July 09, 2018 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
* Correction appended. Rev. Truss' name was misspelled. We apologize for the error.
Rev. Earlene Coleman of Bethlehem Baptist Church charges up participants prior to a prayer walk Friday in Downtown McKeesport. (Vickie Babyak photo special to Tube City Almanac.)
Participants in a prayer walk through Downtown McKeesport on Friday carried with them a message of hope.
"We will not see our city destroyed," said the Rev. Earlene Coleman, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, before about 80 walkers set off from the McKees Point Marina. "We will not see McKeesport die, but it will live again."
The event was organized by the McKeesport Unit of the NAACP. Brenda Sawyer, unit president, said the walk --- up Fifth Avenue to UPMC McKeesport hospital, then back down Lysle Boulevard to the marina --- was "beautiful."
Participants included members of McKeesport city council and McKeesport Area school board, McKeesport Area School Superintendent Mark Holtzman Jr., state Rep. Austin Davis and state Sen. Jim Brewster.
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July 05, 2018 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
CORRECTION: This article had Brenda Sawyer's last name wrong. I apologize for the error. -JT
Members of the McKeesport unit of the NAACP will hold a prayer walk through Downtown on Friday evening to highlight the need for peace and an end to violence.
Brenda Sawyer, unit president, said all faiths and races are welcome to participate in the walk, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the McKees Point Marina and continue up Fifth Avenue to McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery, then return.
"I'm emphasizing this is a prayer walk and not a protest of any kind," Sawyer said. It's the first prayer walk organized by the McKeesport NAACP in recent memory, she said.
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July 04, 2018 |
By Lynne Glover | Posted in: Crime and Police News, McKeesport and Region News
Engraved on Kimmie Krimm’s marker: “When you look up into the evening sky and see the brightest star shining down on earth, pause for a moment and remember that star’s name is Kimberlie Rose Krimm.” (Lynne Glover photo, special to Tube City Almanac)
Having recently been released from the hospital, Jeanie Krimm said it was simply too much for her to plan a 20-year anniversary remembrance for her daughter, Kimberlie Rose Krimm.
Fourteen-year-old Kimberlie Krimm's body was found 20 years ago this week, on July 6, 1998, on a hillside at McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery by a utility worker.
“People talk about pain,” said Jeanie Krimm, two decades after her daughter’s death. “They don’t know pain until they lose a child. I’ll never be the same. Never.”
Part of the suffering is not really knowing what happened to Kimberlie, and how and why she died. The cause and manner of Kimmie’s death were ruled “undetermined” by the Allegheny County Coroner's Office—and it was never officially declared a homicide.
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July 04, 2018 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
(Courtesy Dr. Zoot and Zoot Island)
A band that describes itself as "a perfect mix of Caribbean, Latin, reggae and American Top 40" will rock Renziehausen Park before what organizers hope will be a perfect mix of fireworks for Independence Day.
Zoot Island --- made up of members of the Dr. Zoot swing band --- will take the stage at the Lions Bandshell at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The concert is sponsored by the McKeesport Lions Club, the Allegheny Regional Asset District, the city of McKeesport and Mayor Michael Cherepko. Admission is free but attendees should bring a blanket or chair to sit on.
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July 03, 2018 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements, White Oak News
(Photo courtesy St. Angela Merici Church via Facebook)
St. Angela Merici Church, 1640 Fawcett Ave., White Oak, will hold its Family Festival from 6 to 10 p.m. July 12, 13 and 14, a spokeswoman said.
Nightly attractions will include "a huge flea market," basket raffle, Kids’ Kingdom, card games, midway games, bake sale and bingo.
The main food booth will include stuffed cabbage, haluski, pierogies, grilled foods and an Italian booth with homemade pizza and hot sausage. Kids’ favorites and walking tacos also will be available.
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July 03, 2018 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Work began this week on renovations to the first of five pavilions at Renziehausen Park.
And, in a separate development, McKeesport officials have given a contractor orders to proceed with construction of a new amphitheater at Gergely Park on the Youghiogheny River waterfront.
General contractor on the $184,750 project to repair four pavilions at Renzie is Plavchak Construction Co. of Jefferson Hills. The work will include new roofs, signage, benches and other updates to four pavilions.
McKeesport officials had hoped the renovations would be completed in the spring. But A.J. Tedesco, city community development director, told The Almanac the city decided to plan the work around pavilion rentals to minimize inconvenience to park visitors.
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June 29, 2018 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Announcements
Emergency repairs to Route 30 in East Pittsburgh cost more than $6.5 million and required the movement of 39,000 cubic yards --- about 55,000 tons --- of crushed concrete.
But the reopening of the highway on Wednesday afternoon -- a little more than two months after it was closed abruptly --- is "excellent news for area residents," state Sen. Jim Brewster said.
The highway, which carries 21,000 vehicles per day, had been closed between the George Westinghouse Bridge and Electric Avenue since April 7, when a landslide caused the highway to collapse and damaged a house and an apartment building below.
Motorists from the Mon-Yough area and Westmoreland County were forced to use a lengthy detour over surface streets in North Braddock, East Pittsburgh and North Versailles Twp.
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June 29, 2018 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Editor's note: The author of this story has a conflict of interest. See the note at the end of the story.
U.S. Steel's Clairton Works in a 2010 photo by Patrick Cain. (Via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0)
An air-quality monitor across the river from U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works is the only one where pollution levels are out of compliance with federal standards, Allegheny County officials said Thursday.
As a result, the Allegheny County Health Department has fined U.S. Steel $1 million and has given the company 60 days to submit information about how it intends to clean up emissions from the facility.
If the company doesn't improve its performance within a six-month time period, a county health department spokesman said, the county will order two of Clairton Works' coke batteries to be shut down.
Meghan Cox, a spokeswoman for U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh, told Tube City Almanac on Friday the company is "reviewing the document at this time" but had no further comment.
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June 26, 2018 |
By Cami DiBattista | Posted in: White Oak News
The demolition of a property on State Street in White Oak destroyed by a fire began last week.
Legal approvals to remove nine additional structures have been received, borough Solicitor Krisha DiMascio said at last week's council meeting. The structures will be prioritized and demolished as funds are obtained.
Council also approved the instillation of electronic upgrades to the bathhouse of the White Oak swimming pool during the meeting, per the request of borough Manager John Palyo.
At a cost of $500, the installation will include a new front desk microphone system, two new cameras and a new high-definition radio.
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June 25, 2018 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A Pittsburgh man is being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bail after McKeesport police said he set another man's apartment on fire, and then threatened to come back and "finish the job."
Julien J. Sewell, 24, of Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood faces a preliminary hearing at 2:30 p.m. July 2 before Magisterial District Judge Eugene Riazzi in McKeesport.
A hearing originally scheduled for Monday was continued, court officials said.
McKeesport firefighters were called to an apartment in the 700 block of Ridge Street early on June 3 after callers reported smelling smoke. According to McKeesport police, firefighters arrived to find the door to the apartment unlocked, and paper plates on top of a stove, burning.
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