Valley News Dispatch category, Page 379
Community markets support small businesses, help revitalize New Kensington
Two community markets in New Kensington held less than a block apart, at Voodoo Brewing and Knead Community Cafe, on Saturday gave local vendors an opportunity to showcase their wares and attract new customers. Michelle Thom, who owns Voodoo Brewing, and Jamie Parker, who owns a New Kensington bakery called...
Part of Shearsburg Road in Allegheny Township set to be paved this summer
With PennDOT’s revamping of Route 356 in full swing, Allegheny Township will shift its focus to another key artery. The township supervisors on Monday night awarded a contract of nearly $297,000 to Derry Construction to repave Shearsburg Road. The project will be from the Five Points intersection to Weinels Crossroads....
Community Watch meetings to resume in Vandergrift after a 2-year hiatus
Community Watch meetings are returning to Vandergrift. Councilwoman Marilee Kessler announced the news on social media this week. The group cancelled its monthly meetings in 2019 because of winter storms. With the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the meetings stayed on hiatus. The first monthly meeting this year is...
The Stroller, May 14, 2022: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Drive-thru vaccine clinic for cats and dogs scheduled Frankie’s Friends Cat Rescue will host a drive-thru vaccine clinic for cats and...
2-month investigation leads to Arnold man’s arrest on drug charges
An Arnold man’s arrest Tuesday capped off a two-month drug investigation, police Chief Eric Doutt said. Doutt said police seized drugs worth more than $4,000 and about $1,600 in cash when they arrested Don Carter Jr., 27. Agents with the state Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigation along with the...
Valley High School mock crash intended to highlight consequences of 1 bad decision
Authorities were hoping to make an impact with Valley High School students about how one decision can change many lives — and even end them. Juniors and seniors watched Friday morning as real police officers, firefighters, paramedics and the county coroner responded to a mock crash in the parking lot...
Landslide dumps dirt, trees on 40-foot stretch of Butler-Freeport trail
Heavy rains last weekend triggered a large landslide covering a 40-foot section of the Butler-Freeport Community Trail near the border of Buffalo and South Buffalo townships. The slide occurred about a mile from the trail’s Laneville entrance. The 21-mile recreational trail stretches from Freeport to Butler. “It’s a very big...
Springdale Cemetery preps for 200th anniversary with annual projects
The Springdale Cemetery Board of Directors is starting the celebration early for the cemetery’s 200th anniversary — in 2027. Cub Scouts from Pack 554 and their parents volunteered their time Tuesday evening to begin the work of preparing for the occasion. They dug up dirt and planted about 500 daffodils...
New Kensington planners recommend approval of city’s new design guidelines
New Kensington’s planning commission has recommended approval of proposed new “design guidelines” and “overlay districts” for the city. Only about a half-dozen people attended the commission’s meeting Tuesday, during which consultant Barb Ciampini of Your Towne gave an overview of the proposal. Many of the questions and comments that followed,...
Tarentum Night Markets return with goal of appreciating ‘local’
Thursdays are heating up again in Tarentum. The borough’s Night Markets will return May 19, kicking off a season of shopping and socializing along the business corridors of Sixth Avenue and Corbet Street. “We’re excited about Night Markets returning,” organizer David Rankin said. “The events seem to be very well...
The Stroller, May 13, 2022: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Apollo Memorial Library announces summer reading program Apollo Memorial Library will offer a summer reading program “Oceans of Possibilities,” weekly from...
New firm to add jobs after settling into former JCPenney building site in Lower Burrell
The buyer of the former JCPenney building in Lower Burrell plans to bring some jobs with them after they renovate and settle in to the site, which has sat empty for 17 years. Earlier this week, Schaedler Yesco, an electrical distribution and supply company in O’Hara’s RIDC Park, announced it...
Arnold police say woman drove carelessly with kids in car, felony charges filed
Arnold police charged a woman with felony counts of endangering the welfare of children after, they said, she drove carelessly with her young children in the vehicle. Mariah Chanta Gordon, 27, of the 1200 block of Constitution Avenue in New Kensington, faces two felony counts of endangering the welfare of...
