October 28, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Johnathan White, Penn State history lecturer, listens Friday as author and Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson answers an audience question at Wunderley Gymnasium in McKeesport. (Tube City Almanac photo)
Michael Eric Dyson is tired of people --- in the words of the James Brown song --- "talkin' loud and sayin' nothin."
The award-winning author of 20 books, ordained minister and Georgetown University sociology professor came to McKeesport on Friday night to encourage his audience at Penn State University Greater Allegheny to engage each other in debate on serious issues of race, equality, justice and politics --- but to make sure they have the facts first.
"We need to talk about this stuff that people would rather not talk about, but you have to be informed," Dyson said. "When you have that conversation, have the facts. Just because you 'feel' something, doesn't mean you have the facts."
Dyson's latest book, "Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America," is a searing indictment of apathy and complacency in an age when Nazis and white supremacists have come out of the shadows to march in American streets.
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October 16, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Duquesne News, McKeesport and Region News
Above: Port Authority senior analyst Amy Silbermann and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald greet an audience Monday night at the Palisades ballroom in McKeesport. (Tube City Almanac photo)
Port Authority officials and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald came to McKeesport on Monday night to explain a "bus rapid transit" system that they said would relieve overcrowding and late buses between downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland.
But what residents heard was that McKeesport, Duquesne and Homestead could soon be getting 45 percent less service from the heavily traveled 61C route --- and they don't like it.
At times, the atmosphere in the Palisades ballroom was tense, with arguments breaking out at one table between residents and Port Authority board members, and Fitzgerald exchanging sharp remarks with transit advocates in the audience.
"I chose to live in McKeesport because I saw that the bus service would be beneficial to me," said Dan Beyerlein, who said the 61C is his lifeline to doctors in Squirrel Hill and Oakland, and provides a connection to his church in Wilkinsburg.
Eliminating 45 percent of the 61C's daily runs to McKeesport, Beyerlein said, would make him unable to get his connecting buses. "Then I'm late to my doctor's appointments and there's nothing I can do about it," he said.
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October 16, 2017 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Photos by Vickie Babyak, special to Tube City Almanac)
Volunteers and students from McKeesport's Youth CAST along with staff from GTECH Strategies broke ground Saturday morning for improvements to a greenspace at the corner of Grandview Avenue and Auburn Street.
GTECH, a Pittsburgh-based non-profit, has been working in the city since 2015 to reclaim and re-use vacant lots for community purposes, while Youth CAST, which stands for Communities and Schools Together, is a McKeesport-based leadership development program for young adults in grades 6 through 12.
Last year, in cooperation with students and several other local organizations, GTECH and Youth CAST developed a playground and greenspace --- called a "Green Playce" --- at the corner of Jenny Lind and Butler streets.
Above are Youth CAST members, seated, Ajayla Johnson, Calise Johnson, Paul Francis and Isaiah Johnson, and standing, Nyiana Watson, Youth CAST program coordinator Aaron Johnson, Deja Newby, Skylar Palmer, Nicora Watson, Zekeil Palmer, Denaja Newby, Sontee Peterson, Dajere Newby and Savanah Still.
More photos below the jump.
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October 13, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Cornell Street is part of the city's Library and Cultural District. (Tube City Almanac file photo.)
If you live in the city's Library and Cultural District and own your home, Joe Costa at ACTION-Housing wants to hear from you as soon as possible.
Costa, a housing associate with the non-profit agency, is putting together a grant request to the state's housing trust fund and is seeking homeowners whose houses need remodeling or rehabilitation work.
"We have one candidate signed up already," he said. "We need 10 candidates altogether. These could be safety upgrades, structural repairs, roof, wiring, plumbing repairs --- anything needed to keep a house up to code."
People who are interested should call Costa at (412) 281-2102, extension 2053, or email jcosta@actionhousing.org.
Interested residents who want to learn more about the program are being urged to attend a meeting at 7 p.m. Oct 17 at McKeesport Presbyterian Church, corner of Versailles and Union avenues.
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October 09, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Above: McKeesport is seeking funds to build two new homes on this vacant lot along Cornell Street in conjunction with ACTION-Housing. (Tube City Almanac photo)
City officials are working with Pittsburgh-based ACTION-Housing to build at least two new homes near Twin Rivers Elementary School and renovate several others.
