Driver Hurt Following Pursuit, Wreck

October 12, 2023 |

By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News

A West Mifflin man was seriously injured Sunday morning after the car which he was driving left West Fifth Avenue in the city’s 10th Ward and landed upside down on the railroad tracks.

Joseph E. Gault, 47, had to be extricated from the car by firefighters and paramedics and was taken by ambulance to UPMC Mercy Hospital, Uptown, McKeesport police said.

According to a report, Gault’s car was traveling east toward Downtown when his car left the road at Rebecca Street, crashed through a metal railing and landed on the CSX Railroad tracks.

Minutes earlier, according to police, a Glassport officer had attempted to stop a silver Toyota sedan in that borough, but the driver, later identified by police as Gault, fled the scene.

Following a brief pursuit, the Glassport officer lost sight of the vehicle near the Mansfield Bridge, according to a report. Police discovered Gault’s wrecked car a short time later, according to a report.

The incident is under investigation, police said.

 

Duke Council May Limit Richford Street Parking

October 09, 2023 |

By Tom Leturgey | Posted in: Duquesne News

At Duquesne City Council’s September meeting, several residents addressed leaders about tight parking conditions on Richford Street. At the October meeting, Police Chief William Shaw reported that residents were still parking on both sides of the street.

Last month, residents seemingly targeted one resident who was reportedly causing parking issues. There were concerns that emergency and other municipal vehicles wouldn’t be able to traverse the area.

“We need to put an ordinance in place,” said Councilman Aaron Adams.

That lead council into a discussion on what legally needs to be ironed out to enforce a new “no parking” sign on a city street, and whether they need to be formally approved by council.

 
Read More

Parents, Taxpayers Voice Frustrations at Forum

October 09, 2023 |

By Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

Parents and taxpayers called for a unified approach to challenges facing the McKeesport Area School District, including safety issues in the schools and a series of administrative problems.

At a forum held Saturday evening at White Oak Athletic Association, speakers addressed a series of concerns, but several returned to the theme of “unity” that was invoked at the beginning of the meeting by the Rev. Earlene Coleman, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church for the last 20 years.

“We have to (become) unified,” she said. “Everything will fall apart if we continue to stay divided.”

Most of the concerns that were raised centered around two main issues — late tax refunds owed to homeowners after property tax exclusions under the Homestead-Farmstead Act were miscalculated, and the state of safety inside school buildings.

 
Read More

MASD Teachers OK Strike if No Contract Reached

October 05, 2023 |

By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

BREAKING: This is a developing story and is subject to change.

Teachers in the McKeesport Area School District have authorized their union’s leadership to call a strike if a contract settlement cannot be reached “in the near future.”

The announcement was made by union president Gerald McGrew Jr. following a membership meeting Thursday afternoon in Dravosburg. The vote was unanimous, McGrew said.

Members of the McKeesport Area Education Association have been working without a contract since Aug. 31. A tentative settlement on a five-year contract was reached over the summer, but was voted down by the school board, 8-0.

The union represents 266 teachers and classroom professionals in the district.

 
Read More

Frustrated MASD Residents Holding Town-Hall

October 04, 2023 |

By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

This story was changed after its original publication. See the editor’s note at the end.

Correction: This story initially omitted Mark Holtzman as one of the candidates.


A group of concerned McKeesport Area residents will hold a town-hall style meeting on Saturday to discuss challenges facing the district and what they view as a lack of appropriate response from the school board.

The meeting, to be held at 5 p.m. at White Oak Athletic Association, 1798 Lower Heckman Road, is non-partisan, says one of the organizers, McKeesport resident Rosie Norgren, and is not supporting any political candidate or party.

“A group of us got together after the last board meeting,” she says. “We just know a lot of people in the community are upset about how things have been going — financial issues, issues within the schools — people aren’t feeling heard. We really want people to have an opportunity to be heard.”

The event is being held in the wake of a school board meeting last week at which one school director was accused of using profanity and a slur against a member of the audience during an argument.

 
Read More

Council Re-Hires Duquesne Manager

October 04, 2023 |

By Tom Leturgey | Posted in: Duquesne News

Mary Louis Bittner joked with Duquesne Solicitor Myron Sainovich that this is her “fourth” swing at serving as “interim city manager” for the city.

At its Oct. 3 meeting, city council voted 4-0 (with Councilman Tim Caldwell absent) to appoint Bittner to the post after accepting Samuel Sulkosky’s resignation.

