January 17, 2019 |
By Cami DiBattista | Posted in: Duquesne News
Duquesne residents voice their frustrations during January's city council meeting. (Cami DiBattista photo, special to Tube City Almanac)
Read More: Duquesne Mayor Nickole Nesby had additional thoughts following this meeting
The first Duquesne City Council meeting of the year was emotionally charged, as a roomful of residents vented their frustrations with Mayor Nickole Nesby and other officials.
Several representatives of the Duquesne Youth Football Association questioned city officials about allegations that the organization is being dissolved.
They alleged that the Duquesne Police Department had “spread rumors of drug money being funneled through the organization.”
One spokesperson for the youth football association said the organization is unhappy with Police Chief Tom Dunlevy and the department, and said he feels the city’s black population is being unfairly targeted.
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January 17, 2019 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
An East Pittsburgh man is being held without bail on charges that he kidnapped a 16-year-old girl from her home in Penn Hills.
The victim, Marjani Aquil, was found Wednesday night by McKeesport police at a residence in Christy Park, a county police spokeswoman said. Aquil had suffered facial injuries during her abduction and was treated at a local hospital, county police said.
Jermaine Laquay Rodgers, 19, was arrested by McKeesport police and the Allegheny County Police SWAT team following a three-hour standoff.
He is being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bond pending a preliminary hearing Jan. 28 before Magisteral District Judge Anthony L. DeLuca, court documents indicate.
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January 16, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Roy Luck photo via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0.)
Correction appended, Jan. 17:
Three elected state officials are demanding more accountability from U.S. Steel and the Allegheny County Health Department in the wake of the announcement that sulfur dioxide emissions from the Clairton Plant have exceeded safe levels six times since Dec. 24.
State Sens. Jim Brewster and Jay Costa and state Rep. Austin Davis are calling on the state House and Senate Democratic Policy Committees to hold a joint hearing in the Mon-Yough area, which has been under an "air quality alert" since Jan. 8.
Last week, local residents criticized the health department for waiting 16 days before issuing the alert, which warned children, the elderly and people with heart and lung conditions to avoid strenuous outdoor activities until further notice.
"The public needs to know sooner and get better information on how to react," Brewster, Costa and Davis said in a joint release Wednesday.
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January 16, 2019 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A Dravosburg man faces charges after McKeesport police accused him of deliberately striking a car being driven by an off-duty police officer, and then fleeing the scene.
Edward M. Gibson, 31, is charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, leaving the scene of an accident involving an attended vehicle and reckless driving.
He remains free on his own recognizance pending a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. March 28 before Magisterial District Judge Richard D. Olasz Jr.
McKeesport police said the off-duty officer, whose name was not released, was on Maple Avenue just before 11 p.m. Jan. 5 when another driver in a Jeep started to tailgate him.
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January 11, 2019 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
(Photo courtesy Carnegie Library of McKeesport via Facebook.)
Book discussions and craft programs are on the schedule this month at the Carnegie Library of McKeesport, 1507 Library Ave.
For more information or to register for any program, call (412) 672-0625 or visit the library's website.
Postcard History of McKeesport: Local author and historian Michelle Wardle-Eggers will discuss the 2011 book "McKeesport: Postcard History" at 3 p.m. Jan. 19. Wardle-Eggers is the former executive director of the McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center and received her master's degree in history from Kent State University. She wrote the book along with local historian and photographer John W. Barna.
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January 11, 2019 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements, White Oak News
DJs Candy and Mike will spin the tunes on Saturday (Jan. 12) and Jan. 19 when American Legion Gen. Smedley D. Butler Post 701 in White Oak holds its next oldies dances.
Doors open at 7 p.m. and music continues until 11 p.m., a spokesman said. Admission is $5 and all proceeds benefit veterans' programs.
The legion is located at 2813 Capital St. For more information, call (724) 984-6611.
January 11, 2019 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Brett Ciccotelli photo via Flickr. Licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC 2.0).
Mon-Yough residents reacted angrily after the Allegheny County Health Department warned people with heart and lung conditions to avoid strenuous outdoor activities due to equipment problems at U.S. Steel's Clairton Plant.
On social media, they questioned why the department waited 16 days before issuing the warning.
The health department's alert, issued Wednesday, cautioned Mon-Yough area residents --- especially children, the elderly and those suffering from conditions such as asthma, emphysema or bronchitis --- to avoid strenuous outdoor activities until further notice.
According to the health department, sulfur dioxide emissions at the Clairton Plant have gone above acceptable levels six times since a fire on Dec. 24 that knocked out two pieces of emissions equipment known as "gas dispatcher" stations.
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January 10, 2019 |
By Richard Finch Jr. | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Dale Mitchell, an EMT with UPMC, works with participants at a Stop the Bleed training seminar at Noah's Ark Community Center in McKeesport. (Photo by Richard Finch Jr., special to Tube City Almanac)
“Sometimes it’s hard to get people to step up and be interested in something until it hits home, thinking it’s never going to touch them,” said Rev. Earlene Coleman, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in McKeesport.
Even before last year’s synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh, an increasing number of law enforcement, emergency medical personnel and school district employees had signed up for Stop the Bleed, a training initiative to prepare people to assist victims in life-threatening situations until emergency medical personnel arrive at the scene.
UPMC, in partnership with Copeland Regional Trauma Council, is leading the nation's largest "Stop the Bleed" initiative. Developed in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, the program's goal is to train bystanders and first responders to stop bleeding using dressings, compression and tourniquets.
On Saturday, Bethlehem hosted a 90-minute "Stop the Bleed" class at Noah’s Ark Community Center in McKeesport.
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January 09, 2019 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements, Sports
A charity basketball game on Saturday at Penn State's Wunderley Gymnasium in McKeesport will raise money to support scholarships for Hispanic students in the Pittsburgh area.
The game is being co-hosted by Penn State Greater Allegheny Campus and the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. It tips off at 2:30 p.m.
“We are so pleased to be teaming up with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for this event,” said Jacqueline Edmondson, chancellor and chief academic officer at Greater Allegheny. “The chamber has been a wonderful community partner and incredibly supportive of our students through their scholarship programs.”
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January 09, 2019 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
U.S. Steel's Clairton Plant in a 2010 photo by Patrick Cain. (Via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0)
An accident three weeks ago that damaged two pieces of equipment at U.S. Steel's Clairton Plant has the potential to create unhealthy air conditions in the Mon Valley, Allegheny County officials said Wednesday.
The county Health Department is warning residents --- especially those with pre-existing heart or lung conditions --- to limit their outdoor activities until further notice.
The Clairton Plant produces coke, a fuel used in the steelmaking process, by baking coal at extremely high temperatures to remove impurities.
Jim Kelly, deputy director for environmental health at the Health Department, said a fire on Dec. 24 damaged two "gas dispatcher" stations, which help to remove pollutants.
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