Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 22
Kiski Area school bus, car collide in Washington Township
No children were hurt when a Kiski Area school bus was involved in a crash on Thursday afternoon in Washington Township, Superintendent Jason Lohr said. The collision between the full-size bus and a car at Route 66 and Mamont Drive was reported shortly before 4 p.m. Eight elementary school-age students...
New Kensington-Arnold School Board schedules special meeting for budget vote
A vote this week will reveal if New Kensington-Arnold School District will seek to raise property taxes by more than its state-imposed limit for the 2025-26 school year. The board is scheduled to hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the boardroom at Valley High School “for the...
Harbor Freight opens New Kensington store, plans grand opening event
Harbor Freight opened its new tools store in New Kensington this week, marking another step in the redevelopment of Riverview Plaza following the closing and demolition of the Kmart department store. The Tarentum Bridge Road store is the company’s fourth in Westmoreland County and its 67th in Pennsylvania, Harbor Freight...
Home for struggling women to rebuild, improve lives approved in Arnold
Arnold officials have approved a woman’s plan to turn a house in the city into a place where struggling women can be safe while rebuilding their lives. The three-member zoning hearing board attached several conditions to its approval of city resident Amanda Wheeler’s use of the house in the 1700...
Valley High School set to reopen after broken boiler fixed
Students are expected to return to classes at Valley High School on Wednesday after the New Kensington school was closed for the past two days. While the New Kensington-Arnold School District was among many across the Pittsburgh region that closed Monday because of the threat of significant snow, its high...
2 children among 5 hurt in 5-vehicle crash involving Plum school bus
Two children were among five people taken to area hospitals after a five-vehicle crash that included a Plum school bus Tuesday afternoon, according to borough police. The crash, at Golden Mile Highway (Route 286) and South Duane Drive was reported shortly after 3 p.m. The circumstances of the crash were...
Plum community rallies to get bicycle for carless teen so he can make calls as junior firefighter
Kevin Butler has not known 17-year-old Elijah Mendez for long, but the Plum High School senior has made an impression. Butler, a master sergeant with the school’s Air Force Junior ROTC program, met Mendez in August when he became a cadet. “He’s a very kind, thoughtful, on-point young man. He’s...
Longtime Pittsburgh-area architect, artist Syl Damianos gifts last large-scale work to Longwood at Oakmont
A large sculpture adorning the wall of a dining room at Longwood at Oakmont is something of a penance for its creator, Sylvester “Syl” Damianos. Damianos, 91, and his wife of 67 years, Eva Lu, moved from their home of 53 years in Edgewood to a country home at the...
Farmers market to join shuttle service in increasing access to food in New Kensington
A new farmers market could join an existing shuttle service as an additional option to provide access to food for people in New Kensington. The New Ken Downtown Partnership plans for the weekly market to be held from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays from April 19 to Oct. 25 at...
Building the Valley: From play time to real time, Nicole Vigilante marks 5 years running Trovo in New Kensington
When playing with her younger brother and sister as a child, Nicole Vigilante remembers them all pretending to run a store in their father’s basement workshop. The trio imagined they were working in a hardware store, answering calls and taking orders for nuts, bolts and washers. “I can remember the...
New Kensington’s Fridays on Fifth, Voodoo Brewing gearing up for 5th anniversaries
A pair of fifth anniversaries will be marked on New Kensington’s Fifth Avenue this year. Fridays on Fifth, the monthly food truck event that took many by surprise when it debuted in 2021, is preparing for its fifth season. It will be held on the fourth Friday of each month...
Report: Nippon Steel offers 10-year guarantee to gain approval of U.S. Steel acquisition
In a last-ditch effort to gain approval for its acquisition of U.S. Steel, Nippon Steel is offering a 10-year guarantee that it would not reduce production capacity at U.S. Steel’s mills in six states, including Pennsylvania, the Washington Post reported. The newspaper cited a document sent to the White House....
