June 28, 2019 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Above: Major Bryan Carson has been hired by McKeesport Area School District to teach the Air Force Junior ROTC program for 10 months, beginning July 1. His appointment was approved by the school board Wednesday. (Richard Finch Jr. photo, special to Tube City Almanac)
McKeesport Area School Board voted this week to approve a $69.1 million budget that includes a 0.68-mill property tax increase.
At their meeting Wednesday, school directors voted 6-2 to approve the spending plan for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
School directors David Donato and James Brown voted against the budget, and school director Mindy Sturgess was absent. Donato and Sturgess were absent during the 7-0 vote on the preliminary budget on May 22.
The tax increase takes the district's millage from 19.48 mills to 20.16 mills, and represents a $68 increase on a house assessed at $100,000. It's the second year in a row that McKeesport Area School District has raised its property tax rate.
Francis Weiss, a former MASD employee, told school directors the property tax increase is a burden for herself and other seniors living on a fixed income.
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June 28, 2019 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Announcements, Podcast
It's been 65 years since the Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education decision that forbid public schools from being segregated along racial lines.
Yet according to several national studies, U.S. schools are now more racially segregated now than at any time since the 1980s.
Last week on "Two Rivers, 30 Minutes," we talked to Katie Fuller, one of the curators of an exhibit currently at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, now through July 21. "Race and Revolution: Still Separate, Still Unequal" looks at school segregation in the northeastern United States --- including in the Mon Valley at Woodland Hills School District.
You can listen here.
"Two Rivers, 30 Minutes" airs Sundays at 8 a.m. on WEDO (810), 9:30 a.m. on The Pittsburgh Jazz Channel & WZUM (101.1/1550), 3 p.m. on WMCK.FM Internet radio, and as a free podcast whenever you like from our website at almanac.tubecityonline.com/podcast.
June 28, 2019 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements, White Oak News
(Photo courtesy St. Angela Merici Church via Facebook)
The four-parish grouping of St. Angela Merici, Corpus Christi, St. Patrick and St. Robert Bellarmine will hold its combined Summer Family Festival from 6 to 10 p.m. July 11, 12 and 13, a spokeswoman said.
The event will be held on the grounds of St. Angela Merici, 1640 Fawcett Ave, White Oak and include a flea market, super basket raffle, Kids’ Kingdom, card games, money wheels, midway games, bake sale, bingo and other activities.
The raffle will include a $2,000 first prize, a $1,000 second prize, or a $500 third prize with the purchase of a $2 ticket, the spokeswoman said.
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June 25, 2019 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
Lauren Byrne Connelly, assistant director for business innovation and technology in the Allegheny County Department of Economic Development, will be the featured speaker during a "lunch and learn" session July 11 hosted by Mon Yough Area Chamber of Commerce.
Connelly will talk about small business and minority and women-owned business loans offered by the county.
The event begins at 11:30 a.m. in the IMS Room of Allegheny Intermediate Unit, 475 E. Waterfront Drive, Homestead. The cost is $25 for chamber members and $30 for non-members.
Registration is required and lunch will be provided, a spokesman said.
For more information or to register, call (412) 678-2450 or visit the website.
June 25, 2019 |
By Bonnijean Cooney Adams | Posted in: Entertainment
Rehearsing for "Love, Loss, and What I Wore," a benefit to support McKeesport Little Theater, in front from left, are Nancy Batko and April Ohms. In back are Megan May, Lynne Franks, and Kendra McLaughlin. (Photo: Bonnijean Cooney Adams for Tube City Almanac)
If you go...
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“Love, Loss, and What I Wore”
Where: McKeesport Little Theater, 1614 Coursin St.
When: 7:30 p.m. June 28 and 29; 2 p.m. June 30
Tickets: All seats are $15. Reservations at (412) 673-1100.
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Sometimes the clothes we wore for a special occasion – the prom, our wedding, a funeral – or even that highly anticipated first date that turned out to be a total disaster – trigger memories long after the events themselves have faded.
When McKeesport Little Theater veteran Rose-Lorene Miller read the play “Love, Loss, and What I Wore” by Nora and Delia Ephron, based on a book by Ilene Beckerman, she insisted her friend Linda Baker read it, too.
Baker, who has been affiliated with the community theater in key roles for years, said she liked it so much that she proposed producing it as a benefit. The show runs Friday through Sunday, June 28-30.
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June 24, 2019 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
North Versailles Twp. officials are getting closer to tearing down five buildings as part of their 2019 demolition project.
In February, commissioners initiated the legal process and began to solicit quotes for asbestos inspections. Condemnation hearings were held April 25.
None of the owners appeared at the condemnation hearings and no one objected to the township recommendations to raze and condemn the structures, township solicitor Greg Evashavik said at the May 16 meeting.
Commissioners by 7-0 vote awarded a contract for $58,275 to DJ Demolition of Braddock to demolish five structures.
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June 24, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
UPMC McKeesport hospital (Tube City Almanac file photo)
Local officials and health care advocates are praising a deal that will give Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield customers access to UPMC hospitals and facilities for the next 10 years.
The agreement, brokered by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Gov. Tom Wolf, was announced Monday --- just a week before a consent decree between the two health giants was scheduled to expire.
Not all of the details were public, but a spokesperson for Shapiro said the deal --- reportedly the longest ever signed between UPMC and a health insurance company --- will cover all UPMC facilities.
State Sen. Jim Brewster of McKeesport called the agreement “excellent and welcomed news” that will relieve “tension and anxiety” for people with Highmark health insurance.
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June 22, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A McKeesport man is charged with criminal homicide after police said he shot and killed someone who was dating his ex-girlfriend.
Marcus Acie-Griffin, 36, was arrested Saturday morning following a police chase through McKeesport and Dravosburg that ended with a crash in the Morton Plan section of West Mifflin.
The victim, Kaine A. Williams, 34, was pronounced dead late Friday night at the scene of the incident in the 1800 block of Sumac Street, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said.
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June 21, 2019 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A Port Vue woman has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for her role in a narcotics ring that moved large amounts of heroin from New Jersey to the Mon-Yough area, U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady said Thursday.
Krystle Barretto, 33, also faces four years' probation under the sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon in Pittsburgh. Barretto pleaded guilty to federal narcotics charges in February.
Prosecutors allege that along with her fiancee, Jarran Bell, 38, of Port Vue, Barretto was heard on wiretaps conspiring to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin.
Federal authorities allege that Barretto arranged for approximately 25,000 stamp bags of heroin to be transported from Paterson and Union, N.J., to the McKeesport area.
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June 21, 2019 |
By Cami DiBattista | Posted in: White Oak News
(All photos: Cami DiBattista, special to Tube City Almanac)
White Oak Borough was among the areas affected by Wednesday’s severe storm.
After the National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for local counties, a storm passed through with produced a large amount of rain in a very short amount of time. The storm caused flooding in multiple areas along Lincoln Way which resulted in the road being temporarily closed in several places.
White Oak Animal Safe Haven, a no-kill shelter that has saved thousands of animals since its inception in 2003, was among the areas that were heavily affected when a small stream --- a tributary of Long Run creek --- overflowed its banks.
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