October 26, 2023 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Area School Board has OK’d a one-year tentative agreement with the teacher’s union to avert a strike.
The deal, pending approval from the McKeesport Area Education Association, would be retroactive from Sept. 1, 2023, through Aug. 31, 2024. The deal would give a new school board time to negotiate a more lengthy contract following November’s election.
The vote was 8-0, with School Director Steven Kondrosky absent.
District Superintendent Tia Wanzo called the agreement “step one” in resolving the months-long contract dispute. District educators have gone without a contract since Aug. 31.
Wanzo said she expects the union to act quickly, probably by Nov. 1: “They’re going to move quickly through the channels.”
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October 24, 2023 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Illustration: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have awarded McKeesport $125,000 to work with UPMC and a broad coalition of community groups to develop a city-wide strategy to address chronic diseases, food security and access to health care.
The grant, announced Monday by city officials and UPMC, comes through the CDC’s Closing the Gap with Social Determinants of Health Accelerator Plans grant program.
According to the CDC, McKeesport is one of only approximately 15 cities nationwide to be awarded a grant from the program in this round of funding. In total, five programs in Pennsylvania have been funded since the program’s inception.
City and UPMC officials said the planning grant will be used to develop a connected and sustainable network of community organizations that can bring forth the voices and needs of the McKeesport community; plans to create more convenient, accessible and equitable access to care; and a better understanding of how diverse populations want to receive care.
A similar program called “Clairton Cares,” operated by Mon Valley Initiative and funded through the Jefferson Regional Foundation, has been praised for its positive impact on that community.
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October 15, 2023 |
By T.J. Martin | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Parishioners Ethel Balas and Karen Slobodian and priest-in-charge the Rev. Dr. Moni McIntyre are among those getting ready to celebrate the 150th anniversary of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. (T.J. Martin photo for Tube City Almanac)
Few things last for 150 years, so when something does, that longevity is often honored. One institution marking its 150th anniversary this year is St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in McKeesport and it will mark that milestone on Oct. 21, with an Open House from 1 to 4 p.m. at the McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center.
The event will include refreshments and speeches from McKeesport native Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, whose godmother is a member of the church; state Sen. Jim Brewster (D-45th), a former McKeesport mayor and city councilman; and Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Ketlen Solak.
The history center is located in Renziehausen Park along with McKeesport’s first school known as the “little red school house.” That school house hosted McKeesport’s first Episcopal service in 1869.
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October 13, 2023 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Eric Ewell, director of continuing education at Penn State’s Greater Allegheny Campus, welcomes visitors to the opening of the new Mon Valley LaunchBox on Fifth Avenue, Downtown. Also shown are business owner Shalay Williams, founder of Care Heart CPR, and state Rep. Matt Gergely. (Special to Tube City Almanac)
Even after a devastating explosion wrecked the building where Penn State University’s Mon Valley LaunchBox was located, the small-business incubator never stopped operating — and growing.
Since 2019, more than a dozen businesses have now gotten their start through the Mon Valley LaunchBox, and with the formal opening on Thursday of its new location Downtown, there’s more room to grow, said Eric Ewell, director of continuing education at Greater Allegheny Campus.
“We’ve never stopped,” Ewell said. “We had two networking events this year that we had 60 people registered for. We just didn't have the coworking space. But even then, we offered people who were paying members at the time space on campus.”
Ewell and Megan Nagel, Greater Allegheny interim chancellor, joined State Sen. Jim Brewster, State Rep. Matt Gergely, McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko and other community leaders to celebrate the LaunchBox’s new location in the former First Commonwealth Bank at 225 Fifth Ave.
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October 09, 2023 |
By Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Parents and taxpayers called for a unified approach to challenges facing the McKeesport Area School District, including safety issues in the schools and a series of administrative problems.
At a forum held Saturday evening at White Oak Athletic Association, speakers addressed a series of concerns, but several returned to the theme of “unity” that was invoked at the beginning of the meeting by the Rev. Earlene Coleman, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church for the last 20 years.
“We have to (become) unified,” she said. “Everything will fall apart if we continue to stay divided.”
Most of the concerns that were raised centered around two main issues — late tax refunds owed to homeowners after property tax exclusions under the Homestead-Farmstead Act were miscalculated, and the state of safety inside school buildings.
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October 05, 2023 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
BREAKING: This is a developing story and is subject to change.
