April 09, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Residents who challenged McKeesport city council’s decision to close its January meeting finally got a chance to speak their minds.
At Wednesday’s city council meeting, which was streamed over the Internet, eight people asked to enter comments into the official record. Four were from McKeesport. One of the others was Allegheny County Councilwoman Olivia Bennett.
Comments were received in writing from three of the four people, including former McKeesport Councilwoman V. Fawn Walker-Montgomery, Janina Riley and Courtney Thompkins, who sued McKeesport City Council after the Jan. 6 meeting was closed to the public.
All of the comments criticized police behavior during the Dec. 20 search for Koby Lee Francis, the 22-year-old suspect accused of shooting McKeesport police Officer Jerry Athans.
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April 09, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
County health officials will begin issuing air-quality alerts targeted to the Mon Valley, beginning on Monday.
A spokeswoman for the Allegheny County Health Department said the alerts will tell residents when weather forecasts have the potential for poor air quality.
The alerts will be sent out using email, text messages and phone calls. To receive the alerts, visit alleghenycounty.us/alerts and sign up for “Mon Valley Air Pollution Episode” notifications.
The move comes in the wake of several recent cases when air quality measured at the Liberty Borough monitor dropped below federal standards.
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April 08, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Rev. Earlene Coleman, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, speaks to members of the media Wednesday. Also shown are Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, state Sen. Jim Brewster, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Allegheny County Health Department Director Debra Bogen. (Photo special to Tube City Almanac)
The COVID-19 vaccine shortages and website crashes that frustrated Pennsylvania residents in January and February are not likely to be repeated, Gov. Tom Wolf said in McKeesport on Wednesday.
Joined by city, county and state elected officials, Wolf visited the city to tour a vaccination clinic set up in the fellowship hall of Bethlehem Baptist Church on Walnut Street, Downtown.
“By the second week in May, we should have reached the point where at least one dose will have reached everybody who wants the shot,” Wolf said.
The biggest issue is the number of people who remain reluctant to be vaccinated, he said — which is where churches like Bethlehem Baptist can help.
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April 07, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Accepting this year’s $100,000 payment toward the city’s neighborhood assistance program are Melissa Ernst, secretary of the McKeesport redevelopment authority; city Councilman Jim Barry; A.J. Tedesco, community development director and executive director of the redevelopment authority; McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko; Evan Zuverink, community reinvestment act officer for First Commonwealth Bank; Scott Vidovich, market leader for First Commonwealth Bank; Kristen Lupari, White Oak branch manager; Paul Sturgess, member of the redevelopment authority; and Stu Wilson, president of the redevelopment authority. (Submitted photo)
First Commonwealth Bank has donated its former Downtown location to the city’s redevelopment authority.
Jonathan Longwill, vice president and media relations specialist for the Indiana, Pa., based bank, said the building at 225 Fifth Ave. has been donated to facilitate ongoing redevelopment work in McKeesport’s central business district.
The bank is also participating in McKeesport’s six-year, $2.7 million neighborhood assistance program to remove blight and renovate homes, and recently presented the city with its $100,000 annual installment.
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April 05, 2021 |
By Jennifer Sopko | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Editor’s Note: The writer has a conflict of interest. Branden Kucich is the writer’s second cousin. This article was written after initial interviews with Branden and Heather Kucich in April 2018 and follow-ups in March and April 2021 once the Centennial School project broke ground.
The former Centennial School opened for the 1921-22 term at the corner of Beaver Street and Union Avenue. The building is being turned into senior citizen apartments. (Submitted photo courtesy Kucich Construction)
Nearly a century after the new Centennial School in McKeesport opened its doors to local students in the fall of 1921, the historic building will soon welcome a new class of seniors.
Branden Kucich, 38, and his wife Heather, 37, of North Huntingdon Twp., have added to their growing portfolio of rental properties in McKeesport and White Oak by purchasing the defunct elementary school and transforming its empty classrooms into senior living apartments.
The Kuciches’ project will not only return a longtime tax-exempt property to the city’s tax rolls but also add to a recent trend of building restorations in McKeesport.
