Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 73
Medical examiner IDs body found in shed behind Knoxville home
A body was found Saturday behind a home in Pittsburgh’s Knoxville neighborhood, Pittsburgh police said. Officers responded to a report of a possible body in the 300 block of Reifert Street around 4:30 p.m. There, police said officers found a dead person in a shed. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner...
PennDOT, Turnpike Commission announce road restrictions ahead of approaching winter storm
PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission are advising drivers to avoid unnecessary travel during a storm expected to bring frozen precipitation and potentially icy road conditions in most of the state Saturday night. The agencies said they anticipate implementing various speed and vehicle restrictions throughout the storm. Restrictions are scheduled...
Family, friends pray for healing, call for justice for mom, daughter hurt in Tarentum hit-and-run
Prayers for healing, calls for justice and balloons rose from near the Tarentum Bridge on Saturday afternoon, not far from where a Brackenridge woman and her 9-year-old daughter were struck by a car in a hit-and-run just over a week ago. Family and friends of Lyric Manley Jackson, 26, and...
Documentary aims to bring attention, solution to ‘Food Desert’ in downtown New Kensington
To feed his 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter, Joel Gabelli relies on what he can find at Family Dollar, Dollar General and — sometimes, when he feels like walking farther — Sheetz. With rare access to a vehicle, Gabelli isn’t able to get from his Kensington Manor home in downtown...
Arnold Council reorganizes, continues with interim solicitor in place
Arnold will keep its interim solicitor through 2022, and two council members have swapped committee assignments. City council reorganized Tuesday following November’s municipal election. Two members — Democrat Deborah Vernon and Republican Adam Zweig — ran unopposed for reelection. Mayor Joe Bia swore them back into office. Vernon, who previously...
Corey Pistininzi takes seat as New Kensington Council reorganizes
New Kensington Council welcomed a new member as it reorganized Monday following last November’s municipal election. Corey Pistininzi took the seat previously held by Doug Aftanas. Both Democrats, Aftanas did not seek reelection in 2021. A resident of New Kensington for eight years, Pistininzi owns Modfinish in downtown New Kensington,...
New Kensington Council gives final approval for new Popeyes restaurant
A new Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen is expected to be up and running in New Kensington by the end of this year. City council has unanimously approved a conditional use for the development in front of Giant Eagle on Tarentum Bridge Road. That approval was needed because of the project’s expected...
Burrell grad helps develop game at Duquesne University teaching about vaccines
Brinley Kantorski remembers playing “The Oregon Trail” educational video game when she was a student in the Burrell School District. While many of the game’s players will remember the line, “You have died of dysentery,” Kantorski said her games always ended in drowning as she tried to get her wagon...
Gas prices stabilize on rising oil prices, easing omicron fears
After a run of declines, gasoline prices are largely unchanged in the Pittsburgh area and across the nation, according to price tracking service GasBuddy. In Pittsburgh, prices are down less than 1 cent per gallon in the past week, averaging $3.51 on Monday, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 731 stations....
Biohazard cleaning business proposes new office, warehouse building in Arnold
The owner of an Arnold business specializing in cleaning biohazards wants to put up a new building in the city for his company. JCS Biohazard Services cleans biologically hazardous materials, including blood, sewage, animal waste, animal carcasses and drug and medical waste, according to the company’s website. It provides cleanup...
Harrison water authority customers to see 5% rate hike in 2022
Customers of the Harrison Township Water Authority will see a 5% increase in their rates beginning Jan. 1, the authority announced. The authority said in a recent press release that it is increasing the cost of water because of inflation; increased costs for chemicals, health care, fuel and employee pay;...
$4 per gallon gas possible in spring before relief arrives, outlook says
Gasoline could reach a national average of $4 per gallon early next year, price tracking service GasBuddy says in its 2022 fuel price outlook released Wednesday. For all of 2022, GasBuddy expects the national average price to increase by nearly 40 cents per gallon, from $3.02 in 2021 to $3.41....
