Patrick Varine stories, Page 15
Monroeville approves voluntary rehab facility over citizen objections
Monroeville council members approved a voluntary drug treatment facility for the former Independence Court building on Center Road. Pyramid Healthcare was seeking conditional use for the inpatient treatment center. Pyramid was founded in 1999 in Altoona, and today has more than 80 facilities in eight states, including three in Allegheny...
Route 30 eastbound reopened after Unity truck crash
Route 30 has been reopened after a crash late Wednesday that shut down the eastbound side of the highway in Unity. First responders were called to a stretch near Johnson Road shortly before 8 p.m. for an overturned truck, according to a Westmoreland County 911 supervisor. The truck sheared a...
Ohio man pleads guilty to trafficking sex workers in Monroeville
An Ohio man pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday to bringing an underage girl and two adults to Monroeville to work as prostitutes, according to court documents. Donte L. Cole, 40, of Euclid, Ohio, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to sex trafficking of a child and coercion of...
Salem will host township-wide clean-up day
Salem residents are invited to take part in a township-wide clean-up day on May 17. Township residents can bring one pick-up truck load or two car loads of items to dispose of at the township building, 244 Congruity Road. The clean-up is for township residents only, and proof of residency...
8 more teams leave Western Pa. Youth Football League
More teams have split from the Western Pennsylvania Youth Football League in the wake of an investigation into funds reportedly missing from the league’s shared bank account. Youth teams from Baldwin- Whitehall, Belle Vernon, Connellsville, Hempfield, Montour, Norwin, Trinity and West Allegheny have left to form the Western Pennsylvania Football League,...
Export set to pay off flood-control project that helped dry out the borough
Export Mayor Joe Zaccagnini can remember watching his father’s 1957 Ford station wagon being picked up and carried off by Turtle Creek’s floodwaters in the early 1970s. “My dad’s mother was being laid out at the funeral home, and he was leaving to take his aunt and uncle home,” Zaccagnini...
Missing Monroeville man’s body recovered from Tennessee lake
The body of a Monroeville man who went missing while kayaking in Tennessee has been recovered, authorities said. News station WTVF reported that the body of Don Slusser, 73, of Monroeville, was discovered in Percy Priest Lake, just east of Nashville. Slusser and his wife were camping at the Seven...
Murrysville area: Craft workshops, FR health fair, church tag sale and more
Email news briefs and event information to pvarine@triblive.com. Panther student earns $200,000 scholarship Franklin Regional student Nathan Snyder, in the center, was recently awarded the U.S. Navy NROTC Scholarship, valued at $200,000. It provides full tuition at participating universities and colleges, supporting students who aspire to become commissioned naval officers....
Native planting will help the wild to reclaim Murrysville acid mine remediation site
To a passerby, it probably looked like the volunteers wandering a soggy Murrysville meadow one morning this week were just pushing muddy sticks into the ground. In actuality, they were planting three dozen hybrid chestnut trees, part of a much larger planting that will help bring nature back to a...
Monroeville area: School board candidate forum, bingo, electric car club show, more
Email news briefs and event listings to pvarine@triblive.com or bkikel@triblive.com. Area artists showcased in Latrobe The East Suburban Artists League show is being held at the Latrobe Art Center through April 19. An awards reception will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 11 at the center, 819 Ligonier...
Take aim: Gateway forms skeet shooting team
To an untrained eye, the five Gateway students working their way around a shooting arc at the Trafford Sportsmen’s Club are simply taking aim and trying their best to target the clay pigeons shooting across their field of vision. But Mike Buvalla, coach of the newly formed Gateway Skeet Club,...
Volunteers needed for Monroeville cleanup, planting projectsVideo
As spring starts to bloom across the region, Monroeville residents with a mind toward civic improvement are looking for volunteers to help welcome the season and beautify the town. For Joe Sedlak, tidying the municipality’s roads is an old habit. This year Sedlak will mark the 30th anniversary of the...
