Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 20

The Plum Rotary Club is supporting an effort to get car seats and cribs to families in need. The club recently gave $2,000 to Plum Emergency Medical Services to support its child safety program, said Brian Maloney, director of operations for Plum EMS. Plum EMS started its child safety program...

Plum’s old borough building will serve one last purpose for the community before it’s torn down. Council is expected to vote Monday on allowing volunteer firefighters with the borough’s four departments to use the New Texas Road building for training. Council appears receptive to the idea. When Holiday Park Fire...

Customers will be making fewer trips to and from their cars when Stella’s Beer Barn reopens Sunday in New Kensington. Stella’s will be operating with a distributor license, which removes quantity limits that had been in place when it operated under a restaurant license that had been shared with the...

A man is dead Monday evening after an exchange of gunfire in McKees Rocks, according to Allegheny County Police. The shooting in the area of 3rd and Boquet streets was reported to Allegheny County 911 around 5:15 p.m. There, first responders found a 19-year-old who had been shot multiple times....

Traffic restrictions and a detour for trucks are scheduled to start Tuesday morning as work continues on the New Kensington Bridge. A long-term traffic shift will start at about 7 a.m. Tuesday, PennDOT announced Monday. The shift is needed to allow for painting, fence replacement and sidewalk repairs. Two 10-foot-wide...

A New Kensington gun store burglarized in January has moved to a new location its owners have fortified against break-ins. RC Firearms moved about two miles within the city from the rear of 404 Freeport St. to 2391 Seventh Street Road, said Roy Berg, who opened RC Firearms with his...

Shoppers at Giant Eagle in New Kensington might want to double check their receipts. The store’s price scanning system failed an annual inspection Monday, resulting in red “rejected” tags being placed at all of the Tarentum Bridge Road store’s registers to alert consumers. The inspection by the Westmoreland County Bureau...

A federal grand jury has indicted two men authorities say had 22 pounds of cocaine in a New Kensington house. Marcos Francisco-Tomas, 33, and Andres Flores-Cedeno, 27, were indicted on charges of violating federal narcotics laws, U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced Tuesday. Each is being held in the Allegheny...

New Kensington-Arnold School District officials have not figured out how a live firearm round got inside Valley High School two weeks ago, Superintendent Chris Sefcheck said Monday. The district has not changed any policies in response to the Feb. 13 incident, which caused a lockdown of the school that morning,...

A federal grand jury returned indictments against two men accused of burglarizing a New Kensington gun store in January. Michael Guin, 26, of Harrison and Steyn Sarduy, 18, no address available, each are charged with conspiracy and theft of a firearm from a licensed firearms dealer. Guin also is charged...

Today, Giustino Racchini is a freshman at Penn State University studying journalism, with plans to be a play-by-play announcer or a sportswriter. On a cold Monday in December, the 19-year-old lay dead on Old Frankstown Road in his hometown of Plum. He wasn’t breathing. He had no pulse. His heart...

Holly Knapp knows there are places illicit drugs are bought and sold in New Kensington. She didn’t think her neighborhood was one of them. Knapp has lived for 25 years on Beamer Avenue, a short distance from where police Saturday descended on a house at the corner of Seventh Street,...

Maya Horton’s favorite thing about her home in Wesley Family Service’s Pioneer Apartments is peace. “It’s very peaceful. I have my peace,” she said. “That’s what I like about living here in this building. I go home to a peaceful environment, and I feel safe in my home.” Horton was...

Federal authorities charged two men with dealing large amounts of cocaine from a house they lived in near Martin Elementary School in New Kensington. Marcos Francisco-Tomas and Andres Flores-Cedeno were arrested Saturday, according to an affidavit that a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent filed in federal court in Pittsburgh....

A natural gas leak was discovered in Riverview Jr.-Sr. High School on Monday, a day during which no students or staff were inside the building. A handful of people who were in the Oakmont school in the morning, including custodians and a group conducting an architectural walkthrough, evacuated shortly before...

Average gas prices in the Pittsburgh area have gone up 12 cents in the past week to an average of $3.63 per gallon, according to price-tracking service GasBuddy. Pittsburgh-area drivers are paying, on average, 19 cents more per gallon for gas than they did a month ago but about 14...

A raid of a New Kensington home Thursday morning turned up just 4 grams of crack cocaine, but city police said they suspect other illegal drugs were flushed down a toilet before authorities discovered them. One of three people found inside the home, 78-year-old Leon Cash, faces drug charges in...

A Turtle Creek man who worked as an Allegheny County 911 dispatcher used two children to produce child pornography, according to a 20-count federal indictment. Robert Bookshar, 46, was indicted on charges related to the sexual exploitation of minors, U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced Thursday. According to the indictment,...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, Feb. 16: Pittsburgh Zoo announces death of elephant calf An elephant calf died after a sudden and brief illness, the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium announced. The calf, named Tsuni, was 2 years old and lived with a herd...

Plum residents are now able to get rid of expired or unwanted medications at a new drop box at the borough’s police station. Longwood at Oakmont in Plum bought the box for the borough for $2,600, said Kevin Henderson, Longwood senior director. “The Plum Police Department will also come to...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Thursday, Feb. 15: Man shot in foot outside Pittsburgh bus station A man was shot in the foot Wednesday night outside the Greyhound bus station in Pittsburgh, police said. The shooting at 11th Street and Penn Avenue was reported...

Plum will spend more than $1 million to resurface about 10 miles of roads this year. Council awarded a $1.22 million contract to Derry Construction. The work will not start until Aug. 1 at the earliest, to give borough crews time to finish other work on the roads, borough Manager...

An Export man is accused of threatening relatives with guns and a machete before brandishing a gun in front of state police troopers responding to the disturbance Sunday. State police filed numerous charges against 63-year-old Robert Deering. According to state police, Deering was arguing with his daughter and son-in-law after...

Plum Council has approved filling three vacancies in the borough’s police department and in doing so has offered employment to the department’s second female officer. Council on Monday approved conditional offers of employment to Jason Saunders, Haylee Walak and Luke Skledar. They will replace officers who have retired or resigned,...

How a live firearm round got into Valley High School in New Kensington remains under investigation and “raises quite a few questions,” according to New Kensington-Arnold Superintendent Chris Sefcheck. “These questions are the foundation for a review of our processes and procedures for school safety and security,” he said Wednesday....