Western PA Local News category, Page 2961
Hard work helps Norwin Air Force Junior ROTC win high honors
Hard work combined with community service were responsible for Norwin High School’s Air Force Junior ROTC program earning the second-highest recognition from the Air Force’s Junior ROTC, officials with the program said. “They worked very hard this year as a team. One of the program’s goals is for cadets to...
Westmoreland Mall takes another hit as Dressbarn plans to close all stores
Five Dressbarn stores around the Pittsburgh region will close as part of the company’s announcement Monday that it would shutter all 650 locations. The closure includes those in Westmoreland Mall, Cranberry Township, Tanger Outlets near Washington, Monroeville and near The Mall at Robinson, according to a store list on the...
Fox Chapel Area’s Grandizio earns BotsIQ scholarship for robotics skills
Fox Chapel Area senior Thomas Grandizio said he’d never seen his mom so exicted as she was when he got a call from officials at California University of Pennsylvania. Grandizio earned the 2019 BotsIQ Scholarship, renewable for up to a total of $20,000 over four years at the college. The...
What Westmoreland voters need to know for Tuesday’s primary election
Westmoreland County’s nearly 236,000 registered voters head to the polls Tuesday to select from among 483 candidates running in 443 races. Voters will cast primary ballots to nominate candidates for state judge, county offices including commissioner, judge and sheriff, as well as school boards, local city and borough councils and...
Authorities investigating overnight shooting in Arnold
Westmoreland County authorities are investigating an overnight shooting in Arnold that ended with a bullet-riddled SUV in New Kensington. The shooting occurred in the 1600 block of Woodbine Alley in Arnold, according to John W. Clark, a detective with the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office. The office is investigating the...
Millvale recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ Day
A couple of years ago, Millvale police Chief Tim Komoroski had his officers’ uniform patches modified to include images of Native American war bonnets in order to reflect the borough’s ties to Indigenous Peoples. At a May 14 council meeting, Junior councilman Jimmy Burn announced a change along the same...
PennDOT to unveil plans for Route 30 improvements from North Huntingdon to North Versailles
The state will unveil plans to modernize a two-mile section of busy Route 30 from the western end of Westmoreland County to North Versailles, Allegheny County. The proposed design plans for the roadway from the Carpenter Lane/Leger Road intersection in North Huntingdon to Route 48 in North Versailles will be...
Westmoreland Sheriff Jonathan Held holds off GOP primary challengers
Embattled Westmoreland County Sheriff Jonathan Held will continue his campaign for a third term in office. Held, while still defending himself against pending criminal charges of public corruption, on Tuesday defeated three Republican challengers to win the GOP nomination for sheriff. According to unofficial results, Held received 32.8% of the...
Westmoreland Republicans nominate Kertes, Chew for commissioner
Biochemist Doug Chew and Sean Kertes, chief of staff to retiring Westmoreland County Commissioner Charles Anderson, were nominated Tuesday as the Republican candidates who will seek to reclaim the GOP majority at the courthouse. Kertes and Chew finished atop the Republican primary for county commissioner, besting a field of seven...
Port Vue man pleads guilty to federal drug charges
A Port Vue man charged with possession and conspiring to distribute heroin pleaded guilty to the federal drug charges. Jarran Bell, 38, pleaded guilty to three counts before U.S. District Court Judge Cathy Bissoon. Authorities said Bell and his girlfriend, Krystle Barretto, were living together during the investigation, which took...
Penn Hills School District’s recovery plan includes cuts, furloughs and tax hike
Two program cuts, 57 furloughs and a real estate tax hike of more than 6 percent are all part of Penn Hills School District’s proposed 2019-20 budget and financial recovery plan. School board members at a meeting Monday night stressed both plans are preliminary, and that anyone furloughed could be...
Highlands School District to appeal ruling requiring release of teacher’s name
The Highlands School District wants a court to decide whether school districts can keep private the names of employees facing disciplinary actions. The school board voted 8-0 Monday to appeal an April 30 decision by the state’s Office of Open Records in a case brought by the Tribune-Review. Board member...
