Tawnya Panizzi stories, Page 75
Sharpsburg Community Library lands STEAM grant from state
Bee-Bots, robots, circuits and coding will be on the children’s program menu at Sharpsburg Community Library this winter thanks to a state grant. The library at 1212 Main Street was awarded a Tinkering Kit from the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, through the state Department of Education. The kit is contains...
Christ the Divine continues tradition of donating Thanksgiving meals
Christ the Divine Teacher Catholic Academy in Aspinwall continued its tradition of making the Thanksgiving holiday a little warmer for area families. Student council Co-Presidents Gemma Spadacene and Jimmy Darcy, along with Vice President Clara LoPresti, shopped for frozen turkeys, potatoes, gravy and all the other fixings on Nov. 16...
Heights Plaza wreaths a sign of the holidays, nod to the past
Passersby at Heights Plaza in Harrison likely will notice the 28 oversized pine wreaths hung Saturday by Harrison Commissioner Chuck Dizard and a group of fellow holiday elves. The 4-foot wreaths are illuminated with tiny white lights and appointed with a large red bow. Dizard said the sight might evoke...
Santa and his elves hop a ride on fire trucks to tour Brackenridge, Harrison and Tarentum
Santa and several sidekicks will make the long trip from the North Pole to tour three local communities Dec. 4. The Santa Neighborhood Parade will feature fire trucks carrying the big guy in his red suit, along with a DJ playing music and elves tossing candy. The event, from 3...
Brackenridge Salvation Army awarded grant from Fox Chapel Rotary to provide holiday meals, gifts
A grant to the Brackenridge Salvation Army from a Fox Chapel service organization will help put holiday meals on dozens of tables and distribute warm clothes to those in need, Captain Alex Senak said. The Salvation Army along Brackenridge Avenue received $3,000 from the Rotary Club of Fox Chapel area....
Giving new life to old furniture, On the Edge opens in Tarentum
Upscale furniture on a shoestring budget is the motto of Tarentum’s new custom furniture store, On the Edge. “No matter who you are or what your background is, you can walk in and afford one of my pieces,” owner Tim Emery said. “My furniture is cool and edgy and for...
Small crowd, big effort for Salvation Army Red Kettle Race in Brackenridge
Participants of the third annual Salvation Army Red Kettle Race in Brackenridge didn’t appear to mind that the temperatures only crept into the mid-30s on Saturday morning. “It’s not something you really want to get out of bed for on an early winter morning, but it’s a great cause,” said...
Determined Highlands kindergartner says, ‘They cut off my foot. And I’m getting a new one!’
Highlands kindergartner Annabel Grant isn’t shy when classmates ask why she uses a wheelchair. “They cut off my foot,” the 5-year-old says bluntly. “And I’m getting a new one!” Born with fibular hemimelia — the absence of a fibula bone — in her lower right leg, Annabel doesn’t appear to...
Tarentum lands Allegheny County grant to cover East 7th Avenue sewer project
A $73,000 storm sewer separation project in Tarentum is expected to wrap up by the end of the year — and it will cost the borough less than $300. Council on Tuesday was awarded $72,752 from the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County. “We originally thought the project was going to...
Highlands Elementary salutes local veterans with song, breakfast
Students at Highlands Elementary School applauded local veterans during a celebratory breakfast Thursday. But there were deeper lessons learned over pancakes and sausage. “I know what a POW is,” said third grader Connor Smith, whose special guest was his grandfather Grover Smith, who served in Vietnam as a Marine. “Before...
New Fox Chapel council members seek to boost communication with residents
Improved communications between Fox Chapel and its residents will be the priority for two newly elected council members, each said. Democrat Sarah Hanna and Republican Brad Harrison earned four-year terms in the Nov. 2 general election, along with Republican incumbents Harrison Lauer and Andy Bennett. “The number one thing that...
Riverfront Theater Company opens ‘Proof,’ postponed nearly 2 years by pandemic
Days before the country shut down for the covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, Riverfront Theater Company was gearing up for its production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Proof.” Fast forward nearly two years, and the cast and crew is almost more excited this time around to perform the 2000 drama...
