A sharp-eyed reader who would prefer to remain anonymous spotted these vintage 1970s Plymouths and AMC Matadors being turned into police cars at a shop on Lebanon Road, near the West Mifflin municipal building, and sent us this photo.
"Is the West Mifflin police department going retro?" our reader asked. Maybe. Or else Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane of "The Dukes of Hazzard" is in town --- he did wreck an awful lot of similar police cars on that show.
We don't know for sure, but it seems more likely that they're being prepared for the new Netflix series "Mindhunters," which starts filming in Pittsburgh in May. In March, Pittsburgh's Nancy Mosser Casting put out a request asking owners of cars from the 1960s through early 1980s if they were interested in participating.
A professor at Penn State's Greater Allegheny Campus in McKeesport is one of six statewide honored with the university's award for excellence in teaching.
Megan L. Nagel, professor of chemistry, was named on April 22 one of the recipients of the George W. Atherton Award for Excellence in Teaching for 2016.
The award is named after Penn State’s seventh president.
Nagel says she views learning as a "two-way street."
“A classroom that allows for students’ questions, a lack of judgment, and a call to think critically contributes to an environment that’s ripe for learning,” she says.
Diwas Timsina has come a long way. Now studying information sciences and technology at Penn State Greater Allegheny in McKeesport, he is originally from Bhutan, and was raised for 14 years in Jhapa, Nepal, in a refugee camp. His family and 70,000 other Bhutanese were forced to leave the country due to the interethnic conflict that occurred in the 1990’s.
“We faced so many struggles and challenges like discrimination, crowdedness, floods, fire, hurricane and diseases. The list goes on and on,” Diwas says. In 2008, the Timsinas first arrived in the United States, settling in Atlanta, Georgia, where they stayed for three years before moving to Pittsburgh. Timsina has since founded a nonprofit organization, Children of Shangri-Lost.
On May 22, Timsina will be a featured speaker at TEDx Pittsburgh. He is going to share the story of his journey from Bhutan to the refugee camps in Nepal and to the United States.
Christy Park United Methodist Church will sell homemade soup and baked goods on Election Day (April 26), a spokesperson said.
The sale will run all day while the polls are open and will include multiple different kinds of soup at $3 per bowl or $6 per quart. Baked goods also will be sold.
Items may be eaten at the church or taken "to go." The church is at 436 29th St. in Christy Park.
The Palisades Ballroom has received formal permission from city council to host small games of chance such as raffles.
At its April 6 meeting, McKeesport council by 7-0 vote recognized the McKees Point Palisades Performing Arts Corporation as a civic or service association under the state's Local Option Small Games of Chance Act.
Council's approval clears the way for the Palisades to host raffles and other small games of chance to help fund its operations.
In other business:
Council by 7-0 vote approved a two-year contract with employees of the public works department, and another with the city's clerical employees. Both groups of employees are represented by Teamsters Local Union 205. The contracts run through Dec. 31, 2017.
The Mon River Fleet Lions Club will hold a barbecue from 11 a.m. "until the food sells out" on April 22 at Renziehausen Park Pavilion No. 5, between Grandview and Lake Emilie.
Members will be cooking up leg of lamb and baby-back ribs and offering a wide variety of side dishes, including potato salad, macaroni salad, pasta salad, cole slaw, baked beans and collard greens.
Pre-paid orders are suggested and are being accepted until this Friday (April 15) at (412) 664-2590. Free delivery is available for pre-paid orders of five or more.
There will also be a bake sale at the pavilion, including cookies, cakes and other items.
Art and music will take center stage on April 23 at a festival to benefit Homestead's Rivers of Steel Heritage Corporation.
The Steel to Sustainable Festival will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. April 23 at the Carrie Furnaces historic site near the end of the Rankin Bridge and will include musical performances by Red Room Effect, Colonel Eagleburger's Highstepping Goodtime Band, Daily Grind and more.
The festival is designed to take place to coincide with the same weekend as Earth Day, which is April 22.
The event also will feature a Hard Hat Art Show featuring local Pittsburgh artists in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the hard hat.
A section of Greensburg Pike near Great Valley Shopping Center in North Versailles Twp. will close next week and remain closed until mid-August.
A spokeswoman for the Allegheny County Department of Public Works said the closure, which begins at 7 a.m. April 18, is necessary to stabilize the road. A reinforced retaining wall built of "geo-grid" will be used.
The closure will affect the area behind the Save-a-Lot store.
The posted detour will use Route 30 and Warren Drive. The $590,000 project is being completed by A. Merante Contracting Inc. of West Mifflin.
McKeesport Area High School's production of "Shrek: The Musical" opened Thursday and continues tonight, Saturday and Sunday.
Based on the hit 2001 DreamWorks film, as well as William Steig's 1990 book, "Shrek: The Musical" features music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. It premiered on Broadway in December 2008, closing after a run of more than 12 months and after being nominated for multiple Tony and Drama Desk awards.
Show times are 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, with a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets are $5 for students and senior citizens, and $10 for adults.
The spring concert series is underway at McKeesport's Palisades ballroom.
Tomorrow night's concert features Dancing Queen, a '70s disco and rock tribute band, in a performance that benefits the White Oak and Turtle Creek Rotary clubs, a spokeswoman said.
Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show begins at 8. Tickets are $20 each. For additional information or to reserve seats, call (412) 877-7491 or (412) 823-7800.
Someone in Port Vue is $2.1 million richer --- minus taxes, of course.
A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Lottery says the Uni-Mart on Romine Avenue last week sold a lotto ticket that matched all six winning numbers in the March 31 drawing.
The winning ticket, on the lottery's Match 6 game, bears the numbers 10-13-14-26-27-47.
The prize must be claimed and the ticket validated before the winner can be identified, the spokesman said. Match 6 winners have one year from the drawing date to claim prizes. The store will receive a $10,000 bonus for selling the ticket.
Claims may be filed at the Pennsylvania Lottery headquarters in Middletown, Dauphin County, or at the Pittsburgh regional office on Pittsburgh's North Side at 1424 Western Avenue.
