Michael DiVittorio stories, Page 59
Sewickley Martial Arts Academy food drive nets food, other items for local food pantries
Sewickley Martial Arts Academy students and staff collected about 250 pounds of food, paper and cleaning products for local food pantries in the school’s inaugural food drive. The collection was from Dec. 5-18 with all donations dropped off at the academy, 201 Ohio River Blvd. Items were recently distributed to...
Sewickley Hills holds the line on taxes for 2023, garbage fees to increase
Sewickley Hills property owners will not have to pay more in real estate taxes in 2023. Council approved the borough budget Dec. 13. The millage rate remains at 2.84 mills. Borough Secretary Diana Steele said she was not allowed to comment on the budget, and all statements would have to...
Floor plans for a proposed Quaker Valley High School in Leet approved, more detailed design work continues
Quaker Valley School District officials have approved floor plans for a proposed high school in Leet Township. The board voted 8-0 at a special meeting Wednesday night to move forward with designs crafted by BSHM Architects and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects. Board member Daniela Helkowski was absent. Floor plan approval...
Edgeworth officials hold the line on taxes with 2023 budget
Edgeworth property owners will not have to pay more in real estate taxes next year as part of the borough’s budget. Council unanimously approved its 2023 spending plan on Dec. 20. The millage rate remains at 4.15 mills. It has been two decades since Edgeworth raised taxes. Council lowered the...
2023 Penn Hills budget doesn’t increase taxes, boosts police funding
Penn Hills property owners will not have to pay more in real estate taxes as part of next year’s municipal budget. Council unanimously approved its 2023 spending plan Monday. It maintains the millage rate at 6.44 mills. The municipality has not raised taxes since 2019. Projected revenues and expenses were...
Sewickley public works director eager to work for hometown
Sewickley native Brian Gebhart was recently hired as the borough’s public works director. He leads a seven full-time employee department tasked with maintaining the little more than one-square-mile town’s infrastructure. “I’ve been here my entire life,” Gebhart said. “I was born here, raised here. It’s a great opportunity to give...
Fox Chapel council holds line on taxes in 2023 budget, new member sworn in
Fox Chapel officials have held the line on real estate taxes for the fifth consecutive year. Council voted 6-0 Monday night to adopt its 2023 budget and maintain the millage rate at 2.95 mills. Councilman Thomas Karet was absent. Borough manager Gary Koehler said the tax rate is the 17th...
Leet zoning hearing board considering appeal of ruling on proposed Quaker Valley high school
Leet zoning hearing board members have called for a special meeting to consider appealing an Allegheny County Common Pleas judge’s ruling regarding a proposed high school. Senior Judge Joseph James issued his six-page opinion on Nov. 28 overturning the township’s zoning board decision, which in March refused to grant a...
Dentist office, apartments in Sewickley deemed unsafe after boiler explosion
Four people were displaced and a Sewickley dentist office closed Wednesday after a boiler exploded. Borough zoning/building code officer Joe Motznik deemed the two-story building, at 522 Beaver St., unsafe. He posted notices in front and back of the property alerting people that occupancy is prohibited until further notice. The...
Aspinwall’s VFD hits on a winning combination — brunch and Santa
Ho-Ho — hot brunch and Santa. Aspinwall Volunteer Fire Department’s annual Brunch with Santa brought in about 100 people to the Aspinwall American Legion on Dec. 11. The event was a fundraiser for the department in conjunction with Aspinwall borough. Resident Sissy Powers and her team of volunteers brought in...
Aspinwall holds the line on real estate taxes next year; councilman resigns because he’s moving
An Aspinwall councilman resigned shortly after he and his colleagues approved the 2023 budget with no real estate tax increase. Next year’s spending plan was approved via 6-0 vote on Dec. 14. Councilwoman Mary Hancock was absent. Budget documents indicate the property tax rate will remain at 6.86 mills. Vice...
Blawnox real estate taxes to increase by about 10%; water and sewage bills also increase next year
Blawnox property owners will pay about 10% more in real estate taxes in 2023. They also will see an increase in water and sewage bills as the borough passed on to consumers cost increases from Fox Chapel Authority, the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, and Alcosan. Council voted 6-0 on...
