Valley News Dispatch category, Page 665
VFW hall damaged by fire in Armstrong County
A VFW hall in Manor Township, Armstrong County, was damaged by fire early Tuesday, according to emergency dispatchers. The fire at VFW Post 4843 on Bailey Avenue was reported shortly before 4 a.m. Nobody was hurt. Firefighters extinguished the blaze within two hours. The cause of the fire and the...
The hazards of ‘Running While Female’
The thrill of hitting the trail at full stride and the exhilaration of the fabled “runner’s high” is often replaced by fear and trepidation for female runners in the area, across the country and around the world. Aug. 21 marks one year since the discovery of the body of 20-year-old...
Highlands awards contracts for Tarentum elementary school work
Highlands School Board awarded three contracts for work at the district’s elementary school in Tarentum. Two of the contracts, totaling about $92,100, are for repairs to Highlands Elementary’s deteriorated clock tower. The district will pay Marsa Inc. $60,800 for restoration work on the clock tower’s masonry and BurMac Roofing $31,282...
Got unwanted ink? Elimination Station, laser removal business in Tarentum, aims to fade tattoo woes
Editor’s note: Building the Valley tells stories of businesses big and small and the employees who make them special. If you know of any standout employees, bosses or companies with a great story to tell, contact reporter Madasyn Czebiniak at mczebiniak@tribweb.com Amber Halliwell regrets not eating more the day she...
Allegheny River group concerned it was victim of alleged scam
Boaters who can’t use locks on the upper reaches of the Allegheny River can count themselves among the alleged victims of what state prosecutors say was a scam. The Allegheny River Development Corp. (ARDC), a Kittanning-based nonprofit, canceled the opening of locks 6 through 9 in Armstrong County this past...
Harmar property rezoning looks to boost access to Twelve-Mile Island
Harmar supervisors approved the rezoning of three undeveloped properties along the Allegheny River from industrial to residential to pave the way for a private group to build a parking lot so they can access Twelve-Mile Island. Supervisors unanimously approved the change as the first step for Maple Island Campers Association,...
Missing Lake Erie boater identified as Plum man
A man missing in Lake Erie since Saturday morning is from Plum, according to information provided by Ohio authorities. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources identified the missing man as Raymond Burns, 58. The agency said Burns was in a recreational fishing boat that was swamped by a squall around...
Tractor-trailer overturns on Tarentum Bridge, sending scrap onto tracks belowVideo
A tractor-trailer that overturned on the Tarentum Bridge early Monday afternoon dropped part of its load off the bridge onto Norfolk Southern railroad tracks below. The crash happened just before 1 p.m., according to an Allegheny County emergency dispatcher. It was just before the First Avenue exit ramp off the...
Man charged in Arnold shooting accused of asking victim not to testify
A Somerset man accused of shooting an Arnold man during a robbery last year tried to ask him in May not to testify, according to court papers. Nicholas J. Haynes, 23, was charged last week with witness intimidation after authorities said he tried to get a note to the man...
She came to the Alle-Kiski Valley to report on it. Now she devotes her life to helping it.Video
Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series that features Alle-Kiski Valley residents and the notable things they do. Community activist Tricia Ritchie is set to celebrate her nonprofit’s one-year anniversary. “I feel we started something that can only get better and better,” Ritchie said. “I am amazed at...
Grass or artificial turf? Burrell school board set to decideVideo
The Burrell School Board will decide Tuesday whether the district will pay to replace the high school stadium field with natural sod or artificial turf. The decision is part of a renovation project at the high school track and athletic field. Drainage issues have plagued the track, which has multiple...
At the pickle farm in Gilpin, corn is kingVideo
Doris Myers of Gilpin had opinions as a young lady about who she would marry. “I always said I’d never marry a farmer,” she said. But, after 58 years of marriage to farmer Ralph Myers, Doris, 80, has embraced the rural lifestyle her husband always knew. Together, they own and...
