Jack Troy stories, Page 8

More families are turning to a Penn Hills program that offers up to $14,500 toward a down payment and closing costs on homes in the municipality. Penn Hills, in collaboration with social services provider ACTION-Housing, Allegheny County Economic Development and consultant Urban Design Ventures, launched the program in 2017 to...

A reliable supply of towering Christmas trees for Pittsburgh’s annual display may come to an end Saturday after crews cut down two more evergreens from an old church in Springdale. The city has sourced the centerpiece of its Light Up Night festivities from the former St. Alphonsus Church, owned by...

Pittsburgh’s latest official Christmas tree will come from Springdale. Sound familiar? Including this year’s 40-foot blue spruce, donated by Guardian Angels Catholic Parish, four of the last six trees selected for display outside the City-County Building Downtown have come from Springdale. And like the past two years, the evergreen hails...

Monthly charges for sewage and trash collection would go up for Freeport residents next year, but the property tax rate would stay the same, under the borough’s proposed $2.5 million budget. Sewage ratepayers could expect a $7 increase per bill, bringing the debt service surcharge to $47. That’s a hike...

The open archway into Gen. Samuel McCartney Jackson’s mausoleum stares blankly over the hillside at Old Apollo Cemetery, battered by years of crude graffiti and neglect but still structurally sound. Only a few stones have fallen, including one with the Civil War hero’s year of death: 1907. “It still has...

Democrats will remain in control of Pennsylvania’s state House after a nail-biter in a Johnstown area district. State Rep. Frank Burns eked out his eighth successful reelection bid, this time against Republican Amy Bradley, to preserve his party’s 102-101 majority in the lower chamber. The pro-gun, anti-abortion Democrat represents the...

Union Railroad has completed long-awaited repairs to its half of a dilapidated fence along Leechburg Road near its North Bessemer Yard, but it remains unclear when the rest might be addressed. The rusted, sagging fence has been described as potentially dangerous to pedestrians by Penn Hills code enforcement officer Jason...

The Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors are less than a year out from starting to remove, process and package radioactive materials from the Parks Township nuclear waste dump. Remediation will start in August on 10 shallow trenches of highly enriched uranium and other hazardous materials buried at the...

Control of the Pennsylvania state House has come down to a single district in Cambria County, where the fate of a “blue dog” Democrat is slowly coming into focus as thousands of ballots are counted by hand. Rep. Frank Burns, a Democrat who first won Pennsylvania’s 72nd House District in...

Donald Trump’s decisive win Tuesday night over Kamala Harris represents a profound realignment of the American electorate, giving Republicans a blueprint for future victories and Democrats enough cause for soul searching to last a presidential term. Trump gained ground in almost every district and demographic, storming back to the White...

Pennsylvanians, who live in one of America’s most productive states for natural gas extraction, have seen their utility bills climb despite that ample supply. Experts say the fault lies in the trio of international energy demand, infrastructure investment and the jump in inflation during and after the covid pandemic. “Natural...

Republican state Rep. Andrew Kuzma is gearing up for his first reelection challenge as longtime teacher and union representative Angela Girol looks to reclaim Pennsylvania’s 39th House District for Democrats after more than a decade of losses. The district covers Elizabeth, Elizabeth Township, Forward Township, Jefferson Hills, Pleasant Hills, South...

Don Gerken has his younger brother on his mind as Veterans Day approaches, and how his combat service in Vietnam — which earned him Silver and Bronze stars — left lasting scars. “I think he brought a lot of that war home with him,” said Gerken, one of 17 military...

Charges have been filed against an Allegheny Township man who police said crashed into a gas pump at Vandergrift’s Kochka and Son Towing on Sept. 10, starting a fire that burned a customer and caused significant damage to the family-owned business. Cole Briscoe, 33, fled the scene on Sherman Avenue...

The former AMC theater in Buffalo Township quietly reopened as South Pike Cinemas on Saturday, more than two months after America’s largest movie chain declined to renew its lease. Before leaving, AMC removed its payment systems, monitors — even its soda fountains — giving owner Nick Mulone plenty to do...

Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series examining where presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump stand on the biggest issues. Today’s segment focuses on the economy. Former President Donald Trump, never shy to borrow from Ronald Reagan, asked supporters at a recent rally in Unity a simple...

A new wave of players in Penn Hills civic life are going after vacant land and blighted properties in historically neglected neighborhoods in hopes of attracting new residents and, in turn, amenities. And while some of that work is happening through Elevate Penn Hills, an initiative of the Penn Hills...

School lunches get a bad rap, but something about the buns served on spaghetti days at Freeport Area School District cafeterias enchanted Sarah Vivian. “The lunch ladies would make these big, yeasty rolls, and you could smell it throughout the whole school,” Vivian fondly recalled. Apparently, the buns have stuck...

The Apollo Zoning Hearing Board has postponed a decision on whether to permit a 45-unit, $18 million affordable housing development on the site of the former Apollo High School. Developer Pivotal Housing Partners is seeking variances to, among other aspects of the project, the minimum lot area per-unit, maximum building...

Leechburg police are asking residents with video surveillance to check their footage after reports of suspects entering unlocked vehicles around 1 a.m. Friday along Wallace and Floral avenues and Second Street. “I had one lady pretty upset,” said Leechburg police Chief Jason Schaeffer. “Her purse was stolen, and she had...

State narcotics agents are leading an investigation into a man who authorities say led them on a chase Wednesday through New Kensington, Plum and Penn Hills before hitting another vehicle head-on and being caught with nearly $7,000 in cocaine. Matthew Avans McCloud, 34, of New Kensington faces a litany of...

Penn Hills Council passed an ordinance Oct. 21 to loosen billboard rules in industrial districts. The new regulations allow for larger and higher billboards in these areas, while also expressly permitting signs with electronically changing messages. Billboards remain banned in residential, conservation, business and mixed-use districts — an overwhelming majority...

Aldi will open its store in Allegheny Township on Nov. 7, the ever-expanding supermarket chain has announced, giving shoppers another option in an area thin on grocers. A grand opening ceremony will be held at the store in Hyde Park Plaza before customers are let in at 8:45 a.m. The...

Democrat Bill Petulla and Republican Jeremy Shaffer are striking moderate messages in the race to represent Pennsylvania’s 28th State House District, a right-leaning band of mostly affluent suburbs along Allegheny County’s northern border. The district includes West Deer, Marshall, Bradford Woods, Pine Township, Richland and Hampton. Both candidates ran unopposed...

Editor’s note: This is the seventh story in an occasional series on the causes and impact of inflation. Car buyers who haven’t been in the market for a while might be in for some sticker shock. In the past five years, the average price paid for a new vehicle has...