Western PA Local News category, Page 497
Northern Tier Library plans grand opening for Pine branch
The grand opening of Northern Tier Library’s Pine Community Center Branch is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 14. Featured will be activities, giveaways and a scavenger hunt. Library staff members will be present to talk about all the services the library has to offer. Food trucks will...
Antisemitic graffiti targets Chabad of Squirrel Hill, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh
Rabbi Yisroel Altein woke up to what he called a troubling sight Monday morning — red spray paint on the facade of Chabad of Squirrel Hill that read “Jews for Palestine.” Under the words was an inverted red triangle, a symbol that Hamas militants have used to indicate they were...
Monessen man charged with drug delivery resulting in death of Jennifer Vukovich
A Monessen man is accused by state police of connecting a Youngwood woman to a dose of drugs last year that proved to be fatal. Troopers said James M. Cillo Jr., 31, met with Jennifer Vukovich on March 3, 2023, and the pair went to a location in Monessen where...
Police say man repeatedly beat a dog in South Huntingdon home
A man is behind bars after, state police said, he repeatedly beat a dog in South Huntingdon and recorded videos of the abuse. Zachary Robert Hixson, 30, is charged with neglect and two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals. Troopers were called Friday to a home just outside West Newton...
Credit card skimmer found at Plum Shop ’n Save after almost a month; 2 men charged
Two men suspected of placing credit card skimmers at grocery stores throughout the Pittsburgh area now are accused of doing the same thing in Plum, where a skimmer was in place at a store for nearly a month. Plum police filed charges Sunday against Thomas Fuchs, 34, and Alexandru Dumitrascu,...
Pine-Richland dancers qualify for national competition
Pine-Richland High School’s Dance Team won several awards and qualified for the Universal Dance Association’s National Dance Competition in early 2025 following their performances at the Varsity Spirit UDA Camp at Slippery Rock University in July. Led by senior captains Sophia Reighard and Maura Sciullo, the team of 15 attended...
Lane restrictions on Freeport Road in Harrison start Tuesday
Freeport Road in the area of Springhill Road in Harrison will have single-lane restrictions beginning Tuesday. The utility work is expected to run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays through Aug. 16. Crews from JMT Inc., Navarro and Wright, and All Ways Safe will conduct signal work at the...
The Block Northway in Ross celebrates summer Christmas
Long ago, someone came up with the idea of celebrating winter’s most heralded holiday amid summer swelter. The origin stories for Christmas in July vary, from the lyrics of an 1892 French opera to a two-day fete at a North Carolina camp in 1933, with the concept popularized by a...
In brief: Penn Hills and Verona area happenings, week of July 29, 2024
Incoming kindergartners invited to playground event The Penn Hills School District welcomes incoming kindergartners to a Popsicles on the Playground event from 1 to 3 p.m. Aug. 6 at Penn Hills Elementary School, 1079 Jefferson Road. The event, which is part of the district’s Summer Kickoff to Kindergarten, is an...
Festa Italiana in New Kensington set to celebrate 43rd year
Nancy Brock doesn’t think there will be any problem with a shortage of food for this year’s Mount St. Peter Church Festa Italiana. They’ll have more than 3,400 meatballs, 40 trays of lasagna and plenty of spaghetti, pizza and polenta, said Brock, who is in charge of food preparation for...
FBI: Trump shooter shopped on gun websites using aliases, encrypted email
The 20-year-old Bethel Park man who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a Butler County political rally used foreign-based encrypted email accounts and aliases to make more than 25 purchases on firearms websites and buy six chemical precursors online since spring 2023, the FBI said Monday. Authorities said...
How the nation’s 1st president was nearly shot in Butler County long before Trump was wounded
Following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, some Butler County residents were asking why it had to happen here. Butler County has strongly favored Trump and his candidacy: he won 66% of the vote in Butler County in 2016 and 2020. Trump isn’t the first person to hold...
