Western PA Local News category, Page 1163
Greensburg Salem, YMCA pilot 8th-grade after-school program
About 20 eighth graders will be taking after-school field trips to downtown businesses and other places to expose them to new things in a new program between Greensburg Salem School District and the YMCA. “The Greensburg YMCA will provide a safe place for the kids where they will feel valued,...
Proposal would allow 15-year-olds to get their driver’s licenses
Pennsylvania teenagers could get their driver’s licenses a year early if a proposal from two lawmakers, including state Rep. Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield, gets approval. Nelson and state Rep. Stephen Kinsey, a Philadelphia Democrat, are seeking co-sponsors for legislation that would lower the age of eligibility for a junior driver’s license...
Jeannette embarks on multi-phase tree inventory, planting projects
Jeannette is going to get a little more green this year through the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s Community Forestry Program. An inventory of trees on public lands in the city will kick off this spring and the planting of about 50 trees is planned for the fall, said Jeff Bergman, senior...
SSA Middle School in Fox Chapel presented ‘Frozen Jr.’
Shady Side Academy Middle School presented its 2023 winter student musical Disney’s “Frozen JR.’ on Feb. 22-23. “Frozen Jr.” is a story of love and acceptance between sisters. When faced with danger, Princesses Anna and Elsa discover their hidden potential and the powerful bond of sisterhood. The cast and crew...
Shady Side Academy students win art, writing awards
Forty-two Shady Side Academy students in grades 7-12 won 2023 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for 95 original works. The students won 19 Gold Keys, 31 Silver Keys and 45 Honorable Mentions. The Gold Key-winning works will advance to the national Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition, and national medalists...
Lower Burrell home that was recently sold catches fire as old owners remove their items
Officials have determined that a kerosene heater caused a fire Friday night that severely damaged a house in Lower Burrell that had recently been sold. After an investigation that ended shortly before midnight, city Fire Co. 3 Chief Brennan Sites said Saturday that he and a state police fire marshal...
I-79 crossover express lane reopens with safety improvements
PennDOT has reopened the southbound I-79 crossover after closing down the left-hand express lane last Monday night and implementing a 45 mph speed limit in the work zone. The crossover reopened at 4 p.m. Friday in Glenfield, Sewickley Hills, and Frankin Park and Ohio and Aleppo townships. After several crashes...
Agents bust large-scale fentanyl ring in Alle-Kiski Valley
A more than yearlong investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office and the Westmoreland County Drug Task Force has disrupted a large-scale fentanyl trafficking organization in the Alle-Kiski Valley. In court paperwork filed Friday, agents said they made controlled buys of fentanyl between January and March 2022 in Arnold, New...
1 arrested after car jumps embankment, crashes into Arnold machine shop
Employees at FPI Industries in Arnold spent their Friday night cleaning up debris after a man jumped an embankment in his car and drove into the front of the building, according to police. Arnold Police took one man into custody on suspicion of driving under the influence, after responding to...
Police: Teens get in shootout over scam involving drug-laced candy bar
Police say an 18-year-old man was jailed after getting into a shootout with a 17-year-old Mt. Pleasant Township boy on Wednesday after the victim was duped into paying $100 for a candy bar — on the false premise it was laced with mushroom-based chemicals. The suspect, Joseph A. Greep Jr....
Greensburg suspends police officer, beefs up security in wake of former police chief’s arrest
Greensburg has suspended a veteran police officer as it seeks outside help to select a permanent successor for its former police chief, who is charged with federal drug crimes. City solicitor Zachary Kansler said Friday that patrol Officer Regina McAtee, who has been with the department for more than 19...
Teens charged after leading state police on high-speed chase down Route 30
Three teens were taken into custody after state police said they escaped from Adephoi Village and led law enforcement on a high-speed chase Thursday night along the Route 30 eastbound corridor. State troopers initially responded to a report around 10 p.m. that an employee’s vehicle had been stolen at Technimark,...
