January 05, 2023 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Crime and Police News, McKeesport and Region News
A local business owner who is challenging McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko in this year’s election has been arrested by state drug enforcement agents and accused of being part of a cocaine trafficking ring allegedly led by his campaign manager.
Corry J. Sanders, 52, who obtained a pardon for a previous drug offense through the efforts of now-U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and other elected officials, is charged by the state attorney general’s office with two counts each of drug possession, possession with intent to deliver and delivery.
The arrest — originally reported by Pittsburgh’s KDKA-TV on New Year’s Eve — was confirmed Thursday afternoon by the attorney general’s office.
Investigators allege that Sanders sold cocaine to a confidential informant on two separate occasions, including at his Locust Street barbershop, Kool Kutz, in November 2022.
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January 04, 2023 |
By Danielle M. Smith - Public News Service | Posted in: State & Region
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, helps families living on low incomes pay their heating bills in the form of a cash grant. (Photo illustration courtesy Pennsylvania Department of Human Services)
Higher fuel prices and a bitterly cold start to this winter mean it will cost more for most people to heat their homes, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
There is help available for qualifying Pennsylvania households. Applications are being taken for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program through April 28 by the state Department of Human Services.
Patrick Cicero, consumer advocate for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, said no matter your home’s heating source, you do not have to be behind on your bill to be eligible for a cash grant.
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January 04, 2023 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Commentary-Editorial
Above: State Rep. Nick Pisciotanno, West Mifflin Democrat, takes the oath of office on Jan. 3 alongside newly elected state Rep. Arvind Venkat of McCandless. Pisciotanno was first elected to the state General Assembly in 2020 and was re-elected in November 2022. In addition to West Mifflin, his district includes Baldwin Borough, Dravosburg, Glassport, Pittsburgh’s Lincoln Place neighborhood and Whitehall. (Photo courtesy Pennsylvania House of Representatives.)
State Rep. Nick Pisciottano is chairman of the newly formed House Democratic Subcommittee on Labor, Energy & Development. He represents the 38th Legislative District in Allegheny County, which includes parts of the Mon Valley and the South Hills. Pisciottano writes:
We’ve seen it over and over. A crisis like the recent potential railroad strike is only fixed when the working people who truly drive our economy are asked to once again “tighten our belts” and make concessions.
President Biden was given a terrible choice: support workers exercising their fundamental right to collectively bargain, demand fair treatment, and, if necessary, strike — which would potentially wreck the national economy — or use the government’s unique power over the rail industry and force workers to accept a contract, damaging his record as a worker-first leader who wants to rebuild the American middle class.
Biden put the American economy first. But it didn’t need to come to this.
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January 03, 2023 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A Duquesne man accused of killing the police chief of a small Allegheny Valley borough and wounding another police officer died following a confrontation Monday afternoon in the city of Pittsburgh.
Allegheny County police said Aaron Lamont Swan Jr., 28, formerly of Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood, died after exchanging gunfire with several officers in a wooded area off of Columbiana Street in the Homewood-Brushton section of Pittsburgh.
Swan is suspected of killing Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire and wounding a Tarentum police officer following a foot chase in Brackenridge’s business district on Monday afternoon.
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January 03, 2023 |
By Dianne Ribecca | Posted in: North Versailles Twp. News
Freezing temperatures and high winds over the Christmas weekend caused a water pipe in a sink on the second floor of East Allegheny High School to rupture and cause flooding, the district announced.
According to a letter written and posted on the school district’s website by the Superintendent of Schools, Alan Johnson, the water damage was quite significant, and affected the second-floor science wing and the rooms below on the first floor and basement levels.
As a result of continued cleanup and testing to ensure the building is safe, seventh through 12th graders attending the junior-senior high school will learn remotely this week through Jan. 6.
Logan Elementary students will resume classes in person as usual.
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January 03, 2023 |
By Tom Leturgey | Posted in: Duquesne News
Magisterial District Judge Scott Schricker (center) and his office staff recently completed a move of District Court 05-2-47 from Turtle Creek to the Duquesne Plaza shopping center on Route 837. Hours and phone numbers remain the same. (Tom Leturgey photo for Tube City Almanac)
Magisterial District Judge Scott H. Schricker got an early Christmas gift when his office moved from Turtle Creek to Duquesne.
Schricker, of Duquesne, says that his office had outgrown the office front in Penn Plaza, Turtle Creek, and after months of renovation, a much larger spot opened in the Duquesne Plaza, next door to where the Save-A-Lot grocery store had been. Schricker, and his staff of five moved into the contemporary facility in early December and have been holding hearings without disruption.
The long-serving magistrate and his staff had been in the Turtle Creek office since Schricker took office in 2004. In addition to Duquesne and Turtle Creek, Schricker’s district also includes Braddock, North Braddock and East Pittsburgh boroughs.
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December 28, 2022 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Announcements
NAMI McKeesport, a support group of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, will meet at 6 p.m. Jan. 4 in room F122 of the Frable Building of Penn State Greater Allegheny. The meeting is open to families and friends of loved ones living with mental illness.
Updates on programs and other information will be discussed.
NAMI is the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.
For more information about NAMI McKeesport, call (412) 527-6600. For the NAMI Helpline, call (412) 366-3788 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. or visit www.namikeystonepa.org.
December 27, 2022 |
By Elizabeth Laughlin | Posted in: White Oak News
The White Oak Borough 75th Anniversary Committee will hold a planning meeting at 7 p.m. Jan. 24 at the municipal building, 2280 Lincoln Way, Councilwoman Julie Opferman announced.
Anyone interested in helping plan the borough’s anniversary celebration is welcome to attend.
At council’s Dec. 19 meeting, Opferman also awarded the winners of the Holiday Home Decorating Contest.
“Best Traditional” display was awarded to Josh Shega, the “Clark Griswold” award was presented to Russell Morgan, the “Buddy the Elf” award for the “most festive” decorations was presented to Dawn Riggs, and the “Kids Choice” award was presented to Diana Ray.
December 27, 2022 |
By Elizabeth Laughlin | Posted in: White Oak News
Correction: A quote from Councilman George Pambacas was corrected after publication. We regret the error.
White Oak council will hold a special meeting at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday to finalize the borough’s 2023 budget and to award a contract for trash collection.
At a meeting last week, council members expressed their frustration over the increasing cost of waste hauling. The borough’s current hauler is Big’s Sanitation.
Councilman George Pambacas, who chairs the public works committee, said the deadline for residents to pay a reduced “early bird” rate has been moved to April 30. “Isn’t there something else we can do to help the average citizen with this bill?” Pambacas said.*
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December 27, 2022 |
By Submitted Report | Posted in: Duquesne News
After three years in Duquesne’s industrial park, Laurel Print & Graphics is preparing to almost double the size of its facilities.
Regional Industrial Development Corp., the Pittsburgh-based non-profit that operates the City Center of Duquesne, announced this month that Laurel has signed an amended seven-year lease to expand into additional space in the Millwrights Building, located on the former site of U.S. Steel’s Duquesne Plant.
The move will expand Laurel’s current 10,000-square-foot facility to roughly 19,800 square feet, a RIDC spokeswoman said.
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