Kellen Stepler stories, Page 16
Chartiers Valley middle school students make their mark on Bridgeville garden
A project by students at Chartiers Valley Middle School will leave a lasting impact on Bridgeville for years to come. This year, students embarked on a multi-grade, cross-subject endeavor to beautify a new butterfly-pollinator garden off Baldwin Street in Bridgeville, said science teacher Tracy Brackin. “It was inspiring to see...
Introducing the Chartiers Valley High School Class of 2025
Here are the graduates in Chartiers Valley High School’s Class of 2025: Kamola Abdufattakhova, Leah Karen Acheson, Avery David Adams, Easton Ezekial Adkins, Dominick Paul Adragna, Elizabeth Jolie Adwar, Natalia Ann Adzima, Hassam Ahmad, Umidakhon Akobirova, Alexis Nicole Albert, Nizar Mohammad Al Housria, Farahangiz Alozie, Mohammed Abdulbari Alqahtani, Anthony Joshua...
Scott recognizes teen for cleanup efforts
Gianna Baker’s passion for helping others and the environment was recognized by Scott Township leaders last month. Township commissioners awarded Baker, who graduated this spring from Chartiers Valley High School, a proclamation for putting together a team of volunteers to collect more than 100 pounds of trash and litter in...
Carlynton holds line on taxes, shuffles admin positions, hires school police officer
Carlynton School District’s budget for next year doesn’t increase taxes for property owners. The school board on June 3 approved the 2025-26 budget, which totals $37.1 million and maintains the current property tax rate of 28.5083 mills. “We’re proud to present a plan that advances our mission without placing additional...
105 graduate from Carlynton High School
Carlynton School District celebrated its 105 graduates in the Class of 2025. Here are the graduates: Azamjon Abdullaev, Maram Alajwe, Duha Al Smadi, Hamzeh A Alezzo, Emily Sarah Ancell, Zachary Robert Ankrom, Nathan Warner Behage, Cooper Louis Black, John William Bogden, Katia Bouza, Zosia Natalia Branch, Anthony Carl Burkhart, Ackeem...
Knead Cafe outreach model catches on in other states; pay-as-you-can network being created
Michael Phillips came upon Knead Community Cafe in New Kensington by accident. An Arnold native, he was visiting his hometown in the fall of 2023 and stumbled across Knead. The pay-what-you-can restaurant was closed, but owner Kevin Bode saw Phillips scoping out the place via his security cameras. Bode came...
Bridgeville councilmen, manager, newsletter recognized by state association
Bridgeville councilmen Bruce Ghelarducci, Jason Sarasnick and Joseph Verduci; Manager Joe Kauer; and the borough’s newsletter were recognized by the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs on June 3. Sarasnick and Verduci were one of 31 borough officials statewide to receive the Cecil K. Leberknight awards, given to officials with 10...
Rev. Jennifer Gordon named pastor at Bethel United Methodist in Lower Burrell
The Rev. Jennifer Gordon has been appointed senior pastor at Bethel United Methodist Church in Lower Burrell. The Western Pennsylvania Conference of The United Methodist Church announced Thursday the commissioning of Gordon, 53, of Rural Valley. Her first official day at Bethel will be July 1. “It is an amazing...
Fun while learning: New Kensington STEAM Camp ‘a great community program’
The more than 30 campers at the New Kensington STEAM Camp this week each had a different answer when asked their favorite part of the four-day session. To JT Slosky, 9, of Lower Burrell, it was coding. To brother and sister Alivia Saunders, 9 and Alex Saunders IV, 6, of...
Community bids Stewart Elementary — ‘the centerpiece of Lower Burrell’ — a fond farewell
Denise DeSalvo makes trips back to her hometown of Lower Burrell to visit family every once in a while, but she wanted to make sure that her most recent trip coincided with the last time Stewart Elementary opened its doors. “I could not miss it,” said DeSalvo, who now lives...
Detectives: Arnold mother charged after baby tests positive for meth
Westmoreland County detectives charged an Arnold woman after her infant tested positive for methamphetamine. Ariana Carter, 33, was charged with endangering the welfare of children and possession of drug paraphernalia after a ChildLine referral was turned over to the county detective bureau. A ChildLine report was received by the Westmoreland...
