We once again are broadcasting this year’s McKeesport International Village from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 15, 16 and 17, and we could use your help.
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A Glassport man is being held without bond in the Allegheny County Jail on charges that he sexually assaulted an intellectually disabled woman who lives in a Downtown apartment building.
Lanny Williams, 54, was arrested July 26. He faces a preliminary hearing Aug. 14 before Magisterial District Judge Eugene Riazzi in McKeesport.
Police allege that Williams, who worked as a security guard in the victim’s building, forced her to have sex on July 23.
Children played on a giant slip ’n slide on the library lawn in July. (Submitted photo courtesy Carnegie Library of McKeesport via Facebook)
August is an especially busy month for the Carnegie Library of McKeesport and its branches, when community events in the city, White Oak and Duquesne highlight an already full programming lineup.
Director Vincent D'Alesio said the main event at the library itselt will be the wrap-up party for the annual Summer Reading Program. That party begins at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 9 for everyone who participated, he said. Participants will enjoy food, entertainment from a juggler and a stilt-walker, and a airbrush tattoo artist. Raffle prizes also will be awarded, D'Alesio said. Registration by Aug. 7 is required by calling (412) 672-0625.
The library’s annual book sale will held this year at White Oak Community Day at Heritage Hills Park on Saturday (Aug. 5). The lower floor of the White Oak branch library will be open for book shoppers from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., D'Alesio said.
Members of the Rankin Junior Tamburitzans perform during International Village in 2021. The group is scheduled to return this year and perform Aug. 16. (Vickie Babyak photo for Tube City Almanac)
What was once part of a 10-day long celebration known as “Old Home Week,” has emerged as a three-day celebration of McKeesport’s heritage and history, and 63 years after its inception, Greater Pittsburgh’s longest-running celebration of traditional food, music and dancing is about to kick off again.
This year’s festival will run from 3 to 9 p.m. Aug. 15 to 17 at Stephen Barry Field in Renziehausen Park.
For Mikey Dee, a native of McKeesport and the entertainment director for the festival, International Village each year brings back many fond memories from his childhood. “I remember coming with my parents and grandparents and tasting the food and hearing the music, it was special,” said Dee.
Vickie Babyak of Dravosburg says her great-grandfather served in both World War I and World War II. Seeing historic WW2 aircraft last month at Allegheny County Airport brought his service to life, she writes:
Last month, the Commemorative Air Force brought its national air tour of World War II aircraft back to the Allegheny County Airport. The tour was designed to give people an opportunity to get a glimpse of history and what it was like to be on a bomber. Ramp access fees of $20 or $10, depending on age, gave people an opportunity to tour the cockpit of a WW2 aircraft.
Seat tickets started at $150, depending on the aircraft chosen and flights were scheduled at different times during the exhibit.
Attending aircrafts were the B-29 Superfortress FiFi, B-24 Liberator Diamond Lil, P-51 Mustang Gunfighter, Boeing Stearman, T-6 Texan, and RC-45J Expediter.
The City of Duquesne has completed most of the hurdles to emerge from state-mandated fiscal oversight.
At a meeting July 17, former City Manager Kelly Robertson — who has now taken a job with another agency — and Act 47 oversight coordinator George Dougherty read the exit plan for the public.
City Councilman Derek Artim said the public forum was brief and few people spoke. A final decision on whether the city can exit state oversight will come in less than 90 days.
In other business, city council accepted the resignation of police officer Hunter Scherf. Mayor R. Scott Adams thanked Scherf for his time with the department.
Glenwood Bridge superstructure. (Photo by PixOnTrax via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.)
Mon-Yough area motorists who commute to Pittsburgh via Second Avenue can expect some delays beginning next week.
The Allegheny County Department of Public Works has announced that the right-hand northbound (inbound to downtown Pittsburgh) lane of the Glenwood Bridge will be closed between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. weekdays, beginning Monday, and continuing through Aug. 17.
The lane closure is needed so that Duquesne Light can safely remove electrical conduit ducts.
The McKeesport chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness will meet at 6 p.m. Aug. 2 in Room 122 of the Frable Building at Penn State Greater Allegheny, a spokeswoman said.
The meeting is open to families and friends of loved ones living with mental illness.
Sara Steinberg Levine, manager of special events and technology for NAMI Keystone, will speak about the annual NAMI Walk on Oct. 1 at Monroeville Community Park West. She will bring flyers and raffle tickets for an array of items and stress the importance of supporting outreach efforts.
St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church of McKeesport-Duquesne has scheduled its annual “Taste of Serbia” festival for Sept. 29 and 30 at the church social hall, 901 Hartman St., a spokeswoman said.
This is the fourth year the popular event will be held at the church. This year, food may be purchased and eaten inside the hall, under canopies in the courtyard, or as take-out orders. The menu is currently under revision.
Full details will be released at a later date. For updates, please check the church’s web page at stsavapa.org.
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.
