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Valley News Dispatch category, Page 89

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Leechburg Area’s proposed final budget includes tax changes
Leechburg Area School District members presented a proposed final budget for the 2024-25 school year that includes a tax increase for some residents and a slight decrease for others. While the district would collect about the same amount of real estate taxes as during the school year that just ended,...
Leechburg Area tax rebate proposal may run afoul of state constitution
Leechburg Area School Board’s proposed tax rebate program for West Leechburg residents may be illegal. Chuck Pascal, an attorney and Leechburg councilman, warned school officials the plan likely violates the state constitution. “I understand that you made a political promise to the people of West Leechburg — some of you...
State police doubt claim that woman is Cherrie Mahan, missing since 1985
Pennsylvania State Police say a woman claiming to be Cherrie Mahan likely is not. Police say a woman recently posted to a social media site and left a phone message with Butler state police claiming to be Mahan, who disappeared from a rural school bus stop almost 40 years ago....
Cooper-Siegel, Sharpsburg libraries promote summer reading with adventurous video 
Books can serve as educational tools, historic documentations and even doorways to galaxies far, far away. They often take readers on an adventure, which is what many Allegheny County libraries are stressing with the summer reading program theme “Adventure Begins at Your Library.” Cooper-Siegel Community Library in Fox Chapel and...
Longtime Aspinwall-area postman recognized for decades of service
Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night could keep longtime postman Donnie Bauerle Jr. from the swift completion of his appointed rounds. The O’Hara resident delivered the mail to Aspinwall and Sharpsburg residents and businesses for 37 years. His last day was April 30. Aspinwall Mayor Joe...
U.S. Senate calls on Russia to release Oakmont teacher Marc Fogel
The U.S. Senate is officially calling for the release of Marc Fogel, an Oakmont teacher arrested nearly three years ago by Russian authorities for possessing medical marijuana. The Senate unanimously passed a resolution June 4 calling for Fogel’s release and declaring that the Russian government gave him a disproportionate criminal...
U.S. Senate calls on Russia to release Oakmont teacher Marc Fogel
The U.S. Senate is officially calling for the release of Marc Fogel, an Oakmont teacher arrested nearly three years ago by Russian authorities for possessing medical marijuana. The Senate unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday calling for Fogel’s release and declaring that the Russian government gave him a disproportionate criminal sentence....
New Kensington Council rejects liquor license for Valero gas station
New Kensington Council, citing concerns about crime, denied a liquor license transfer to a city gas station and convenience store. Council unanimously denied a license for the Valero at Seventh Street and Constitution Boulevard. It would have been transferred there from Guy’s Tavern in Avonmore. Council began a public hearing...
$47.6M New Kensington-Arnold School District budget approved with 1.5% tax increase
Property owners in the New Kensington-Arnold School District will see a 1.5% property tax increase in their school tax bill. The school board Tuesday approved the district’s $47.6 million budget for the 2024-25 school year that includes the tax hike. The district’s property tax rate will increase from 97.64 mills...
Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont to host Washington County crime novelist
As a fourth-generation resident of Washington County’s Smith Township, author Annette Dashofy has spent her whole life in Southwestern Pennsylvania. It should come as no surprise, then, that the region’s rolling hills and bucolic countryside have served as the setting for many of her books. The latest, “What Comes Around,”...
New Kensington Council declares 6 houses unsafe, orders demolitions
Four dilapidated houses in one New Kensington neighborhood are among the latest six the city is working to tear down. Three of the four houses are on Ross Avenue at 717, 1100 and 1150. The fourth is nearby at 1330 Forest Ave. All four are in the area above the...
The Stroller, June 5, 2024: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your non-profit’s community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least two weeks in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15084. Please include a daytime telephone number. Walk with naturalist planned in Freeport Community Park The Audubon Society...
Kinloch residents press Lower Burrell Council on blight, public safety issues in their neighborhood
Residents of Lower Burrell’s Kinloch neighborhood are demanding answers from city officials about what’s being done to address property and public safety issues they say are being neglected. “There’s something wrong,” said Kinloch resident John Walter, referencing what he said are a lack of police patrols and properties in poor...
