January 02, 2024 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
An woman who was found dead in her car Thursday afternoon along Route 48 died of natural causes, the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office said.
Harriet D. Sigmund, 82, was pronounced dead at the scene after her car went off the road, officials said. She died of cardiovascular disease, the medical examiner’s office said.
Allegheny County police said the incident happened just after 4 p.m. near the intersection of Long Run Road and Marshall Drive. The Allegheny County police homicide unit and collision reconstruction unit investigated.
McKeesport Ambulance Rescue Service and UPMC personnel also responded to the scene.
December 31, 2023 |
By Yousuf Lachhab Ibrahim | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
Citing a lack of applicants for key jobs as well as new data-processing requirements, city-based Parkview Community Federal Credit Union is asking its members to vote to approve a merger with a larger Moon Twp.-based financial institution.
A meeting is planned for Parkview credit union members at 6 p.m. Thursday (Jan. 4) at the McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center in Renziehausen Park.
Comments also may be filed online at the National Credit Union Administration website.
The merger would end Parkview’s 88-year existence and close one of the last McKeesport-based financial institutions. Another city-based credit union — McKeesport Bell — is also considering a merger with another thrift. Several smaller credit unions are chartered by area churches and McKeesport Area School District employees.
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December 28, 2023 |
By T.J. Martin | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
North Versailles Twp. property owners will see no real estate tax increase under the 2024 budget passed unanimously this month by the township commissioners.
The budget has revenues and expenditures of $8.14 million, a slight increase from the 2023 budget of $8.02 million.
Also passed unanimously was a 3 percent pay increase for the township manager, finance manager, code enforcement officer and two parks and recreation department employees.
T.J. Martin is a freelance writer from Trafford whose work has also appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Irwin Standard Observer.
December 24, 2023 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Wilmerding News
Wabtec workers and local officials railled in Wilmerding in April 2022 to encourage the corporation to invest in the future of George Westinghouse’s historic factory. The company has announced plans to end operations and permanently lay off 94 workers. (Photo courtesy United Electrical Workers union via Facebook)
Almost 100 workers in Wilmerding and their families are having a very unhappy holiday.
Pittsburgh-based Wabtec Corp. last week filed notice with the state Department of Labor & Industry that it intends to end its remaining operations at the former Westinghouse Air Brake Co. plant beginning in February.
Plant operations are expected to shutter permanently in July 2024. The 13.1-acre facility was sold earlier this month to a Zelienople firm, Wilmerding Warehouse LLC, for $1.3 million.
The air brake company, founded by George Westinghouse in Pittsburgh in 1869, was the cornerstone of the inventor’s fortunes. WABCO’s factory moved to Wilmerding in 1889 and has been at the center of the borough ever since.
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December 21, 2023 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: State & Region
State Rep. Matt Gergely addresses local officials during an open house at his McKeesport district office on Nov. 8. (Tube City Almanac file photo)
Add State Rep. Matt Gergely to the list of Mon Valley elected officials who are troubled by the proposed sale of U.S. Steel to a Japanese company.
“My number one priority in the face of this potential sale is making sure any new ownership of U.S. Steel protects this region’s union workers and jobs,” Gergely, Democrat of McKeesport, said Wednesday. “These union jobs play a vital role in our local, state, and national economy; they ensure fair wages, safe working conditions and job security for workers and their families.”
But unlike U.S. Sens. Bob Casey Jr. and John Fetterman, Gergely stopped short of calling for regulators to block the merger, instead calling for a “collaborative approach” to the sale of the iconic 122-year-old corporation.
“My hope is that the foreign company purchasing U.S. Steel recognizes the strategic importance of the U.S. steel industry and aligns its business practices with the interests of our local economy and workers,” Gergely said.
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December 21, 2023 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: McKeesport and Region News
(Submitted photo by Penn State Greater Allegheny)
Megan Nagel has been named chancellor and chief academic officer of Penn State’s Greater Allegheny Campus in McKeesport, effective Jan. 1, a spokeswoman announced.
Nagel has served in the role in an interim capacity since June 2022, when then-Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer Jacqueline Edmondson left to assume the presidency at the University of Southern Maine.
