Madasyn Lee stories, Page 21
Police arrest man wanted in connection with Dormont home invasion
A man wanted in connection with an alleged violent home invasion in Dormont was arrested Tuesday, according to Allegheny County police. Police had been looking for Joel Hatfield, 28, no address, since Sunday morning. Police say that’s when Hatfield went to a man’s apartment armed with a knife and forced...
Deer Lakes High School students use emoji paintings to encourage frank conversationsVideo
Art students at Deer Lakes High School are hoping students and staffers will stop and see the emoji. Not the cartoon-like images on their cellphones, but ones on the walls. Emoji allow people to express emotion digitally through a variety of faces that display different expressions and picture characters. They...
Record number of guns stopped at Pittsburgh International Airport in 2019
A Montana Mines, W.Va., man was caught with a loaded 9 mm handgun at the Pittsburgh International Airport on Monday, Transportation Security Administration officers said. It was the 35th gun found at the airport this year, surpassing the 34 guns that were found in 2018 and the 32 guns that...
Harrison optometrist’s childhood vision comes full circle
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 Lee at mlee@tribweb.com. Dr. John Bissell knew by age 13 that he...
Police release details about car used by Dormont home invasion suspect
Allegheny County Police on Monday released a description of a car that could be connected to the suspect in a violent Dormont home invasion. Police have been looking for Joel Hatfield, 28, no known address, since Sunday. Police say Hatfield, while armed with a knife, forced his way into an...
Pittsburgh zoo welcomes new clouded leopard cubsVideo
Meet the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium’s newest clouded leopard cubs. Parents Saya and Pi welcomed their second litter of cubs on Nov. 27. Saya gave birth to two other cubs in March, but one of those cubs died shortly after birth. “The two cubs are healthy and doing well,”...
Police searching for man they say broke into Dormont man’s apartment, attempted to rob him at knifepoint
Allegheny County Police have issued an arrest warrant for a man they say attempted to rob another man with a knife Sunday morning in Dormont. The suspect has been identified as Joel Hatfield, 28, no known address. Hatfield is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. He was...
Water main break wreaks havoc on McKnight Road travelers
McKnight Road reopened early Monday morning after a large water main break, according to Tribune-Review news partner WPXI. Crews are still working to repair the damage. The water main break was reported just after 1:45 p.m. in the 8000 block of McKnight Road. An Allegheny County 911 dispatcher said the...
Coraopolis man gets 8 years for fentanyl delivery that resulted in fatal overdose
A Coraopolis man was sentenced to eight years in federal prison last week for providing the drug that prosecutors say killed a Moon Township woman more than two years ago. Cleo Maurice Bronaugh, 42, pleaded guilty over the summer to providing a woman, identified only by the initials L.T., with...
State police: FedEx driver dumped packages instead of delivering them
A FedEx driver dumped packages in a ditch instead of delivering them to their rightful owners Saturday afternoon in Mercer County, state police said. State police with the Mercer station say the incident happened just before 2:30 p.m. along Horvath Road in Lackawannock Township. Troopers said a witness saw a...
Driver fired after leaving 7-year-old Leechburg student on bus
A W.L. Roenigk driver has been fired for leaving a 7-year-old Leechburg Area student on a minibus, company president Sue Roenigk said Thursday. The boy was mistakenly driven to the bus company’s Allegheny Township garage and office on Greenwood Road, about 5 miles from David Leech Elementary School where the...
Leechburg Council approves 22% tax hike
Property taxes in Leechburg in the coming year are jumping by 22%. Leechburg Council on Tuesday passed a $1.2 million budget for 2020 that includes a 4-mill real estate tax increase. That means the borough’s tax rate will increase from 18.3124 mills to 22.3214 mills. With the increase, a homeowner...
Deer Lakes High School hosts annual senior luncheonVideo
Senior citizens in the Deer Lakes School District were treated to a holiday luncheon Wednesday sponsored by the high school student council. The annual tradition has been ongoing for more than 25 years, according to school spokesman Jim Cromie. Between 80 and 100 seniors attended. They saw performances by the...
