Photographer Vickie Babyak captured these views of last week’s 2024 Salute to Santa Parade in Downtown McKeesport. Members of the Better Block Foundation served as grand marshal for the Nov. 23 event, along with special guest Cooper the Emu.
Nie’Zhay Jefferson, representing McKeesport Little Theater, was crowned as the queen of the parade, while Gabrielle Poston, representing the McKeesport Little Tigers, was crowned as princess.
Other candidates included princess nominees Skylar Crenshaw (McKeesport Area Shared Ministry, Beulah Park Campus); Sydney Hrinda (McKeesport Little Theater), Dee’Asia Little (LaRosa Youth Club), Mariah Robinson (McKeesport Little Tigers), and Zariah Swindle (McKeesport Area High School Cheerleaders)
Queen nominees included Alaysia Brewton (MAHS Cheerleaders), Kaitlyn Brush (McKeesport Area High School Tiger Marching Band), Madison Martino, (McKeesport Area High School National Honor Society), Elizabeth Nemes (MAHS Choir), Saniya Rivers (LaRosa Youth Club), Riley Sheposh (MAHS Student Council) and Ashley Slagle (MAHS Colorguard)
To request a reprint of any photo, email vbabyak@yahoo.com.
(Submitted photo courtesy McKeesport Model Railroad Club)
McKeesport Model Railroad Club begins its annual open house and holiday train show this weekend. Hours are 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 29.
Located at 2209 Walnut St. in Christy Park, the club's 2,200-square-foot model railroad depicts fictionalized scenes of Western Pennsylvania. The permanent layout is built in HO scale, about 1/87th of actual size or roughly half the size of larger Lionel-style trains.
The club, founded in 1950, also entered the parade for Irwin’s light-up night and McKeesport’s Salute to Santa Parade.
A donation of $7 for adults and $5 for children ages 5 to 17 is requested. Scouts, military personnel with ID and first responders with ID are admitted for free.
Santa Claus will visit with children on Dec. 14 and 15 and Dec. 21 and 22.
Parking is available in the lot of CP Industries, across the street. For more information, visit the club’s website or Facebook.
Mission: Agape is searching for a few angels to help make its annual toy drive a success and spread Christmas joy to children in need from the McKeesport Area School District.
“We believe in serving our communities with unconditional, selfless and sacrificial love,” said Kelly Doyle, co-founder. The charity is known for assisting local families that experience food insecurity and hardship, while providing self-sustaining solutions.
According to the state Department of Education, about 62.5 percent of school-age children in McKeesport Area School District are classified as “economically disadvantaged” and about 35 percent are below the poverty line.
Last year, Doyle said, Mission Agape distributed 5,000 gifts to 1,200 children.
Investigators are probing a fire that damaged an apartment building Tuesday morning on Versailles Avenue.
McKeesport firefighters said crews were dispatched to 3212 Versailles Ave. just before 7 a.m. after Allegheny County 9-1-1 reported receiving multiple calls about a fire in a second-floor apartment. The blaze at the corner of Versailles and Craig streets quickly went to two alarms.
The first floor of the building previously housed Omerta Ink, a tattoo parlor. According to a post on Facebook, Omerta Ink closed Sept. 26.
Firefighters said the upper floor of the building was not occupied as a residence at the present time and appeared to be a storage area.
Cooper the Emu and the Better Block Foundation will headline McKeesport’s 59th Salute to Santa parade on Saturday.
The annual event, kicking off the holiday season, begins at 11 a.m. on Fifth Avenue, Downtown. Parade units will begin lining up at 10 a.m. on Water Street near the Palisades Ballroom.
The reviewing stand is located at the corner of Fifth and Walnut streets. Weather-permitting, Tube City Community Media will carry live video on its YouTube channel.
The National Weather Service in Moon Twp. is predicting that rain showers will taper off before 10 a.m. Saturday, and temperatures in the city should be around 44 degrees.
This year’s parade is being held in conjunction with a pop-up holiday market inside the People’s Building and two vacant store fronts, the former D&K Stores and CVS Pharmacy. The holiday market — and a performance space in the Cox’s Corner parking lot — have been created by the Texas-based Better Block Foundation, in partnership with Penn State Greater Allegheny and the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday only.
A Beaver County man who asked a juvenile for help charging his cell phone forced his way into the family’s home in Highland Grove and assaulted a resident, then fled and threatened a neighbor with a knife, according to police.
Trey Fosnaught, 31, of Beaver Falls is being held in the Allegheny County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bond after McKeesport police arrested him on the night of Nov. 12 for allegedly breaking into a home on Highland Avenue, then attempting to enter another house in the 2100 block of Bowman Avenue.