Psychics investigate Tarentum fire hall on A&E Network showVideo
Things don’t go “bump in the night” at Summit Hose Fire Hall in Tarentum, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some strange happenings there. Some of those strange things will be the focus of a TV show at 10 p.m. Wednesday on the A&E Network. “Just about everybody has...
Kitchen fire heavily damages home of New Kensington councilman
A father and his two daughters were outside on the front porch of their New Kensington home when they heard smoke alarms going off inside at 5 p.m. Sunday. “We were playing Legos, and the girls decided to go to the back porch. That’s when I heard the alarms,” city...
Band Blast celebrates, benefits parks in New Kensington, Arnold
Hundreds of people turned out Sunday to hear all types of music from country to doo-wop at New Kensington Memorial Park as a way to support improvements at the park. The New Ken/Arnold Social in the Park group has hosted the “Band Blast” for six years as a way to...
Developer showcases former Alcoa research center that he spent years, millions to redo
Patti and Dominic Giordano have lived in New Kensington their whole lives, and they’re glad to see someone restoring one of the city’s most notable landmarks — the former Alcoa property. “This is a piece of New Kensington and Pennsylvania history,” Dominic Giordano said. “It’s nice he’s keeping it alive.”...
Cost of library inventory project raises concerns at Highlands
Concerns about the cost of a project to inventory library books at elementary schools in the Highlands School District has administrators and school board members considering other options. At a board meeting Monday, a few residents said the more than $62,000 cost of the project with Follett School Solutions was...
Freeport Area gearing up for start of school year, enrollment up slightly
The Freeport Area School District is expected to welcome back just under 1,900 students for the school year that begins next Thursday. That’s an increase of 35 students over last school year. The number could increase if Freeport Area picks up students from the recently closed Evangel Heights School in...
St. Margaret Mary Festival proceeds to help ministries, Lower Burrell fire companiesVideo
The first night of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church’s festival Friday was more like a vibrant community party in the heart of Lower Burrell. Sunny weather aided the parish’s biggest fundraiser to attract a huge crowd that was hungry for family fun for young to old, music and games, congenial...
Resident convinces Upper Burrell to reconsider street paving list
For those who think one person can’t affect local government decisions, Dan Myers is proof to the contrary. The Upper Burrell resident wasn’t happy when he heard township supervisors planned to seal-coat Chapeldale Drive. He said it didn’t make sense because he felt so many other township roads, including Turkey...
West Deer native remembers trip to Woodstock
West Deer native Colleen Nelson remembers the crush of cars as she and her friends drove a crammed Volkswagen Beetle toward Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, N.Y., on Aug. 14, 1969. They had almost made it to the site of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. But there was so...
Allegheny River locks in Armstrong County closed this weekend
The Allegheny River Development Corp., a Kittanning-based nonprofit that pays to keep the Allegheny River locks open in Armstrong County, announced that Locks 6 through 9 will be closed this weekend. In 2011, the Army Corps closed the five locks in Armstrong County because of lack of commercial traffic, opening...
Empty Natrona houses a hazard, resident says after fireVideo
Conrad Zylinski was awakened early Friday by people banging on his front door. The long-vacant house next to his home in Harrison’s Natrona neighborhood was going up in flames. “It was scary,” the 66-year-old Zylinski said, thanking the firefighters who responded. “They saved my place. My roof was steaming.” He...
5 things to do in Westmoreland this weekend: Aug. 16-18
TGIF! Summer may be winding down quicker than we’d like, but time marches on. Get out and savor every minute. There is plenty of fun to be found in Westmoreland. Still swingin` Neon Swing X-perience brings its joyful sound end of summer celebration Saturday. Nick Barilla opens the show at...
Oklahoma Borough set to remove toxic rubble from Belvedere Hotel fire scene
Oklahoma Borough now has the funds to demolish the Belvedere Hotel after a July 24 blaze reduced it to a pile of asbestos-contaminated rubble. The demolition plans do not include closing Route 66 near Orr Avenue and Apollo Bridge. That will spare the 11,000 cars that travel the busy stretch...