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April 01, 2021 |
By Siana Emery | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
In spite of climbing numbers of COVID-19 cases in the region, McKeesport Area School District officials are hoping to ensure that major spring events — including prom and commencement — will occur this year, if possible.
At the school board meeting, district officials discussed plans for remainder of the year and began looking ahead to fall.
Board President Joseph Lopretto and District Superintendent Mark Holtzman Jr. said they are keeping an eye on virus cases, and will move forward with plans as possible.
Prom and commencement were canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
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March 30, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
The Martin Luther King East Busway connects Pittsburgh to Rankin and Swissvale. Local lawmakers are urging the federal government to include funds for extending the busway in the Biden administration’s infrastructure plan, to be announced Wednesday in Pittsburgh. (National Association of City Transportation Officials photo via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC 2.0)
Ahead of President Biden’s visit to the Pittsburgh area to talk about infrastructure investment, area legislators are asking the federal government to make sure the Mon Valley is included.
According to published reports, Biden on Wednesday is expected to unveil a $3 trillion proposal to invest in roads, bridges, public transit, railroads and waterways, as well as the country’s electrical grid and other utilities.
The speech will be made at the Carpenters Pittsburgh Training Center in Collier Twp. and representatives of other Pittsburgh-area labor unions are expected to attend as well.
Last week, Mon-Yough area state legislators wrote to Pennsylvania’s federal congressional delegation, urging them to include funding for high-priority projects such as the extension of the East Busway and the completion of the Mon-Fayette Expressway.
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March 25, 2021 |
By Siana Emery | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Johnathan White, assistant teaching professor at Greater Allegheny, moderated a panel discussion that also featured Kathi R. Elliot, chief executive officer at Gwen’s Girls; Dashawna J. Fussell-Ware, doctoral fellow, Steel Smiling; Raven Davis, supervisor, Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth & Families; and Dr. Stella Onuoha-Obilor, vice president for clinical quality, Highmark Health. (Photo courtesy Penn State)
At both the community and the national level, developing a deeper understanding of social, economic and political factors that create gaps in mental health care is imperative in caring for patients.
This was the overarching message of March 18’s Crossing Bridges Summit panel, which discussed the psychological perspectives on Black women’s health.
The panel, hosted by Penn State Greater Allegheny, featured a conversation between five Black female leaders in mental health and social work.
“People walk around saying ‘I’m fine’,” said Dashawna Fussell-Ware, a doctoral student and employee of Steel Smiling. “The reality is, if you are Black or of African descent, unfortunately that’s just not true. There’s so much going on in the world in terms of racism that you can’t help but feel that loss.”
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March 19, 2021 |
By Ann Belser | Posted in: Liberty Borough News, McKeesport and Region News, North Versailles Twp. News, White Oak News
A Heritage Community Transportation bus pauses on Braddock Avenue in Braddock. The non-profit group connects residents of Mon Valley neighborhoods to main Port Authority bus routes and has provided 1.5 million rides. (Submitted photo courtesy Heritage Community Initiatives)
A year ago, when the state shut down all but essential services, a Braddock-based nonprofit found that one of its services could not stop and the others were more vital than ever.
Paula McWilliams, CEO of Heritage Community Initiatives, said the bus service her organization operates, Heritage Community Transportation, was needed to make sure that workers in eastern communities, including Braddock, Liberty, McKeesport, North Versailles Twp., Port Vue and White Oak, could get to their jobs at hospitals such as Forbes Regional, UPMC McKeesport and UPMC East.
The Heritage buses, which are 14-passenger vans, operate on three fixed routes. They had to be modified for transporting workers and senior citizens who needed to get groceries and to medical appointments while keeping passengers and drivers safe.
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March 16, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is investigating a complaint of child sex abuse against a one-time Mon-Yough area pastor and radio personality.
Bishop Dorsey McConnell announced this week that the accusation was made against Charles W. Appel Jr., who was vicar of the Church of the Good Samaritan in Liberty Borough in the 1970s and 1980s.
Appel died in 2019. He served four years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography.
The alleged abuse happened at the church-run Sheldon Calvary Camp in Conneaut, Ohio, in the 1970s and early 1980s when the victim was a child attending events there, McConnell said.
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