September 13, 2019 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a developing story. It will be updated with new information as it becomes available.
Allegheny County police are looking for a suspect identified only as “Mo” in connection with the death of a woman whose body was found near Renziehausen Park on Thursday morning.
They believe he may be in the McKeesport or Pittsburgh areas.
Two Pittsburgh men who were using the victim’s car on Thursday night in Washington County are being held on charges of receiving stolen property.
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September 12, 2019 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
UPDATED WITH NEW INFORMATION, Sept. 13, 2019
A similar car to the one wanted in connection with the case. (Photo courtesy Allegheny County police)
An unidentified woman was found dead Thursday morning in a wooded area alongside Renziehausen Park, Allegheny County police said.
A vehicle believed to be connected with her death was found Thursday night in Washington County and two men are being questioned. County police detectives said they are currently looking for a third person of interest.
In a prepared statement, Allegheny County police Inspector Andrew Schurman said McKeesport police and paramedics were dispatched just before 10 a.m. Thursday to the parking lot of the dek hockey complex in Renzie.
Witnesses had reported seeing a woman in the woods who was not breathing or moving, not far from a trail, Schurman said. The victim was described as a black woman wearing a yellow sundress. She was pronounced dead at the scene, Schurman said.
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September 12, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Crime and Police News
The state Department of Human Services has opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of a former Steelers player who was living at a McKeesport personal care home.
Samuel R. "The Tight Man" Davis, 75, died Tuesday night of complications related to heart disease, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said Wednesday. The office ruled that his death was of natural causes.
Davis was found in the basement of New Life Personal Care Home on Versailles Avenue about 14 hours after he was reported missing to McKeesport police and was pronounced dead a short time later at the hospital.
Davis, who was legally blind, was reportedly suffering from dementia related to a severe injury he suffered in 1991, after retiring from professional football.
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September 11, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A former Pittsburgh Steelers guard who was found in the basement of a personal care home on Versailles Avenue in the city died of complications related to heart disease, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said.
Samuel R. Davis, 75, known as "the Tight Man" while playing with Steelers teams that won four Super Bowls in the 1970s, was found just after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at New Life Personal Care Home on Versailles Avenue.
McKeesport police said Davis, who was legally blind and needed daily medications, had been seen leaving the care home Tuesday morning and was reported missing before 7 a.m.
The medical examiner's office said Davis was taken to the hospital Tuesday night and pronounced dead a few minutes later. His death was of natural causes, a spokesperson said.
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September 10, 2019 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, North Versailles Twp. News
A North Versailles Twp. man died Tuesday morning after being struck by a vehicle near the intersection of Routes 30 and 48.
Kevin Kolesar, 60, died before 7 a.m. in the emergency room of Forbes Regional Hospital of blunt-force traumatic injuries, said a spokesperson for the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office. His death has been ruled an accident.
Allegheny County police Lt. Kenneth Ruckel said Kolesar was struck while walking on Aldi Drive near Route 48, in front of the Home Depot store, just after 6 a.m. Tuesday. The driver of the car, a 57-year-old woman whose name was not released, stayed at the scene, Ruckel said.
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September 09, 2019 |
By Chris Baumann | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
* CORRECTIONS: This article was corrected after publication. - Editor
Paul Fields portrays McKeesport's first African-American police officer, George W. Simmons, during the 2016 Living History Tour. (Submitted photo courtesy McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center)
If you go...
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Fifth-Annual Living History Tour
Where: McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery
When: 12 to 4 p.m. Sept. 21 and 22
Encore: 6 p.m. Sept. 26 at McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center
Tickets: $10 in advance; $12 at the event
More information: (412) 678-1832 or mckeesportheritage.org
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The more that Bob MacPherson learned about George H. Lysle, the more he realized he was the ideal person to portray the legendary McKeesport mayor.
