August 14, 2024 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Adam Reinherz photo for Tube City Almanac)
Residents packed a McKeesport Area School Board meeting on Tuesday to demonstrate support for district Superintendent Tia Wanzo.
With school scheduled to begin in just a few days, rumors have begun swirling that Wanzo’s job may be in jeopardy.
McKeesport resident Julian Thomas championed Wanzo during Tuesday's board meeting.
“I've had the privilege as a police officer to work side by side with her for over a decade, and I'll tell you, there's nobody more fit to run the school. I support her 100 percent,” he said. “Me and her disagree probably more than anybody else sitting at the table, but I support her 100 percent to be the superintendent of the school.”
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August 14, 2024 |
By T.J. Martin | Posted in: White Oak News
Lost dogs and cats that are found in White Oak now have a greater chance of being reunited with their owners following a donation from a local animal welfare group to White Oak Borough.
Gray Paws Sanctuary has donated a microchip reader to the borough. The case containing the reader, a handheld device that looks somewhat like a magnifying glass, will be mounted to a wall in the municipal building lobby so that it will be available for use 24 hours a day and seven days a week. The device will be attached to the case by a cable and the lobby is also monitored by a security camera.
Microchips are about the size of a grain of rice and placed beneath the skin of dogs and cats, usually between the shoulders, by a veterinarian using a syringe, similar to giving an animal a vaccination.
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August 11, 2024 |
By Adam Reinherz | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(McKeesport Area School District photo)
With the 2024-25 school year set to begin, McKeesport Area School District is reassuring parents busing will not be a problem.
During last week’s open agenda meeting, district Superintendent Tia Wanzo said a conversation with Krise Transportation last month established that “We are set and ready.”
According to its website, the transportation provider has open positions for van and bus drivers in McKeesport. Although the company is seeking new hires, Wanzo is confident transportation should proceed relatively smoothly.
“They kept the routes that we had last year and there aren’t many internal changes,” she said.
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August 09, 2024 |
By Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
McKeesport is holding an event to encourage residents to visualize the future of the city's Downtown area that's more in line with its residents’ wants and needs.
The survey is being taken by the Texas-based Better Block Foundation, in collaboration with the City of McKeesport, Penn State Greater Allegheny and the Richard King Mellon Foundation.
It is open to McKeesport residents, and is available on the Facebook page for the City of McKeesport as well as the Better Block website until Aug. 21. Results will be announced Nov. 23.
The goal is to temporarily showcase the potential of the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Walnut Street — including a parking lot, several buildings, and an alleyway — before and after the Salute to Santa Parade in November.
Krista Nightengale, executive director of Better Block, said that the transformation of the intersection will be informed by the responses residents provide in the survey.
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August 09, 2024 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
An East Hills woman faces a string of charges after McKeesport police arrested her and charged her with racing her car back and forth on Fifth Avenue and Lysle Boulevard on Wednesday night.
Jasmin Reese, 34, of Eymard Street, Pittsburgh, also is accused of driving under the influence of alcohol and assaulting the police officer who attempted to cite her. She is currently free on non-monetary bond pending a preliminary hearing Aug. 26 before Magisterial District Judge Eugene Riazzi.
In a criminal complaint, police state that an officer was monitoring traffic on Lysle Boulevard near Coursin Street around 10 p.m. when a maroon SUV with a loud muffler went east on Fifth Avenue at a high rate of speed.
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August 08, 2024 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A North Versailles Twp. teen-ager who was reported missing on Wednesday was found dead two hours later inside a Monroeville apartment.
Allegheny County police allege that Joselyn Thomas, 18, was shot fatally by Albert Williams III, 19, of Wilkinsburg inside a residence at the Cambridge Square Apartments off of Mosside Boulevard.
Wiliams is being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bond pending a preliminary hearing Aug. 23 in Pittsburgh Municipal Court. Thomas’s death has been ruled a homicide, the medical examiner’s office said.
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August 07, 2024 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
The Rankin Junior Tamburitzans performed during the 2021 International Village. The ethnic troupe will return to the main stage at Renziehausen Park next week. (Vickie Babyak file photo for Tube City Almanac)
Fashions come and go, trends rise and fall, but McKeesport’s International Village rolls on after 64 years.
The annual summer ethnic food and music festival returns to Stephen Barry Field in Renziehausen Park on Aug. 13, 14 and 15. Gates open at 3 p.m. nightly.
Ethnic traditions represented at this year’s International Village include Austrian, Croatian, Egyptian, French, Filipino, German, Ghanian, Greek, Hawaiian, Hungarian, Italian, Lebanese, Mexican, Polish, Swedish, Taiwanese and Vietnamese.
Fireworks are scheduled for Tuesday evening.
“International Village is one of those unique traditions that attracts visitors to McKeesport from throughout Western Pennsylvania,” McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko said. “In fact, we know that many people who have moved away from McKeesport or Pittsburgh plan their family reunions or vacations around the week of International Village every August.”
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August 06, 2024 |
By Tom Leturgey | Posted in: Duquesne News
Providing a rhythmic soundtrack for the Duquesne Community Day Parade were members of the Healthy Village Learning Institute in McKeesport, including Michael Wilson, Khalid Mikell, Jornee Murphy and Keith Murphy. (Tom Leturgey photo for Tube City Almanac)
The City of Duquesne marked its annual Community Day on Saturday with its first municipal parade in nearly two decades.
Helmed by City Councilwoman Denise Brownfield and a committee of about a dozen others, the parade included elected officials, military veterans, youth cheerleaders and football players and others.
The parade officially lined up by the Duquesne City School, began at Fourth and Grant and moved up to Polish Hill Park. The weather was ideal for the nearly half-way trek, with 75 degrees, a slightly overcast and small breeze.
The event took only about 10 minutes, because a house fire on Erwin Street that started less than 30 minutes before the 11 a.m. start sent police and firefighters racing to the scene. According to Duquesne fire Chief Frank Cobb, no one was injured in the fire.
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August 02, 2024 |
By Tom Leturgey | Posted in: Duquesne News
After months of planning, Duquesne’s Community Day Parade is back and this Saturday.
The parade begins at 11 a.m. at the corner of Fourth and Kennedy streets and will move up Grant Street to Polish Hill (Memorial Park).
City Councilwoman Denise Brownfield has helped lead the committee that has planned the event. In an email she noted that the city will boast a Pittsburgh Pirate Pierogy, members of the Pittsburgh Passion women’s football team, a stilt walker, a juggler and others. There will be a “Steel Dragon,” marchers playing African drums, horses, veterans, pastors, classic cars and elected officials.
“As you know, we face many challenges but remain steadfast in the Lord,” wrote Brownfield, who is in her first year with Duquesne City Council and is the Community and Economic Development committee chair. “A group of 12 faithful residents wanted to restore hope to the community. Collectively, we saw an opportunity to have a parade.”
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August 01, 2024 |
By T.J. Martin | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
A group of North Versailles Twp. residents is hoping to convince the township commissioners to reject a proposed purchase of the township sanitary authority by a for-profit company.
In December, the North Versailles Twp. Sanitary Authority voted 5-0 to approve an asset purchase agreement with Aqua Pennsylvania Wastewater Inc. Aqua is owned by Essential Utilities Inc. of Bryn Mayr, Montgomery County, the parent company of People’s Gas. It operates in nine states and has more than 3,100 employees.
Under the agreement, Aqua would pay between $25 million and $30 million for the township sewer system, including the pipes and three pumping stations. To take effect, the agreement will need the approval of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
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