She will remain on the job until Oct. 23, when Douglas Sample is re-hired back with the city.

Currently the borough manager for Crafton, Sample worked as Duquesne City Manager just a few years ago. In 2020, Sample “wore two hats” for Duquesne, serving as city manager and part-time public works director. City Councilwoman Elaine Washington said she led the effort to get Sample back and worked to secure his services.

 
Read More

Boys & Girls Club Opening New Facility in City

October 03, 2023 |

By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Announcements, McKeesport and Region News

The Boys & Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania will return to the city with a new facility called “The Club Teen Center” on Fifth Avenue, Downtown, a spokesman has announced.

A ribbon-cutting for the center — located at 1305 Fifth Ave., in a structure owned by UPMC McKeesport Hospital — is planned for 3 p.m. Wednesday.

BGCWPA officials also will outline the organization’s new priorities and approach to helping Kids in communities across western Pennsylvania, said David Tobiczyk, vice president of advancement, in an email announcement.

Elected officials, community leaders and representatives from UPMC are expected to attend.

 
Read More

Living History Tour Returns This Weekend

October 03, 2023 |

By Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

During the 2020 Living History Tour at McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery, Tony Belobrajdich portrayed LCpl. Thomas James “Jitters” Sweeney, a McKeesport native who was killed during the Vietnam War. (Vickie Babyak photo for Tube City Almanac)

If you go...

   

9th Annual Living History Tour

Where: McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery

When: Saturday (Oct. 7) and Sunday (Oct. 8), tours every hour to 90 minutes. (Last tour group leaves at 3 p.m.)

Admission: $6 kids 12-under, $12 Heritage Center members, $15 non-members

Tickets: Visit the Heritage Center website

Visitors will be able to learn about past residents of McKeesport and the Mon Valley (both notable and obscure) this weekend, when the McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center holds its ninth-annual Living History Tour at the McKeesport and Versailles Cemetery.

Actors will take on the roles of these historic figures from 12 noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 7 and 8). An indoor performance will also be held on Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Heritage Center, 1832 Arboretum Drive, Renziehausen Park.

Admission is $12 for Heritage Center members and $15 for non-members. Children 12 and under are admitted for $6.

Among the historic figures portrayed will be Carolyn Waters Young, the first black city council member in McKeesport’s history; Lida Sill Cannon, a Gilded Age socialite known as the Belle of the Monongahela Valley; and Robert Nelson Thomas, a Union soldier who died of illness after having fought in the Civil War. They will be played by Brandy Cogdell, Gina T. Rosso, and Joe Kosha respectively.

 
Read More

Police Chief Retires After Nearly 30-Year Career

October 03, 2023 |

By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko (right) and members of city council thanked outgoing police Chief Adam Alfer (left) at the September council meeting. Alfer has retired from the city after nearly 27 years to become the police chief of South Allegheny School District. (Tube City Almanac photo)


City officials have bade farewell to Adam Alfer, who retired Sept. 22 as McKeesport’s police chief after a career that spanned nearly three decades.

Alfer has been named the police chief for South Allegheny School District. The district, which has four school buildings, currently has two security guards, but Alfer is its first sworn police officer.

He was hired by the school board in July after being recommended by a six-person search committee.

“I don’t want a break,” Alfer said before his last day with the city. “I want to go right into it.  I’m very excited to have this new opportunity. But on the other hand, it’s a bittersweet moment, because I love the city of McKeesport. I was born and raised here and I’ve been working here since I was 19 years old. It’s going to be hard to walk away from.”

 
Read More

School Director, Resident Exchange Angry Words

September 28, 2023 |

By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

Related story: School Board Meeting Marked By Heated Rhetoric


A McKeesport Area School Director apologized on social media following an angry exchange with a member of the public at the end of Tuesday night’s board meeting.

During the meeting, School Director Jim Brown had referred to the lengthy, tense proceedings as “a sh-t show.”

Following the meeting, as Brown was speaking to a reporter from Tube City Almanac, a resident accosted Brown and told him, “You’re the cause of the sh-t show, just by the way you conduct yourselves. Tone it down, tone it down, tone it down.”

Brown responded with profanity and an offensive word, telling the resident, “Hey, you better get away from me. What’s wrong with this dude?”

 
Read More

Google™ Custom Search
McKeesport booked.net
+69°F

High: +69°

Low: +59°