No tax hike in Allegheny Valley School District’s proposed budget
Allegheny Valley School Board approved the district’s proposed $23 million preliminary budget for next school year. The spending plan includes no increase in property taxes. District officials said expenses increased by about 1%, mostly because of pension contributions. The budget will be on review for the public before final approval...
Wolf recognizes local employess for work on April 2018 landslide
PennDOT employees from Allegheny County were honored Monday for their work in quickly reopening Route 30 after a portion of the road in East Pittsburgh plummeted about 40 feet down a steep hill in April 2018. The 10 employees were awarded the Governor’s Awards for Excellence for “exemplary service to...
Greater Latrobe citizens want superintendent with long-term commitment
Larger elementary class sizes and inadequate communication with the public are some of the issues Greater Latrobe School District’s next superintendent should address, according to comments made this week at a public focus group discussion. But most of the 18 people who attended the discussion in the senior high Center...
Beaver County man faces homicide charge for falling asleep, suffocating 2-year-old boy
A Freedom Borough man who took an unprescribed painkiller, fell asleep on a 2-year-old boy and unwittingly suffocated the child has been charged with homicide, police said. Ty Michael Lucente, 37, was arraigned Sunday and booked into the Beaver County Prison. He was denied bail. Shortly after 4:30 p.m. Saturday,...
Highlands budget would hike taxes, spend $1.6 million from reserves
The Highlands School District would increase property taxes by the maximum allowed by the state, and spend $1.6 million from its reserves, under the district’s proposed final budget for the 2019-20 school year. Unless it is changed before the final vote in June, property taxes would go up by 3.3%,...
Pittsburgh attorney who concealed friend’s overdose death gets house arrest, probation
A Pittsburgh defense attorney who tried to conceal the death of a friend by failing to notify police, then abandoning the body in a Squirrel Hill alley, will spend two years on house arrest followed by three more years on probation, a judge ruled Monday. Kevin Abramovitz, 38, completed in...
Stolen Fawn race car found, trailer still missing
A race car stolen from Fawn has been found, but police still are looking for the trailer it was on. “It was recovered in West Mifflin,” Fawn police Chief Tim Mayberry said Monday. The customized Dodge Neon was reported stolen from a lot along Lumber Drive, off Bull Creek Road,...
Pittsburgh police ID man who they say fell from roof during chase
Pittsburgh police have identified a man they say fell from a second-story rooftop while trying to get away from officers Sunday afternoon along McClure Street. Eric Vaughn, 27, of Pittsburgh, was in serious condition at a local hospital after the fall. Police spokesman Chris Togneri said Zone 1 officers on...
Allegheny County leads Western Pa. in hepatitis A cases amid statewide outbreak
Allegheny County is confronting among the biggest outbreaks of hepatitis A in Pennsylvania, and illegal opioid use could be part of the reason why the vaccine-preventable liver infection continues to spread statewide, state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Monday. Since January 2018, the state confirmed at least 171 hepatitis...
Drug, DUI cases among those recently handled in Judge DeLuca’s Penn Hills court – May 20, 2019
Penn Hills District Judge Anthony L. DeLuca handled the following cases recently. Defendants will have court dates set in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Charges were filed by Penn Hills police unless otherwise noted. Held for courtRonald Thompson, 62, of Irwin on charges of accident involving damage to attended vehicle/property,...
16-year-old faces arson charges in connection with Harrison fire
A 16-year-old is accused of starting an April 22 fire at a Sheldon Park apartment building in Harrison that displaced four people and caused at least $500,000 in damage, according to investigators. Authorities did not identify the suspected fire-starter on Monday, but said the teen lives in Harrison and is...
Kiski Area students looking for vets/families to include on veterans web site
During the festivities this Saturday honoring the late Sgt. Jason M. McClary at the Allegheny Township War Memorial, Kiski Area students will be signing up area veterans and the families of late veterans for inclusion on the Kiski Area Veterans Website. Kiski Area School District students have amassed the histories...
Steelers appeal denial of advertising within Heinz Field seats
The Steelers will go before the Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment on Thursday to argue for their plans to spell out Heinz Field or another name in the lower bowl of the stadium. It’s not unheard for professional football teams or even college teams to paint words and logos on...
