April 30, 2021 |
By Nichole Faina | Posted in: Duquesne News
On the second attempt, Duquesne City Council approved a proposal from police Chief Tom Dunlevy to hire two additional officers.
At the April meeting, council agreed to hire the officers after Dunlevy reported that the police department had clocked about 400 hours of overtime pay in the previous month.
Council in March rejected the request for additional personnel.
According to Dunlevy, the overtime included construction details, and federally funded reimbursable overtime for drug investigations. The 400 hours “doesn’t mean the totality of what we had on the streets, that’s the overall number,” he said.
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April 20, 2021 |
By Matt Germaine | Posted in: Duquesne News, McKeesport and Region News
Two Green Grocer team members at a recent market stop. (Submitted photo courtesy of Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank)
The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank’s Green Grocer truck is back on the road and making regular visits to a handful of Mon Valley communities for the 2021 season.
Originally launched in 2015 with an itinerary of three stops, the food bank’s popular mobile farmer’s market has since expanded to include semi-monthly visits to 20 different neighborhoods within the Greater Pittsburgh area, including Glassport, Clairton, and Duquesne.
As a food access program, Green Grocer focuses on providing fresh and locally-sourced fruits and vegetables to communities in which healthy food providers are otherwise scarce, said Josh Anderegg, the food bank’s Mobile Markets Supervisor.
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April 16, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, Duquesne News
A Clairton man died following a crash early Friday morning near the intersection of North Second Street and Route 837 in Duquesne.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Ralpheal Franz Greene, 30. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Allegheny County police said Greene was thrown from the vehicle following the crash. An unidentified juvenile passenger in the car was taken to the hospital and was reportedly in stable condition.
County police homicide detectives and the Collision Reconstruction Unit are investigating. Anyone with information about the crash is being asked to call the county police tip line at 1-833-ALL-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.
April 16, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Announcements, Duquesne News
Duquesne residents will have the chance to see their candidates for mayor during an online debate at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday (April 20).
According to the Allegheny County Elections Division, five people are currently seeking the Democratic nomination for mayor of the city, including Councilman R. Scott Adams, Councilman Timothy Caldwell, Charles Morgan IV, incumbent Mayor Nickole Nesby and Councilwoman Elaine Washington.
No candidates have registered to run for mayor in the Republican primary, the division said.
The debate will be presented on Zoom. The meeting ID number is 827 4836 1032 and the passcode is 222910. Persons without Internet access may participate by telephone by calling (312) 626-6799, (646) 558-8656 or (301) 715-8592, and entering the same ID number and passcode.
The primary election is May 18. The last day to register to vote in the primary is May 3. Mayors are elected for a four-year term.
For voter registration information, visit votespa.com.
April 16, 2021 |
By Nichole Faina | Posted in: Duquesne News
Editor’s note: This is the second of two stories about In City Farms. The first may be found here.
An architect’s rendering shows what In City Farms’ Duquesne facility will look like. Construction is expected to begin soon. (Submitted image courtesy In City Farms)
When businessman Paul Schink learned that In City Farms aquaponics plant was slated to be built in Duquesne, he said it would mean “more customers and more traffic” for his store, Schink’s Hardware, and other local businesses. His father founded Schink’s Hardware in 1945 and he began working at the store in 1959.
Schink, who witnessed Duquesne’s industrial decline over the last few decades, is glad for new industry to come to the area.
This spring, In City Farms is breaking ground in RIDC’s Industrial Center of Duquesne business park, located on the former U.S. Steel Duquesne Plant.
The 25-acre development is a 175,000-square-foot aquaponic plant dedicated to growing vegetables such as bok choy, collard greens and mixed salad greens and raising fish.
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March 30, 2021 |
By Nichole Faina | Posted in: Duquesne News
The city of Duquesne will receive an estimated $550,000 from the federal government as part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
At March’s city council meeting, George Doherty, the city’s Act 47 Coordinator, said one of the main purposes of the legislation is to help municipalities recover from funds lost due to the pandemic.
Doherty recommended the city use the funds to backfill revenue that was lost from lower tax collections in 2020, and to reimburse the city for one-time capital purchases such as police cars, public works trucks and major computer systems, and improvements to streets and water systems.
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February 09, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Duquesne News
No one was injured during a fire Monday night at Grant Towers Apartments in Duquesne.
City fire Chief Frank Cobb said an automatic fire alarm was activated just before 9 p.m. When crews arrived, smoke was showing from a seventh-story window on the front of the building at 100 Grant Ave.
A deputy fire chief turned in a second alarm and crews began battling the blaze using the standpipe system in the building, Cobb said.
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January 28, 2021 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements, Duquesne News
A volunteer helps direct traffic during a drive-up food distribution at Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in Duquesne in 2020. (Submitted photo courtesy Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.)
In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank continues to offer drive-up food distributions in the city, Duquesne, Glassport and other communities.
A spokesperson said the drive-up distributions are designed to comply with federal, state and county COVID-19 mitigation regulations that limit crowd sizes and recommend social distancing.
The next drive-up distribution is from 3 to 5 p.m. Feb. 1 at the food bank’s headquarters, 1 N. Linden St., Duquesne, followed by a distribution from 1 to 3 p.m. Feb. 11 at Queen of the Rosary Church, 530 Michigan Ave., Glassport, and 10 a.m. to 12 noon Feb. 20 at Founders Hall Middle School, 1960 Eden Park Blvd., McKeesport.
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January 11, 2021 |
By Jason A. Mignanelli | Posted in: Duquesne News
(Editor’s Note: This is the first of two planned articles. The second will explore community reaction to the project.)
An architect’s rendering shows what In City Farms’ Duquesne facility will look like. Construction is expected to begin soon. (Submitted image courtesy In City Farms)
Minnesota entrepreneur and businessman Glenn Ford is looking not only at creating jobs in Duquesne but also addressing the problem of food insecurity.
“Community engagement is much more than a marketing pitch for us,” said Ford, chief executive officer of In City Farms, which has recently purchased 25 acres of land at RIDC’s City Center of Duquesne, the industrial park where U.S. Steel’s Duquesne Plant operated until 1984.
“Our facility is being built literally a block away from where nearly 1,500 people waited in line at the local food bank during COVID,” Ford said in a recent interview with Tube City Almanac. “We want to be a part of fixing this food shortage.”
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January 11, 2021 |
By Nick Zurawsky | Posted in: Duquesne News
Duquesne City Council has approved a budget for 2021 that includes a boost in spending of about $73,000.
Increased expenditures will be paid for by a combination of a wage tax increase, a property tax increase, and improved water bill collections, city officials said.
Last year was to have been the first year since 1991 that Duquesne was not included under the state’s Act 47, the Financially Distressed Municipalities Act, where the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development assists municipalities that are experiencing severe financial difficulties to ensure residents’ health, safety and welfare.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city’s participation in the program has been extended.
“We are anticipating that we should be out of Act 47 real soon,” Mayor Nickole Nesby said.
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