Brian C. Rittmeyer stories, Page 88
Teen charged in armed Tarentum home burglary, older brother sought by police
One of two siblings wanted in connection with an armed home burglary in Tarentum has been arrested. Manrico Reddix, 15, of Clairton was arraigned early Friday morning, charged as an adult in the June 22 burglary in the 200 block of West 9th Avenue. His older brother, Wilnal Anthony Reddix,...
New Kensington controller listed neighbor’s home for sale, but the owner wasn’t selling
Frank Coscarelli was getting ready to leave for work one day in January when someone knocked at the door of his New Kensington home interested in buying it. When Coscarelli told him it wasn’t for sale, the man insisted he had found it on the online classified site Craigslist. Turns...
New Kensington woman charged with child pornography in connection with photos of 16-year-old
New Kensington police have filed a child pornography charge against an 18-year-old woman after they said she posted nude pictures of a 16-year-old girl online. Aaliyah Marie Jones, of New Kensington, faces the felony charge as well as a misdemeanor count of cyber harassment of a child. According to a...
Air filter maker plans hiring event for new Alle-Kiski Valley facility
An air filter manufacturer moving into the New Kensington Advanced Manufacturing Park will hold its first hiring event this month. Alabama-based Filterbuy is looking to hire 15 to 20 full-time machine operators and assemblers, said Glenna George, human resources and payroll manager. The hiring event will be Tuesday, July 20,...
ATI ‘outraged’ by picketer dressed as ‘Grim Reaper,’ carrying noose
Allegheny Technologies, Inc. is investigating an incident in which a striking employee was reportedly seen carrying a scythe and wearing a “Grim Reaper” mask and a noose around his neck outside of the company’s plate mill in Washington, Pa., a company spokeswoman said Thursday. Craig Smalls, 53, a replacement worker...
Cleanup continues after storms topple trees, knock out power in Western Pa.Video
The tiniest victims of Wednesday afternoon’s storms that toppled two towering trees along Harrison’s stately Carlisle Street may have been found by the steps to Tina Kahilainen’s porch. While Kahilainen’s home of seven years had damage to its roof and at least one bedroom, a robin’s nest — likely once...
Brackenridge police charge man following fight outside borough bar
Brackenridge police have charged a man with felony aggravated assault following a fight Saturday outside a borough bar. Randy Joseph Simmons, 35, of Pittsburgh’s Bluff neighborhood was arraigned on the charge and charges of simple assault and harassment early Wednesday morning. According to a criminal complaint against Simmons, Brackenridge police...
Traffic restrictions planned until September for Argonne Drive project in Harrison
Traffic restrictions scheduled to start on Argonne Drive in Harrison on July 19 are expected to continue until September, Allegheny County Public Works announced Tuesday. Periodic, single-lane closures will occur between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays between Broadview Boulevard and Elm Street. Nearly 2,000 vehicles travel the road daily,...
United Steelworkers release summary of proposed ATI contract
The results of a ratification vote by United Steelworkers members at nine Allegheny Technology Inc. facilities are expected to be known by next Tuesday, the union said Tuesday. The union and ATI announced Friday they had reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract. If approved, the deal would end...
Fundraising effort underway to help Harrison family recover from fire
A fundraising campaign is underway to help a Harrison family whose home was damaged by fire last week. Jaymian Martinka started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $10,000 for the McDaniel family. As of Tuesday morning, the effort had raised $2,060 from 22 donors. The fundraiser also lists sizes for men’s...
2 hurt, vehicle catches fire in Homewood crash
Two people suffered minor injuries Sunday night in a fiery crash in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood. According to Pittsburgh police, police, fire and medics responded to the single vehicle crash at North Lang Avenue and Upland Street just after 8:15 p.m. Police said they found the vehicle had caught fire after...
Pittsburgh police look for crime scene after man with gunshot wound arrives at hospital
Pittsburgh police were looking for a crime scene in the city’s Northview Heights neighborhood Sunday night after a man arrived at a hospital with a gunshot wound. Police said the adult victim arrived at a local hospital by private means just after 7:15 p.m. Police did not identify the hospital....
