Kellen Stepler stories, Page 59
Lower Burrell Councilwoman Rosina Albanese resigns, citing work commitments
Lower Burrell Councilwoman Rosina Albanese has resigned. City council announced Albanese’s resignation at its meeting Monday night. Albanese was sworn onto council in 2020. In her resignation letter, she wrote that it was with a heavy heart that she make the decision to resign, “as I have thoroughly enjoyed serving...
Police investigating the death of a 5-year-old girl in Springdale
A 5-year-old girl died Tuesday morning after she was found unresponsive at a home in Springdale, leaving a tight-knit neighborhood in shock. According to Allegheny County Police, the girl was found about 8:45 a.m. at a row house in the 40 block of Duquesne Court. Allegheny County Police detectives are...
Carnegie Mellon grads make waves — via politics and performance — at Tony Awards
Carnegie Mellon University certainly was recognized — in more ways than one — at the 76th Tony Awards on Sunday. CMU grad Denée Benton, a previous Tony nominee, made perhaps the night’s biggest waves by taking aim at Florida governor and 2024 presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. During an evening that...
Lower Burrell eyes master plan for parks, meeting scheduled this month
Lower Burrell residents should keep an eye out for park plans and ideas this month. Last Monday, planner Carolyn Yagle of Environmental Planning & Design LLC in Pittsburgh provided an update on Lower Burrell’s parks master plan. The study, which began last year, includes an inventory of the city parks...
Upper Burrell supervisors to fix Lower Drennen Road stormwater runoff issue
The Upper Burrell supervisors continue their work to make improvements on Lower Drennen Road. At its meeting Wednesday, the board authorized its engineer, Michael Moore of Bankson Engineers, to prepare the specifications for the stormwater runoff issue on Lower Drennen, as well as other prep work using the township’s federal...
After yearslong court battle, construction for electronic billboard in Tarentum begins
Construction of an electronic billboard near the Tarentum Bridge has begun, after a yearslong battle in court and before borough officials. America First Enterprises, doing business as Oliver Outdoor, sought to place the electronic billboard at the Tarentum end of the bridge, at 107 E. Fourth Ave. A representative for...
State Rep. Mandy Steele seeks answers to lingering questions from implosion of smokestacks in Springdale
The fallout from the former Cheswick Generating Station’s smokestack implosion last week has caught the attention of at least one state lawmaker. In a statement issued Tuesday, state Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Fox Chapel, acknowledged the two Springdale smokestacks — about 750 and 550 feet tall — fell June 2 where...
Allegheny Valley School District’s proposed budget holds line on taxes
Property owners in the Allegheny Valley School District can expect no increase in their property taxes. The district is eyeing a budget of $24.6 million for next school year, which is an increase of 3.5% compared to the school year that just ended. The district’s school board approved the preliminary...
Claims for properties impacted by Springdale implosion due Friday
Springdale-area residents impacted by the smokestack implosion last week at the former Cheswick Generating Station have until 5 p.m. Friday to submit claims and concerns to the property owner. Sam Miller of Louisville, Ky.-based Charah Solutions said crews are continuing to address the aftermath of the implosion, where two smokestack...
Art Party: Penn State New Kensington to hold art fundraiser Friday
Penn State New Kensington is hosting a party Friday to support the institution’s cultural art initiatives, scholarships and programs. The annual Off the Wall pARTy started in 2017 but was on hiatus during the covid-19 pandemic. It returns from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. in the main lobby of the campus...
Crews continue to address aftermath of smokestacks’ implosion in Springdale
The dust has settled in Springdale, but crews and residents continue to clean and address the aftermath of the implosion of the two smokestacks at the Cheswick Generating Station. The stacks, staples of the Springdale and Cheswick skyline for years, went out with a bang Friday morning through a planned...
Members of Burrell’s National Honor Society dedicate benches in honor of fallen officers
Ashley McIntire’s most recent trip to her alma mater was meaningful and memorable. The wife of slain Brackenridge police Chief Justin McIntire returned to Burrell High School on Thursday morning for the school’s dedication of benches for local first responders killed in the line of duty. The school’s National Honor...
