Plum Advance Leader category, Page 49
Plum School District offering paid training to attract bus drivers
Plum Borough School District is offering paid training as it seeks to fill vacancies among its bus and van drivers. The district, which operates its own fleet with its own employees, needs six bus drivers and two van drivers, business manager Ryan Manzer said. Two bus aides also are needed....
Penn Hills council selects Pittsburgh firm to design VOPP bike/walking trail
A Pittsburgh branch of an engineering and design firm has been tasked with crafting a near 14-mile bike and walking trail. Penn Hills council unanimously voted Jan. 23 to select TranSystems to develop the VOPP Trail – Verona, Oakmont, Penn Hills and Plum. Municipal planning director Chris Blackwell said Penn...
Plum girls mount double-digit 4th-quarter rally to beat Franklin Regional
It’s rare a team wins a basketball game after making one field goal in an entire half. Not every team has Megan Marston, however. After a difficult first half when nothing would fall for anyone, Marston found a rhythm and her Plum teammates followed. And they pulled off an epic...
Plum gymnast Sarah Kvortek suffers season-ending foot injury
Plum senior Sarah Kvortek hoped for one final solid performance at the WPIAL individual gymnastics championships Feb. 11 to close out her high school career. But those hopes came to a sudden halt last Friday at a high school meet at Premier Gym and Cheer in Baldwin. While preparing for...
Plum’s Decheck brothers want to put Gannon men’s swimming on the mapVideo
Being only a year apart, brothers Justin and Joey Decheck have done a lot together. Mostly, they have competed in swimming together: through youth ranks, at Plum High School and now at Gannon. Throughout their time at Plum, they teamed on countless relays, but they never were able to set...
East suburban area real estate transactions, week of Jan. 22, 2023
Chalfant Scott Cole sold property at 212 Wilkins Ave. to Romel Scott for $150,000. Churchill Brad Kluchurosky sold property at 2411 Collins Road to Freddie Delgado for $175,000. Kimberly Payne sold property at 2502 Collins Road to Eighteen North Holdings LLC for $75,000. Joseph Anthony Brescia Jr. sold property at...
Plum swimmers seeing results after ‘intense holiday training’
Plum swim coach Shawn Haupt chuckled when he talked recently about the vibe among the boys and girls team members as some “moaning and groaning” with a lot of tiredness from some heavy-duty practice sessions. “But that happens every year around this time,” he said. “And every year, when I...
Plum gymnast Sarah Kvortek ups degree of difficulty in quest for more success
Sarah Kvortek smiles when she thinks back to last year’s PA Classic state title in the all-around at Moon High School. “It was just a really great moment, almost surreal for me because I never thought I would be a state all-around champion,” said Kvortek, a Plum senior whose 2021-22...
Plum reschedules hearing on parking for proposed Dollar General
Plum has rescheduled a hearing related to the construction of a new Dollar General store in the borough. The Zoning Hearing Board will consider a request for a variance from parking requirements when it meets at 7 p.m. Feb. 8 at the municipal center, 2000 Old Mine Road. The hearing,...
Plum planners recommend approval of first phase of 158-home development
Plum’s planning commission has recommended approval of the first 35 houses in a planned 158-home development. Plum Council might vote on approval of the first phase of the three-phase Patriot Estates plan in February, Assistant Borough Manager David Soboslay said. The first 35 single-family homes would be built on a...
Penn Hill School District’s chief financial officer excited about new opportunity
Former Plum School District business manager John Zahorchak has found a new professional home in a neighboring community. He was recently hired as Penn Hills School District’s chief financial officer at a starting salary of $150,000. “I’ve been very familiar with Penn Hills for a long time, and it just...
Plum wrestlers dethrone Kiski Area, claim section title
Plum wrestling coach Mike Supak rolled out a few last-minute changes to his lineup Wednesday night and the plan paid off as the visiting Mustangs halted Kiski Area’s dominating run of six WPIAL section titles in impressive fashion. “This win puts us in a better position” a happy Supak said...
Voters to select successor to state Rep. DeLuca in upcoming special election
Residents of Oakmont, Verona and most of Plum will vote for a new state representative on Feb. 7. The special election for the 32nd state House district is one of three scheduled for that day in Allegheny County. The others are for the 34th and 35th districts. Only residents registered...