New Kensington’s Safety Town teaches children important life lessons
Look no further than a kid-sized “real town” outside Mary Queen of Apostles School in New Kensington for proof that learning can be fun. That’s Safety Town, which returned to the Alle-Kiski Valley last year, after a yearslong hiatus. The event is run under the direction of Lauren Lanzino, a...
Man accused of pointing gun at woman holding baby in her apartment in Arnold
A Butler man is in jail after being accused of breaking into a woman’s apartment in Arnold and pointing a gun at her, then pushing his way into another apartment after ditching the gun in the backyard of an abandoned house. That’s the account in a criminal complaint from Arnold...
Man charged in connection to firework explosion at Rivers Casino
A 47-year-old man faces criminal charges after, state police say, he set off a firework in a bathroom inside Rivers Casino on Pittsburgh’s North Shore early Sunday morning. State police say they took Jeremy Allen Hartman, of Martinsburg, Blair County, into custody at 5:41 a.m. for allegedly trespassing in a...
Former Greensburg Diocese Bishop Lawrence E. Brandt dies
Bishop Emeritus Lawrence Eugene Brandt, bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg from 2004 to 2015, died Sunday morning. He was 86. Church officials credit Brandt, the Greensburg Diocese’s fourth bishop, for leading the diocese through a series of changes, including improving finances and addressing the declining number of Catholics. “It...
Flood watch includes Allegheny and Westmoreland counties
The potential for flooding exists through Monday, according to local meteorologists. Total rainfall Sunday in the Pittsburgh area is expected to be anywhere between a half-inch and just more than an inch, said Alicia Miller, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Pittsburgh office in Moon. Rainfall began just after 8...
Man arrested following SWAT situation in Crafton
It wasn’t the suspect authorities were initially looking for, but the Allegheny County and Crafton police departments arrested a wanted man Saturday afternoon in Crafton. County police said in a statement that its SWAT team was dispatched just after 4 p.m. to Parkview Street in Crafton to assist borough police...
Newborns, high school grads, elderly rescued from floods by Westmoreland County swift-water teams
The emergency response to flooding in the Murrysville area Friday night threw everything and the kitchen sink to swift-water rescue teams. The 95 evacuations in the roughly 300-yard space between Ginny’s Neighborhood Pizza Joint and Penn Vista Apartment complex included: a weeks-old baby, half a dozen Franklin Regional High School...
Public hearing on tap to weigh $300K expected for Arnold
Arnold is expecting to receive $300,000 in federal funding, and the public will have a chance to weigh in on how that money can benefit the city. Council will hold a hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday, at the city’s public safety building, 601 Drey St., to take comments on the...
Thimons, DeAntonio appointed principals in New Kensington-Arnold
Andrew DeAntonio’s success when he stepped into an interim assistant principal role at Valley High School was like that of former Pirates’ star Bill Mazeroski coming off the bench and hitting a home run. And Jeff Thimons’ efforts as interim principal of Roy A. Hunt Elementary this year, working with...
3% tax hike OK’d in New Kensington-Arnold
Property owners in the New Kensington-Arnold School District will see a 3% tax increase next school year. The school board approved the district’s budget of about $50.2 million, which includes a 3-mill increase. That takes the district’s tax rate to 102.14 mills, according to Business Manager Jeffrey McVey. There are...
Penn Hills man charged following alleged assault outside family court
A Penn Hills man faces a dozen criminal charges after he allegedly assaulted the mother of his two children, and the children, outside of the Family Court Center in Downtown Pittsburgh on Wednesday. Charges against Marlon McMillan, 36, include aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and endangering the welfare of...
Walmart, Sam’s Club sue Pittsburgh Mills mall owners over road conditions
Real estate trusts for Walmart and Sam’s Club are suing the owners of the beleaguered Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer, alleging they have failed to maintain the roads there despite being contractually obligated to do so. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania, asks the court...
Burrell’s Stewart Elementary celebrates its last day: ‘It’s bittersweet’
Mindy Larko may or may not have cried on her way to work Wednesday. It would mark her last day teaching at Lower Burrell’s Stewart Elementary in Room 14, a room where she, herself, was a student during the 1982-83 school year. “A lot of memories come back when you’re...
New playground equipment coming to Lower Burrell’s Braeview Park
Children in Lower Burrell’s Braeburn neighborhood will have new playground equipment in July. City officials signed a $56,700 contract with Sports and Recreation Associates to install new playground equipment at Braeview Park after it was removed last fall. Deeming it “dangerous,” city public works crews removed the equipment, which was...