Teachers in the McKeesport Area School District have authorized their union’s leadership to call a strike if a contract settlement cannot be reached “in the near future.”
The announcement was made by union president Gerald McGrew Jr. following a membership meeting Thursday afternoon in Dravosburg. The vote was unanimous, McGrew said.
Members of the McKeesport Area Education Association have been working without a contract since Aug. 31. A tentative settlement on a five-year contract was reached over the summer, but was voted down by the school board, 8-0.
The union represents 266 teachers and classroom professionals in the district.
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October 04, 2023 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
This story was changed after its original publication. See the editor’s note at the end.
Correction: This story initially omitted Mark Holtzman as one of the candidates.
A group of concerned McKeesport Area residents will hold a town-hall style meeting on Saturday to discuss challenges facing the district and what they view as a lack of appropriate response from the school board.
The meeting, to be held at 5 p.m. at White Oak Athletic Association, 1798 Lower Heckman Road, is non-partisan, says one of the organizers, McKeesport resident Rosie Norgren, and is not supporting any political candidate or party.
“A group of us got together after the last board meeting,” she says. “We just know a lot of people in the community are upset about how things have been going — financial issues, issues within the schools — people aren’t feeling heard. We really want people to have an opportunity to be heard.”
The event is being held in the wake of a school board meeting last week at which one school director was accused of using profanity and a slur against a member of the audience during an argument.
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October 03, 2023 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Announcements, McKeesport and Region News
The Boys & Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania will return to the city with a new facility called “The Club Teen Center” on Fifth Avenue, Downtown, a spokesman has announced.
A ribbon-cutting for the center — located at 1305 Fifth Ave., in a structure owned by UPMC McKeesport Hospital — is planned for 3 p.m. Wednesday.
BGCWPA officials also will outline the organization’s new priorities and approach to helping Kids in communities across western Pennsylvania, said David Tobiczyk, vice president of advancement, in an email announcement.
Elected officials, community leaders and representatives from UPMC are expected to attend.
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October 03, 2023 |
By Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
During the 2020 Living History Tour at McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery, Tony Belobrajdich portrayed LCpl. Thomas James “Jitters” Sweeney, a McKeesport native who was killed during the Vietnam War. (Vickie Babyak photo for Tube City Almanac)
If you go...
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9th Annual Living History Tour
Where: McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery
When: Saturday (Oct. 7) and Sunday (Oct. 8), tours every hour to 90 minutes. (Last tour group leaves at 3 p.m.)
Admission: $6 kids 12-under, $12 Heritage Center members, $15 non-members
Tickets: Visit the Heritage Center website
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Visitors will be able to learn about past residents of McKeesport and the Mon Valley (both notable and obscure) this weekend, when the McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center holds its ninth-annual Living History Tour at the McKeesport and Versailles Cemetery.
Actors will take on the roles of these historic figures from 12 noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 7 and 8). An indoor performance will also be held on Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Heritage Center, 1832 Arboretum Drive, Renziehausen Park.
Admission is $12 for Heritage Center members and $15 for non-members. Children 12 and under are admitted for $6.
Among the historic figures portrayed will be Carolyn Waters Young, the first black city council member in McKeesport’s history; Lida Sill Cannon, a Gilded Age socialite known as the Belle of the Monongahela Valley; and Robert Nelson Thomas, a Union soldier who died of illness after having fought in the Civil War. They will be played by Brandy Cogdell, Gina T. Rosso, and Joe Kosha respectively.
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October 03, 2023 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko (right) and members of city council thanked outgoing police Chief Adam Alfer (left) at the September council meeting. Alfer has retired from the city after nearly 27 years to become the police chief of South Allegheny School District. (Tube City Almanac photo)
City officials have bade farewell to Adam Alfer, who retired Sept. 22 as McKeesport’s police chief after a career that spanned nearly three decades.
Alfer has been named the police chief for South Allegheny School District. The district, which has four school buildings, currently has two security guards, but Alfer is its first sworn police officer.
He was hired by the school board in July after being recommended by a six-person search committee.
“I don’t want a break,” Alfer said before his last day with the city. “I want to go right into it. I’m very excited to have this new opportunity. But on the other hand, it’s a bittersweet moment, because I love the city of McKeesport. I was born and raised here and I’ve been working here since I was 19 years old. It’s going to be hard to walk away from.”
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