Morning Roundup: Driver injured in Whitehall crash
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Monday, July 29: Driver injured in Whitehall crash A driver was injured in a two-vehicle crash Sunday afternoon on Route 51 in Pittsburgh’s South Hills neighborhood. First responders, including six firefighters, were dispatched to the scene at 4:04 p.m.,...
Beaver County SWAT details communication breakdown during attempted assassination of Trump
A Beaver County SWAT sniper said his team had no contact July 13 with former President Donald Trump’s Secret Service detail before he spotted would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks scoping out a building with a range finder near the Butler County fairgrounds where the 20-year-old Bethel Park man later fired...
In brief: North Allegheny area happenings, week of July 29, 2024
Pumpkin fest vendors sought Ascension Lutheran Church is planning its 10th annual Pumpkin Fest and Flea Market for 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 12 at 8225 Peebles Road, McCandless. Homemade apple and pumpkin pies will be for sale, along with hot dogs, homemade soups, beverages and, of course, pumpkins....
In brief: Plum, Oakmont area news, events for the week of July 29, 2024
Plum movie night features ‘Kung Fu Panda’ Plum’s Summer Movie Night will feature “Kung Fu Panda” Aug. 3 at the borough amphitheater, 2000 Mike Thomas Way. The movie will start at dusk. Those attending are advised to bring blankets. There will be free popcorn and pre-show activities including a martial...
Volunteers collect ‘depressing volume’ of roadside trash across the state
For Aspinwall resident Kevin Kerr, the worst part of cleaning litter from Freeport Road is the sheer number of cigarette butts. “We get the food wrappers and pop cans, but the most frustrating and plentiful is definitely the butts,” said Kerr, who volunteers twice a year for the state’s Adopt-A-Highway...
The Stroller, July 29, 2024: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your non-profit’s community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least two weeks in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15084. Please include a daytime telephone number. Open house planned at Family Life Network FamilyLife Network, formerly known...
In brief: Herald area events for the week of July 29, 2024
Section of Fox Chapel Road closed during golf tourney The Department of Public Works granted a permit to the United States Golf Association to close Fox Chapel Road between Fairway Lane and Riding Meadow Road in Fox Chapel for the 2024 U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championship. The closures will occur...
Police say security cameras in public parks are an extra tool for departments
Arnold Mayor Shannon Santucci is quick to admit security cameras in the city’s public parks haven’t always stopped crime — but she’s still a proponent of the tool. The city will use a federal Community Development Block Grant, along with a pending $50,000 state grant, to buy additional cameras for...
U.S. Steel marketing blitz puts pressure on government to OK sale to Nippon Steel
U.S. Steel is banking on public pressure to push through a $14.9 billion acquisition by Nippon Steel as lawmakers and regulators balk at putting the domestic icon in foreign hands. An advertising campaign launched this year touts promises by Japan’s largest steelmaker to preserve jobs, upgrade plants and sustain American...
Plum School District adopts new alert system to reduce emergency response time
When Plum School District students return to classes this fall, teachers and staff will be equipped with a new alert system intended to reduce response time in an emergency. Plum will be the first district in Pennsylvania to use the Centegix CrisisAlert system, Assistant Superintendent Ashley Boyers said. It will...
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy forges forest of the future in face of global warming
In a quiet corner of Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park, Jaci Bruschi has been carefully tending a grove of yellowwood trees since 2019. The trees aren’t native to the Pittsburgh area, but they’ve largely thrived in Fezziwig Grove, a research grove manned by the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. As the conservancy’s horticultural project...
High school connected to Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship to open in Wilkins
The Penn Hills Charter School of Entrepreneurship is getting an affiliate high school. Charter school officials got the go-ahead last month from Wilkins commissioners to transform the office building at 703 Rodi Road, near the Penn Hills-Wilkins border, into Dominus High School. The target opening date is fall 2025, with...
Butler County’s first-ever West Fest celebrates those ‘pretending to be cowboys for a day’
For Doug Sprankle, those familiar items that symbolize the American West — cowboy hats and leather boots, horses and quick-draw competitions — always have been loaded with deeper meaning. “My dad always had horses, as did his father before him — we just enjoy that sense of freedom,” Sprankle said...