What to know about the implosions of the Cheswick Generating Station smokestacks
Springdale’s biggest attraction — literally — is being imploded Friday, and officials are preparing for its demise. At 8 a.m. or soon after, the two Cheswick Generating Station smokestacks in Springdale will be imploded. Local law enforcement will coordinate with the Cheswick Plant Environmental Redevelopment Group, the property owner; Grant...
Candy Cottage set to open in Lower Burrell
Lisa Mroziak recognizes the irony of earning a food and nutrition degree, yet managing a candy store. But the latter is always something the 55-year-old from Lower Burrell always wanted to do. “I look at it as life’s too short, and I want to do the things I want to...
Alle-Kiski Valley residents remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice
Paula Keryeski of Lower Burrell pauses when she thinks about what Memorial Day means to her. Sitting in the shade at Stewart Elementary School in Lower Burrell on Monday morning, she and her husband, Michael, watched as the city’s Memorial Day parade passed by. She said her father, Richard Szymkewicz,...
4 people wounded in 3 separate Pittsburgh shootings
Four people, including three juveniles, were wounded in three separate shootings in Pittsburgh between Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning, according to the city’s department of public safety. At 3:01 p.m. Sunday, a 16-year-old boy was shot in the calf at Larimer Avenue and Deary Street in the city’s Larimer...
Old, new events to highlight Cheswick this summer, officials say
Cheswick officials are hoping to showcase the borough this summer with events both new and old. On Sunday, June 4, the annual Strawberry Festival returns bigger and better from 3 to 7 p.m. on Spruce Street between Hill and Highland avenues. Later in the summer, the borough will kick off...
Veterans remembered in pair of Lower Valley services
Communities across the lower Allegheny Valley remembered and honored veterans during Memorial Day services Sunday. Members from the Springdale Veterans Association — from VFW Post 1437 and American Legion Post 764 — held a service Sunday afternoon at the Cheswick War Memorial. Following that, they met with West Deer American...
Longwood residents dance through the decades at senior prom
Eckard Münck had never been to a prom before, but that changed Saturday night. Münck and about 130 other residents at the Longwood senior retirement community in Oakmont danced the night away at a senior prom held at the facility. “It’s the first time I heard the words, ‘wrist corsage,’...
Acmetonia science teacher brings Disney inspiration back to classroom
Acmetonia Primary School teacher McCall Emerick often looks for opportunities for grant funding and new opportunities for students and teachers in the Allegheny Valley School District. So when the chance to attend a conference at Disneyland in California arose, the sixth grade science teacher submitted an application to learn more....
Huston middle-schoolers get tangible Civil War lesson
The gentle clicks of a Jacob’s ladder toy fascinated Lillian Furnier. The Jacob’s ladder toy, along with several other Civil War-era replicas spread across the classroom, were part of the American Battlefield Trust’s “Civil War Traveling Trunk” program. “It kept them entertained,” said Lillian, an eighth grader in Brian Welsh’s...
Man dead, suspect arrested in McCandless shooting
A McCandless man fatally shot early Saturday morning in McCandless was identified Sunday by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner. Richard Coward, 39, was reported fatally shot at around 7 a.m. in the 700 block of Nineteen North Drive, the medical examiner said. Coward was pronounced dead at 7:18 a.m. A...
Springdale’s iconic smokestacks set for implosion
The skyline in the Lower Valley will look different after June 2. According to authorities, that’s the day the Cheswick Generating Station’s smokestacks will be imploded at around 8 a.m. Local police will be coordinating with the Cheswick Plant Environmental Redevelopment Group, the plant’s owner; Grant Mackay Co., the general...
Harrison nurse charged with homicide of 2 patients worked at 11 medical facilities in the past 5 years
The Harrison woman charged by state authorities with allegedly killing two patients and injuring a third while she cared for them as a nurse had worked in 11 Western Pennsylvania medical facilities since 2018. Heather Pressdee, 40, faces the following charges, according to court records: two counts of homicide, one...
New Kensington Bridging the Gap graduates prepare for brighter futures
Gabrielle Ham sees so much potential in the students she mentored over the past 12 weeks even if, at first, they didn’t see it themselves. Ham, director of Bridging the Gap at the New Kensington Salvation Army, said some of those kids were told the program was “for the bad...
