McKeesport Area School Board has rehired Superintendent Mark P. Holtzman Jr. for another five years.
But in an unusual move, Holtzman first had to resign his position and then be re-appointed.
At a brief special meeting Tuesday, school directors voted 5-0 to accept Holtzman’s resignation, effective July 6.
School directors in attendance were Diane Elias, Tom Filotei, Ivan Hampton, Jim Poston and board President Joseph Lopretto. School directors Jim Brown, Dave Donato, Steven Kondrosky and Mindy Sturgess were absent.
The board then voted 5-0 to rehire Holtzman as superintendent for a five-year contract, beginning July 7, 2021 and ending June 30, 2026.
West Newton Public Library held an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony of their new children’s room on June 30, after a year’s delay because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pictured cutting the ribbon are John Medsger, Barb Pritchard Rutter, Pete Pritchard and library board President Gary Johnson.
The renovation and design was dedicated in memory of former library board member Patty Medsger and her mother, Emma Jean Pritchard, for their contributions to the library. The event was attended by family and friends and concluded with light refreshments.
A spokesperson for the library board thanked everyone who donated funds in memory of Medsger and Pritchard. These funds along with a bequest from a longtime patron and a grant from the Trixie Puff Foundation were used to make the renovations to the library.
The library is located at 124 North Water St. and is open 12 to 5 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, 12 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, call (724) 633-0798.
(Submitted photo courtesy Youghiogheny Country Club, via Facebook)
McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center will hold its first-ever “Heritage Golf Classic” at Youghiogheny Country Club in Elizabeth Twp. on July 26, a spokesman said.
Registration begins at 11 a.m. The 18-hole “scramble” style tournament includes a shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. Cost is $125 per person and includes lunch, dinner, golfing and cart rental.
There will be complimentary water and beer at holes 5 and 13.
McKeesport City Council will return to meeting in-person, with public participation, in September.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Mayor Michael Cherepko, who participated by phone, said the city will lift COVID-19 mitigation measures in time for the Sept. 1 meeting and the public will be able to attend.
There is no council meeting scheduled for August.
“After a year of struggling with the obstacles caused by the pandemic, we want to get back to as close to normal as we possibly can,” Cherepko said.
A local non-profit comprised of former members, volunteers and employees of the LaRosa Boys & Girls Club will announce plans soon to reopen the facility.
At Wednesday’s McKeesport city council meeting, Councilman Jim Barry Jr. — a former executive with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania — said the LaRosa Youth Development Foundation expects to take possession of the property on Friday.
The club was abruptly closed in November 2020 by the Pittsburgh parent organization, which cited declining membership, rising expenses and a lack of participation by local youth.
The announcement set off a backlash from parents, city residents and elected officials, including McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko, state Sen. Jim Brewster and state Rep. Austin Davis, all of whom sharply and publicly criticized the move — and the leadership of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania.
The eastbound lane of the Jerome Avenue Bridge will be closed Friday night — weather-permitting — so that crews can conduct bridge deck placement work.
The westbound lanes are currently closed and will remain closed through November.
A district spokesman for the state Department of Transportation said the eastbound lane, toward Downtown McKeesport from 10th Ward, is scheduled to reopen by 8 a.m. Saturday.
A McKeesport woman died following a one-car crash Saturday afternoon near the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge.
Levona Hawkins, 50, was pronounced dead at the scene, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
Allegheny County police said the wreck happened in the 500 block of Pirl Street just after 4 p.m. The vehicle in which Hawkins was traveling was found over a hillside. Police said she had been thrown from the car.
The county police homicide unit and collision reconstruction unit are investigating, police said, and are seeking witnesses to the crash.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the county police tip line at 1-833-ALL-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous, police said.
A fire May 12 rendered this Duquesne building uninhabitable. The demand for affordable housing in the Mon Valley outstrips the supply, say housing advocates and state Rep. Austin Davis. (Tube City Almanac photo)
On the night of May 12, Lakeya Wilson entrusted her four children, all under age 5, to her family members to babysit at her Duquesne home. Forty-five minutes later, Wilson received a call that her apartment building was on fire.
Thankfully, her family escaped unharmed, but the apartment where they had lived for two and a half years is now uninhabitable.
Wilson has a federal housing choice voucher — the program commonly called “Section 8” — and like many people in the Mon Valley is in search of a better apartment.
Wilson and her children are currently staying with family. She says she’s contacted more than 10 landlords to see if they have any vacancies for a Section 8 holder. So far, she says, all she’s heard is “no.”
A horror film that pays tribute to classic slasher movies of the 1980s — and which was produced by a largely Mon Valley cast and crew — will get its big screen debut this month.
“Massacre Academy” will premiere July 31 at the Lamp Theatre in Irwin. A feature-length slasher-comedy, the film was created by Mark Cantu, a San Antonio, Texas, native turned McKeesport resident.
Much of “Massacre Academy” was shot in and around McKeesport, with city officials happy to provide access to numerous locations, including the former site of the McKeesport Daily News.
“From industrial and modern to vintage, urban architecture, McKeesport truly does have everything you’re looking for as a filmmaker and I am proud to call it my home,” Cantu said.
With the summer holidays just around the corner, White Oak Animal Safe Haven Director Laura Massie knew she had to go the extra mile to help local animals.
Thursday marked the shelter’s first microchip clinic, with nine animals being microchipped.
“We decided to do this because a lot of shelters are full this time of year. Especially with (July 4) coming up – fireworks tend to spook the animals and they run away. So I came up with the idea that people could bring their pets in to be microchipped at a discounted price,” Massie said.
