July 27, 2023 |
By Bonnijean Cooney Adams | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News, North Versailles Twp. News, Wilmerding News
Stephanie Spingola looks over items in the costume studio, including a Westinghouse sewing machine. She is a member of the Class of 1963 and taught art for fourth through sixth graders after high school students from Wilmerding moved to East Allegheny. Below: The main entrance to Westinghouse Arts Academy reflects the building’s historic past as a school, and includes access to the auditorium, home of many student performances. (Bonnijean Cooney Adams photos for Tube City Almanac)
For some, it had been a long time since they last set foot inside the main building that now houses many of the programs at Westinghouse Arts Academy in Wilmerding.
As a prelude to activities for the second all-class gathering (1937-1969) of Westinghouse Memorial High School, more than 30 former students met on the school steps the morning of July 22 before breaking into smaller groups to tour that building and the neighboring Westinghouse Castle.
Ray Adams, a Westinghouse Memorial graduate who came back to teach at his alma mater, was part of a committee that decided to hold the first all-class event in 2022, then again this year.
Adams taught social studies, photography, and videography there and at East Allegheny Junior-Senior High School before he retired in 1995. He also was the advisor for the Class of 1969, so said he agreed to be on the committee when asked.
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July 26, 2023 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements, West Newton News
The Westmoreland Library Network, Westmoreland County Parks & Recreation and West Newton Public Library will host a concert by the barbershop quartet 3Rivers4 at noon on Aug. 31, a spokesperson said. Registration in advance is required because seating is limited.
The concert at the West Newton Senior Center will include lunch of turkey chef salad, vegetable soup, dessert and milk. Tickets to the show are free but lunch is a $2 donation for adults age 60 and over, and $3.97 for people under 60.
This free entertainment program is funded in part by a grant from Westmoreland County Parks & Recreation, the Westmoreland Library Network, and the West Newton Public Library. To register, call (724) 872-4976 before Aug. 23.
July 25, 2023 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, North Versailles Twp. News
A North Versailles Twp. man was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound in the parking lot of a defunct movie theater just after 7 a.m. Monday morning.
Daniel A. Sloane, 37, was pronounced dead at the scene, the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office said. The manner of death is still pending an investigation and autopsy.
Sloane’s body was discovered outside the vacant Phoenix Big Cinemas in the 1700 block of Route 30. The medical examiner’s office said that North Versailles police were investigating.
No further details about the death have been made available. Messages left for township police Chief James Matrazzo and an Allegheny County spokeswoman were not immediately returned.
July 25, 2023 |
By Advertising | Posted in: Announcements
Tube City Community Media Inc. is seeking two or more freelance writers to cover occasional news and feature stories in the McKeesport area.
Contributors will be paid on a per-assignment basis. These are not salaried or contracted positions and these positions may be eliminated at any time, with or without warning.
Writers will be expected to attend a monthly school board or council meeting and file a report within 24 hours. Other topics may, from time to time, be assigned.
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July 24, 2023 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, Duquesne News
A Turtle Creek woman is in the Allegheny County Jail after being accused of sending death threats to a district magisterial judge in Duquesne.
Rose Ann Kardell, 58, is charged by the Allegheny County sheriff’s office with making threats toward a public official — a felony — along with criminal coercion, stalking, disorderly conduct and harassment that began July 17 toward Magisterial District Judge Scott Schricker.
Kardell was jailed in lieu of $25,000 cash bond pending a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. July 31 before Magisterial District Judge Kim Berkeley Clark in Pittsburgh Municipal Court.
She also has been ordered to have no contact with Schricker or anyone else associated with the case, court records indicated.
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July 18, 2023 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Commentary-Editorial
A United Parcel Service truck makes a delivery in New York City in 2014. (File photo by Chris Sampson via Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0)
State Reps. Nick Pisciottano of West Mifflin and Elizabeth Fiedler of Philadelphia write:
Pennsylvania’s history is the history of organized labor. Our fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, and generations beyond literally risked their lives to stand up against the robber barons and their corrupt allies in government that put the rich above the people.
They shed their blood in dangerous mines and factories. They died in preventable accidents caused by greed and indifference toward the plight of working people. They led the fight for the things we take for granted today: 40-hour workweeks, paid holidays, health insurance, a chance to retire, and so much more.
The Mine Workers, the Steelworkers, the Autoworkers, the International Ladies Garment Workers — those organizations turned America’s economy into the most powerful economy in the world and did it by creating the strongest middle class on the planet, full of workers paid fairly with enough money and enough time to spend their dollars in the community.
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July 18, 2023 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Crime and Police News
One man was hospitalized following a shooting early Monday morning in Wilmerding.
Allegheny County police said the incident happened just after 5 a.m. in the 600 block of Airbrake Avenue. The victim’s name was not released. Homicide detectives said police and paramedics found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken to an area hospital in stable condition.
No further details were released. Anyone with information concerning the incident is asked to call the county police tip line at 1 (833) ALL-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.
July 17, 2023 |
By Dianne Ribecca | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
The principal of Logan Elementary School has been named acting superintendent of the East Allegheny School District.
At a special board meeting on June 26, Joseph Dilucente was hired to fill the role for one year, starting July 1.
The appointment was necessary after the school board voted in February not to renew former Superintendent Alan Johnson’s contract, which expired June 30.
Although Johnson was not present at the special board meeting, Toni Valicenti, board secretary and director of fiscal affairs, thanked him for his efforts to lead the district during the COVID pandemic.
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July 17, 2023 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
Food vouchers redeemable at local farmer’s markets will be distributed to local senior citizens beginning on July 25, the Allegheny County Area Agency on Aging has announced.
The Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program helps eligible older adults supplement their diets with locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables by providing a set of four vouchers for a total of $50.
Vouchers will be distributed by the AAA senior center network on a first-come, first-served basis, a spokesman said. The vouchers may be used through Nov. 30 to purchase Pennsylvania grown produce from participating vendors at farmers’ markets throughout Allegheny County.
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July 17, 2023 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Announcements
Artist Duane Michals, a McKeesport native, clowns with Meagan Donnelly, community outreach coordinator and research specialist at McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center during an event Friday night. (Tube City Almanac photo)
Pittsburgh’s most famous 20th century artist wasn’t known for being articulate, one of his contemporaries told a crowd of McKeesporters on Friday night.
Talking to Andy Warhol — who was notoriously shy and tongue-tied — was “like talking to a phone off the hook,” Duane Michals said, imitating Warhol: “Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh.”
Michals, 91, a McKeesport native whose photography has appeared in galleries around the world and in magazines such as Life, Time, Mirabella and Vogue, returned to his hometown to lead a three-day photography and filmmaking safari in McKeesport, Rankin and Pittsburgh.
On Friday, more than 150 people were regaled with stories of Michals’ interactions with the rich and famous — his opinion of former President Donald Trump, who he photographed for a magazine feature story, is best described as “not family friendly” — and not-so-famous, like Arnold Varga, an illustrator for McKeesport’s Cox’s Department Store whose work went onto win national awards.
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