Inventory to dictate closing date of Community Supermarket in Harrison
Inventory is starting to dwindle at Community Supermarket in Harrison. The store, which has operated in the Heights Plaza shopping center since 2002, is expected to close by Oct. 31. Joe Glaister of Brackenridge believes it might be sooner. “I’m probably there three or four times a week,” he said....
State police release details on fatal motorcycle crash in Sewickley Township
Pennsylvania State Police have released information about a fatal motorcycle crash last month in Sewickley Township. Matthew W. Cathers, 52, of Smithton was riding a Harley-Davidson Sportster on Lowber Road around 5:30 p.m. Sept. 18 when it left the road and hit a guide rail, police said. The motorcycle continued...
Morning Roundup: Woman hit by car in South Side; water main break on East Carson
Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Wednesday, Oct. 1: Woman critical after being hit by a car in South Side A woman in her late 70s was hit by a car Tuesday while crossing the street in Pittsburgh’s South Side Flats neighborhood. The collision occurred...
The Stroller, Oct. 1, 2025: 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. Follow the Stroller on X at @VNDStroller. Free microchips available for...
Bill to help pay for police bulletproof vests a ‘game-changer’
Allegheny County Housing Authority police Chief Mike Vogel recently paid $1,800 for his bulletproof vest. Through a federally funded grant program enacted by Congress in 1998, he should get a 50% reimbursement. But instead of $900, he received $450. “The bill hasn’t been written for 20-some years. We’re still using...
PSU Fayette seeks new home for ‘family history’ of artifacts at coal and coke center
In the basement of the library at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus a few miles north of Uniontown, sits one of the largest collection of artifacts of the region’s bituminous coal and coke-producing industries. The fate of the 48-year-old Coal and Coke Heritage Center and its 8,000 artifacts and...
Etna, Reserve should form regional police department, study finds
A state study recommends that Etna and Reserve form a regional police department, while also finding that doing so will cost each municipality more for police services. The Governor’s Center for Local Government Services at the state Department of Community and Economic Development prepared the report at the request of...
‘SpaceBurgh’ festival will return to Riverview Park for 2nd year
Pittsburgh’s second annual space festival — known as “SpaceBurgh” — is returning this weekend to Riverview Park. The festival brings together STEM, robotics and astronomy in a citywide celebration of space, according to the event announcement. SpaceBurgh will last from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at the park in...
Flying out of Latrobe? Spirit Airlines swaps Fort Lauderdale for Orlando flights
Passengers flying on bankrupt Spirit Airlines out of Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe will lose the twice-weekly service to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in November but will gain two flights a week to Orlando, the airport’s chief officer said. The cutting and adding of service from Arnold Palmer Regional by...
Police investigating gunfight at Ross Park Mall parking lot, minivan sought
Ross police are investigating a gunfight that took place in a parking lot at the Ross Park Mall on Tuesday evening. Emergency calls for the incident came in shortly before 8 p.m. The incident occurred near the Dick’s Sporting Goods and Nordstrom store, according to news partners WTAE. Ross Township...
Gainey pitches budget plan with no tax hike
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s administration on Tuesday proposed a penny-pinching budget that avoids a tax increase for 2026. Gainey’s $680 million operating budget — which funds basic city functions, like employee salaries, programming and utility bills — would increase spending from the roughly $666 million budgeted this year. That’s an...
Former UPMC Children’s Hospital doctor sentenced on child porn charges
UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh’s former chief radiologist was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison on child pornography charges. Ashok Panigrahy, 54, of Pittsburgh, pleaded guilty in March to charges of transporting and attempted transportation of materials depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of material depicting...
Father of New Kensington cop killer pleads guilty to open lewdness charge
The father of the man on death row for the murder of New Kensington police officer Brian Shaw pleaded guilty Tuesday in connection to claims he propositioned two teenage girls in Latrobe. Gregory Baucum Jr., 54, was sentenced to serve six to 12 months in jail but was immediately paroled...