Teen dies in 1-vehicle Mercer County crash
A teen died in a one-vehicle crash late Saturday night in Mercer County, state police said. State police said the crash happened shortly before 10:30 p.m. on Brent Road just west of Old Mercer Road in Springfield Township. According to state police, Russell T. Cyphert, 21, of Volant was driving...
Pittsburgh Fireworks Task Force responds to 88 complaints, issues 34 warnings
Pittsburgh’s Fireworks Task Force reported having its busiest night yet on Saturday, with two notable incidents. The task force, made up of eight members from the city’s bureaus of police and fire, began an enforcement initiative on June 22. It responded to 88 fireworks-related complaints overnight Saturday, and issued 34...
Alle-Kiski Valley residents find many reasons to celebrate on Fourth of July
Alle-Kiski Valley residents found all sorts of reasons to get together and celebrate on Sunday, whether for the Independence Day holiday, birthdays, relief from the covid pandemic — or just to enjoy the day. For the small congregation of Vermont Baptist Church in New Kensington, morning services under a pavilion...
Widow wants Harrison to allow dog daycare in business district
Six years after buying a building for her business in Harrison, Kim Ringer can’t use it for the main reason she bought it. Ringer said township zoning officials assured her and her late husband, Bruce, more than once before buying the former home goods store-turned-car dealership at 3041 Freeport Road...
VFD: Firefighter injured during vacant house blaze in Monessen ‘in good spirits’
A Charleroi firefighter was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital Saturday after falling through the floor of a burning house in Monessen, officials said. The fire at 418 Parkway Ave. was reported about 2:45 p.m., said municipal Fire Chief Delmar Hepple. Although the house is vacant, Hepple said firefighters were told...
Traffic restrictions scheduled to resume on Tarentum Bridge
While the Tarentum Bridge has reopened after a closure in June, ongoing work will require traffic restrictions that could cause backups and delays. Restrictions are scheduled to resume Tuesday and continue through late September, PennDOT announced. Traffic will be restricted to a single lane in each direction as needed between...
Screams alert Harrison fire chief to blaze in his own neighborhood
Hilltop Hose Fire Chief Mike Krzeminski is usually notified of a fire call with a page. On Friday evening, the alert came in the form of a scream. The fire was in Krzeminski’s own Campton neighborhood in Harrison. “I heard the young man who lived there screaming his house was...
Crash closes Route 422 in both directions in East Franklin
A section of Route 422 in Armstrong County is closed in both directions because of a crash, according to state police. The road was closed in the area of Glade Run Road in East Franklin Township around 2 p.m. Saturday. It remained closed as of about 4:30 p.m. No information...
Steelworkers union says it achieved its goals in proposed pact with ATI
The United Steelworkers union is scheduling meetings to explain a tentative, four-year contract agreement with Allegheny Technologies, Inc. to its members and for them to vote on ratifying it. ATI and the union announced Friday that they had reached the tentative agreement. If approved, it would end a strike that...
Rachel Carson Hall residents can decide if they want to return after fire damage is fixed
While work continues to repair the top two floors of a fire-damaged Tarentum apartment building, whether or not the people who called it home return will be up to them. Residents of the seventh and eighth floors of Rachel Carson Hall have been relocated to other Allegheny County Housing Authority...
Pharmacy plans to tear down long vacant, dilapidated former church in Tarentum
Blackburn’s Physicians Pharmacy has acquired another building in Tarentum it plans to tear down to make room for its growth. Randy Prunty, business development manager for Blackburn’s, said the company bought a former church at the corner of East Fourth Avenue and Lock Street to get rid of the rundown...
Arnold man facing drug charges dies after arrest
An Arnold man died Tuesday after being arrested on drug charges the previous day. Khalies Khorhid Lewis, 39, died Tuesday afternoon at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg, the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office said. Although an autopsy has been completed, no information on the cause or manner of Lewis’ death...
Teaching a ‘calling’ for honored New Kensington-Arnold kindergarten instructorVideo
A small painting of a tree hangs in Alissa Szewczak’s kindergarten classroom at New Kensington-Arnold’s Martin Elementary School. Its leaves don’t look like leaves, and most aren’t even green. The splotches of color are actually the thumbprints of her past students — one year of first grade, two years of...
