August 30, 2022 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, North Versailles Twp. News
A North Versailles Twp. man died Saturday evening after a shooting in the Crestas neighborhood.
Lyndale Irish-Knight, 24, was pronounced dead at the scene just after 5 p.m., the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office said.
Allegheny County police said in a prepared statement that police and paramedics were dispatched to a business in the 400 block of Porter Street at approximately 4:47 p.m. when a caller to 9-1-1 reported a shooting. There, police found the victim, later identified as Irish-Knight, suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso, officials said.
County homicide detectives are investigating but few details have been released. Anyone with information concerning this incident is asked to call the county police tip line at 1-833-ALL-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.
August 18, 2022 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, North Versailles Twp. News
A Glassport man accused of causing a fatal car wreck in North Versailles Twp. in March was driving at speeds above 90 mph just before the crash, police said.
Allegheny County police allege that Shamar A. Roach, 24, also was legally intoxicated and driving under the influence of marijuana before the collision on March 2 that fatally injured John D. Semenko, 59, of White Oak.
Police said Roach was arrested Monday without incident after surrendering to officers. He is being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bond pending an Aug. 26 hearing before Magisterial District Judge Kim Berkeley Clark.
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July 07, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: Announcements, North Versailles Twp. News
Lawrence Abdullah died of complications of COVID-19 in 2020. His family has established a scholarship at CCAC in his honor and will be holding a fundraiser this weekend. (Submitted photo)
The second annual Lawrence R. Abdullah Scholarship Fundraiser will take place in North Versailles Twp. this Saturday (July 9), two days after what would have been Lawrence Abdullah’s 42nd birthday.
This scholarship was set up to honor an individual who was “a beast about everything that goes on in the surgery room,” as his mother, Romodore, describes him.
In November 2020, Abdullah had earned his surgical tech specialist certificate from the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC). Weeks later, on Dec. 9, he passed away after being diagnosed with COVID-19. His immune system was weakened because of a kidney transplant he received a year prior.
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June 29, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
According to local officials, delays in receiving necessary materials are forcing Amazon to postpone the opening of its new North Versailles Twp. distribution center, located on the site of the former Eastland Mall. The company declined comment. (Kristen Keleschenyi photo for Tube City Almanac)
A new Amazon distribution center at the site of the former Eastland Mall is expected to create up to 500 new jobs, but North Versailles Twp. officials said the planned opening has been delayed.
The facility along East Pittsburgh-McKeesport Boulevard was expected to be open later this summer, but the timeline has changed, township commissioners said.
“There’s a delay in the opening and it’s not because they don’t want to open it,” said township Commissioner Allen Wagner.
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June 20, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
The North Versailles Twp. Sanitary Authority is working on a project to repair sewer lines damaged by a landslide four years ago in the Crestas Terrace neighborhood.
Work is set to begin in July, officials said.
With approval from township commissioners, authority officials are in the process of refinancing a 2017 bond note that will help pay for the repairs.
Two lines must be repaired, including one that transports raw sewage away from a pump station in East Crestas as well as another sewer line that feeds the same pumping station.
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May 31, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
Logan Elementary School teachers Angela Turkowski and Jennifer Kolodychak volunteer to help during the Wednesday Fueling Future Wildcats food bag assembly. (Kristen Keleschenyi photo for Tube City Almanac)
Reading, writing and arithmetic. These are the cornerstones of elementary school learning. But in some cases, there is another component needed: Food.
At Logan Elementary School, in the East Allegheny School District, a program called Fueling Future Wildcats helps fill a need that can oftentimes go unnoticed.
“There are some kids that are almost flying under the radar, because they come to school looking like they are doing OK, but we never really know if the family is really struggling,” says program coordinator Kaitlyn Gida.
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May 14, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News, North Versailles Twp. News, Sports
McKeesport Tigers varsity baseball players include, first row, Brady Boyle, Colin Scharritter, Duston Strom, Brayden Kovach, Jason Peterson and Ryan Tucker, and second row, Jaden Smith, Jake Miller, Logan Shiffler, Noah Marcic, Austin Riggs, Alex Reigh and Ricky Heyz. (Submitted photo)
For fans disappointed in the Pittsburgh Pirates, high school baseball is an exciting alternative in the Mon-Yough area.
For the first time in 23 years, East Allegheny High School’s Wildcats are section champs (WPIAL Division 3A) as they advance to the playoffs and for the first time in 21 years, McKeesport Area High School’s Tigers (WPIAL Division 5A) have earned a playoff spot in their conference.
But why has it been so long since these teams have had something big to celebrate? According to Ron Bishop, head coach of McKeesport’s varsity team for the past nine years, it takes a long time to create a competitive team. Sometimes his players are coming together, for the first time, at the high school level.
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April 29, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News, Wilmerding News
Logan Elementary School sixth-graders were armed with shovels last week to help find a time capsule buried in Wilmerding more than 20 years ago. (Photos courtesy Kim Reno)
When you think of places for an archeological dig, Wilmerding probably doesn’t stand out as a prime location. But for a group of current and former East Allegheny students, the grounds of Westinghouse Arts Academy this month provided an exciting locale for an excursion 23 years in the making.
Back in 1999, students in Kim Bollinger’s sixth-grade science class at Westinghouse Elementary School, then part of the EA school district, put together a time capsule as the final part of their ongoing recycling project.
Westinghouse Elementary School closed in 2009 and now is home to the Westinghouse Arts Academy Charter School.
“At the time we didn’t have paper recycling bins [in the school],” says Kim Reno, formerly Kim Bollinger. “We put boxes in everyone’s room and had all of the teachers put their used paper in the box. My students once a month would load it into the back of my trunk and I would take it to the South Side and they paid you for the paper.”
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March 29, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: Entertainment, North Versailles Twp. News
Nora Keleschenyi (Katherine), Austin Phelan (Bill), Colby Miller (Jack Kelly), and Kason Sciullo (Romeo) rehearse a scene from the musical “Newsies.” (Kristen Keleschenyi photo special to Tube City Almanac)
If you go...
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‘Newsies’
Where: East Allegheny Junior-Senior High School, 1150 Jacks Run Rd, North Versailles, PA 15137
When: April 7–9 with shows each night at 7:30 p.m. along with a 2 p.m. matinee on April 9.
Tickets: easd.Booktix.com.
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Disney’s “Newsies” will mark the first “post-pandemic” musical performance at East Allegheny Junior-Senior High School. It has been an interesting journey these past two years to raise the curtain on spring musicals.
“Awesome 80’s Prom,” a play adapted to include musical vignettes, was performed in the outdoor court of the junior-senior high school in April of 2021.
“A Pirate’s Tale,” the show originally planned for 2020 but was cancelled, was performed just a few months after Prom with masks required and auditorium seating in every other row. (Many of the students who were originally cast in “A Pirate’s Tale” returned for the show including a number of 2021 graduates.)
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February 28, 2022 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
East Allegheny School District may soon make a change to its COVID-19 health and safety plan.
The current plan states masks are required to be worn by students, staff and visitors throughout the day in school and on the bus. At the February meeting, Superintendent Alan Johnson said that with the substantial decline in COVID-19 cases it might be time to join other local districts and drop the mask mandate.
“If we are continuing to see the kind of drops in the incident rate that we are seeing presently we are probably going to ask the board to approve a change to the health and safety plan to eliminate the use of masks that we have in place now,” Johnson said.
On Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention relaxed its mask guidelines. Many parents have taken to social media wondering what the policy would be moving forward for EA students in light of the new guidance.
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