Crash closes Route 28 North between Millvale, Etna
Route 28 coming out of Pittsburgh is jammed because of a crash. The crash happened around 4 p.m., closing the northbound lanes between the Millvale and Etna interchanges, a PennDOT spokesman said. The crash was cleared and the road began reopening around 4:40 p.m., but traffic remained congested from the...
Blairsville woman sentenced to jail term for 2024 fatal Derry Twp. crash
John Higgins said he and his 10-year-old daughter continue to struggle with the death of his fiance, who was killed in a head-on crash last year in Derry Township. Ashley Kelley, 33, pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was sentenced to serve nearly one year in jail for her role...
Services at national parks, support for Medicare and Medicaid would likely be reduced under federal shutdown
National Park Service officials are dusting off the contingency plan from the 2018 federal government shutdown, in anticipation of another closure starting Wednesday. In southwestern Pennsylvania, the two most-visible areas that could be affected are national parks such as the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County and Fort Necessity...
Bright orange newts spotted at Flight 93 National Memorial site
Bright orange newts were spotted at Pennsylvania’s Flight 93 National Memorial in the middle of their migration. According to a Facebook post on the Somerset County memorial’s page, they are red efts — the juvenile stage of Eastern newts. They have red spots on their bright orange skin. The newts...
Man on trial for killing his mom in Homestead acts as own lawyer
The accused stood nervously in front of an Allegheny County jury and pledged to prove he didn’t kill his mother and her friend in Homestead last year. Defendant John Malcolm Smith V, 26, of McKeesport was acting as his own lawyer Tuesday, the start of his double homicide trial. He’s...
Monroeville insurance agent charged for 3rd time with fraudulent business practices
A Monroeville insurance agent has been charged for the third time in less than two years with fraudulent business practices. Prosecutors in this most recent case with the Pennsylvania Attorney General say Chad G. Skena, 48, of Monroeville, talked a client into investing more than $75,000 in a phony business...
Sorcan appointed as Scott commissioner
A longtime volunteer in Scott Township has been chosen to fill an open seat on the board of commissioners. Jane Sorcan was appointed in September to fill the Ward 2 commissioner seat vacated by Brandon Edwards. “I have been active in Scott Township as a volunteer for a number of...
Man pleads guilty to wrong-way DUI crash on Parkway East that killed 2
A man whose blood-alcohol level was more than triple the legal limit when he drove the wrong way on the Parkway East earlier this year and killed two women will spend up to six years in state prison. Pedro Olan Morales, 57, of Charlotte, N.C., pleaded guilty on Tuesday to...
Shaler Area parents, residents pose questions, offer opinions on proposed reconfiguration
A proposed reconfiguration of the Shaler Area School District built around closing its elementary school has been met with a mixture of public support and opposition, along with questions and concerns. Superintendent Bryan O’Black took questions and comments from residents Monday at Shaler Area High School after giving a presentation...
Slide repairs, detours slated in North Huntingdon, Allegheny townships
PennDOT has unveiled online its plans for repairing slides along three roads in North Huntingdon and another in Allegheny Township. Work is expected to begin in December, with two of the slides in North Huntingdon — along Baker School and Leger roads — scheduled to receive attention first. PennDOT project...
Hegseth called for ‘no more beardos.’ What does that mean?
In a rare address to military commanders on Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stressed the importance of grooming standards, even using the sometimes derogatory term “beardos.” “The era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos,” Hegseth told the audience, which sat in silence, according to Reuters. What does...
Killer says he extinguished ‘light so bright’ in Blawnox love triangle murder
Last year, after Sean Black pointed a gun at his ex-girlfriend’s face, her grandmother called him. He assured her he wouldn’t have shot Courtney Smith and said he would give the guns to his mother. He didn’t. Instead, a month later, Black took his guns and walked into the Blawnox...