Sewickley officials hold the line on taxes for 2023, change meeting times
Sewickley property owners will not have to pay more in real estate taxes next year. Council unanimously voted Dec. 13 to pass its 2023 spending plan, which keeps the tax rate at 6.25 mills. The borough has not raised taxes for at least the past five years. Council President Cynthia...
Glen Osborne officials hold line on real estate taxes for 2023
Glen Osborne property owners will not have to pay more in real estate taxes next year. Council voted 6-0 Tuesday night to approve its 2023 budget. Councilman William Monski was absent. The budget maintains the millage rate at 4.9 mills. Projected revenue was listed at about $718,000 and expenses at...
Pittsburgh police arrest 2 men after a chase on and off the Parkway, at least 2 cars struck
Two men were arrested by Pittsburgh Police after a chase ended in a crash downtown Wednesday evening. Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz reported plainclothes detectives saw a man wanted on a federal drug warrant in the parking lot of a gas station at Beechwood Boulevard and Browns Hill Road shortly...
Former Lt. Gov. candidate Carrie Lewis DelRosso won’t run for late state Rep. Tony DeLuca’s seat
Carrie Lewis DelRosso will not seek the Republican nomination for representative of the state House’s 32nd District. The former Oakmont councilwoman and most recently lieutenant governor candidate made her announcement Wednesday. “After much consideration and many discussions with my family and colleagues, I have decided not to be a candidate...
Leet’s 2023 budget contains no tax hike, employees to see 5% pay increase
Leet property owners will not have to pay more in real estate taxes as a result of the township’s 2023 budget. Commissioners unanimously voted Tuesday to adopt next year’s spending plan and hold the line on taxes at 7.7 mills. It has been at least three years since the last...
Community mourns the loss of 2 children killed in Sewickley house fire
Wylde Lightner and Lyric Keys were energetic, happy children who were a bright spot at Quaker Valley School District’s Edgeworth Elementary. “Just a bright spot in our day every day,” said Sue Paton, administration assistant at the school. “Wylde was definitely a happy boy.” The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office...
O’Hara fire called suspicious, remains under investigation
A fire at an O’Hara home that township emergency responders called suspicious remains under investigation. Police Superintendent Jay Davis said Tuesday that no injuries were reported in connection with the fire at 1325 Powers Run Road. Firefighters responded to the blaze around 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 8. “It was suspicious...
Daniel Conlon named Leetsdale solicitor
Leetsdale officials have new legal counsel. Attorney Daniel Conlon of the firm Tucker Arensberg was hired as the borough’s new solicitor via unanimous vote at council’s Dec. 8 meeting. Council had interviewed attorneys from 10 different firms on Nov. 29. “What made him stand out from the bunch was his...
Fox Chapel Police collect gifts for police athletic league toy drive
Fox Chapel Police Department collected about 200 toys and $250 in monetary contributions for the annual Western Pennsylvania Police Athletic League’s Stuff-A-Store toy drive. It was the second year the department participated in the event. The collection ended Dec. 9. “We have more toys this year than last, it was...
Leetsdale officials hold the line on real estate taxes
Leetsdale property owners will not have to pay more in borough real estate taxes next year. Council voted 6-1 on Dec. 8 to adopt its 2023 final budget. Councilman Roger Nanni dissented. He said he had been sick and out of town for weeks and had not looked at the...
O’Hara adds social worker to provide residents another service
A new social worker in O’Hara is helping residents access to mental health and other services. Jalen Byrd began working in the township about a month ago. So far, he has helped homeless people with temporary housing, assisted with several referrals from the police department and township administration and been...
Quaker Valley School Board reappoints president, vice president
Jonathan Kuzma and Marna Blackmer were unanimously reappointed as Quaker Valley School Board president and vice president, respectively, at the board’s reorganization meeting Dec. 6. Kuzma, a 2001 Quaker Valley grad, has been on the board since 2013. This will be his third term as president. The Leetsdale resident and...
Blawnox cookie tour, Night of Lights celebration draws families to the borough
A stroll through Blawnox turned very delicious for many families as the nonprofit Best of Blawnox hosted its second annual cookie tour. More than 20 businesses up and down Freeport Road participated in the holiday event Dec. 3. Bella Iarrapino, 12, of Blawnox was dressed as one of Santa’s little...
