Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 54

Several free programs for those who own or are interested in starting a business will be offered this week at The Corner in New Kensington, including the introduction of a four-week “boot camp” open to business owners and entrepreneurs in New Kensington or Arnold. The events, beginning Tuesday night and...

The release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is causing oil prices to pull back and bringing down gasoline prices, according to AAA. The national average for a gallon of gas is now $4.19, down 6 cents from last week, AAA reported. That’s still 35 cents higher than a...

An upcoming fundraiser that promises to be “totally tubular” will support art in downtown New Kensington. The event, ’80s for the Arts, will be Saturday, April 16 at Voodoo Brewery New Kensington. It is being sponsored by Voodoo Brewery, Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, New Kensington Art Center and the...

An elementary school teacher from South Carolina is planning to open a private, nonprofit middle school in Arnold starting in the fall of 2025. Matt DeHart, 26, a fifth grade teacher in Greenville County, S.C., founded the nonprofit Teach from DeHart Foundation in January 2021. He and his wife, New...

The demolition of 10 buildings this spring could lead to new developments in Arnold. The city is seeking bids to tear down the buildings. Most are located on Third and Fourth avenues, with one on Leishman Avenue and another on Victoria Avenue. All are vacant residential buildings except for 1905...

Four men were arrested after federal, state and Westmoreland County authorities say they found drugs worth more than $8,000 and a gun Thursday morning while searching a recording studio and residence in Arnold. Agents of the state Attorney General Bureau of Narcotics Investigation, working with the Westmoreland County Drug Task...

Braeburn Alloy Steel filed for bankruptcy with the intent of being acquired by an affiliate of its largest customer and keeping the 125-year-old Lower Burrell business in operation. CCX, which acquired Braeburn in 1944 and operates under its name, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on Sunday. Chapter 11...

After their first-born son was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Chris and Danielle Cochran sat down with him and told him how sorry they were it had happened to him. They were upset. Christian was not. “He said he would rather it be himself than anyone else,” Chris Cochran said. “He...

A West Mifflin man is accused of stalking the mother of his son and pointing a gun at her during a car chase with the 3-year-old in her car. New Kensington police on Tuesday filed charges against Roosevelt Javon Wright, 23. Police said the incident began about 9:30 a.m. March...

Not so fast. Old Man Winter isn’t through with you yet. Despite Wednesday afternoon temperatures expected to each the 60s, weather early in the day could be another blast of winter. A mix of snow, rain and freezing rain could make for a slippery morning commute Wednesday. The National Weather...

Gasoline prices are stabilizing in the Pittsburgh area and across the nation as oil remains above $100 per barrel, according to industry analysts. Prices at the pump had been coming down since setting record highs on March 11, at $4.44 per gallon in Pennsylvania and $4.33 nationally, according to AAA....

The relief association for Arnold’s two volunteer fire companies improperly paid nearly $5,000 in death benefits for members who had not died, a state audit found. The unauthorized expenditures, meant to help members who encountered financial difficulties, were repaid. The expenditures were among five concerns the state Auditor General’s Office...

A new contract continues to elude the New Kensington-Arnold School District and its teachers union. Negotiators for the school district and the New Kensington-Arnold Education Association met for four and a half hours Thursday night, said school board member Terry Schrock, the district’s lead negotiator and spokesman. While reporting “some...

A stove being used to heat a New Kensington home may have caused a fire in which a woman died this month, a state police fire marshal said Thursday. Angel A. Gray, 49, died in the March 6 fire in a duplex at 554 Fourth Ave. Her husband, Bob Gray,...

A Wilkinsburg resident was one of two men involved in stealing an SUV from a Sheetz parking lot in New Kensington last week, city police allege. Police charged Markhi Deondre Hunter, 19, of South Avenue with theft and receiving stolen property. In a criminal complaint against Hunter, police said a...

The New Kensington fire department hoped to have its aerial ladder truck back in service by the end of last week, fire Chief Ed Saliba Jr. said Wednesday. After that, the job became figuring out how the city will pay the anticipated $1.5 million to replace the 24-year-old vehicle. “We...

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch covering Allegheny, Beaver, Greene and Washington counties that is scheduled to be in effect until 10 p.m. Wednesday. Strong storms are moving quickly across Ohio and are expected to arrive in Pennsylvania over the next two to three hours, meteorologist Shannon...

The U.S. Department of Energy has named Penn State New Kensington’s Digital Foundry as a Smart Manufacturing Innovation Center — one of only seven in the nation. The designation of the facility, which is under construction on Fifth Avenue in downtown New Kensington, as an “SMIC” was made in partnership...

The Alle-Kiski Valley firefighting community is mourning the death of longtime Arnold firefighter and officer Keith Dziobak. Dziobak died Tuesday night. A cause of death was not immediately known. He was 57. A firefighter with Arnold No. 2 since he was 17 years old in 1982, Dziobak was in his...

The downtown New Kensington building that until a few months ago housed a Citizens Bank branch is slated to be sold in an online auction in April. A $200,000 starting bid was placed on the six-story building on Ninth Street at Fifth Avenue. The auction through Ten-X will run from...

A woman was rescued from the Allegheny River after jumping from the New Kensington Bridge on Friday morning. The incident was reported shortly before 10 a.m., a Westmoreland County 911 dispatcher said. The woman was sedated when she was taken from the scene by ambulance, according to officials at the...

New Kensington is going to ramble into spring with an all-new fling. Tickets are being sold through Sunday for the first Restaurant Ramble & Spring Fling, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 26. It will spotlight nearly a dozen restaurants on Fourth and Fifth avenues in downtown New...

Sean Watson and Jeff Cieslewicz didn’t want to serve any taco, burrito or quesadilla before its time. That’s why instead of opening SoCal Mexicali Grill in November like they had planned, it didn’t open until mid-February. Watson blames himself, because he wanted to get the design of the new restaurant...

Therapy dogs are helping New Kensington-Arnold elementary students overcome emotional and academic issues exacerbated by the covid pandemic. First and second grade students at H.D. Berkey Elementary School were the first to take part in a program new to their school in which they read to dogs. “It went extremely...

Bohdan Czmola’s family has a history of opposing the Russians. A son of Ukrainian immigrants, Czmola, 70, of Penn Hills said his grandfather, Ivan Czmola, was one of three founders of Plast, a Ukrainian scouting organization for boys in 1911. When Ukraine declared independence from Russia in 1918, Czmola’s grandfather...