Pittsburgh zoo mourns death of northern elephant seal
The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium reported Tuesday that its northern elephant seal, Coolio, died during a veterinary procedure. According to zoo officials, gross necropsy results indicated that 7-year-old Coolio suffered from congenital abnormalities, including blood vessel abnormalities, which likely resulted in severe hypertension. “Our animals are like family and...
Tarentum, other communities receive more than $700K for traffic safety projects
Tarentum is getting $226,000 in state funds to pay for traffic improvements at the intersection of East 10th Avenue and Corbet Street, officials announced this week. The money comes from PennDOT’s Automated Red Light Enforcement Transportation Enhancements Grant Program (ARLE Funding Program). It will be used to upgrade the intersection’s...
Monessen man pleads guilty to helping run one of Western Pennsylvania’s largest cocaine rings
A Monessen man pleaded guilty to helping run a cross-country cocaine ring that was among the largest in Western Pennsylvania history, federal prosecutors said. Deaubre Lightfoot, 29, was convicted of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams (about a pound) or more of cocaine, U.S. Attorney Scott...
West Leechburg approves 5.5% tax increase
West Leechburg Council has adopted a $505,500 budget for 2020 that includes a 5.5% increase in property taxes. Under the plan, the borough’s tax rate will go up 1.5 mills to 29 mills. At that rate, the owner of a home assessed at $15,218 — West Leechburg’s average assessed home...
A tasty exchange: Cookie swap moves from Harrison home to fire hall
When Lori Miller decided to organize a Christmas cookie exchange last year, she did it out of her Harrison home with about a dozen women. She had to move it to a bigger venue this year — a fire hall — due to popular demand. “The first year was last...
Police: Man shot in leg near UPMC Children’s Hospital
A man was shot in the leg early Sunday morning in Lawrenceville, according to Pittsburgh police. Police believe the shooting occurred near UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Police said they were called to reports of a shooting near the Sunoco gas station on the 4000 block of Penn Avenue shortly...
Pittsburgh firefighter injured in 3-alarm blaze in Duquesne Heights
A Pittsburgh firefighter was slightly injured after he fell to the ground attempting to put out a fire in a house undergoing renovations in Duquesne Heights early Sunday, officials said. Firefighters were called to a fire at 306 Meridan St. shortly before 5:45 a.m. When they arrived, there were heavy...
West Deer resident says he can’t escape streetlight’s glare into his home
When Adam Fusan moved into his West Deer home 10 years ago, there wasn’t a streetlight at the corner of Saxonburg Boulevard and McKrell Road. One was installed in July at the request of township supervisors. Fusan, who lives on Saxonburg, said it’s impacting his everyday life. “It’s driving me...
Hambone’s in Lawrenceville padlocked for not paying alcohol tax, treasurer says
Editor’s note: Hambone’s said it was reopening Friday. A popular Lawrenceville bar was shut down Thursday for not paying its alcoholic beverage tax, officials said. Hambone’s at 4207 Butler St. was padlocked at 1 p.m. after Allegheny County Treasurer John Weinstein obtained a roughly $13,000 judgment against it, according to...
Beaver County man pleads guilty to robbing Cranberry PNC Bank over the summer
A Beaver County man this week pleaded guilty in federal court to robbing a Cranberry bank over the summer. Michael Ryan Neppach, 40, of Patterson, pleaded guilty to a charge of bank robbery, prosecutors said. Authorities said shortly after 4:45 p.m. Aug. 28, Neppach went to the PNC Bank at...
Police: Former Collier cop asked teenage girls for nude pictures
A former Collier police officer was arrested after two teenage girls told authorities that he requested nude pictures while he was still employed as a police officer, authorities said. Cory Hurka, 29, of Collier, was charged Tuesday with two counts each of unlawful contact with minors, criminal solicitation and corruption...
Bailey the therapy dog helps Deer Lakes 3rd graders readVideo
As Kayla Paschel read to Bailey, a 14-year old Yorkshire terrier Maltese mix, she felt like the dog could understand her. “I could feel him listening to me,” said Kayla, 9, of West Deer, who read one of her favorite books, “Michelle the Winter Wonderland Fairy.” “It was really fun...
