Madasyn Lee stories, Page 3

A West Deer preschool teacher who loves Hallmark Christmas movies is hoping to build community spirit and foster generosity with township Christmas trees. The “Our Tree of Light” Christmas tree project will benefit Our Lady of the Lakes Parish and the hopefully soon-to-be implemented Hope Squad – a suicide prevention...

Property owners in Frazer are going to see their township real estate taxes go up by 76% next year. It’s the township’s first property tax hike in at least 25 years, officials said. Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously passed a $1.3 million budget for 2021 that includes a 1.08-mill increase. The...

Deer Lakes School District will not resume in-person instruction until Jan. 11 at the earliest in response to the surge in covid-19 cases. “Our county continues to remain in a substantial level of transmission as we see dramatic increases in positive cases and hospitalizations,” Superintendent Janell Logue-Belden wrote in a...

A 9-month-old girl overdosed on heroin Tuesday after police said she ingested the drug while the East Deer woman who was supposed to be caring for her slept. Paramedics who responded to the incident injected the baby with 2 milligrams of Narcan before rushing her to UPMC Children’s Hospital in...

Pennsylvania health officials announced Tuesday the state will begin administering free covid-19 testing in counties that do not have their own health departments. Only six Pennsylvania counties have their own health departments, including Allegheny and Erie counties in Western Pennsylvania. Other counties are Philadelphia, Montgomery, Chester and Bucks. “Our goal...

An Allegheny Township man accused of shooting two men outside a Leechburg tattoo shop Sunday afternoon was defending himself, his attorney said Tuesday. Police said one of the men who was shot, now paralyzed and in critical condition at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, told investigators he had an altercation...

For the second time, Ed Patrick lost his childhood home to a fire. The one-story, wood-frame house at 437 Magnolia Drive in West Deer caught fire in 1982. His dad rebuilt it. It caught fire again on Sunday. Fire officials say it’s a total loss. “There ain’t nothing I can...

The latest surge of covid-19 cases has prompted a 500% increase in hospitalizations when compared to the spring stage of the pandemic, officials from the region’s health care systems said Sunday. While some hospitals are close to running out of intensive care beds, officials at Allegheny Health Network and UPMC...

A Homestead police officer shot a man following a car chase that ended in Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood late Saturday, according to Pittsburgh police. Public safety spokesman Chris Togneri said paramedics took the victim to a hospital. He suffered a gunshot wound to his upper torso and was in stable...

Eric Fontana wants to be the next Guy Fieri. The food enthusiast recently published his first book, “The Hidden Restaurant Gems of Pittsburgh: An Insider’s Guide,” and is already working on its sequel. One of the restaurants that will be featured in the upcoming book is David’s Diner of Springdale...

A Springdale couple is charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct, accused of attacking a borough police officer called to their apartment for a domestic incident, according to a criminal complaint. Springdale police Officer Larry Bonazza said he was punched and bitten during the incident and was taken to a...

Police arrested a New Kensington woman at a Harmar hotel last week after, they say, she fired a gun inside her hotel room during an argument and a bullet went into another occupied hotel room. Angelia Anderina Waszkiewicz, 30, remained in the Allegheny County Jail on Monday afternoon after failing...

Deer Lakes has moved to fully online learning in response to rising covid-19 cases in Allegheny County and a shortage of teachers. Students will learn remotely until at least Monday, Dec. 7, according to district spokeswoman Coby Detar. Deer Lakes includes the Allegheny County communities of East Deer, West Deer...

The West Deer supervisors want to tear down a condemned duplex that has been deemed a public nuisance. The duplex is at 3-5 Oak St. in the township’s Russellton neighborhood. Supervisors approved seeking bids to demolish the structure. Bill Payne, West Deer’s zoning and code enforcement officer, inspected the building...

A Tarentum teen is doing his part to prove that hockey players are good people. Wesley Westerman, 15, started collecting turkeys for needy families last year after he read an article and saw a YouTube clip of “The Social” co-host Jessica Allen describing hockey players as conceited and rude. Wesley...

Harmar’s fourth annual “Shop with a Cop” event will not be happening this year. Instead, children within the Allegheny Valley School District will be receiving money courtesy of Target. Organized by Harmar police, the event pairs Harmar children with township police officers to shop for toys and clothes at the...

The family of a West Deer teenager who died by suicide last year wants to bring a school-based, peer-to-peer suicide prevention program to the Deer Lakes School District. “Hope Squad” was created by Gregory Hudnall, an associate superintendent with Provo City School District in Utah. For over 12 years, the...

A West Deer woman is excited to see that a post she shared on social media over the weekend attracted attention in the community. Kelly Rykaceski made a post in the West Deer/East Deer Current Events public Facebook group last Saturday encouraging community members to give away things they don’t...

Leechburg Area School District will reinstate fully remote learning over the next two weeks in response to rising covid-19 cases, Superintendent Tiffany Nix said Wednesday in an email to district parents. Students have been attending school in person every day except Wednesdays, when they attend virtually. Leechburg Area students live...

A convicted felon who authorities say has an obsession with Nazis and mass shootings was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for having guns when he wasn’t allowed to, federal officials said. Dennis Alan Riggs, 51, of Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill neighborhood, previously pleaded guilty to one count of...

Old is new again. At least when it comes to the billboard atop Pittsburgh’s Mt. Washington. For the first time in roughly 66 years, an ad for Iron City Beer is being displayed on the Lamar Advertising Co.-managed billboard that overlooks the city. The ad went up Saturday and will...

A West Deer woman wanted to give a shout-out to a Family Dollar employee for being friendly and having a knack for customer service. Sonya Dembowski took to Facebook to offer the praise to Collin Slack, manager at the Family Dollar store in West Deer’s Russellton section. “Big shout out...