Former ‘Survivor’ contestant raises Texas Longhorn cattle as ‘pasture ornaments’ 
Allegheny Township farmer Chet Welch received a gift on his 50th birthday that keeps on giving. “I got my dream farm,” said Welch, a former contestant on the CBS series “Survivor,” describing his beloved historic Tunnel Hill Farm in Allegheny Township he co-owns with Bob Cherry, his partner of 16...
Art celebration set for June 15 in Blawnox
A celebration of all things art soon will take place in Blawnox. The third annual Spring Art Fling along Freeport Road is set for Saturday, June 15. Sponsored by Dollar Bank and presented by the nonprofit Best of Blawnox, it’s a chance for families to check out paintings, drawings, ceramics,...
Indiana Township police investigating possible political vandalism
Indiana Township police are investigating a case of what they believe to be targeted vandalism. Someone defaced an Adopt-a-Highway sign promoting controlling litter along Rich Hill Road. The sign was sponsored years ago by township Supervisor and Deputy Mayor Darrin Krally and his family in conjunction with his neighbors, the...
Military servicemen and women remembered at Blawnox Memorial Day parade and service
Blawnox paid homage to the fallen military men and women with a parade and service May 27. Organizers estimate about 200 people lined up along Freeport Road from the Sunoco gas station to the recently refurbished war memorial in remembrance. About 20 groups participated in the parade, including marching bands,...
Prosecutors: Arnold man’s murder a robbery gone bad
Westmoreland County prosecutors said DNA evidence will prove a New Kensington man attempted to rob and kill an Arnold man in a vacant parking lot more than four years ago. “Anthone Williams was set up by the defendant to be robbed of drugs and money. At an abandoned projects, there...
Harrison woman tells police man was trying to kill her with corkscrew, box cutter
Police officers say they found blood throughout a Harrison apartment where a woman said a man was trying to kill her Monday night. Officers heard a woman crying and screaming when they arrived at the apartment in the 1200 block of Argonne Drive shortly after 8 p.m., according to a...
Blawnox Community Garden marks 1st planting of the season; helpers hope for bountiful harvest
Blawnox Community Garden volunteers hope their seeds will reap a bountiful harvest of friendship and togetherness. Nearly 20 people from 5 to 70 participated in the first planting of the season May 30 at the garden inside Blawnox Community Park. Garden coordinator Carol Hillwig said they are hoping for a...
The Stroller, June 4, 2024: Events in the Alle-Kiski Valley
Publicize your non-profit’s community events, fundraisers and club meetings for free in The Stroller. Send information at least two weeks in advance to vndnews@triblive.com or The Stroller, 210 Wood St., Tarentum PA 15084. Please include a daytime telephone number. MyHeritage research database available at Harrison library The local history department...
H.D. Berkey Elementary students celebrate end of school year playing mini-golf on course they made
First and second grade students at H.D. Berkey Elementary School in Arnold celebrated the coming end of the school year Monday with some miniature golf, but didn’t have to go far to do it. With the help of art teacher Jennifer DiPerna and physical education teacher Gannon Warrick, second grade...
Former Arnold cop pleads guilty to filing false report
A former Arnold police pleaded guilty Monday in connection with allegations that he lied to investigators after he staged what he called a hit and run crash of his city-issued SUV. Ryan Matthew Clark, 33, of Sarver, told a Westmoreland County judge he was ready to move on with his...
Car fire briefly halts traffic on Tarentum Bridge; no injuries reported
A car fire halted traffic Monday morning on the Tarentum Bridge, but did not cause any injuries, according to emergency responders. Fire crews arrived shortly after 8 a.m. to extinguish a car fire in the northbound lanes, blocking rush-hour traffic in both directions. A single occupant escaped the vehicle unharmed,...
Multi-county school districts try to find solution for STEB complaints
During Leechburg Area school board’s proposed budget presentation in March, board members were put on the spot when West Leechburg residents demanded a new tax structure. “We were alerted by the taxpayers that (the consistent school tax hikes) are unacceptable and we wanted to follow their lead,” said Leechburg Area...


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