“I am pleased Megan will serve the Greater Allegheny campus in a permanent capacity,” said Margo DelliCarpini, vice president for Penn State’s Commonwealth Campuses and executive chancellor, in a prepared release.
“She has a deep appreciation for the role our campuses play in fulfilling Penn State’s land-grant mission,” DelliCarpini said. “While serving in the interim role, she established collaborative relationships with regional leaders and businesses.
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December 21, 2023 |
By Tom Leturgey | Posted in: Duquesne News
(Tom Leturgey photo)
City of Duquesne residents could have their water service back to normal by this evening (Dec. 21). That’s the hope of officials who are working with public works employees to fix two water main breaks. Water pressure has been limited to some homes in the city since Wednesday night.
“We have two breaks currently that we are aware of, one at Center Street and one is on Oak Street,” City Councilman Aaron R. Adams, water department chair, said in an email Thursday morning. Because of the water loss, he said, levels in the city’s reservoir dropped, causing more water outages across the city.
At noon on Thursday, water was still running down the bottom, brick part of Crawford Avenue. Meanwhile, City Manager Douglas Sample was on hand with city workers in heavy equipment as they dug up the water line at the corner of Oak and Center streets.
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December 18, 2023 |
By T.J. Martin | Posted in: Wilmerding News
Wilmerding Borough Council gave property owners in the borough an early Christmas present this month when they passed a 2024 budget with no property tax increase.
Finance Committee chairman John Thomas told his fellow council members that property taxes will remain at 13 mills. Expenditures and revenue total $1.164 million, up slightly from the 2023 figure of $1.150 million.
“Police went up, garbage went up, everything went up,” Thomas said in explaining the small increase.
The seven-member council approved the budget unanimously. They also unanimously approved retaining Borough Solicitor G.N. Evashavic, Borough Engineer Brad Branthoover and the borough’s four employees.
T.J. Martin is a freelance writer from Trafford whose work has also appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Irwin Standard Observer.
December 18, 2023 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Crime and Police News
Samantha Lee Kalkbrenner, 15, of Dravosburg was killed when the school van in which she was riding was struck by a car on Richland Avenue. Four other occupants of the van, including the driver, were injured. Police have charged two men in connection with Kalkbrenner’s death. (Photo courtesy Serra Catholic High School)
Two men accused by police of causing a school-bus crash on Dravosburg Hill that killed a 15-year-old student and injured four other people are scheduled for preliminary hearings this week.
In court filings, Allegheny County homicide detectives said that license-plate cameras, onboard vehicle computers and witness testimony led them to charge William R. Soliday II, 43, of Irwin, and Andrew N. Voigt, 37, of Penn Hills, in connection with the Sept. 20 death of Samantha Kalkbrenner, a sophomore at Serra Catholic High School.
“Because of the senselessness and the recklessness of the one defendant, Soliday, we think this is a murder case,” Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. said. “We believe they were racing.”
According to court documents, both men work at nearby Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. Investigators allege that Soliday’s high-performance Volkswagen Jetta GLI was traveling at 107 mph before it slammed into the school bus in which Kalkbrenner and three classmates were riding.
Soliday is currently being held without bond in Allegheny County Jail pending a preliminary hearing Friday before Magisterial District Judge Kim Berkeley Clark in Pittsburgh.
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December 18, 2023 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: State & Region
(File photo by Mark Dixon, licensed under CC-Attribution-2.0-Generic)
A state representative whose district includes U.S. Steel’s Irvin Plant said he was disappointed in the corporation’s decision to sell itself to Japan-based Nippon Steel for $55 per share.
“My chief concern is the future of steelmaking in the historic Steel Valley and the risk to direct and ancillary jobs that have employed generations in Allegheny County and the surrounding region,” said State Rep. Nick Pisciottano of West Mifflin.
“While I hope that any future ownership of plant assets recognize that we have the best workforce on the planet ready to manufacture the next generation of high-quality steel, I am concerned that we are seeing another round of offshoring that we will look back on with regret in the near future,” he said.
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