Lower Burrell Cross on the Hill will continue to shine thanks to outpouring of support
All it took was a mention that the locally iconic Cross on the Hill needed repairs, and people across the country responded. “Donations are really rolling in,” said Karen Snair, executive director of the Allegheny Valley Association of Churches in Harrison, which owns the 34-foot landmark. “We’re overwhelmed by the...
Highlands will drain its pool, ship swimmers to Burrell, Valley
The leaking swimming pool at Highlands High School will be drained this week while district leaders consider long-term fixes that could cost up to $160,000. In the meantime, the swim team will get its laps in at Burrell and Valley school districts, which have offered to open their pools to...
Retired police officer Bob Lang wins Tarentum mayor’s race
Retired Tarentum police officer Bob Lang won the election for borough mayor. It took three days for the results to be posted by the Allegheny County Elections Bureau after a complication with one of the West Tarentum polling machines. The outcome was posted on the election website midday Friday. Lang...
Tarentum incumbents Homa, Kerr retain council seats
Tarentum residents in the 1st Ward will be represented by two familiar faces on council. Republican incumbents Lou Ann Homa and Ray Kerr were vying for two seats up for grabs, one a four-year term and the other a two-year term. Homa captured the four-year term, winning with 210 votes...
Highland Hose in Tarentum celebrates a pair of 50-year members
Highland Hose lifetime member Allen Simmers recalls hanging around the Tarentum fire station nearly every day as a young child. “They would take us kids to Pirates games and have Christmas parties, all kinds of stuff,” said Simmers, 72. “My dad was a member and I just grew up there.”...
‘She Kills Monsters’ at Shady Side Academy full of nostalgia, adventure
Shady Side Academy Performing Arts Chairman Dek Ingraham said he chose this year’s fall play as a celebration of the return to live theater at the Fox Chapel-based campus. “She Kills Monsters: Young Adventurer’s Edition,” is bold, theatrical, funny, heartbreaking — a little odd, Ingraham said. “This show helps us...
Victor in Tarentum mayor’s race still unclear
Tarentum mayoral candidates Carrie Fox and Bob Lang still were waiting midday Wednesday for Allegheny County to declare a winner in the borough’s top race, more than 18 hours after the polls closed. “I haven’t heard a word,” said Lang, who ran as a Republican candidate after securing a write-in...
Federal Street in Harrison gets new trees thanks to partnership with ATI, Western PA Conservancy
Jim Mazur grew up in the 1950s along Center Street in Natrona, just a block away from the former Penn Salt Manufacturing Co. and an accompanying row of Federal Street homes where his grandfather, the local justice of the peace, lived. The houses, about 20 of them, are long gone,...
Fox Chapel Area students bring ‘Anne of Green Gables’ to life
Fox Chapel Area senior Gabby Bell expects audiences will fall in love with the characters in this year’s school play, “Anne of Green Gables.” Curtains will rise at 7 p.m. Nov. 4-6 to tell the tale of a feisty teenager adopted by elderly siblings in turn-of-the-century Canada. Tickets cost $8...
Sharpsburg’s Roots of Faith, Pittsburgh International Airport partner for coat giveaway
Roots of Faith in Sharpsburg is partnering with the Pittsburgh International Airport to dole out winter coats that never quite made it to their intended destination. For the fourth consecutive year, the ministry has received an array of warm weather clothes left at the airport by travelers and other visitors....
‘Bad Hair Day’ Scarecrow wins top prize in Tarentum contest
After sprouting along the Tarentum business district the past several weeks, three wildly creative straw-stuffed figures have been crowned winners in this year’s Scarecrow Contest. First place went to “Bad Hair Day,” a creation by Hailey’s Hair Creations and Spa, along Fifth Avenue. With an armful of hair dryers, combs...
Lindsay Fraser unseats Tom Kish as Brackenridge mayor
Brackenridge residents cast a ballot for change on Tuesday, electing a new mayor for the first time in 12 years. Political newcomer Lindsay Fraser, who is not affiliated with any party, handily won the election against Democratic incumbent Thomas Kish by more than 30%, with a total of 275 votes...
Local veterans invited for free dinner, camaraderie at Sharpsburg VFW
Local veterans who served at any time and in any location are welcome to the Sharpsburg VFW for a free dinner on Sunday. “We don’t care where you live, where you served or for how long,” Post 709 Commander Pat Corcoran said. “This is veterans celebrating veterans. “We’d love to...