Accident on Route 22 in Murrysville hampers traffic
A crash affected westbound traffic on Route 22 in Murrysville near Monroeville Tuesday afternoon. The accident by McDonald’s and in the area of the Blue Spruce Shoppes was reported at 4 p.m., a Westmoreland County 911 dispatcher said. Two passenger vehicles collided in a “T-bone”-type crash, the dispatcher said. There...
Gas prices falling after setting new Christmas Day record
Average gasoline prices are coming down in the Pittsburgh area and across the nation but remain significantly higher than they were a year ago, according to price tracking service GasBuddy. According to GasBuddy’s survey of 731 stations in Pittsburgh, gas prices fell 2.1 cents per gallon in the past week...
Shed gifted to Tarentum community garden found destroyed
A much-appreciated storage shed given to Tarentum’s community garden was found Thursday to have been destroyed, said the Rev. Phil Beck, an organizer of the group that oversees the garden. Beck of First United Presbyterian Church in Tarentum said he believes the shed at the Greg Blythe Friendship Garden on...
Building the Valley: Cameroonian immigrant lays roots for business in New Kensington
Odilon Wafo came to the United States from the African country of Cameroon in 2010 looking for better opportunities for himself and his children. He would find himself owning a business in New Kensington, a city that itself was striving for better. “When I got here, I saw the city...
Plum man accused of killing landscaper in Penn Hills
A 23-year-old man from Plum is charged with homicide in the June shooting death of a man working with a landscape crew in Penn Hills. Allegheny County Police say Tracy Carpenter, of Sardis Road, was arrested without incident Wednesday afternoon at a residence in Plum. That was a day after...
Tarentum homicide suspect had been ordered to pay victim child support
A man charged with shooting a woman to death in Tarentum has a 5-month-old child with the woman and had recently been ordered to pay child support, according to Allegheny County Police. DaShawn Frederick, 26, of Wilkinsburg surrendered to authorities Thursday night. He is charged with criminal homicide in the...
Plum School District’s Make-A-Wish telethon exceeds $1M lifetime goal
With Plum School District’s Make-A-Wish telethon closing in on a lifetime collection of $1 million, high school teacher Rick Berrott was being cautious. It would be OK if they came up short, Berrott said, because whatever money they raised would go to a good cause. His caution proved to be...
Pittsburgh police recover car stolen at New Kensington Sheetz
A car stolen Wednesday night from New Kensington was recovered about five hours later by Pittsburgh police, New Kensington police Chief Bob Deringer said. The car, a 2021 Audi S5 sport sedan, was taken from the parking lot at Sheetz on Freeport Street shortly before 10 p.m., Deringer said. It...
Police say Eden Christian security guard traveled to Mississippi to meet girl for sex
A Butler County man who worked as a security guard at a Pittsburgh Christian school was arrested after police say he traveled to Mississippi to meet a girl for sex. Hernando police said Samuel James Hugg, 28, of Mars, had been sending sexual messages for days to an undercover officer...
Kiski police arrest Vandergrift woman in North Apollo stabbing
Kiski police have arrested a woman accused of stabbing a man in North Apollo early Thursday morning. Police said the suspect, Amy Hepler, 38, of Vandergrift turned herself in at approximately 9 a.m. Police said officers responded around 2:15 a.m. to a report of a domestic assault at a home...
Crashes, diesel spill cause traffic headaches on inbound Parkway East
Crashes and a diesel fuel spill caused the inbound Parkway East in Pittsburgh to be closed for a time Thursday morning. There were believed to be at least two separate crashes after the Squirrel Hill tunnel between Bates Street and the Boulevard of the Allies, Tribune-Review news partner WPXI-TV reported....
More than 40 residents of Washington County apartment building displaced by fire
Authorities evacuated nearly 100 people from a burning Washington County apartment building early Thursday and at least four people were taken to hospitals for treatment. The fire at Thomas Campbell Apartments on Beech Street in South Strabane was reported around 12:20 a.m., a Washington County 911 dispatch supervisor said. Firefighters...
New Ken-Arnold food drive shatters goals for food, cash donations
Valley High School’s annual food drive came back — and came through — in a big way this year. After not being held last year because of the covid pandemic, the now-districtwide effort shattered goals for food items and cash so much that not one but two New Kensington police...