New Kensington man pleads guilty in fatal 2018 crash in Plum
A New Kensington man pleaded guilty Tuesday to homicide by vehicle for a 2018 crash in Plum that killed a 90-year-old woman. Richard Stutz, 44, will be sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Thomas E. Flaherty on April 17. Stutz also pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault...
Plum man faces federal gun, drug charges
A Plum man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on drug and gun charges. Authorities said convicted felon Taiwan Donje Rodgers, 25, of Unity-Trestle Road possessed firearms and ammunition as well as possessed heroin and fentanyl with the intent to distribute them. The charges stem from...
A-K Valley Senior Spotlight: Plum’s Andrew Claassen
For some families, high school sports have an incredible meaning beyond wins and losses. Many siblings get the opportunity to play alongside each other in their respective sports and work together. For Plum senior wrestler Andrew Claassen, both of his siblings wrestle as well — his sisters, Alaina and Addison....
Plum, Oakmont, Verona area happenings, week of Jan. 16, 2023
Friends of the Riverfront meets Friends of the Riverfront is working with Verona, Oakmont, Plum and Penn Hills to develop a safe, accessible and sustainable multi-purpose trail stretching from the Allegheny Riverfront in Verona, through Oakmont and Penn Hills along Plum Creek, to Boyce Park in Plum. The plan is being...
East suburban real estate transactions, week of Jan. 19, 2023
Churchill David Alexander Owens sold property at 101 Fenwick Drive to Michael Cochran III and Mary Finnell for $265,000. Benjamin Spencer Holden sold property at 27 Garden Terrace to Matthew and Molly Carlsen for $185,000. Joseph Bosko sold property at 3839 Greensburg Pike to Agate Realty LLC for $100,000. Jack...
Rental costs, alcohol policies considered in rentals of new Plum facilities
Facilities at Plum’s new municipal center are in demand, and borough officials are working on rates and terms for renting them. Plum started moving into the $20 million facility on Old Mine Road in November. “Christmas at Plum Creek” on Dec. 1 was the first event there. In addition to...
Plum wrestlers look forward to Allegheny County tournament
Last year, the Plum wrestling team took home 10 place medals and a third-place team finish from the Allegheny County tournament at Fox Chapel. The Mustangs return to Fox Chapel on Friday with nine of those 10 medalists set to compete — Vinnie Citrano graduated — and coach Mike Supak...
Route 380 crashes in Murrysville: ‘You can’t eliminate human error’
Eleven crashes, eight injuries and one death in four years. Those are the traffic statistics Murrysville police recorded going back to the start of 2019 for the section of Route 380 — barely a mile of roadway — between routes 286 and 366. A number of factors come together to...
Plum girls hold off furious Kiski Area rally to win
With 3 minutes, 41 seconds left in Thursday’s Section 1-5A girls basketball game at Plum, the host Mustangs held a 15-point lead on Kiski Area and hoped to put the game on ice. But the Cavaliers, led by junior Abbie Johns, wouldn’t go away. Johns scored 10 straight points for...
Plum Borough manager says firefighters were never without insurance coverage
Plum’s volunteer firefighters were never without insurance protecting them if they were hurt answering a call, the borough’s manager said Wednesday. Borough Manager Michael Thomas said the borough was late in paying a bill for the annual workers’ compensation insurance covering its four fire departments, but the coverage remained in...
Lapse in insurance coverage knocks Plum fire departments out of service for hours before being restored
Plum’s four volunteer fire departments were out of service for about six hours Tuesday because of a lapse in insurance coverage. The Holiday Park, Logans Ferry, Renton and Unity departments went out of service at 2 p.m., according to Holiday Park Chief Jim Sims and Unity Vice President Morgan McIlrath....
Plum man arrested, charged with assaulting zTrip driver
A Plum man has been arrested and police are seeking two additional suspects after authorities said the trio assaulted a driver with ride-booking service zTrip early Sunday and stole her car. Wayne K. Griffin Jr., 18, of Plum, was charged with motor vehicle robbery, criminal conspiracy, simple assault and receiving...