According to a criminal complaint, police were called to the Highland Avenue residence after a man, identified by police as Fosnaught, knocked on the door and asked a child who answered if he could charge his cell phone.
A photo of the Eos Energy assembly line, from the company’s website. (Courtesy EOS Energy Enterprises)
Duquesne officials are hopeful that a battery technology company currently located in Turtle Creek will expand into the city’s industrial park.
The Duquesne planning commission was scheduled to meet this month to consider a proposal from Eos Energy Enterprises for a 185,000 square foot facility at RIDC’s Industrial Center of Duquesne, the former U.S. Steel Duquesne Plant.
An Edison, N.J., based company, EOS has two manufacturing hubs in Turtle Creek at another RIDC facility, Keystone Commons.
A fist-fight Sunday afternoon at a bus stop in Glassport ended with one young man dead and another in jail without bond.
James M. Mack Jr., 18, of Glassport was pronounced dead at the scene of multiple gunshot wounds, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
James E. Martin, 17, of McKeesport is charged by Allegheny County police with homicide, unlawful possession of a firearm and carrying a firearm without a license. He is being held in the Allegheny County Jail pending a preliminary hearing Dec. 4 in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
South Allegheny School District announced Monday that grief counselors would be on hand to support any students who knew Mack and needed support.
A parent involved in the McKeesport Area High School Tiger Band’s booster program has been charged after more than $18,000 was reported missing from the volunteer group’s accounts.
Jennifer L. Martino, 49, of White Oak is charged by the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office with theft by unlawful taking, access device fraud and misapplication of entrusted property.
Martino was charged Monday. She is currently free on her own recognizance pending a preliminary hearing Dec. 9 before Magisterial District Judge Thomas Miller Jr.
Azael Alvarez, project manager for the Better Block Foundation, helps to paint the Cox’s Corner parking lot on Monday. (Tube City Almanac photo)
City officials, Penn State Greater Allegheny and the Texas-based Better Block Foundation will use this weekend’s Salute to Santa parade to encourage economic and cultural investment in the Downtown business district.
The parade — still among the largest Christmas parades in Western Pennsylvania, outside of Pittsburgh — gets underway along Fifth Avenue between Market and Sinclair streets beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday (Nov. 23). Tube City Almanac will provide live-streamed video coverage, weather-permitting.
Better Block, with support from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, is transforming the Cox’s Corner lot — a parking area on the site of the former Cox’s Department Store at Fifth and Walnut streets — into a colorful temporary performance area.
A pop-up holiday market is being created for this Saturday only across the street in the People’s Building and the vacant D&K Stores and CVS Pharmacy. Hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
The Allegheny County fire marshal’s office is investigating blazes this week that destroyed a vacant house on Jenny Lind Street and severely damaged two other homes on Packer Street.
The Jenny Lind Street fire is considered suspicious, McKeesport fire Chief Jeff Tomovcsik said.
The first fire was reported early Sunday morning in a home at 1803 Packer St. and quickly spread to a neighboring house at 1801. When crews arrived, the first house was heavily engulfed in fire and the second house was catching, and a second alarm was issued.
Both homes were wood-frame construction, according to Allegheny County property tax records. The houses were less than 10 feet apart.
Gayla and Guy Norelli of Glassport, Vince Klinkner of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Jim Harrold of Seven Springs at an award ceremony celebrating Harrold’s rescue. (Submitted photo courtesy Guy Norelli)
“I just assumed I was going to drown.”
Jim Harrold of Seven Springs was fishing in the Youghiogheny River in Confluence, Somerset County, when the current pulled him under.
“As I was going down towards the bottom of the pool, which was about 20 feet, there was a light,” Harrold said recently. That's just about where Glassport resident Guy Norelli pulled Harrold out of the Youghiogheny River Lake outflow on Sept. 2, 2022.
Last month, Guy Norelli and his wife Gayla, who spotted the drowning man, were honored with a Public Service Commendation Medal by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Giant Eagle’s mobile market moved from Duquesne to West Mifflin recently, and there’s hope that a new grocer will move into the former Shop n Save on Homeville Road. (Tom Leturgey photo for Tube City Almanac)
On the same day that Giant Eagle’s mobile market officially abandoned its weekly stop in Duquesne for one in West Mifflin, the former owner of a series of convenience stores talked about his plans to bring new life into the former Village Shop ’n Save on Homeville Road.
Since the spring, the Giant Eagle mobile market had been making a Sunday stop in Rankin before reloading its shelves and stopping at Duquesne Plaza. At its initial stop in front of the former Save-A-Lot, more than 20 residents descended on the trailer that featured dry goods, refrigerated food, frozen items and half-off produce.
