Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 66
3 injured — 1 critically — in Homewood stabbing
Three people were injured in a stabbing early Thursday in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood, according to Pittsburgh police. Police said officers went to an apartment in the 7700 block of Frankstown Avenue around 3:30 a.m. Officers said they found a woman there with multiple stab wounds. She was taken to a...
Hot weather expected next 2 days, new record possible Saturday
The Pittsburgh region is set to get its first taste of 90-degree weather this year, but the heatwave is going to be brief. The high temperature is expected to get to near 90 on Friday and into the lower 90s for Saturday, National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Modzelewski said. The...
Abandoned Braddock row house collapses during fire
It took firefighters nearly four hours to get a blaze at an abandoned row house under control early Thursday in Braddock. The fire in the 200 block of Oliver Street was reported around 1:30 a.m., an Allegheny County 911 dispatcher said. Firefighters got it under control by 5:15 a.m. Firefighters...
Work to refinish New Kensington church’s ‘onion dome’ continues
The layers of the onion are being put back on a New Kensington church. It was finally warm and dry enough Tuesday to begin work to refinish the onion dome atop St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church on Elmtree Road. It’s the first time the “terribly weathered” onion dome, so...
Motorcycle driver dies in crash with truck in Penn Hills
A man died Wednesday morning in a crash involving a box truck and a motorcycle in Penn Hills, Allegheny County Police said. Police said the crash in the 1100 block of Milltown Road was reported to 911 shortly after 7:30 a.m. The man operating the motorcycle was pronounced dead at...
Bethel Park police release video of 2 officers being hit by vehiclesVideo
Bethel Park police released a video Tuesday showing two police officers being hit by vehicles in separate incidents this month. The incidents happened May 3 on South Park Road near Pennsylvania Avenue and May 13 at Broughton Road and Route 88. The police department combined the two incidents into one...
Castle Shannon man accused of harassing, intimidating poll workers
Castle Shannon police said a man caused a disruption Tuesday at a polling location in the borough’s library. Police said David Huff, 57, of Castle Shannon refused to leave and resisted arrest, injuring an officer and damaging a police vehicle. According to a criminal complaint against Huff, police responded around...
1 man dead, other injured in 2-vehicle North Versailles crash
One man died and another was hurt in a two-vehicle crash in North Versailles Wednesday morning, Allegheny County Police said. According to police, the crash in the 400 block of East Pittsburgh McKeesport Boulevard was reported shortly after 6 a.m. First responders found one man dead at the scene. The...
1 person taken to hospital from scene of 3-vehicle Harrison crash
A man was taken by ambulance to Allegheny Valley Hospital from the scene of a three-vehicle crash in Harrison on Tuesday morning. The crash on Burtner Road at the Route 28 interchange was reported around 6:50 a.m., an Allegheny County 911 dispatcher said. The crash involved a minivan that police...
Police investigating shooting of man in Coraopolis
A man was in stable condition after being shot in Coraopolis on Monday night, according to Allegheny County police. Police said the shooting in the 800 block of Fourth Street was reported to 911 shortly before 10 p.m. First responders found the man suffering from a gunshot wound to the...
Respite from gas price increases will be brief as summer driving season nears, analyst says
The national average price of gasoline could be closer to $5 per gallon than $4 later this week as demand increases and inventories decline with the Memorial Day weekend and the start of the summer driving season approaching, an industry analyst said. “New records continued to be set on a...
Damaging wind, large hail possible with midday storms
Damaging winds and large hail are possible with storms from mid-morning through midday Monday, according to the National Weather Service. Severe weather is possible in the Pittsburgh area from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., meteorologist David Shallenberger said. In Southwestern Pennsylvania, the main threat will be wind, he said. “It...
2-month investigation leads to Arnold man’s arrest on drug charges
An Arnold man’s arrest Tuesday capped off a two-month drug investigation, police Chief Eric Doutt said. Doutt said police seized drugs worth more than $4,000 and about $1,600 in cash when they arrested Don Carter Jr., 27. Agents with the state Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigation along with the...
Valley High School mock crash intended to highlight consequences of 1 bad decision
Authorities were hoping to make an impact with Valley High School students about how one decision can change many lives — and even end them. Juniors and seniors watched Friday morning as real police officers, firefighters, paramedics and the county coroner responded to a mock crash in the parking lot...
New Kensington planners recommend approval of city’s new design guidelines
New Kensington’s planning commission has recommended approval of proposed new “design guidelines” and “overlay districts” for the city. Only about a half-dozen people attended the commission’s meeting Tuesday, during which consultant Barb Ciampini of Your Towne gave an overview of the proposal. Many of the questions and comments that followed,...
Free smoke alarms available to New Kensington residents from Red Cross program
A smoke alarm might have saved a New Kensington home Wednesday morning, fire Chief Ed Saliba Jr. said. Something caught fire on a couple’s stovetop about 8:30 a.m. on Beamer Avenue. The wife was at work. The husband was outside working in the yard but heard a smoke detector go...
New Kensington-Arnold considering borrowing $5M for building work
The New Kensington-Arnold School Board is considering another multimillion-dollar bond issue for work on the district’s schools. The board is entertaining borrowing $5 million. That money would be added to $8 million in federal covid relief funds to pay for the work. Superintendent Chris Sefcheck said the money would be used...
Telephone hearings scheduled for Columbia Gas rate increase request
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission will start this month a series of hearings on a rate increase proposed by Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania. Under the Columbia Gas proposal, the total monthly bill for a residential customer using 70 therms of gas would increase by about 10% — from $123.24 to...
New Kensington police accuse man of assaulting woman, holding her captive
A New Kensington man is accused of stripping a woman naked, pouring cold water all over her and forcing her to sit in front of an open window with fans blowing on her on a cold night. That was just one of several ways New Kensington police allege that Zachery...
Lower Burrell author Tamara Girardi releases 1st children’s book, ‘Why, Daddy? Why?’
It was about the time Gabriella Girardi turned 4 that the questions started. “Research shows that age 4 is the age when we ask the most questions. No other age on the planet asks more questions than a 4-year-old,” said her mother, Tamara Girardi of Lower Burrell. But what made...
Pennsylvania electric generation costs increasing up to 45% on June 1
Pennsylvania regulators are warning consumers that most utilities will be increasing their prices for electric generation on June 1. Energy supply costs will increase between 6% and 45% across the state for consumers who aren’t under contract with a supplier, according to the state’s Public Utility Commission. Most electric utilities...
Gas prices set record highs in Pittsburgh and state
Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh region have set record highs for gas prices, while the national average on Monday was only a fraction of a cent away from the record that was set in March. According to AAA, the average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Pennsylvania on Monday...
New Kensington considering new design guidelines to regulate development
New Kensington officials are reviewing new design guidelines and overlay districts that would regulate the city’s ongoing development and revitalization. The design guidelines are intended to become the city’s primary tool for evaluating proposed development, reuses of buildings, facade renovations, landscaping designs and signage proposals. Three overlay districts — design...
Plans in works for 60 trees to be planted in New Kensington
New Kensington residents will have opportunities to learn about trees before five dozen are planted in the city this fall. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy will hold two “tree tender” training sessions before the trees are planted in at least two sessions in late October and early November, said Brian Crooks,...
Father of New Kensington boy found dead arrested in connection with November incident
The father of Azuree Charles, the 9-year-old New Kensington boy who was found dead early Wednesday, was arrested Thursday in connection with assault and child endangerment charges from November. Jean J. Charles, 40, was arraigned Thursday on charges of simple assault and endangering the welfare of children regarding an incident...
