December 15, 2024 |
By Tom Leturgey | Posted in: Duquesne News
Duquesne will move forward with a study to decide whether to adopt a home-rule charter.
At this month’s council meeting, City Manager Douglas Sample announced that voters overwhelmingly approved the creation of a home-rule study commission, 1,313 to 674. “We are good to go,” he said.
Duquesne is currently governed by the state’s third-class city code. Home rule gives municipalities greater flexibility to set their own laws and ordinances. McKeesport and Monroeville are among municipalities that converted to home-rule government.
City residents also appointed members of the home-rule commission, with Councilwoman Denise Brownfield leading all vote-getters with 901. Connie A. Lucas-Kemp, who according to her LinkedIn page, is founder of Duquesne Network for Fairness & Community Development Corporation, came in second with 794.
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December 15, 2024 |
By Tom Leturgey | Posted in: Duquesne News
Download Duquesne’s 2025 Budget
Duquesne has approved a 2025 budget with no tax increase.
At the Dec. 3 meeting, city council voted 4-0 to approve a $4 million spending plan with no tax increase.
The city’s tax millage will remain at 20 mills. According to the budget, some $620,000 will be allocated to County Hauling for garbage pickup. A total of $200,000 is allocated for vacant building demolition in the new year.
Officials said that a code enforcement officer might be hired in 2025.
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December 10, 2024 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
Four people, including two with ties to the Mon-Yough area, have been accused by the state Attorney General’s office with being part of a “smash-and-grab” burglary ring that took credit cards and checkbooks from vehicles, then stole cash from the victims.
Investigators have linked the group to at least 68 thefts in 19 different communities, according to a spokesperson for Attorney General Michelle Henry.
Charges were filed Friday in magisterial district court in Cranberry Twp., Butler County, where at least seven of the thefts are alleged to have occurred.
In some cases, investigators allege, the group preyed on victims who were at churches, day care centers, playgrounds and parks.
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December 10, 2024 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
A national shortage of teachers for kindergarten through 12th grade is impacting McKeesport Area School District as well, officials said.
At Thursday’s meeting, school directors and district officials addressed concerns about the resignation of Angela Cale, MASD’s coordinator of special education and alternative services.
Cale is a McKeesport Area High School graduate and former dean of students and principal of East End Academy. She had served as special ed coordinator since 2013, according to the district. Her resignation was effective Dec. 10.
McKeesport resident Carolyn Cash asked the board how Cale’s resignation would affect student education. Residents have previously voiced concerns about vacancies in special education and other departments.
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December 10, 2024 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport Area School District is moving ahead with its superintendent search.
“We have a total of 28 applicants,” board president Mark Holtzman Sr. said during a Dec. 5 open agenda meeting. “We're pretty excited about that.”
The applicants, who are vying to fill the position vacated by Tia Wanzo following her resignation last month, stem from multiple backgrounds.
Candidates include one executive director, 12 superintendents, four assistant superintendents, five principals or assistant principals, and six others that “work in central administration in districts around here,” Holtzman said.
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December 06, 2024 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Duquesne News
Related Story: Duquesne OK’s EOS Plant in RIDC Park
A proposed battery manufacturing plant in Duquesne could benefit from a $303.5 million loan announced this week by the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Biden Administration announced this week that the DOE has closed the loan guarantee with EOS Energy Enterprises to finance the construction of two new production lines at the company’s facility in Turtle Creek to produce the company’s “EOS Z3” industrial-scale electricity storage systems.
The guarantee includes $277.5 million in principal and $26 million in interest.
The production lines could produce enough storage batteries to power the annual electricity needs of 130,000 homes.
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December 06, 2024 |
By Tom Leturgey | Posted in: Duquesne News
Related Story: EOS Energy Secures $303.5M Federal Loan
This proposed EOS Energy facility in Duquesne would feature two assembly lines producing industrial-scale zinc storage batteries. (Illustration courtesy Gateway Engineers via City of Duquesne)
Duquesne City Council has approved construction of a manufacturing facility that could bring 300 to 400 jobs to the RIDC industrial park along the Monongahela River.
At a meeting this week, council voted 4-0 to give conditional approval to EOS Energy Enterprises’ plan to build a 181,000 square foot facility on 28 acres of the former U.S. Steel Duquesne Works. Mayor R. Scott Adams was unable to attend.
Doug Sample, Duquesne’s city manager, said the city’s planning commission has reviewed and recommended the project.
Councilwoman Denise Brownfield thanked the company for considering Duquesne. “Welcome,” she said, adding that she hopes city residents would apply for jobs with EOS.
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December 05, 2024 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: State & Region
Craig White, an engineer working on the extension of the Mon-Fayette Expressway, points to construction areas on an aerial photo. (Photo courtesy Mon Yough Area Chamber of Commerce via Facebook)
The next portion of the Mon-Fayette Expressway, a roughly six-mile-long segment stretching from Route 51 to near the Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, could be open as soon as fall of 2026.
But the highway’s entrance into the Dravosburg and Duquesne areas will have to wait a little bit longer, representatives of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission told members of the Mon Yough Area Chamber of Commerce at a meeting on Wednesday morning. About 40 people attended.
The commission is still attempting to secure remaining pieces of right-of-way near Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, said Craig White, senior associate with Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson Inc., one of the engineering firms overseeing work on the project to extend the toll road otherwise known as Route 43.
One thing that won’t hold up further construction is a lack of funding. State Rep. Nick Pisciottano of West Mifflin said that a dedicated funding stream has been developed in Pennsylvania’s budget to complete the highway.
“There should never again be a point where the project just completely stops,” Pisciottano said.
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December 05, 2024 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Announcements
(Tube City Almanac file photo by Vickie Babyak)
McKeesport’s 39th annual Festival of Trees opened Thursday afternoon with more than 90 decorated holiday displays representing different groups and organizations in the Mon-Yough area.
Hours are 12 noon to 9 p.m. daily through Dec. 9. The festival is located in the newly renovated Jacob Woll Pavilion in Renziehausen Park.
Admission is $2. Children 12 and under who bring a canned good or non-perishable food for donation to a local food pantry are admitted for free.
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December 05, 2024 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport’s police chief will retire at the end of the year to take a job in South Allegheny School District.
Chief Mark Steele’s departure was announced Wednesday night at McKeesport’s city council meeting. Mayor Michael Cherepko said Assistant Chief Josh Alfer, who was appointed last month, will serve as interim chief until a new police chief is chosen.
At a separate meeting on Wednesday, South Allegheny School Board hired Steele as a school police officer.
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