September 16, 2020 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
The 20th annual Mon Valley HIV/AIDS Awareness Walk will take place Oct. 3 — but virtually.
The walk is organized each year by the HIV/AIDS Working Group of the Human Services Center Corp. in Turtle Creek, and continues to be the only HIV/AIDS Awareness Walk in Southwestern Pennsylvania, said Abbie Godollei, outreach coordinator.
The event is usually held on a Saturday on the streets of Downtown McKeesport, but due to COVID-19, the walk will instead be held that day beginning at 9 a.m. on Zoom.
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September 16, 2020 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News, North Versailles Twp. News
A student-athlete at East Allegheny High School tested positive over the weekend for COVID-19, school officials said.
The student is a member of the girls’ volleyball team and the cheerleading squad. Both activities have been suspended for 14 days, the district said.
Superintendent Alan Johnson told the East Allegheny School Board that all health and safety protocols are being followed. Contact has been made with all the families involved to make them aware of the situation, he said.
Because the district is operating in virtual mode, no classrooms or office spaces have been compromised, Johnson said.
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September 16, 2020 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
East Allegheny School Board has approved an spectator attendance plan for outdoor events just in time for the first home football game.
In accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations and state guidelines limiting gatherings to 250 people or less, each student participant — including players, cheerleaders and members of the band — will be allowed to have two members of their family attend games.
“We wouldn't be able to accommodate additional spectators beyond that,” Superintendent Alan Johnson said at this week’s school board meeting.
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September 15, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: History, McKeesport and Region News
Jack Roland Murphy, better known as “Murf the Surf,” is shown here during a 2016 interview on the Christian Television Network program, “Homekeepers.” Murphy died Saturday in Florida at age 83. (Screenshot via YouTube)
One of McKeesport’s most notorious former residents — Jack Roland Murphy — has died in Florida at age 83.
Known as “Murf the Surf,” Murphy was born in California but lived in the city as a teen-ager and was a stand-out athlete and musician at McKeesport High School.
But it was after leaving Western Pennsylvania that Murphy achieved international infamy as a jewel thief — and murderer.
After spending 19 years in a Florida prison, Murphy was paroled and launched a ministry to jails and prisoners, becoming a frequent guest on Christian radio and television shows. He was the subject of a lengthy profile in Sports Illustrated this past May.
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September 15, 2020 |
By Kristen Keleschenyi | Posted in: Entertainment, McKeesport and Region News
“We are an odd lot. Old and young, men and women, heroes and derelicts, rich and poor, all once living souls,” says Anna Marie Colecchi as “The Widow” during McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center’s Living History Tour on Sunday. (Vickie Babyak photo for Tube City Almanac)
There are 44,000 people buried in McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery, which was dedicated in 1855. On Saturday and Sunday, a handful of their stories were brought to life by local actors during McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center’s sixth-annual Living History Tour.
Visitors were greeted by Anna Marie Colecchi playing “the widow,” who laid the framework for the list of characters on the tour.
Groups of people ranging in size from three to 15 walked along paths and around tombstones to hear the tales of this year’s cast.
They represented a wide range of notable McKeesporters, including Laura Painter, widow of People’s Bank President Robert Painter, who was blackmailed in an effort to get part of the fortune he left behind; U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Thomas Sweeney, one of the “McKeesport 23” who died during the Vietnam War; and George McClure, general store owner, who was shot in what is now known as Dead Man’s Hollow when he tried to stop a robbery.
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September 14, 2020 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: West Newton News
West Newton Public Library will hold a ham dinner fundraiser from 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 24, a spokeswoman said.
Cost is $15 and dinners will be take-out only from Gary's Chuck Wagon Restaurant, 109 South Second St.
Dinners include a slice of baked ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, cole slaw, roll and butter and dessert. Tickets may be purchased at Gary's Chuck Wagon or the library. For more information, call (724) 633-0798 or email westnewton@wlnonline.org.
September 14, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Sgt. Robert Fitzgerald of the 128th Brigade Support Battalion, Pennsylvania Army National Guard, explains the use of a COVID-19 test swab on Monday in McKeesport. (Tube City Almanac photo)
A new drive-through COVID-19 test site located at the Industrial Center of McKeesport is expected to remain operational for 45 to 60 days, but could stay open longer if necessary.
“This pandemic changes constantly and the planning changes constantly,” said Dr. Debra Bogen, director of the Allegheny County Health Department.
Allegheny County and state officials offered a tour of the site on Monday morning. The site opens to the public at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
Health officials are hopeful that within a few months, most doctors’ offices will be able to offer COVID-19 tests, Bogen said, so for now, the McKeesport site is the only drive-through facility planned in Allegheny County.
Up to 250 people per day can be tested at the site, located just off of Lysle Boulevard, officials said. Samples will be taken by courier daily to a state lab in Harrisburg, they said, and results of most tests will be available in 48 hours or less.
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September 14, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
An Allegheny County plumbing inspector assigned to the Mon-Yough area approved work that police allege he couldn’t possibly have seen, according to a criminal complaint.
Now, Allegheny County police are attempting to determine whether Timothy R. Chelosky, 53, of McKeesport and Michael K. O’Toole, 57, of Pittsburgh’s North Side accepted bribes from plumbing contractors.
County police last week executed a search warrant at the offices of Matt Mertz Plumbing Inc. in Ross Township.
In criminal complaints filed with Magisterial District Judge Richard Opiela in Ross Twp., police said that the “overwhelming majority” of the inspection jobs that Chelosky and O’Toole are accused of skipping were work being done by Mertz.
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September 11, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Announcements, McKeesport and Region News
Beginning Monday, appointments can be made at a new drive-up COVID-19 testing site scheduled to open in the city.
Persons with valid email addresses will be able to schedule their appointment by going to the county’s website, a county spokeswoman said.
People without email access may call (412) 209-2262 during normal business hours (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday) to schedule a next-day appointment.
The testing center is being created inside a vacant portion of the Industrial Center of McKeesport, along Industry Road, near the building once occupied by EchoStar. It is scheduled to begin operations at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
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September 11, 2020 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements, West Newton News
West Newton Public Library is “respectfully asking” that no more donations be made for its upcoming book sale “due to the outstanding response.”
The library is holding the used book sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 3 in its parking lot at 124 N. Water St. Social distancing measures will be in place and masks are required.
A spokesperson said that the library has been asked by the Westmoreland Library Network to disinfect all books that come into the facility for any purpose. All of the items that already have been donated must be cleaned off before Oct. 3, the library said.
Donations of gently used books and other items will be accepted again after the sale, the spokesperson said.