Political newcomer seeks GOP nomination over legislator in state Senate 38th District race
A political newcomer is looking to earn his first elective office as a state senator. Jake Roberts, 31, of Ross will be facing state Rep. Lori Mizgorski, 55, of Shaler for the Republican nomination in the state 38th Senatorial District race. Both candidates have similar views on abortion following the...
Police: Man faces felony gun charge after hitting New Kensington woman with pistol during dispute
A Penn Hills man faces a felony firearm charge after a woman accused him of striking her with a handgun during an argument at her New Kensington apartment. Rashaad Kahill Blair, 26, of the 1000 block of Olympic Heights Drive, was charged with illegal possession of a firearm and defiant...
Police: 2 Allegheny Valley Hospital patients attacked medical staff, hospital police
Two people who were patients at Allegheny Valley Hospital face multiple felony charges after police charged them with attacking medical staff during separate incidents. Lea Ashley Slusar, 28, of the 1400 block of Fifth Avenue in Arnold, was charged May 6 by Highmark Health Police with three felony counts of...
Disc golf fundraiser to benefit Alzheimer’s Association at Deer Lakes Park
A Penn Hills woman is working to honor her late mother and raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease, an illness she said is widely misunderstood. “It’s not an old person’s thing,” Amy Davidson said. “My mother passed away at 69, but she battled it for more than 10 years.” Davidson will...
Free smoke alarms available to New Kensington residents from Red Cross program
A smoke alarm might have saved a New Kensington home Wednesday morning, fire Chief Ed Saliba Jr. said. Something caught fire on a couple’s stovetop about 8:30 a.m. on Beamer Avenue. The wife was at work. The husband was outside working in the yard but heard a smoke detector go...
Woman accused of faking $12,300 application for Westmoreland rental assistance
An Allegheny County woman is accused of taking $12,300 from Westmoreland County’s emergency rental assistance program after, authorities said, she forged an application for a vacant New Kensington property, according to court papers. Melissa D. Brandt, 36, of Franklin Park is charged with theft, forgery, identity theft and receiving stolen...
New Kensington-Arnold considering borrowing $5M for building work
The New Kensington-Arnold School Board is considering another multimillion-dollar bond issue for work on the district’s schools. The board is entertaining borrowing $5 million. That money would be added to $8 million in federal covid relief funds to pay for the work. Superintendent Chris Sefcheck said the money would be used...
Gilpin supervisors give residents glimpse of potential police merger with Freeport
Gilpin supervisors gave a presentation showing what a regional police force would look like with Gilpin and Freeport combined. The presentation Tuesday evening was led by Chris Fabec, who serves as police chief for both municipalities. Fabec said a survey was sent out to Gilpin officers to get an idea...
The Stroller, May 12, 2022: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least a week in advance to vndnews@triblive.com. Please include a daytime telephone number. Bingo fundraiser to benefit Lower Valley food bank Lower Valley Community Food Bank will host a spring fling bingo at 7...
Fire at Springdale plant under investigation, no injuries reported
PPG Industries’ safety department is investigating the cause of a fire Wednesday at its Springdale plant along Colfax Street. Firefighters from the borough as well as Arnold and East Deer responded to the call for smoke and fire in the vents at the industrial coating and resin facility around 3...
Corbet Street in Tarentum to be transformed by demolition
The heart of Tarentum’s Corbet Street business district will undergo a transformation to create parking spaces in a park-like setting in the middle of town. Borough officials voted to buy a two-story brick building at 215 Corbet, most recently home to J&G Corner Store. The property will be demolished to...
Police: Kittanning woman jailed in connection with meth sale during sting operation in Leechburg
State police accused a woman of being a drug dealer after police say an informant bought methamphetamine from her in Leechburg two years ago. Debbie Ann Russo, 44, of the 1000 block of Johnston Avenue in Kittanning, was charged with a felony count of possession of drugs with the intent...