“First of all, I’m Scotch-Irish, my background is the same as his,” MacPherson said. “But I also learned that my great-grandfather, George Victor Parkins*, was a contemporary of Mayor Lysle. They were here during the same time and its safe to say they had a lot of interaction. He and Lysle were probably very close.”
The McKeesport Regional History and Heritage Center is hosting its fifth-annual Living History Tour from 12 to 4 p.m. Sept. 21 and 22 at McKeesport and Versailles Cemetery.
For those unable to attend the weekend performances, or who may not be able to walk on the tour, there will be an additional performance at the Heritage Center at 6 p.m. Sept. 26.
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September 09, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Illustration by Desmone Architects, courtesy River Materials Inc.)
A barge and railcar loading facility now under construction near the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge will transform the appearance of the RIDC Industrial Park, McKeesport officials said.
At Wednesday's meeting, McKeesport city council by 6-0 vote approved a request from River Materials Inc. of Forest Hills to combine four separate parcels of land into one parcel.
River Materials is planning to use about 18 to 19 acres of the former U.S. Steel National Works site for warehousing, processing and recycling, as well as truck, barge and railroad loading and unloading services for power plants and other industrial customers.
Cliff Wise, president and chief executive officer of River Materials, also owns General Trade Corp., Gulf Materials LLC, Gulf Trading and Transport LLC and Specialty Steel Products.
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September 09, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Owners of several landmark businesses in the 900 and 1000 blocks of Fifth Avenue in McKeesport are asking for the city's help to address what they called deteriorating conditions on the street. (Tube City Almanac photo)
McKeesport officials are working on a plan that would provide $450,000 per year for six years to remove blight and stabilize the Downtown business district.
But owners of several longtime Fifth Avenue businesses --- including the landmark Minerva Bakery --- said their patience is wearing thin.
"It's wonderful that we're able to create new businesses, but we need to take care of the oldest businesses," said Denise Letterman, whose father, Murray Siegel, 95, owns Tube City Novelty Co.
At Wednesday's city council meeting, Mayor Michael Cherepko said the city has applied to the state Department of Community & Economic Development to create a neighborhood partnership program, or NPP, to address a high rate of vacant and abandoned buildings along Lysle Boulevard and Fifth Avenue.
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September 05, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Penn State Greater Allegheny Chancellor Jacqueline Edmondson, state Sen. Jim Brewster, Penn State University President Eric Barron and McKeesport Mayor Mike Cherepko during Wednesday's ribbon-cutting at the Mon Valley LaunchBox, located at the former YWCA on Ninth Avenue. (Submitted photo courtesy state Sen. Jim Brewster)
There was a ribbon-cutting Wednesday for Penn State's "Mon Valley LaunchBox," even though it's not really a physical place, said Aaron Whigham, manager of strategic initiatives for the university's Greater Allegheny Campus.
It's more of an idea, an initiative and a spirit of collaboration between the campus and the McKeesport area, he said Wednesday.
"We have made a concerted effort to actually become more intentional in our efforts in the community," said Whigham, who coordinates the Mon Valley LaunchBox along with Eric Ewell, Greater Allegheny's director of continuing education.
"This has been a collective effort," Whigham said. "We're not looking to be a savior, but we are looking to provide resources to make the area that we're in stronger."
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September 04, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf visited McKeesport on Wednesday to announce new rules for charter schools. (Pennsylvania Office of the Governor photo)
In a visit Wednesday to McKeesport, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf discussed his plan for the state Department of Education to impose new fees and rules for charter schools.
The "fee-for-service" model, he said, is an attempt to recoup costs on behalf of the state, while the new rules are designed to hold charter schools to the same right-to-know and ethical standards as public school districts.
In a speech at Twin Rivers Elementary School, Wolf said the Education Department also will take steps to establish higher performance standards for online-only, or "cyber," charter schools, which have been criticized for what critics claim are high costs and low standards of student achievement.
“While there are high-quality charter schools, some of them, especially some cyber-charter schools, are underperforming,” Wolf said Wednesday. “The state and school districts need more tools to hold charters accountable and increase educational quality.”
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