Support continues after fire ravaged Elizabeth Forward High School auditorium
Nearly two weeks after a fire raged through the Elizabeth Forward High School auditorium, donations to the district keep growing. One GoFundMe has raised over $36,000 to benefit the district. Another drew more than $2,000 in support. A third raised $30. That money is in addition to equipment and dollars...
Female suspect shoots at police, who return fire and kill her in Pittsburgh’s St. Clair neighborhood
A woman was shot and killed by police Friday afternoon in Pittsburgh’s St. Clair neighborhood after she fired at police, authorities said. Allegheny County 911 said police were called to the area around 3 p.m. for a call concerning a suspicious person in the 500 block of Engstler Street. Pittsburgh’s...
Unionized Pitt faculty members protest pace of contract talks
About 200 University of Pittsburgh faculty members represented by the United Steelworkers rallied outside Friday’s board of trustees meeting to protest the pace of negotiations aimed at securing the union’s first labor pact there. Chanting at times as they held up signs that read “Fair Pay = Emotional Well-Being,” the...
Medical examiner: BB gun victim died from accidental drug overdose
A man who police said was repeatedly shot with a BB gun by four city teens while he was unconscious in a Downtown alley in November died from a drug overdose, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said Friday. Christopher Gaylor, 50, of Cadiz, Ohio, died Dec. 1 at UPMC...
A few things to know about Erin Brockovich ahead of East Palestine town hall
Environmental and consumer advocate Erin Brockovich plans to host a town hall Friday in East Palestine, Ohio, after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed Feb. 3 and released toxic chemicals. Here are a few things to know about the activist and public speaker.In 1993, law clerk Brockovich, an...
Ashley McIntire: ‘Justin wasn’t ready to die’
At a media briefing Friday, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. read a statement from Ashley McIntire, the wife of slain Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire. “Jan. 2, 2023, is a day I will never forget. It started out as just another typical day, but little did we...
DA: Police justified in killing man who ambushed Brackenridge Chief Justin McIntireVideo
The last thing Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire ever saw, as shown by video taken from the taser he held in his hand, was the man he’d been chasing — aiming at him with a .40-caliber handgun. Aaron Swan Jr., dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans after he dumped...
Woman jailed after police chase that ended in crash on New Kensington Bridge
A woman is in the Allegheny County Jail after being involved in a police chase that ended in a crash Thursday morning on the New Kensington Bridge. On Friday, state police said troopers tried to stop Jasmine Christine Jackson, 34, of Arnold on Freeport Road in East Deer. Jackson was...
Pittsburgh, Greensburg dioceses permit eating meat on St. Patrick’s Day during Lent
Catholics in Western Pennsylvania will be allowed to eat traditional St. Patrick’s Day fare like corned beef, Reubens and Irish stew this year, despite the holiday falling on a Friday during Lent. Normally, Catholics abstain from eating meat on the Fridays of Lent., but Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik and Greensburg...
Final vote on controversial Oakland zoning package expected next week
Pittsburgh City Council is expected to take a final vote next week to approve what has been a heavily debated zoning package for the Oakland neighborhood. City Council had initially planned to vote on the zoning package in December after a lengthy public hearing where residents, developers and officials from...
Gisele Fetterman shares window into family since husband’s hospitalization
After U.S. Sen. John Fetterman last week checked himself into a hospital for clinical depression treatment, his wife, Gisele, found her home circled by media trucks. In a series of tweets Friday morning, Gisele Fetterman explained how her children were home from school and her home surrounded by press when...
6-year-old Belle Vernon Area student dies after being hit by car
On Friday afternoon, the Rev. Mary Kay Glunt placed a pinwheel, colorful flowers and a stuffed white lamb in the yard of First Presbyterian Church of Belle Vernon. Amanda Woznick saw it and knelt in front of it, crying. Glunt’s mementos marked the scene where, hours earlier, Woznick’s 6-year-old daughter...
New Kensington police say ‘bored’ teen stole Jeep from city dealership
New Kensington police say a Wilkins Township man admitted to stealing a Jeep from a used car dealership in the city because he was bored. In court paperwork, police say David Eugene George II, 18, admitted breaking into Wheel Deal Auto Sales on Industrial Boulevard on Feb. 3. They say...