Last week, McKeesport city council voted 6-0 to apply to the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Fund for a grant to begin a program of new construction and renovations in the Cultural and Library District. Councilman Jim Barry was absent due to work.
The city will meet with the Concerned Citizens of the Library District on Oct. 17 to discuss the program, Mayor Mike Cherepko said.
"We have a lot of rental properties in the city, and there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but as we continue to move forward, the true future of the city has got to be home ownership," Cherepko said.
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October 08, 2017 |
By Cami DiBattista | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Nine local women were recognized for their efforts to better the communities in which they live during last week's Mon River Fleet Women of Achievement Awards Dinner.
Residents of Braddock, Clairton, Duquesne and McKeesport were represented at the annual dinner, held at Stratigos Banquet Center in North Huntingdon Twp., to celebrate outstanding contributions to community health, government and social services in the Mon Valley region.
“The Women of Achievement dinner recognizes great women who have done great things,” said Eliana Latterman, coordinator of the Mon River Fleet and Director of Development at McKeesport Hospital Foundation.
The 2017 Mon River Fleet Women of Achievement are Jacklyn Ahern, Courtney List, Joyce MacGregor, Fawn McDaniel, Sister Mary Parks, Alison Piccolino, Susan "Suz" Rosati, Terry Ruccio and Antonietta Stolic.
Proceeds from the event, which was sponsored by the Mon River Fleet Community PartnerSHIPs, will benefit SHIP initiatives in surrounding communities within the Mon Valley.
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October 06, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
The trailer for Netflix's new TV series "Mindhunter" will include a few scenes that seem familiar to employees of the former McKeesport Daily News.
The series, shot during the summer of 2016 partially in McKeesport and other areas around Pittsburgh, used the newspaper's now-closed building as a stand-in for the Sacramento, Calif., police department.
At least one scene (above) clearly shows the former sports and features department on the second floor and other scenes appear to have been filmed in the former composing room on the third floor, and possibly in the press room.
The series is set to debut on Netflix Oct. 13. You can watch the trailer below.
According to one source, fake memos reading "Sacramento Police Department" are still taped to a pillar in the first floor area of the office that was formerly used as the Daily News' display and classified advertising departments, indicated that some scenes utilized the first floor area as well.
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October 06, 2017 |
By Mary Shelly | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Almost 8 mills of what McKeesport Area School District collects in property taxes goes to the city's two charter schools, Propel McKeesport and Young Scholars of McKeesport, according to district officials.
At September's school board meeting, Board President Joe Lopretto said that charter school payments amounting to nearly $6 million are taking away needed revenue from McKeesport's public schools and forcing the district to make painful choices.
"Without that funding coming in it's either cut programs, get rid of teachers, or we've got to raise taxes just to keep the district going," Lopretto said. "With what we're putting out in charter school tuitions every year ... it's coming from our district and it's really hurting us."
Public school districts were once given a 30 percent reimbursement from the state Department of Education to offset payments to charters, Lopretto said, but that was cut in 2011 by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, and has never been restored.
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October 04, 2017 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus will open an outreach center in the heart of Downtown to offer computer literacy classes, homebuyer counseling and other services.
Jacqueline Edmundson, Greater Allegheny chancellor, said the university is preparing a space on the third floor of the former YWCA building on Ninth Avenue in an effort to re-connect with the Mon-Yough community.
The building is also home to the Ninth Street Clinic and a temporary office for medical cannabis company PurePenn. Those tenants are expected to remain.
The Ninth Avenue location is "an opportunity for us to engage the community in a number of different opportunties, and we'll have students involved in that outreach as well," Edmundson said in an interview.
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September 28, 2017 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(CSX workers assess the damage following a derailment Wednesday in Downtown McKeesport. Almanac photo.)
The Federal Railway Administration has joined CSX Railroad in trying to determine the cause of a coal train derailment Wednesday afternoon in Downtown McKeesport.
Warren Flatau, a public affairs officer with the FRA in Washington, D.C., said investigators from the agency's Region 2 are looking into the accident, which derailed more than two dozen loaded coal cars, including three that flipped over on the ground behind the McKeesport public safety building.
It may be some time before the final cause of the wreck is determined, Flatau said, but a preliminary report based on the railroad's findings will likely be available for the public in about two months.
Train service was restored Wednesday night on one track through the derailment site, with the first train passing through at approximately 11 p.m., said Rob Doolittle, a CSX spokesman.
Trains will continue to operate while the recovery effort is underway, he said.
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