Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 16

Seven Valley High School graduates and two graduates of Ken-Hi make up the second annual class of New Kensington-Arnold School District’s distinguished alumni. The Ken-Hi graduates Esther Belli Stevenson, 1947, and Michael Shamey, 1949, are being honored posthumously. The Valley High School graduates are Nancy Menk, 1973; Steven Paulovich, 1979;...

An upcoming golf tournament benefiting the four families who lost loved ones in the Rustic Ridge house explosion in Plum last year is personal for Nick Davis, one of its organizers. Davis, 39, of Monroeville has known Jen Clontz since they were in kindergarten in the Gateway School District. He...

The summer season starts June 20, and Plum will waste no time beginning to celebrating it. The borough’s annual “SummerFest” will start that Thursday and run through Saturday, June 22 at Larry Mills Park at 199 Fontana Drive. All-you-can-ride tickets will cost $20 for Thursday and $25 on Friday and...

New Kensington Council, citing concerns about crime, denied a liquor license transfer to a city gas station and convenience store. Council unanimously denied a license for the Valero at Seventh Street and Constitution Boulevard. It would have been transferred there from Guy’s Tavern in Avonmore. Council began a public hearing...

Property owners in the New Kensington-Arnold School District will see a 1.5% property tax increase in their school tax bill. The school board Tuesday approved the district’s $47.6 million budget for the 2024-25 school year that includes the tax hike. The district’s property tax rate will increase from 97.64 mills...

Four dilapidated houses in one New Kensington neighborhood are among the latest six the city is working to tear down. Three of the four houses are on Ross Avenue at 717, 1100 and 1150. The fourth is nearby at 1330 Forest Ave. All four are in the area above the...

Police officers say they found blood throughout a Harrison apartment where a woman said a man was trying to kill her Monday night. Officers heard a woman crying and screaming when they arrived at the apartment in the 1200 block of Argonne Drive shortly after 8 p.m., according to a...

Protesters gathered and chanted in support of Palestine on Sunday evening at the Cathedral of Learning in Oakland. Police from several agencies including the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, city of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania State Police were at the scene. Two demonstrations in Oakland converged on the cathedral’s lawn,...

New Ken-Arnold Social in the Park got the summer season underway Sunday with its annual “Rockin’ Roosevelt” benefit concert at Arnold’s Roosevelt Park. A lineup of 11 bands were scheduled to perform, each for half-hour sets from noon to 8 p.m. With the bands all donating their time, proceeds from...

A damp parking lot made for a good canvas Sunday morning at a Springdale Township church. Our Lady of Victory on Low Grade Road again hosted Guardian Angels Parish’s annual Feast of Corpus Christi celebration, which included the creation of colorful sawdust carpets. It previously was held at Holy Martyrs...

Two people were killed and seven others injured in a shooting at a hookah bar in Penn Hills early Sunday morning, according to Allegheny County Police. The shooting in the 3500 block of Laketon Road, near Frankstown Road, was reported to 911 shortly before 3 a.m. First responders found a...

The sun had not been up for long Saturday before members of “No Shoes Nation” began gathering on Pittsburgh’s North Shore for Kenny Chesney’s “Sun Goes Down” tour that night at Acrisure Stadium. They came by land and by sea, from near and from far — with and without tickets...

As Rick and Beth Napoleon planned their new house in Plum’s Rustic Ridge neighborhood, they knew it had to be different. “With every decision, we’re pretty much trying to do the complete opposite of the last house,” Rick Napoleon said. “Every decision is the opposite. We want something new, different...

A weekly bicycle ride through Arnold and New Kensington is expanding as it returns for its second season in June. The New Ken-Arnold Slow Roll will be held every Tuesday beginning June 4 and running into October, organizer Neil Walker said. Participants will gather about 6 p.m. at the ball...

Nearly three dozen completed explosive devices and materials used to make explosives were found in the possessions of a Pittsburgh man who is accused of inscribing a hate symbol on the doors of a synagogue last month, Pittsburgh police say. Police charged William Edwin Murray, 33, April 10 with ethnic...

Two Michigan men are in the Allegheny County Jail after Pittsburgh police say they delivered “pounds” of marijuana to a South Side Flats home in exchange for more than $60,000. An officer reported seeing Andre Larone Tucker, 48, and Jaylin Malakhi Jackson, 18, both of the St. Louis, Mich., area,...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Friday, May 24: Shadyside pharmacy robbed at gunpoint No injuries were reported in the armed robbery of a Shadyside pharmacy Thursday night, Pittsburgh police said. Officers responded to the robbery at a Walgreens in the 5900 block of Centre...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Thursday, May 23: 3 injured in Washington County house fire Three people, including a firefighter, were injured in a fire that destroyed a Washington County house early Thursday morning. The fire broke out around 12:20 a.m. at a house...

When Raymond Laughlin watched the funeral procession for Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire make its way along Freeport Road in New Kensington more than a year ago, it occurred to him that lining the road with American flags would have been a fitting tribute to McIntire. Thus was born the...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Wednesday, May 22: Severe weather forecast in Southwestern Pa. Severe weather is possible in Southwestern Pennsylvania this afternoon and evening, according to the National Weather Service. The region, along with parts of northwest West Virginia and eastern Ohio, is...

The rate of guns being stolen from cars has tripled over the past decade, and in many cases the thieves didn’t have to work very hard to get their hands on another person’s weapon, officials say. Often, they’re swiping firearms from unlocked vehicles parked just outside gun owners’ homes. “Such...

Nearly 44 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home over the Memorial Day travel period, AAA projects. That’s a 4% increase over last year and close to matching the record set in 2005. The Memorial Day holiday travel period is considered the five-day period from Thursday to...

Here are some of the latest news items from this morning, Tuesday, May 21: 2 teens shot in Stowe Two teens were in critical condition after a shooting late Monday night in Stowe, Allegheny County Police said. The shooting in the 800 block of Seventh Street was reported to Allegheny...

An 84-year-old woman died and her husband was injured in a house fire in Bolivar early Tuesday. Bolivar Fire Chief John Speidel said firefighters extinguished a porch fire and found the two victims inside after a report of possible entrapment. The fire in the 800 block of McKinley Street was...

A Wilkinsburg woman was driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana last year when she lost control of her SUV in Churchill and crashed, killing one of three passengers, according to charges filed Friday. Tiffany L. Reese, 45, surrendered Monday morning to Allegheny County sheriff’s deputies at the Pittsburgh...