January 21, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Politics & Elections
State Rep. Bill Kortz speaks at a rally of Pennsylvania motorcyclists. The Dravosburg Democrat, an avid motorcycle rider, announced his retirement on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy state Rep. Bill Kortz.)
State Rep. Bill Kortz confirmed Tuesday that he will not seek re-election to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in November.
In announcing his retirement, the Dravosburg resident called his 14 years as a legislator “a tremendous honor and a privilege” but said it was time for him “to take care of my health and step aside for future leaders” of his Mon-Yough district.
A former steelworker at U.S. Steel’s Irvin Plant with 30 years of service, Kortz, 65, a Democrat, was first elected to the legislature in 2006 and represents the 38th District, which includes Dravosburg, West Mifflin, Glassport, Port Vue, Liberty, Pleasant Hills, South Park, Baldwin and Whitehall.
The legislature was in session on Tuesday and Kortz was not available for an interview.
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January 21, 2020 |
By Christy Walters | Posted in: White Oak News
New members of White Oak Borough Council participated in their first monthly business meeting Monday night.
Council members Julie Opferman and George Pambacas, who were elected in November and sworn in at the council reorganization meeting on Jan. 6, joined the table, and Councilman Chuck Davis headed his first regular meeting as council president.
Another new face at the table was attorney Patricia L. McGrail. Council voted to name McGrail and her law firm as the borough's solicitor for 2020.
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January 21, 2020 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
Mon Yough Fire Defense Council will be holding its monthly business meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday (Jan. 22) at Vigilant Hose Co. of Port Vue, 1800 Romine Ave. All member companies are encouraged to attend. Light refreshments to follow.
January 21, 2020 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
Aerial view of U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Plant shows proposed expansion of facility. (Courtesy U.S. Steel)
The public is being invited to attend one of two free community education sessions being held by U.S. Steel as the corporation prepares to invest approximately $1.2 billion in upgrades to its facilities in Braddock, Clairton and West Mifflin.
The sessions will be held at 6 p.m. Jan. 28 and 29 at U.S. Steel’s training facility at 1 S. Linden St., Duquesne, in the RIDC industrial park, and will last about one and a half hours.
Both sessions will have identical content, the company said in an prepared announcement.
Bus transportation will be available to and from Duquesne from Braddock and Clairton. The buses will depart Clairton Municipal Building, 551 Ravensburg Blvd., at 5:15 p.m., and Braddock Borough Building, 415 Sixth St., at 5:30 p.m.
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January 21, 2020 |
By Vickie Babyak | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Penn State students from five Pittsburgh-area campuses, including Greater Allegheny in McKeesport, volunteered at six Mon-Yough area charitable organizations on Martin Luther King Day, including Auberle. (Vickie Babyak photo, special to Tube City Almanac)
In 1965, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told students at Oberlin College, “The time is always right to do what is right.”
When Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus reached out to the Pauline Auberle Home in McKeesport a couple of weeks ago, to find out of students could work on a service project during Martin Luther King Day 2020, the time was right, said Kayla McGrath, volunteer coordinator at Auberle.
“Penn State and Auberle have worked together before but this is the first time we’ve done this type of activity,” McGrath said. “The university was looking for organizations to plan volunteer service on a larger scale inspired by Martin Luther King Day and asked if we’d like to host volunteers.”
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January 15, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
The cause of this fire Tuesday afternoon in the 1800 block of Evans Avenue remains under investigation, a fire official said. (Photo courtesy McKeesport Fire Department)
One man was displaced when fire damaged his Evans Avenue home on Tuesday afternoon.
McKeesport fire Chief Jeff Tomovcsik said crews were dispatched at 12:09 p.m. after callers reported smoke and flames coming from the rear of a single-story house at the corner of Evans Avenue and Grant Street.
When police and firefighters arrived, they found the back porch of the house fully engulfed in fire, he said.
A second alarm was sounded and additional fire crews from Allegheny County Airport, Glassport, Liberty Borough, Vigilant Hose (Port Vue) and White Oak No. 1 responded to the scene, Tomovcsik said.
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January 14, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
EDITED to remove typo.
U.S. Steel’s Clairton Plant. (Photo by Mark Dixon/Blue Lens, licensed under Creative Commons)
U.S. Steel has promised to help Allegheny County Health Department develop a plan to predict when weather conditions will make air pollution worse, and respond more quickly.
The health department’s proposal was announced in the wake of a so-called “temperature inversion” that left the Mon Valley and much of Allegheny County covered in smog during the Christmas holidays.
“We know from research that inversions are expected to get worse with climate change,” said Ronald Sugar, interim director of the health department. “We’re seeing that first-hand here.”
A local environmental group welcomed U.S. Steel’s participation, but questioned why the corporation didn’t take voluntary steps to reduce its own output during the inversion Dec. 21 to 26, when pollution was thick in the air.
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January 14, 2020 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News, Sports
CORRECTION: Darius Prince was unable to attend Saturday's game. He was replaced by Chris Edmonds.
Bryan Akinkugbe currently plays for the Steel City Yellow Jackets. He also played professionally in Canada and Mexico. He was among the competitors during a charity basketball game at Penn State Greater Allegheny in McKeesport on Saturday. (Richard Finch Jr. photo/special to Tube City Almanac)
Jesús Torres is already working on plans for the third-annual Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Celebrity basketball game, securing commitments from fellow “celebrity” players to return to McKeesport next January.
“I was joking with the players after Saturday's game that we need to sign five-year contracts,” he said. “They all promised to come back here next year to keep this event going.”
Three hundred fans showed up on Saturday for the second-annual game, which raised more than $9,000 for scholarships to support the region’s Hispanic community.
Celebrity players were divided into home and away squads. The unofficial score was 96-90 in favor of the “home” team, but the “official” score was changed to a 96-96 tie, a Penn State spokesman said.
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January 10, 2020 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, Duquesne News, North Versailles Twp. News
The Allegheny County SWAT team raided a Duquesne home on Thursday night, looking for a man wanted in connection with a North Versailles Twp. homicide.
Although the wanted man wasn't found, county police arrested a woman after they said they found suspected drugs, a loaded handgun and ammunition inside the house.
Police said Erik Desean Addison, 23, of Pittsburgh remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous.
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January 10, 2020 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
CORRECTION: Edited to clarify that recycling will be collected every other week, on the same day as trash pickup. The next recycling pickups are during the week of Jan. 20. We apologize for the error.
McKeesport homeowners will be going back to their old trash pickup days, beginning Monday.
After one week, the city's new trash collection company, County Hauling of Rostraver Twp., has scrapped its attempt to pickup all of the households in two days and will revert to the schedule used by the previous garbage hauler, McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko said.
The change comes after a week in which many McKeesport residents complained that their trash and recycling were collected late or not at all. Others expressed confusion over the new schedules.
County Hauling also began collecting trash in North Huntingdon Twp. this week, and according to the Tribune-Review, it’s facing complaints there as well.
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