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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June 25, 2018 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A Glassport man died Saturday evening when his motorcycle crashed in West Mifflin.
Frank Wehrer, 40, died of blunt-force trauma to the head sustained in the wreck, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said. His death has been ruled an accident.
A spokeswoman for Allegheny County Police said the wreck occurred near the intersection of Duquesne and Center avenues just before 7 p.m. The accident is under investigation and police are still working to determine what caused Wehrer to lose control of the motorcycle.
Paramedics transported Wehrer to UPMC McKeesport hospital, where he was pronounced dead just after 7:30 p.m., officials said. He was not wearing a helmet, police said.
June 24, 2018 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Sam Zolten (third from left) greets visitors following a screening of his documentary "Missing McKeesport" on Sunday afternoon at the McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center. (Photo special to Tube City Almanac)
Sam Zolten was worried that "maybe about 10 people" would attend a screening of his documentary, "Missing McKeesport," on Sunday afternoon at the McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center.
In fact, about 100 people filled the seats of the center's Boycott Room and stood in the lobby to see the 90-minute film, comprised of interviews with local residents, past and present, telling stories of McKeesport's Jewish community --- and therefore, the city's history --- from the 1900s to the present.
"I didn't know what to expect," said Zolten, a McKeesport High School graduate who moved away in 1967 and now lives near Philadelphia. "I'm overwhelmed to see so many people I don't know, who aren't Jewish, but who can relate to the experience."
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June 24, 2018 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Tube City Community Media Inc. has filed an official request under the state's Right-to-Know law seeking records related to the condition of fire hydrants in McKeesport's Grandview and Hall Park neighborhoods.
The request, dated June 22, was sent to the city's water provider, Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County.
The Greensburg-based authority is a public entity but is managed by a private business, Resource Development & Management of Forest Hills, and serves 120,000 customers in five counties. It purchased McKeesport's water system in 1987.
A fire on June 16 on Cleveland Street in McKeesport destroyed one house, heavily damaged a neighboring house, and caused heat damage to four additional houses. Firefighters said that low water volume from nearby fire hydrants, which are supplied and maintained by the Westmoreland water authority, hampered their efforts to battle the blaze.
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June 22, 2018 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Residents of McKeesport's Grandview neighborhood should not be alarmed if they see fire trucks --- especially water tankers --- in the area on Saturday morning.
City firefighters and volunteers from other communities will be evaluating new procedures and routes for responding to fires in the neighborhood, McKeesport fire Chief Jeff Tomovcsik said.
Officials are trying to be proactive and plan ahead before an emergency, he said. Lack of water volume at hydrants is being blamed for the damage caused by an early morning fire June 16 on Cleveland Street that sent four people to the hospital, destroyed a family's home and damaged five others, one seriously.
McKeesport is also "actively looking" for a water tanker of its own for the fire department, for use in the Grandview neighborhood, Tomovcsik said.
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