Sun glare cited as factor in vehicle, pedestrian collision in Harrison
Sun glare is believed to have contributed to a 72-year-old driver hitting and seriously injuring a 64-year-old woman in Harrison, township police Chief Brian Turack said Tuesday. Township police filed four summary traffic charges against Mark A. Waltenbaugh of Tarentum. The collision happened around 4:35 p.m. Waltenbaugh was driving a...
New Kensington SWAT incident nets man wanted for assault in Pittsburgh
A man charged with assaulting a woman in October in Pittsburgh was arrested Monday night in New Kensington after being accused of assaulting a child outside a bar. New Kensington police Chief Bob Deringer confirmed that Burnell Johnson, 26, was the person arrested after a SWAT unit was called to...
Woman taken to hospital after being hit by car on Harrison’s Freeport Road
A 64-year-old woman was conscious and talking with paramedics Monday afternoon after being hit by a car on Freeport Road in Harrison, according to township police. The woman, who was not identified, was hit at the intersection with California Avenue, near Sheetz and CVS, around 4:35 p.m., police said. She...
Plum homeowner accused of trying to blow up his house with natural gas is jailed
A Plum man accused of trying to blow up his own home in a natural gas explosion in November is being held in the Allegheny County Jail. Neil Andrew Yetsko, 39, was arraigned Friday night by Braddock District Judge Scott H. Schricker, according to court records. Plum police charged Yetsko...
Artists hope to expand New Kensington downtown alley art project
Artists hope to get to work on a second block of downtown New Kensington’s Ivy Alley next year. More than $23,000 in grant funding has been obtained to continue the Art in the Alley project between 10th and Ninth streets, said Michelle Thom, president of the New Ken Downtown Partnership....
Kia, Hyundai vehicles targeted by thieves in New Kensington’s Mount Vernon area
A New Kensington restaurant owner whose car was stolen from in front of her home said she worries about what the theft says not only about her neighborhood but the entire city. Jillian Ludwiczak, who owns Jillian’s Restaurant with her husband, Phillip Call, said her 2014 Kia Optima was taken...
Arnold woman proposing transitional housing program for women
An Arnold woman says she’s following the hand of God, and her sister’s dream, as she works to establish a home for women in need. Amanda Wheeler is seeking approval from the city to open The Battle Life, a transitional housing program, on Fourth Avenue. The home would accommodate up...
School district telethons raise more than $200K for charities
Telethons at three Pittsburgh-area school districts raised more than $200,000 for charities this Christmas season. Make-A-Wish was the beneficiary of Plum School District’s long-running telethon and a newer one organized by Penn-Trafford. Penn-Trafford raised about $67,400, while Plum collected about $53,700, according to their teacher organizers. Fox Chapel raised $90,228...
Year-in-review: Alle-Kiski Valley residents among victims at Trump rally assassination attempt
As 2024 draws to a close, Alle-Kiski Valley area residents may be looking forward to the uncertainty of the year to come while reflecting on what has passed. And while the region always has its mix of news — big and small, widespread and personal — it found itself thrust,...
2 guns among possessions stolen from New Kensington vehicles in overnight hits
At least two handguns are among items stolen from vehicles recently in New Kensington. The thefts have the city’s police department advising residents to secure their vehicles and their valuables. Residents of the area across Seventh Street from New Kensington’s Mount Vernon neighborhood said they believe three males are involved,...
Plum School Board approves tax increase limit; advances building project, electric bus purchase
Plum School Board members say they will limit any potential tax increase next year while moving forward with a building project and the purchase of electric buses. The board this week voted unanimously to keep a property tax increase for the 2025-26 school year to within its state-imposed inflation limit...
Arnold mother, daughter buy building, open discount store to serve community
As a lifelong resident of Arnold, Heather Irene Houser says she knows what people in the city want and need. She also knows that the stores that met those needs when she was growing up are long gone from the city. And not everyone is able to get to the...
Fire at Plum church started by candle, ruled accidental
One person was taken to a hospital with smoke inhalation from a fire Sunday night at a church in Plum, a spokeswoman for the Allegheny County Department of Emergency Services said Monday. The fire at St. Januarius on Renton Road was reported around 9:15 p.m. Investigators believe the fire was...
