September 24, 2021 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
North Versailles Twp. will join an organization that helps return vacant and abandoned properties back to the tax rolls.
At the September meeting, commissioners unanimously voted to join the Tri-COG Land Bank.
Founded in 2017 by Turtle Creek Valley Council of Governments and Steel Rivers Council of Governments, the land bank was created to deal with the increasing nuisance of vacant and abandoned properties in the Mon Valley and the blight they create.
“They have authority, if this township joins, to identify properties that qualify and the land bank can then acquire ownership, rehabilitate them, sell them and get them back on the tax roll,” said township solicitor Greg Evashavik.
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September 23, 2021 |
By Sarah Turnbull | Posted in: White Oak News
The borough building will be ready in time for Election Day, White Oak council announced Monday.
Borough engineer Kenneth Hillman told council that renovations are nearly complete.
“Flat roof work on the borough building will start tomorrow, Sep. 21. The insulation should arrive by mid-November. Signs are being constructed, the sidewalks and lighting are in…it’s just around the corner,” Hillman said.
In related news, plans for the borough’s 2022 street paving program are underway, and various properties are being surveyed, he said.
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September 23, 2021 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Crime and Police News
“I don’t know if I can ever find peace” if the murderer of Karli Short (right) isn’t brought to justice, said her father, Brandon Short. A $20,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of her killer. (Submitted photo courtesy Short family)
The family of a pregnant woman found shot to death at her Christy Park home are hoping that a reward will entice someone to come forward with information that leads to the arrest of her killer.
At a memorial service Thursday morning at Renziehausen Park attended by friends, local officials and police, the family of Karli Short, 26, announced the $20,000 reward had been put up by Richard Bazzy, owner of Shults Ford.
Short’s body was found Sept. 13. Short was pregnant with a boy — her first child — at the time of her death, according to the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office. She was due to give birth in February 2022.
“We know the narrative,” said Short’s cousin, Troy Blackwell, a coach at McKeesport Area High School. “We know the first things that were in people’s heads. That wasn’t the case at all with her.
“That completely wasn’t her,” he said. “There wasn’t any underhanded stuff that she was involved in.”
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September 22, 2021 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
Three men face charges following an incident Monday afternoon in Renziehausen Park that resulted in the recovery of drugs and a stolen handgun.
Two of the suspects were apprehended after they fled police and crashed their car into a metal barrier along Eden Park Boulevard, McKeesport police said.
No injuries to bystanders were reported, but police said “multiple people and children were in the park area at the time of this incident, thus putting them in danger.”
McKeesport police said officers were dispatched to the Jakomas Blue-Top Pavilion just before 4 p.m. after 9-1-1 callers reported a fight was in progress. While en route, police said, a caller reported hearing what might have been a gun shot.
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September 20, 2021 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
Paul Fields portrays McKeesport's first Black police officer, George W. Simmons, during the 2016 Living History Tour. (Submitted photo courtesy McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center)
Tickets are on sale now for McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center’s seventh-annual Living History Tour, 12 noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 2 and 3.
A spokesperson said guests will to enjoy a walking tour while learning stories of some of the notable, famous and infamous McKeesporters who were laid to rest at historic McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery. To ensure social distancing protocols can be maintained, tours will be limited in size.
Admission is $12 for adults and $6 for students.
“The Living History Tour has become a signature event for the Heritage Center,” event chair Andi Cartwright said. “It’s a unique opportunity for folks from McKeesport and surrounding communities to learn about McKeesport’s past by taking a glimpse into the lives of some really intriguing characters.
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September 20, 2021 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
The 21st annual Mon Valley HIV/AIDS Awareness Walk will be held Oct. 2, a spokeswoman said.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 walk will be a virtual event for the second consecutive year.
The event will start with a Zoom kick-off event at 9 a.m., said Abbie Godollei, outreach coordinator for the Turtle Creek-based Human Services Center Corp. After the virtual event, participants will be encouraged to go out in their neighborhood or local park to walk in solidarity with other walk participants in Allegheny County, she said.
The walk is organized by the Human Services Center Corp.’s HIV/AIDS Working Group and continues to be the only HIV/AIDS Awareness Walk in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Godollei said.
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September 16, 2021 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
(Submitted photo)
The 10th anniversary Tour de Mon bike ride will return to the Great Allegheny Passage on Oct. 30.
U.S. Steel has returned as the presenting sponsor, said the Mon Yough Area Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the annual trek. The ride begins and ends at the historic “Pump House” near the Waterfront in Munhall.
“Tour de Mon” is a pleasure ride, not a race. Riders have their choice of going a full 20 miles to Boston and back; 15 miles to McKeesport and back; 10 miles to Pittsburgh's Hot Metal Bridge and back, or eight miles to Duquesne and back.
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September 16, 2021 |
By Sarah Turnbull | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Dani Kramer, land-based program coordinator for Allegheny CleanWays, gives direction to a crew of “DumpBusters” cleaning up illegally dumped trash along Federal Street in the city. (Vickie Babyak photo for Tube City Almanac)
In just three hours last week, a team of “DumpBusters” removed more than 7,000 pounds of junk and 21 old tires from an abandoned home on Federal Street in McKeesport.
How did the team — including 13 volunteers from Compass AmeriCorps — keep from getting overwhelmed when confronted with all of that trash on Sept. 10?
Lexi Garcia, a native of Ann Arbor, Mich., said it helped to remember they were changing a community, a little bit at a time.
“It’s easy to feel hopeless about how one person can make a difference,” Garcia said. “But you have to keep that passion going.”
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September 16, 2021 |
By Emily Scott © Public News Service | Posted in: Politics & Elections
Five of seven judges’ seats in the Supreme Court chamber in the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg. (Ruhrfisch photo via Wikimedia Commons. Used under CC BY-SA 4.0, Link.)
Emily Scott, Public News Service:
Pennsylvanians will vote this November to elect judges in the state’s three appellate courts, and a virtual candidate forum next week will allow voters to get to know those running for the Commonwealth, Superior and Supreme Court positions who will make influential decisions.
Two seats are up for grabs in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court, and one each in its Superior and Supreme courts. Pennsylvania differs from some states in that it votes for judges in partisan elections, rather than by merit selection.
Debbie Gross, chief executive officer of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts, said it limits the information voters can gather from candidates as they are expected to remain impartial in light of issues that could arise on the bench.
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September 15, 2021 |
By Sarah Turnbull | Posted in: White Oak News
Renovations on White Oak’s municipal and maintenance buildings are nearly complete, the borough’s engineer told council on Monday.
“Work on the borough building is 85 percent done, and the maintenance building is 80 percent done,” Borough Engineer Ken Hillman said at this week’s workshop meeting. “We’re just waiting on the approval of the rubber roof for the borough building, and we still need to do some gutter and flat roof work on the borough building.”
Hillman also announced that electrical work at Heritage Hill Pool has been in progress since after Labor Day.
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