Western PA Local News category, Page 1755
Police testify suspected murder weapon in Arnold slaying was found in a shoe
Detectives who searched the Arnold home where police said a man was gunned down last year testified Tuesday the suspected murder weapon was found hidden inside of a shoe left behind at the home. Statepolice Detective Nick Iera said he initially didn’t see the weapon as he walked through the...
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...
UPMC Mercy hospital’s $510M expansion on track for spring 2023 opening
Hot orange sparks rained down on freshly erected steel beams Tuesday morning as construction workers welded and hammered while harnessed to high-rise scaffolds and aerial lifts overlooking the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh. Two giant cranes rotated nonstop, hoisting building materials weighing thousands of pounds across the busy construction site of...
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...
Pa. school mask mandate will expire Dec. 4 if state Supreme Court doesn’t issue new stay
The school mask mandate in Pennsylvania will end on Dec. 4 unless the state Supreme Court grants a stay to Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration. On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court granted a motion to lift a stay of its order from last week that found the acting secretary of health...
Citizens Bank closing New Kensington branch as previously announced
Citizens Bank is making good on its previously announced intention to close its branch in downtown New Kensington on Wednesday, a bank spokesman said. Citizens said in August it would close the office at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street on Wednesday. “The branch is still slated to...
Peeps at Shady Side Academy rule the roost
Meet the new chicks of Shady Side Academy. Momo, Dawn, Cricket and Pippy are four peeps hatched from an incubator Oct. 11 in Bonnie Maxwell’s biology class at the middle school campus in Fox Chapel. “Momo is ruling the roost,” said sixth-grader Amalia Guttridge. “Chickens are so cool, and they...
Park over Pittsburgh’s Crosstown Boulevard will bear name of Hill District activist Frankie Pace
A park over Pittsburgh’s Crosstown Boulevard will be named after the late Hill District activist Frankie Pace. City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the proposal to name the three-acre park in her honor. The park is being built as part of the $32.3 million Interstate 579 “cap” project, which aims...
Pittsburgh’s Roberto Clemente Drive renamed to also honor late wife Vera
Roberto Clemente Drive in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood will officially be renamed to Roberto and Vera Clemente Drive, a nod to the baseball legend’s late wife. Roberto Clemente was a Hall of Fame outfielder for the Pirates who also is remembered for his philanthropic work off the field. The beloved Pittsburgh...
Shaler Area School District holds drive through parade to honor veterans
Shaler School District honored local veterans and observed covid restrictions at the same time by holding an Honor All Veterans Drive Through celebration on Nov. 3. The event, which was held virtually due to the pandemic last year, is usually held at the middle school with a breakfast for the...
Ex-Pittsburgh defense lawyer lives up to ‘I think like a criminal’ mantra
In 2014, attorney Daniel Muessig created an advertisement for his law practice and posted it on YouTube. In the funny, over-the-top video that had more than 150,000 views, he urged people to hire him to represent them in court because, he said, “I think like a criminal.” Now, seven years...
Greensburg teen charged as adult by police in apartment shooting
A 17-year-old Greensburg youth injured in a June 16 shootout at an apartment complex was arrested this week by city police and charged as an adult with attempted homicide and reckless endangerment in connection with the shooting. Anthony Joshua Shook was ordered held in the county juvenile detention center without...
University of Pittsburgh athletic trainer donating kidney to colleague’s 4-year-old son
Mary Beth and Bobby George have searched since May for a living kidney donor for their 4-year-old son, Daniel, who suffers from chronic kidney disease. Little did the Pittsburgh family know how close to home a donor would be found. Mary Beth George is a strength and conditioning coach at...
Municipal election results in Bridgeville, Collier, Heidelberg and Scott
Bridgeville Mayor Betty Copeland ran unopposed and was reelected to a four-year term. She received 939 votes and there were 29 write-ins. For council, three incumbents will retain their seats — Democrat William Henderson received 685 votes and Republicans Joseph Verduci and Bruce Ghelarducci received 589 and 540 votes, respectively,...
Connellsville man almost ate 18-pound walleye he pulled from Yough before state record verification
After pulling a mammoth 34-inch walleye out of the Youghiogheny River in Connellsville on Oct. 28, Richard Nicholson had to be persuaded by his son not to fillet the fish but have it weighed to see if it was a state record. So the next morning, Nicholson, 62, put the...
Kiski Area sticks with mandatory masking, declines mask-optional policy
Mask-wearing will remain mandatory the remainder of the year for students and staff in the Kiski Area School District. The board voted 7-1 Monday to keep the mandated mask policy requiring all students and staff to wear a face covering on campus and district school buses. Michelle Schmidt was the...
Norwin increases pay for cafeteria workers
Forced to compete with area restaurants for employees, the Norwin School District will increase the starting wage for cafeteria workers from $10.80 an hour to $14.80 an hour under terms of a contract approved by the board this week. The district’s contract with the Service Employees International Union 32 BJ...
Shadyside mansion adorned for Pittsburgh Symphony Association holiday tour
Pittsburgh Symphony Association members weren’t hopeful that they would be able to present their Symphony Splendor Holiday House Tour this year. Then, Scott Cavanaugh and Ron Graham offered their Gilded Age Shadyside mansion for the much-anticipated event. “With the current situation, you can understand that homeowners wouldn’t permit hundreds of...
$4.9M redevelopment project planned on Pittsburgh’s North Side
Pittsburgh and the city’s Urban Redevelopment Authority are partnering with the Historic Deutschtown Development Corp. to redevelop three vacant buildings on the North Side’s East Ohio Street in a proposed $4.9 million project. The URA owns properties at 624 and 628 East Ohio St., while the Historic Deutschtown Development Corp....
Kiski Township police charge man with squatting in North Apollo house; stolen items recovered
Kiski Township police arrested a man on Monday for squatting in a vacant house where they also found stolen items and evidence of drug use. Officers responding to a call for a suspicious man along Hickory Nut Road in North Apollo shortly after 8:30 p.m. searched the neighborhood and found...
Longtime Arnold hair salon owner opens women’s clothing boutique in New Kensington
A pair of ventilation fans blowing out the aroma of chocolate used to draw people into a storefront on New Kensington’s Fifth Avenue. That’s when Herman’s Nuts and Chocolates was located there. Today, it’s women’s clothing from brands known in Los Angeles and New York that are bringing people through...
South Buffalo supervisors to hold line on taxes in 2022 budget
South Buffalo officials plan to hold the line on taxes with next year’s budget. Supervisors approved a 2022 preliminary spending plan and its public posting Monday night. Its formal adoption is scheduled for Dec. 20. The real estate tax rate is expected to remain at 5.7 mills. There has not...
North Hills School Board approves Future Ready Comprehensive Plan
North Hills School Board approved the Future Ready Comprehensive Plan, effective July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2025, at the Oct. 28 legislative meeting. Pennsylvania school districts are required to present a Future Ready Comprehensive plan to the PA Department of Education every three years. Board president Allison Mathis was...
Election results for South Hills races
Baldwin Borough Baldwin’s Mayor David Depretis ran uncontested for another four-year term. The council race saw six candidates vying for four seats. The top vote-getters were Democrats Erin Brown (2,231) and Marianne Conley (2,222) and Raymond Dee (2,169) and E. John Egger (2,052), who were both cross-filed. Baldwin Township Democrats...
Former Arnold man guilty of federal drug charges after high speed chase with toddler in car
A former Arnold man arrested in 2019 after leading police on a high-speed chase and crashing with a toddler in his car was convicted of drug violations in federal court. Kevin Watson, 32, was found guilty of one count of possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of...
