teen were shot near Agnes R. Katz Plaza at Penn Avenue and Seventh Street as crowds were...
Springdale Council votes to oust manager
Springdale Council voted Thursday to fire Borough Manager Kimberly McAfoose. The move was approved in a 5-1 vote. Council President Jim Zurisko declined to comment on the decision or give a reason for the dismissal, other than to acknowledge McAfoose was “relieved of her duties.” She was an at-will employee...
4 Republicans, 3 Democrats seeking seats on Harmar Board of Supervisors
Four Republicans and three Democrats are vying for two nominations in their respective party’s primary races for the Harmar Board of Supervisors. The board is made up of five supervisors who are elected to six-year terms. The primary is May 18. The GOP race features incumbent Robert Seibert, who was...
IRS records: UPMC CEO Jeffrey Romoff made $9.5M in 2019; pay tops $1M for 32 employees
UPMC CEO Jeffrey Romoff reaped a $530,000 pay increase in 2019, bringing his annual compensation before the covid-19 pandemic struck up to $9.5 million, records filed Friday show. The 2019 pay hike follows a $430,000 increase in 2018, when Romoff made $8.97 million, according to UPMC’s Form 990s required by...
Masks no longer required for vaccinated staff, visitors at Westmoreland courthouse
Westmoreland officials on Friday said anyone who is fully vaccinated against coronavirus will no longer be required to wear masks at the courthouse and in most other government buildings. “We are all looking forward to getting back to normal,” county Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher said. According to a memo released...
