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 20, 2021 |
By Bonnijean Cooney Adams | Posted in: Entertainment, McKeesport and Region News
Rehearsing “A Spoonful of Sugar” are Vincent Brown as Robertson Ay, Victoria Koslosky as Mary Poppins, Serafina Szarmach and Lindsay Schanck as Jane and Michael Banks, and Abriel DiLonardo as Winifred Banks. (Bonnijean Cooney Adams photo for Tube City Almanac)
If you go/watch...
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“Disney’s Mary Poppins”
Where: Online at https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/51437, and live shows with limited audiences, with masks and social distancing required, in the high school auditorium, 200 Hershey Drive.
When: In-person showtimes are 7 p.m. April 23; 1 and 7 p.m. April 24; and 2 p.m. April 25. Scheduled online streaming is 1 and 7 p.m. April 24 plus 2 and 7 p.m. April 25. Scheduled content streams only play at the specified event date and time, and cannot be viewed at any other time. Cost is $20 per stream per device, with an additional slight surcharge.
Tickets: Limited tickets are available through advance sales only at $5 for students and $8 for adults by calling the high school office at (412) 751-2020, or from cast members. No tickets will be sold at the door.
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Returning senior Lindsay Schanck, who plays Michael Banks in Serra Catholic High School’s spring musical “Mary Poppins,” has a message for the director, echoed by other students as well.
“Thank you for just not giving up, Mr. (Jesse) Bush,” she said. “We are all so close. We all work together, have fun together, and I got to meet people I would have never met if I didn’t do the musical.”
Victoria Koslosky also is a senior, and was set to perform the title role of Mary Poppins last year when schools were shut down because of the pandemic and the musical eventually was canceled.
She also thanked Bush for giving the show a second chance.
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April 17, 2021 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News, North Versailles Twp. News
Delivery vans serve as floral coolers at the temporary location for Lea's Floral Shop on Chicora Street in East McKeesport. The store will set up temporarily at this building. The business was gutted April 10 by a fire that also displaced one resident. (Kristen Keleschenyi photo)
Monday will mark the reopening of Lea’s Floral Shop in East McKeesport, a little more than one week after a fire destroyed the majority of their inventory and two of their floral coolers.
Their building on Fifth Avenue will have to be gutted as they prepare to rebuild but luckily, they found the perfect spot, the East McKeesport Senior Citizen Community Center, just two blocks away, to serve as a temporary location.
“The Thursday before the fire they (East McKeesport Borough Council) decided not to rent this out because of COVID-19. You’re only allowed 45 people in here, everybody would have to be in masks and you have to police everything,” says Mary Lechliter-King, owner of Lea’s Floral Shop, who approached borough council members about the possibility of the building being their temporary storefront.
“The borough had a meeting and we offered them the rent. They get business privilege tax so we pay that too. It’s a win-win.”
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April 16, 2021 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements, McKeesport and Region News
(Tube City Almanac file photo by Vickie Babyak)
Volunteers are needed for a neighborhood clean-up day in the city’s library and cultural district.
A spokeswoman for the Carnegie Library of McKeesport said volunteers should meet at 10 a.m. Saturday (April 17) at the parking lot of the library.
The activity is tied to Earth Day, which will be celebrated on April 22, and will be held outdoors. Social distancing rules will be in place and light refreshments will be served, the spokeswoman said.
For more information or to register, visit mckeesportlibrary.org.
April 14, 2021 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Marsha Watkiss of Jeannette, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, helps to clean a grave Long Run Cemetery in North Huntingdon. The McKeesport chapter, named for Queen Alliquippa, celebrated its 110th anniversary this past weekend. (Submitted photo)
Few organizations can celebrate more than a century of existence. Even fewer in Western Pennsylvania are comprised of people who can trace their lineage to the American Revolution.
On Saturday, members of the Queen Alliquippa Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution celebrated their 110th anniversary with a tea social.
Their special guest was Elizabeth Watkins, state leader — or “regent” in DAR parlance — who updated the local group about her efforts to restore a window at the Valley Forge Tower that honors Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution, and one of Pennsylvania’s first U.S. senators.
Founded in 1890 and incorporated by an act of Congress in 1896, the DAR is an organization of women 18 years and older who can prove they are descendants of any “patriot” who supported the American Revolution.
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April 13, 2021 |
By Bonnijean Cooney Adams | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Whether new to the cast, returning to the same roles they were ready to play in 2020, or in totally different roles this year, McKeesport Area High School students are in final rehearsals for “Disney’s The Little Mermaid.” (Submitted photo courtesy Carolyn Carreiro)
If you watch...
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“Disney’s The Little Mermaid”
Where: Online at https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/48602
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, April 29, Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1, with an additional 2 p.m. matinee on May 1. (Note: Performances must be watched when they’re being streamed. There will be no re-broadcast.)
Tickets: $20 per device
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“Disney’s The Little Mermaid” was supposed to be the final spring musical for McKeesport Area High School producer Carolyn Carreiro back in 2020.
But then Covid-19 came along and changed her plans.
“Last year was supposed to be my last musical as producer,” she said. “With the pandemic, no one else was hired and I said I would step up one more time. This year was so different with the logistics of streaming the show, that it would have been a nightmare for a new producer to deal with.”
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April 13, 2021 |
By Siana Emery | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched resources in school districts across the nation, creating deficits in funding, access to education, and access to resources. For schools in the Mon Valley, however, there is some aid on the way.
State Rep. Austin Davis announced on March 30 that an estimated $41.1 million in federal funding has been allocated to districts across the Mon Valley to help them reopen safely and address learning losses as students and teachers return to classrooms.
The McKeesport Area School District will receive $16.9 million.
“We are thankful to have those funds,” said Mark Holtzman Jr., district superintendent. “I don’t know what we would’ve done without them.”
Other districts receiving funds include:
• Clairton City School District — $4.96 million
• Duquesne City School District — $4.81 million
• East Allegheny School District — $4.82 million
• South Allegheny School District — $3.4 million
• Steel Valley School District — $5 million
• West Mifflin Area School District — $5.95 million
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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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