Fireworks illuminate Gordon Street in McKeesport on July 4, 2019. (Vickie Babyak photo for Tube City Almanac)
Although other communities have scrapped their Independence Day fireworks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the show will go on in McKeesport.
However, there will be no city-sponsored activities on the ground in Renziehausen Park, and officials are suggesting people view the fireworks from the safety of their own homes or backyards.
If necessary, Mayor Michael Cherepko said, residents can drive to Renzie but park and stay in their cars.
Because the display can be safely viewed from a distance, Cherepko said, the city “decided all along that we were not going to cancel fireworks.”
Construction projects in Dravosburg and West Mifflin this week will impact local traffic, including a detour on Route 885 and the complete closure of Route 837 for two days.
Work will include final paving on Route 885 (Lebanon Road) Wednesday through Friday, weather-permitting, as well as a closure of Route 837 so that crews can reconstruct the Boswell Oil railroad crossing.
Steve Cowan, district spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said paving on Route 885 between Mifflin Road and Noble Drive (near Skyview Volunteer Fire Department) will require a southbound detour from 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday, and from 6 p.m. Thursday to 8 a.m. Friday.
Northbound traffic will not be affected, Cowan said.
Update: At 7:51 p.m., county officials announced that on-premises liquor consumption must end immediately, but enforcement will not begin until 5 p.m. Tuesday. This story also has been updated with remarks from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf.
As COVID-19 cases set another new record high in Allegheny County, officials have announced new restrictions on bars and restaurants and are recommending all travelers self-quarantine for two weeks.
At a press conference Sunday, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said “these are severe steps,” but added, “we’re going in the wrong direction.”
Overnight, 96 new cases were confirmed in Allegheny County overnight, breaking the record of 90 cases set Saturday. Those are the highest numbers since the county first began tracking COVID-19 in March.
Last week, county officials said that through contact tracing, they determined that many new COVID-19 patients had been spending time in bars and restaurants.
International Village — McKeesport’s signature summer event and one of the largest ethnic festivals in Western Pennsylvania — has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city had been hoping to operate a scaled-down version of the three-day event in Renziehausen Park — offering takeout food only, with no seating and no live entertainment — but Mayor Michael Cherepko said Saturday that vendors surveyed by the village committee were reluctant to participate.
“The vast majority of them weren’t interested in having the village this year in any way, shape or form,” Cherepko said. “They’re concerned about COVID-19 and concerned about having volunteers at their booths.”
It’s the first time in International Village’s 61-year history that the event has been canceled.
Kerry Pollard, a microbiologist for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, extracts a sample of SARS-CoV2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, inside a state-operated lab in Exton, Chester County. (Photo courtesy Pennsylvania Department of Health)
Seven cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed at UPMC McKeesport hospital, a spokeswoman said Saturday, but it’s unclear if the cases are related or coincidental.
The report comes as officials are warning of a sharp increase in the number of cases of COVID-19 across Allegheny County — many among younger people who recently traveled or who had been visiting bars and restaurants.
Countywide, there were 90 new cases reported Saturday — the biggest single-day jump since the health department began tracking COVID-19 in March.
In a prepared statement, UPMC spokeswoman Sarah Katz said four cases have been identified among patients at UPMC McKeesport and three among employees. The departments where the employees work were not released.
A Wilmerding woman is accused of leaving the scene of an accident in which a child suffered minor injuries.
McKeesport police have charged Siddioah L. Sands, 28, with failing to stop and render aid, driving with a suspended license, careless driving and causing an accident while not properly licensed.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 24 before Magisterial District Judge Eugene Riazzi.
Police said two girls were walking home from the store on the evening of June 7 and were attempting to cross Soles Street near Bailie Avenue when a black Ford Explorer drove by, striking one of the children.
(Photo courtesy Allegheny County sheriff’s office)
A North Braddock man was arrested Tuesday in Clairton in connection with the November 2019 robbery of the Huntington Bank branch in Great Valley Shopping Center, North Versailles Twp.
D’el Lamar Mackey, 38, is charged by North Versailles police with robbery and is being questioned by the FBI in Pittsburgh, said a spokesman for the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office. A preliminary hearing has not been scheduled.
Mackey also was indicted June 3 by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh and has been charged with one count of bank robbery, court records indicate. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday.
An unidentified 41-year-old woman is in critical condition at a local hospital following a shooting Sunday night on Evans Avenue.
Allegheny County police said McKeesport police responded to a report of a shooting just after 10:30 p.m. to the 700 block. The victim was suffering from gunshot wounds to the back, arm and leg, a county police spokesperson said, and was hospitalized.
On Monday, county police homicide detectives said the victim was sitting on her porch with other individuals when a man with a mask covering his face walked towards the residence and opened fire, striking the victim.
Carrying signs that said “Black Trans Lives Matter,” demonstrators marched through Downtown McKeesport on June 12. (Kevin Kino video for Tube City Almanac)
The Allegheny County superintendent of police said Monday that a woman who was found dead May 26 outside her apartment on Sinclair Street committed suicide.
County police Superintendent Coleman McDonough said there is no evidence of foul play in the death of Aaliyah Johnson, 32.
In a prepared statement, McDonough said county police generally do not release details of a death investigation “unless there is a related crime or suspicion of a crime,” but because of the intense interest surrounding Johnson’s death, they were making an exception.
