May 09, 2021 |
By Vickie Babyak | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Brandy Daye, assistant principal of Twin Rivers Elementary School, discusses summer employment opportunities for the high school students during "The Voices of Change" meeting. (Vickie Babyak photo for Tube City Almanac)
A growing group of McKeesport Area High School students are learning about their cultural differences — and finding out that more unites them than separates them.
“The Voices of Change” includes students and faculty facilitators, who are focused on discipline, diversity and academics, said the organizers. Since their first meeting in March, which attracted about a dozen students, the group has continued to expand.
In the past few weeks, the group’s popularity has grown and membership continues to increase for the upcoming new school year.
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May 06, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
This vacant building at the corner of Beech and Bailie avenues is one of 14 near the former Centennial School that has been targeted for demolition. Tax records indicate the building is owned by a limited-liability corporation in Forest Hills. (Tube City Almanac photo)
City officials are working to clear away more than a dozen blighted houses around a former school that is being turned into a senior citizen residence.
At Wednesday’s meeting, city council voted 7–0 to tear down 14 abandoned homes and apartment buildings on Bailie, Beaver and Union avenues and in the surrounding area, and to apply for $250,000 funding from the Allegheny County Economic Development Department to pay for the demolition.
City Administrator Tom Maglicco said McKeesport officials are hopeful that once the vacant structures are gone, the lots can be turned into greenspace or transferred to adjoining homeowners to enhance their own properties.
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May 05, 2021 |
By Bonnijean Cooney Adams | Posted in: Entertainment, McKeesport and Region News
The cast rehearses one of the high-energy song-and-dance numbers from “Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr.” (Bonnijean Cooney Adams photo for Tube City Almanac)
If You Go
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“Schoolhouse Rock Jr.”
Where: Francis McClure Middle School, White Oak
When: Thursday through Saturday, but two performances are sold out. One of the performances will be recorded and streamed at a later date. Details will be posted on the McKeesport Area School District and Founders’ Hall Facebook pages.
Tickets: No admission at the door. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, seats are extremely limited and some performances are already sold out. To ask about tickets, email EMoore@mckasd.net.
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Years after Edward Moore studied theatre arts at West Virginia Wesleyan College, he’s directing and producing his first musical — “Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr.” — featuring Founders’ Hall Middle School students.
“I guess that being a singer/actor with a college degree in theatre arts, I always wanted to try my hand at directing,” he said.
Moore works as an assistant to the Special Education Department at McKeesport Area School District. His musical credits include performing as a chorister for Pittsburgh Opera for more than 30 years.
After the former middle school musical director retired, Moore said he was approached by principal Tom Knight to take over.
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May 04, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Repairs are underway at a Downtown building after bricks came loose from a side wall early Tuesday morning.
The damage at the former Moose Lodge on Fifth Avenue near Strawberry Way was reported by a caller to 9-1-1 who heard a loud noise, said McKeesport Deputy Fire Chief Tom Perciavalle.
A section of brick approximately 15 to 20 feet tall and 10 to 12 feet wide fell into a sidewalk next to an apartment building, Perciavalle said. The neighboring apartment building, which has five units, was not damaged and no injuries were reported.
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April 30, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
A planned “endless caster” will not be installed at Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, U.S. Steel said Friday, but the plant remains the corporation’s lowest-cost producer of flat-rolled steel. (David Kent photo via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons)
U.S. Steel’s three Mon Valley Works facilities remain competitive and highly profitable, the corporation told Wall Street analysts on Friday.
The decision not to add a so-called “endless caster” to the Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock and North Braddock is not a reflection on the facility’s future, said Kevin Lewis, vice president of investor relations for U.S. Steel.
“We’re highly confident in the existing facilities at the Mon Valley (Works),” he said. “We believe it will generate strong earnings and strong cash flow for the business.”
In fact, one of the blast furnaces at Edgar Thomson was shut down on Friday for 25 days of repairs and upgrades, Lewis said. “We remain committed to that facility going forward and we will continue to allocate capital toward it,” he said.
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April 30, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
U.S. Steel has canceled plans to invest $1.5 billion in its three Mon Valley Works facilities, including Edgar Thomson Plant, shown here, saying that conditions have changed. (Mark Dixon photo via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons)
Local officials and the United Steelworkers union are blasting an announcement by U.S. Steel Corp. that it will cancel more than $1.5 billion worth of investment in its three Mon Valley Works facilities.
The corporation also will idle three out of nine coke oven batteries at the Clairton Plant.
The decisions were announced Friday morning during a call with investors and stock market analysts.
“To be very clear, this is not the end of Mon Valley Works,” said David Burritt, U.S. Steel president and chief executive officer. “This highly competitive mill will continue to serve strategic customers today and into the future.”
Mon Valley Works includes Clairton Plant, which produces coke and other chemical byproducts from coal; Edgar Thomson Plant, a basic steelmaking faciity in Braddock and North Braddock; and Irvin Plant, which produces coils of finished steel in West Mifflin.
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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 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.
