April 18, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Politics & Elections
(Allegheny County illustration)
All Allegheny County voters will have the option of casting a ballot by mail in the June 2 primary election.
County officials on Friday announced that all registered voters will receive an application for a mail-in ballot, as well as a postage-paid envelope. Registered voters also may apply for a mail-in ballot online at alleghenyvotes.com, if they have not already requested an absentee ballot.
A spokeswoman said the county is having difficulty finding enough workers to staff polling stations because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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April 17, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Allegheny County officials said Friday they have a “singular focus” on protecting residents and employees of the four Kane Community Living Centers from novel coronavirus.
Since March 25, 83 cases of COVID-19 have been reported at the Glen Hazel center, including 59 residents and 24 employees, according to data released Friday. The facility is licensed for 255 beds.
Four residents of the Glen Hazel center have died from COVID-19, including three at the facility and one in a hospital. Two residents are currently hospitalized, county officials said.
There are two cases of coronavirus at the McKeesport center, including one staff member who tested positive on Monday, and one resident who is currently in isolation, said Dennis Biondo, executive director of the county-owned and operated Kane facilities.
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April 17, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
State Rep. Austin Davis, shown during a March 11 tour of Steel Center for Career and Technical Education in Jefferson Hills, said Pennsylvania’s rollout of unemployment benefits for independent contractors “has been mired in red tape.” (Submitted photo courtesy of state Rep. Austin Davis)
A state representative from the Mon Valley said Friday that Pennsylvania is moving too slowly to address delays and problems that are keeping some workers from collecting unemployment benefits during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Our working families are suffering — they are struggling — because they are not getting access to the unemployment compensation benefits to which they’re entitled,” said state Rep. Austin Davis, Democrat of McKeesport.
“The problem has been compounded for self-employed, independent contractors and gig workers, who are still waiting for directions on where to file,” Davis said.
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April 17, 2020 |
By Emily Pidgeon | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
State Rep. Sara Innamorato speaks during an online town hall Wednesday. (Screenshot via Zoom/Facebook)
More than 1 million Pennsylvanians have applied for unemployment benefits since Gov. Tom Wolf implemented his stay-at-home order on March 23, and many of those filers also rent or mortgage their homes.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grip the world, the order has been extended through April 30, and renters and homeowners remain unsure of the future.
During the “Freedom to Stay” virtual town hall meeting held Wednesday night, members of local and statewide community action groups called on state representatives, senators and local officials to introduce legislation cancelling rent and mortgage payments for residents.
“We’re in unprecedented times, so we need unprecedented legislation,” said state Rep. Sara Innamorato, Democrat from Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood.
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April 15, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
A worker from Arch Masonry & Restoration of Lawrenceville maneuvers a crane platform into position at the People’s Building, Downtown. (Tube City Almanac photo)
Repairs are underway at the People’s Building, Downtown, after a section of brick near the eighth floor began to crack and peel away from the structure.
Although most construction work in Pennsylvania has been ordered shut down by Gov. Tom Wolf due to the coronavirus pandemic, emergency repairs are allowed to continue — and building owner Jonathan Stark said the brick repairs qualify.
“Any time you do a repair of that scope and size, at that height, it is dangerous, and we were concerned that it might fall onto Lysle Boulevard,” he said.
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April 12, 2020 |
By Nick Zurawsky | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Barney Oursler, director of the Mon Valley Umemployed Committee, testifies at an Allegheny County Sanitary Authority hearing in 2012. (Clean Rivers Pittsburgh via YouTube)
Nearly 405,000 Pennsylvanians filed an initial claim for unemployment compensation in the last week of March, according to the U.S. Employment and Training Administration. A month earlier, the number was a little over 12,000.
Barney Oursler, director of the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee, says he’s “blown away by the number of people desperately trying to get through and apply for unemployment.”
MVUC is a non-profit that aims to help unemployed and dislocated workers gain access to the benefits they need to remake their lives. The organization started in the early 1970s and played a key role defending workers during the steel industry collapse in the 1980s.
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April 10, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, White Oak News
A North Huntingdon Twp. man died Thursday afternoon following a head-on collision near White Oak Park.
Donald Pivirotto, 59, was pronounced dead at the scene, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said. The cause of death is pending an autopsy.
Allegheny County police Lt. Venerando Costa said a Nissan Sentra driven by Pivirotto was on Route 48 near McClintock Road, heading toward Lincoln Way, when it was struck head-on by a box truck traveling in the other direction.
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April 08, 2020 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
The state Department of Transportation has reopened a section of Route 837 that was closed last month due to a rock slide.
Crews from Allison Park Contractors removed debris and installed barriers, said Steve Cowan, district spokesman for PennDOT.
The road was closed on March 28 between the railroad crossing at Watco’s Dravosburg terminal (Boswell Oil) and the McKeesport-Duquesne Bridge. It reopened Friday.
April 08, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Duquesne News, McKeesport and Region News, Politics & Elections
Duquesne’s Nickole Nesby and Braddock’s Chardae Jones joined more than 30 other mayors of cities and boroughs across Pennsylvania to ask the federal government to increase production of medical supplies and coordinate distribution to communities.
In a letter signed by 113 municipal leaders from across the United States and released Monday, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group called on the federal government to do a better job of coordinating response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s time for leaders in Washington to have our back,” said John Henry, mayor of West View, north of Pittsburgh. “The federal government must do its job coordinating national disaster response to get us the masks and ventilators we need to save lives. Every minute counts.”
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April 08, 2020 |
By Nick Zurawsky | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Last week, Auberle program participants chalked inspirational messages on sidewalks around the McKeesport campus. (Auberle photo via Facebook)
Despite the hardships everyone is experiencing during the coronavirus pandemic, Auberle’s John Lydon says he’s trying to stay focused on the goodwill that people are showing, and the good deeds that have resulted.
“It seems that everything out there is doom and gloom,” says Lydon, chief executive officer of the non-profit organization that provides a variety of social services to families and communities. “We need to know that there are people persevering.”
Some of the gestures are large, he says, but others are more personal, like the dozen hand-sewn washable face masks that were donated to Auberle by Amanda Huff, a local woman who runs a sewing shop.
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