Shaler man to head jury of ‘Twelve Angry Men’
When Mark Spondike isn’t providing music education to students at Pittsburgh’s Creative and Performing Arts school, he’s appearing onstage in the region, including with the Pittsburgh Opera. Next month, he’ll have a man’s fate in his hands, as foreman of the jury in Prime Stage Theatre’s production of “Twelve Angry...
Latrobe filled with poets, poetry events throughout April
Sometimes, Sri Lanka native Indran Amirthanayagam is overwhelmed by an emotion. It could be sadness, or it could be great joy. “I want to get it out,” said Amirthanayagam, 64, of Washington, D.C., who has been writing poetry since the age of 14. “I love words. They communicate and translate...
Monroeville rehab center takes holistic approach to recovery
April 7 is not a day Patrick Yarboro is going to forget anytime soon. It’s the day in 2019 when he woke up in an emergency room — on the way to intensive care — after overdosing on the powerful synthetic opioid carfentanil. It also is his sobriety date. But...
Murrysville area: AARP driving class, pickleball classes and more
Email news briefs and event information to pvarine@triblive.com. AARP Smart Driver class The AARP will host a “Smart Driver” class from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 6 at the Delmont Public Library. Participants can refresh their driving skills, learn safe, proven driving techniques and learn about navigating roundabouts. The...
Verizon receives approval for cell tower in Murrysville
Drivers who frequent Saltsburg Road through Murrysville are likely familiar with the “dead zone,” where their Verizon call is all but guaranteed to drop as they travel between Mamont and Ashbaugh roads. Verizon expects to address that gap in coverage by installing a 125-foot tower at a property on Lasher...
Monroeville area: Skeet-shooting fundraiser, car show, egg hunt, more
Skeet-shooting club fundraiser The newly formed Gateway Skeet Club will host an April 10 fundraiser at the Trafford Sportsmen’s Club. Each team member will break clay targets for a cash donation from sponsors, and will be scored on 50 targets. Proceeds will go toward the team’s field costs, safety gear...
Foundation seeking vendors, sponsors for annual Monroeville CommUNITY DayVideo
Members of the Monroeville Foundation are gearing up for the sixth annual Monroeville CommUNITY Day, set for June 7 at the municipality’s Community Park West. “This year we’re taking it up to a new level,” said foundation President Ernie Groover. “We’ve brought on some people who’ve communicated to the community,...
Pittsburgh pizzaiolos bring home titles from International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas
The staff at Caliente Pizza and Draft House are serious about their pizza. But not so serious that one of them can’t work up an entertaining routine blending acrobatics and pizza-dough stretching. It might sound like a way to pass the time during a slow business night, but in fact,...
Free community band festival will take place in Murrysville
The 19th annual Three Rivers Community Band Festival will be held 2-5 p.m. Saturday at Franklin Regional Senior High School in Murrysville. The East Winds Symphonic Band, which founded the festival and is comprised of players from Pittsburgh and its eastern suburbs, will be joined by the Community Band South...
Italy Road in Export will get state-funded upgrades through ‘turn-back’ program
In exchange for taking over Italy Road’s maintenance from the state, Export will be able to fund some long-awaited improvements on the section of the road that lies inside the borough. “I think this is going to be a great deal for Export,” borough Solicitor Wes Long said. Council unanimously...
West Deer man charged with attacking medical staff at Monroeville hospital
A West Deer man was charged with attacking a doctor and nurse last month at Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. Gabriel A. Brewer, 34, of West Deer’s Russellton neighborhood, was taken by ambulance to the hospital on March 14 after he was found unresponsive on a bench in an Allegheny County...
West Deer man charged with attacking medical staff at Monroeville hospital
A West Deer man was charged with attacking a doctor and nurse last month at Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. Gabriel A. Brewer, 34, of West Deer’s Russellton neighborhood, was taken by ambulance to the hospital on March 14 after he was found unresponsive on a bench in an Allegheny County...
Poetry in motion: National ballroom dancing competition makes Pittsburgh swingVideo
If there’s a more enjoyable form of exercise than ballroom dancing, Joseph Britt hasn’t discovered it yet. “It’s just one of the most fun ways to be active,” he said. Britt, 20, and his dance partner, Sabina Sokol, 19, are students at Georgia Tech University and were among more than...