But over the months, those numbers dwindled, according to Giant Eagle’s Gwen Johnson, who managed the program. “We had nine last week,” she said as she set up cookies and apple juice for visiting patrons outside of the trailer.
The mobile market is now stopping in Village Shopping Center, near a seven-story senior citizen high rise. The plaza has been without a grocery store since August 2023, when a Shop ’n Save closed.
McKeesport Council Member Amber Webb speaks during a town hall meeting Nov. 2 at Jacob Woll Pavilion. (Tom Leturgey photo for Tube City Almanac)
Relationships between local police and community residents — especially Black residents — are burdened by a legacy of racism and stereotypes, said speakers at a town-hall meeting organized by Take Action Advocacy Group.
But most speakers at the event, held Nov. 2 at Jacob Woll Pavilion, stopped short of using language such as “defund the police,” instead arguing that resources should be allocated for other first-responders and organizations to respond to mental-health crises and non-violent situations, and for the use of conflict resolution techniques to resolve neighborhood disputes.
About 20 people attended the event, which included Take Action co-founder and chief executive officer Fawn Walker-Montgomery, McKeesport Council Member Amber Webb, and Autumn Redcross and Margo Hu from Abolitionist Law Center-Court Watch.
Former Duquesne Mayor Nickole Nesby and former Allegheny County Councilwoman Olivia Bennett were among those who also spoke at the meeting.
Amid concerns of election denialism, a report from a nonpartisan watchdog organization highlights the robust protections in place to help safeguard Pennsylvania’s election process.
More than 8 million registered voters in the commonwealth are expected to cast a ballot in today's presidential election. Polls are open in Pennsylvania until 8 p.m.
Jenny Gimian, director of legal research and senior policy counsel for the nonprofit Informing Democracy, said counties in Pennsylvania have significant authority to interpret and implement state laws, while the Secretary of State has limited oversight powers. It comes into play if defective ballots need a “cure.”
“Pennsylvania doesn’t have a cure law,” Gimian said. “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently issued a decision confirming that counties can decide whether or not they are going to notify voters if they discover a defect with their ballot before election day. Some counties go out of their way to notify voters and allow them to cast a provisional ballot to fix the issue, others do not.”
In Allegheny County, nine ballot return sites will remain open through Nov. 4.
Voters had until Oct. 29 to request a mail-in or absentee ballot in Pennsylvania.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of State, more than 257,000 Allegheny County voters requested mail-in ballots for the Nov. 5 election. Of those, about 201,000 have already been returned.
“We strongly encourage voters who are still holding on to their mail-in ballots to use one of our 10 ballot return sites across the county,” Allegheny County Elections Division Manager Dave Voye said. “If we receive a ballot after 8 p.m. on Election Day, even if it is postmarked Election Day or earlier, we cannot accept it.”
In addition to the South Park ice rink, locations include:
• Duquesne: Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank • Avalon: Public Library • Dormont: Pool • Homewood: Community College of Allegheny County • Moon Twp.: Allegheny County Emergency Services Building • Pine Twp.: North Park ice rink • Plum: Boyce Park Four Seasons Lodge • Squirrel Hill: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
The hours of the above locations are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.
Voters who send or drop-off an absentee ballot may not vote in person at their neighborhood polling place, state officials have warned.
However, Allegheny County officials said voters who requested an absentee ballot, but did not return it, should bring it to their poling place and ask to vote in person instead. This process is known as “spoiling a ballot.”
Voters who are not in possession of their mail-in ballot and have not had confirmation that their mail-in ballot was received by the Elections Division should ask to cast a provisional ballot, the county said.
The United States Postal Service earlier this week suggested that all ballots be in the mail back to the County Elections Division by Oct. 29.
The County Office Building on Ross Street in downtown Pittsburgh also will be open for voters returning their mail-in ballots, a spokesperson said. The lane on Ross Street closest to the building is available for people to temporarily park and return their ballot.
The County Office Building hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends, and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.
Take Action Advocacy Group will hold a town hall Saturday to discuss public safety, police accountability and voter engagement.
The discussion, organized in cooperation with ALC Court Watch, begins at 2 p.m. Nov. 2 at Jacob Woll Pavilion at Renziehausen Park in McKeesport.
Organizers called the forum necessary in the wake of several incidents involving local police officers, including the arrest of a former McKeesport police detective and the McKeesport Area School District’s police chief; as well as an ongoing investigation by the Allegheny County district attorney’s office into items reportedly missing from the McKeesport police evidence room.
